Being a freelancer is not an easy job. Freelancing gives people creative freedom and a chance to work on their terms. They can work from their living room or a cafe. One of the main reasons why more people are leaning towards freelancing is, they can ditch a cubicle and a 9-5 routine to achieve their professional dreams.
However, people fail to understand that when a business grows, they will have to take up multiple roles to keep the freelance business running. They have to understand the client’s requirements, update them about project status, send them invoices, etc. Even if you are a freelancer you must handle all the aspects to make sure that your business goes to the next level.
Since you are a freelancer and you have to manage your work by yourself, you must have clarity of your work and keep in touch with prospects to get new business. Wondering how you can manage your business and clients more effectively? CRM is the answer.
Before diving into the topic, let’s understand what CRM is.
What is CRM?
CRM is Customer Relationship Management. It is a tool that makes it easy to manage the interactions with your leads, customers, and prospects throughout the sale process. The main use of a CRM tool is to store all the information relating to people, including their contact details, the timeline of the contacts, and the conversations you had. If you have more than one client or looking for more business prospects then CRM is a must. It will help you in tracking and managing your business better. CRM is mostly used by salespersons. They have to talk with hundreds of prospects and fasten the process of communication to close the deal.
You are the salesperson for your business, you have to manage clients and pitch to new business. As you are a freelancer you have to deal alone with all aspects of the business, having a CRM tool will help you in managing your business and never miss out on a business opportunity. It promotes work-life balance and boosts your income.
Now that you have understood what CRM is and how it helps businesses in reaching their professional goals, let’s see how it will help freelancers.
Handle your clients and prospects better
Be it a freelancer or a business owner, customers/clients are the most important aspect of the business. Every decision is made with customers in mind. At the end of the day, any business idea or venture becomes a success if it benefits both your business and the customers. As a freelancer, after a certain point, your business will grow and you will have more than one client. Handling multiple clients at the same time and communicating with new prospects can be daunting.
Having more than five prospects in your business doesn’t mean that all of them will become your clients. You have to keep in touch regularly but not contact them frequently. Simply put, you must maintain your distance but still remind them of your business. With a CRM tool, you can automate reminders and emails. Even when you forget, your prospects will receive your message.
At some point in your business, you have to stop handling clients and prospects manually because it will waste your time and make it hard to track your business progress. With a CRM tool, you can save time and handle your clients and prospects better. The time and energy you saved can be used at the right places like marketing your business to boost your business.
Track sales metrics and improve visibility
No matter how many clients or prospects you get, over time your business needs to have better visibility. If you want to improve your business sales process then you must improve your business visibility. If you are dealing with too many clients and talking with many prospects, it can get hard to keep up with the conversion rates. With a CRM tool, you can get conversion rates for your business. Not only conversion rates, but you can also get all the numbers relating to your business in the tool. Data is crucial for businesses, by leveraging on data your business can advance. Another aspect of the business is handling customer relationships better. Clients are a vital aspect of your business. You must nurture your relationship with them and engage with them appropriately. Make sure that you are having meaningful engagements with them and don’t waste their time. With CRM you can keep a track of your previous interactions. Simply put, you will have all the latest information at your fingertips.
Improves workflow with project management
When you effectively manage your clients and prospects of your business, you are halfway through to success. Well, when the communication becomes seamless with your clients your productivity will also increase tremendously. Another significant reason why freelancers should get a CRM is, it is an all-in-one package. From tracking metrics to helping you send automated emails, it does so much more. As part of a business, you will receive hundreds of emails. So there are high chances of you missing out on any important email. However, with CRM you can put your worries to rest as you can section and segment your emails so that you will not miss a single email from an important client. The CRM tool is most helpful for freelancers as it comes with a project management solution too. You will get double benefits at a single price. CRM tools come with intuitive task management features that make it easy to manage your work.
Wrapping up
As you have made it to the end of this article, you must have understood how CRM helps freelancers. If you are a freelancer and juggle multiple roles simultaneously, you should invest in a CRM tool. It will handle clients and prospects and help you concentrate on your work. When you are free from other tension you can solely focus on your work and satisfy your clients. What are you waiting for? Choose the best CRM solution that will help you in advancing your freelance career.
