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When a small business owner starts to think seriously about customer relationship management (CRM), it's a measurement of both the past and the future. From the past, it marks a certain level of success — the business has reached a point where you can't keep track of all your leads, prospects, and clients with just a spreadsheet. For the future, investing in a quality CRM tool prepares the way for more rapid growth and is a forecast of where you expect your company to go.

That fact that CRM is an important investment is beyond debate. What's less clear are the specific benefits of it — what exactly does your SMB stand to gain from a software solution designed to facilitate customer interactions? The details will be somewhat different for a professional services company, a wholesale distribution outlet, or a light manufacturing business. But across all industries, there are a number of consistent benefits.

On the Small Business Trends blog, Senior Staff Writer Annie Pilon has put together a list of these benefits. Which one would be most valuable for your company?

• Helps your business grow – Instead of being limited to how much information you can track manually, the software handles the basics and frees you up to do more important things.
• Organizes your data – Well-managed customer information helps you understand where each person is at, so you know how to best help them.
• Keeps your team on the same page – Centralized information makes it possible for all your staff to provide the best help for each customer.
• Makes sure no one looks stupid – When the whole team can review the past interactions, each client will feel like you're attentive to their personal interests.
• Lets you stay in touch – Effective contact happens at exactly the right moment in exactly the right way. Your CRM tool can help you recognize what that is.
• Nurtures your leads – A consistent pattern of this helpful contact makes it easier for shoppers to become buyers.
• Segments your contacts – As you connect with more people interested in your products or services, you'll see patterns and be able to group them for more efficient communication.
• Automates your communication – A quality CRM tool can segment contacts on its own, based on responses, purchases, and other behaviors.
• Sends out specific information – Good CRM software can automatically reach out to customers with follow-up materials, usually based on trigger actions or time frames.
• Keeps your customers coming back – After people understand the value of your business offering, they become more willing to purchase from you. Your CRM data can help you identify which offers would be most helpful for which customers.
• Lets you access metrics – As your CRM system collects more data, you'll be able to find more specific patterns to predict how you'll be able to support your clients better.
• Helps you build good habits – With a strong information base, you'll be able to identify and follow through with the actions that generate most value for you.
• Connects to other services – Integrating the CRM system to other tools you rely on can maximize the advantage they bring.
• Uses social data – Certain CRM packages are designed to be more proactive in gathering leads, such as combing through social media sites to locate potential customers.

No matter which CRM benefit is most appealing to you at this point, when your company is starting to climb, you need to seriously consider how to sustain growth. Having solid infrastructure in place — including a CRM tool — before a steep rise in customer demand is several times more effective than rushing to deploy one while you're ascending that slope.

For optimal benefits with a CRM tool, integration with your accounting and ERP systems is ideal. aACE 5 offers this kind of fully integrated, customizable, cross-platform business management solution. It also provides mobile apps and smooth connections with eCommerce, shipping, and tax automation tools, to name a few. So whether you're a business owner who feels like she is steering a ship in the dark or an executive who is frustrated because everyone is busy but nothing is getting done, aACE 5 has something to offer. Learn more today.

"Before, we weren’t able to present our new product highlights and alerts very well, due to an inability to update and process existing client mailing lists, which were often outdated and filled with holes. Now we can export mailing lists seamlessly every Monday with our aACE platform." ~ Doug Jacobs, President, Restylers' Choice

You already have a great product or service to sell on your eCommerce site. And you're probably already investing as much as you can into marketing. Is there anything more you can do to convert a few more shoppers each day into buyers?

Yes, there is, according to Shanelle Mullin's article published on the Shopify.com blog. You can apply the persuasive techniques she describes with a little site re-design and text revision. The changes can activate the psychological triggers we all hold to one degree or another, making it that much easier for visitors to submit their order. Mullin links to several good resources in her article, and the content matches up well with material from established authorities like Robert Cialdini, the author of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. Here's a summary of the top five techniques she explains.

Reciprocity

When your friend buys you lunch, you want return the favor. When you receive a holiday greeting card, you feel bad if you haven't sent one to that person as well. Likewise, when the car dealership gives you a free inspection, it can make you feel more inclined to work with them on fixing any troubles.

This psychological impulse to return a positive action for a positive action or to keep things 'balanced' between receiving and giving has been recognized and reinforced since ancient times. More recently social psychologists have analyzed it and marketing mavens have taken it up. The Nielsen Norman Group cite Robert Cialdini in their thorough explanation of how giving something to your leads can help the conversion process.

In her article, Mullin suggests a few ways you can make this happen on your eCommerce site, from letting customers decide how much they'll reciprocate for the gift of a product to providing samples, free shipping, or unexpected discounts.

Consistency

There's so much in life that changes and varies and is unreliable. We typically want our own character to be reliable and solid. This technique is actually a shortened reference to "behavioral consistency," as the NNGroup points out. The impulse is basically a way we make things easier on ourselves. Instead of re-evaluating every single decision in our day, we often fall back on doing what we did before. In fact, we'll start justifying why we made that previous decision or commitment.

You can work this into your eCommerce site by creating elements that invite people to commit themselves to purchasing. Mullin points out that this might be a statement of your company values that people will want to support. Or it could be options to subscribe, download free resources (double-barrel with Reciprocity), or share their positive experience with your company on social media. Leveraging the Consistency principle might even be as simple as revising the text on your shopping cart button to accent the commitment to purchase.

Social Proof

Another way that people simplify their decision-making is to put extra weight on what other people are doing, using that as a guide. This helps explain why we so often look to customer reviews when we're researching a purchase — if other people gave the product a 5-star rating, it's probably something worthwhile. Testimonials and celebrity endorsements also connect to this psychological impulse.

To get Social Proof working for your eCommerce site, Mullin suggests finding ways to show how other shoppers are glad they did business with you. Another method is simply display the number of people who have purchased a product; as that number gradually increases, it becomes more and more of a influence on new customers.

Likeness

"Liking" is another way to phrase this trait in our behavior, as the NNGroup show in their recommendations for user-interface design. These simple labels include a lot of meaning. Liking obviously has an impact on our decisions, and it increases when we see things that are similar to us, things that we're familiar with, as well as people who are interested in helping us, who we associate with the things we value, and who give us praise.

Mullin points out that one way you can take advantage of this is to invest some effort in good copywriting. When you use the words your customers use and you talk about the aspects that they're interested in, your site will feel both similar and familiar. Other easy text upgrades could be to emphasize how you interest in helping potential clients with their needs and to be complimentary in talking about it. And it goes without saying that a cluttered page layout won't strengthen liking as well as a clean, attractive format.

Authority

In our complex society, we often trust experts for information and expertise that we don't have ourselves. This translates into a strong willingness to accept statements and guidance from authority figures.

Mullin references what may be the most infamous example of this human willingness to follow authority: Dr. Stanley Milgram's experiment with (fake) electrocution memory assistance. The experiment, of course, wasn't about memory at all, but rather about obeying directions from a person in charge.

For something so drastically different from your eCommerce sales, can there be a way to humanely use authority-based persuasion? Mullin mentions a few, such as highlighting job titles, product awards, and other credentials that establish your expertise. Also, you can tag-team with Social Proof by getting endorsements from other recognized experts in your field (even if it's just simple logo from a reputable organization that you've worked with). Also be sure that the images which present your company show your staff looking the part of knowledgeable, trustworthy advisors.

Mullin's post includes several other persuasive tactics that you can deploy on your site at little or no cost. Of course, none of these strategies is magical, but if you apply the guidelines well on your eCommerce site, it could make the difference and tip the balance.

While the front-end of your eCommerce site is vital for your business growth, the back-end is also crucial. As your sales begin to accelerate, having software that supports inventory tracking and order forecasting can make a huge difference in keeping customers satisfied. aACE integrates with WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, and Amazon, so orders placed online are downloaded to aACE ERP tools automatically and updated online when the order ships. With this teamwork, you always know where things stand and where they're headed.

"aACE is a stable program and thoroughly accurate. Our numbers are always correct, from the yardage on our shelf to the money in the bank. This, in itself, makes the program incredible and invaluable." ~ Claire Wade, Director of Operations, Skip Gambert & Associates

Software is often described as the solution for a business problem. But is it? In Drew Hendricks' article, "Fragmented Software is Killing Business Productivity: 4 Ways to Fix it," published on Inc.com, it doesn't seem that way.

Instead Drew takes a hard look at how software that isn't designed for good usability can cause as many problems than it solves. He identifies how finding a single solution today is the easy part. The tricky part is getting all those single solutions to work together. Whether they're isolated spreadsheets or incompatible apps, if your tools aren't sharing data, then your staff pays the price. Which is to say, you pay the price (through confusion, errors, and reduced productivity).

ERP software was intended to solve this foundational problem with data isolation, but these tools also have difficulties, Drew explains. With the "enterprise" in enterprise resource planning, there initially seemed to be a attitude that the end users didn't matter. That usability didn't matter. This mindset led to ERP tools that were overly complex, inefficient, and "clunky". The more recent shift towards making business tools as usable as consumer tools has started to make things better. And we're not talking about just making things look pretty. Personnel in a business have a wealth of digital literacy built up from their daily lives. Software that leverages the user's ability to discover information, assess it, collaborate with others, and accomplish tasks will create a greater ROI.

The ideal result — as understood and pursued by companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon — is a an app that is frictionless, integrated data. This kind of app supports collaboration, prevents duplicated effort, reduces errors, and streamlines business processes.

Drew envisions a future workplace where technical skills are still important, but because the software will finally be caught up to what people can skillfully use, the key competencies will be problem-solving and community-building. How well can your staff apply knowledge towards making decisions, cultivating relationships, establishing your company reputation, and mobilizing other resources? How close does your business software come to reaching this goal?

At aACE we've invested over 15 years to creating an ERP tool that can accelerate your business. To learn more, browse our site and watch the video demonstrations.

"Unlike other solutions, you will never have to worry about not being able to collect, deliver, and/or report the data your organization needs. This product can be fully tailored to fit your company's processes. If you want to gain control of your business and eliminate all of the islands of data that exist today, then I highly recommend that you give aACE a call." ~ Bryan Anderson, All Solutions 360 LLC

The fourteenth of February is the perfect time for expressions of appreciation. So we want to say Thank You to all our clients:

You have taken the time to learn about the operations software and ecommerce support we offer. You have given us the trust to deploy aACE to help your staff succeed and your business grow. And you have shared your insights about how we can make the best cross-platform, integrated accounting, CRM, and ERP software for Mac and PC. Because of you, we've been able to invest the past 15 years into refining a business management solution that is truly worth talking about.

And you've done that, too.

Your 5-star client testimonials not only boost our enthusiasm for the work we do, but also measure the value we are glad to provide. Capterra is one great collection of feedback about the work we've done, but we want to share some of the other statements our friends and customers have voiced:

"The customization available in this system is helpful for our business, allowing us to create unique reports and views that are specific to our projects and clients." ~ Diana Ross-Gotta, Account Director, KNOCK Inc.

"aACE transformed our order fulfillment process during implementation by helping us see trouble spots in our processes." ~ Derek Navratil, IT Administrator, Janibell Inc.

"Training new users is a snap. If ever there is an issue with the software I have a response in minutes and resolution soon after! Most of all it is affordable: the out-the-door price is less than most ERP yearly maintenance." ~ Todd Breedlove, Vice President, Knight Hardwood Flooring Inc.

"The system has proven time and again to be a structurally sound and reliable business information workhorse. Downtime is barely measurable, even though we process thousands of transactions a day." ~ Matthew Pelfrey, Director of Process and Compliance, Duggal Visual Solutions

“We’ve been utilizing aACE Software for several years and have worked with the aACE team on numerous customizations. They were able to synthesize our complicated processes from multiple software platforms and made the potentially painful process of switching to a new system very easy. It has created straight-forward interaction between departments and gives us a faster and more accurate picture of everything that goes on." ~ Theodore Fotopulous, Operations Manager, Raydoor Inc.

"Excellent design with well-refined organization of information. aACE delivers seamless workflow." ~ Bumkee Kim, Janibell Inc.

"We really enjoy working with aACE and appreciate the flexibility of the program. Our company has many functions — membership, a magazine, a bookstore — and we run all of that using this one solution. Having all our customer's data in one place makes it so much easier for our customer service, sales, and marketing teams. Their jobs are much more streamlined and the sales team can even use aACE while they are on the road." ~ Sabrina Fabian, The John Birch Society

"We export paper, which has its unique accounting quirks. The aACE team was the only vendor we spoke to that was willing to prove it could accommodate these needs." ~ Wendy Donenfield, CPA and Controller, M & R International

"The aACE team learns so much about your business and your workflow, then helps you come up with solutions to make you and your team more efficient. Then they adapt their robust product to achieve those goals. They are also there to tweak the product as your business adapts." ~ Neil Suss, Controller, Crew Cuts, Inc.

"Since implementing it in 2014, we have made many customizations and changes as our business needs have changed. The difference with aACE is that we won't have to just toss out the product every 3-5 years and start all over; we can constantly customize and update the software to our needs — it grows with us." ~ Brittany Ulrich, Vice President, ASAP Event Advertising

Thank you for joining the aACE family! And if you haven't yet, contact us today to learn what aACE can do for you.

In his article for SmallBizDaily.com, Nathan Abadi approaches technology from a relationship-centered perspective. Wise business leaders understand the value of this paradigm, summed up in the phrase, "Customers might not remember the details of the sale, but they will remember how you treated them."

A quality CRM package helps you maximize excellence in customer care. It helps sustain the interactions that add up to a client feeling like they're an important part of your business family. The critical part of this effort is in the human interactions; however, your CRM package can create a data-foundation that facilitates these conversations with each client.

Abadi gives an example of this kind of considerate approach, taking a moment to make sure everyone is on the same page about what CRM actually is. Ideally all points of communication will be filtered into your Customer Relationship Management package — each phone call, email, and social media interaction. This client-centered database helps the business owner and sales staff to understand what customers want. (And, not to put too fine a point on it, the only things you can sell are what they want to buy.)

From the overview, Abadi starts exploring detailed applications of how your CRM software benefits your small or mid-sized business. Logically, this begins with leads. One of the most dangerous problems for a growing business is losing track of leads. You can't tell beforehand whether the person who handed over a business card or the one who posted a curious comment on your website will be the next loyal customer. High-quality CRM tools make it easier to aggregate and keep tabs on the wide variety of contacts you make each week. And the automation features can handle rote tasks, freeing up your time for the higher value activities that lead to increased sales.

For an even more specific example, Abadi turns to email marketing, an important field which strong CRM solutions will support. Of course there are constraints to what the software can do in this area. There isn't a program for writing compelling email marketing materials. But the computer can provide insight about how well a campaign is running, which efforts are getting results, and which prospective or returning customers are the most engaged.

The next CRM benefit Abadi explains is the connectivity to mobile devices. While your staff are at their computer terminal in the office frequently, they will have a phone available nearly always. A robust CRM tool will allow you to take advantage of that. Not only can information about leads and prospects be added to the system via smartphone, but your agents can also call up lead lists, purchase details, and service reports from any location. This amounts to reduced time lost in going to and from the office, which means more time spent on value-added tasks, like strengthening customer relationships. Along the same lines as mobile connections, Abadi also touches on how social media can feed into your CRM system and enhance your understanding of your clients.

The final aspect of CRM implementations that Abadi addresses is the important decisions about hosting the solution. As noted in other business software articles, some of the most important details for the purchase are not right in the package. Hosting is similar. The decision between whether to set up your new system on your own servers or to subscribe to a cloud-based solution should fit your company situation. If you need a more controlled on-site installation or a more affordable subscription service, the best CRM products will be able to accommodate you.

That concept bears repeating, since the number of available CRM offerings gives you a wide variety to choose from. Finding the best combination of features and flexibility can require some time. But in the end, securing the best match for your unique company will bring the most rewarding ROI.

At aACE Software, our own clients have shared their agreement with this idea, ranking aACE as a 5-star product for its ability to customize and thereby satisfy various business demands. Whether your growing company is in professional services, wholesale distribution, or light manufacturing, aACE can provide a solid CRM solution. And this comes integrated with robust accounting and ERP tools as well. Our comprehensive yet affordable solution may be exactly the opportunity you're looking for to accelerate your business. Take the time now to explore our website and learn how the aACE advantage can benefit you.

"I worked with the aACE Software team to deploy aACE Business Suite and it has met my client's needs extremely well. Their needs assessment was incredibly thorough and they worked to customize the suite to meet my client's requirements. The result was noticeable efficiency gains and a smoother end-to-end business process. I would recommend aACE without hesitation." ~ Christina Savage, Business IT Services Director & Project Manager, Christina Savage LLC

Avalara, a leading name in tax compliance and automation, has released a free whitepaper that discusses how accountant offices can thrive in the current market. This 22-page analysis is divided into four sections:

• How / why accounting firms need to redefine themselves
• How a firm can add value by addressing compliance issues
• How a firm can acquire new clients
• How a firm can transition to take advantage of new opportunities

Even though the main audience for the whitepaper is accountants (specifically, those in public practice, with limited tax compliance experience, but who want to establish or improve compliance services via automation), others can benefit. Learning more about key tax compliance issues and how accounting services are shifting to meet the needs of small and mid-sized businesses can give insight to other entrepreneurs. Likewise, the market forces causing change in the accounting industry will eventually influence other fields.

More directly, an SMB can benefit from business operations software designed to leverage the expertise of tax compliance automation. aACE 5 is a software package that integrates accounting, CRM, and ERP into a customizable, cross-platform solution. aACE benefits not only the controller who is surprised by the AMEX bill every month, but also the CEO who is tired of not knowing what the company's true cash position is, and the owner who feels like she is steering a ship in the dark.

Browser our website to learn more about our aACE+ Avalara integration, plus other valuable features.

"One of my personal favorite features is the Data Log. With this feature, our team members can now see a complete account of the history of a transaction as it moves through our system. Not only does this provide us with visibility that we had never had before, but I'm pleased to say we have also greatly benefited from the increased accountability that comes with logging that all of our users have access to. And accountability, for us, has meant more consistent adoption of the processes that are important to the success of our organization." ~ Andrew J. Porter, ERP Manager, Gable

Veteran entrepreneurs can offer some very helpful advice on running a business. And if that military businessman has earned $14 million within five years, other savvy entrepreneurs will stop and listen.

In her article about exactly this kind of skyrocket business venture, Kaleigh Moore explains where Nine Line Apparel came from and how they got into the upper listing of the Inc. 5000 so quickly. According to the company founder, Tyler Merritt, the right set of tools has been crucial. You might expect advice like that from an active duty military man, since in a crisis situation, having the right gear can make all the difference. For his business, the right gear for Tyler included these three core technology solutions:

1. Inventory Management Solution — Quick growth brought fast challenges for keeping track of their products. And this struggle was amplified by working in the apparel industry because returned goods and varying sizes of the same item all had to be accounted for. Once they found a product that could keep pace with their rapid growth, the time spent addressing emergencies was transformed into time to focus on more important tasks.

2. Shipping Solution — Tyler quickly recognized that out-sourcing order fulfillment was the best way to keep up with the accelerating demand, not to mention the extremely variable time he had to run the business — as an active duty soldier, he even had to leave the company for his wife to manage alone while he was deployed. They found a shipping tool that facilitated their outsourcing requirements and things quickly became less stressful.

3. Online Retail Platform — Flexibility was a key aspect for Nine Line Apparel's online sales tool. Because of the company's booming success, Tyler had to retire his home-grown selling platform fairly soon. In its place, they implemented an eCommerce solution that allows them to easily create custom integrations for their store. These customizations make it possible to refine their business processes for increased efficiency.

Of course it takes more than a few tech purchases to create a steep growth curve. And to be precise, Nine Line Apparel's tech upgrades were in reaction to the growth, not necessarily a cause for that growth. But once the convoy was rolling, they needed the new tools to help make sure it could continue. The company's astonishing success arises just as much from Tyler's company mission — apparel branded to reflect a strong patriotism and donations to military charities and disaster relief initiatives — and his staff, who are extremely talented and insistent on turning every assignment and challenge into a successful mission.

So even though it's clear that buying the same tools as Nine Line Apparel won't magically transform other SMBs, it doesn't diminish the fact that your own growing business will need reliable, capable technology in these three areas.

When you're searching for software to support and boost your business, review sites like Capterra can be an efficient starting point. The collected user reviews on accounting, CRM, ERP, and other solutions provides a simple way to find options you can pursue. Our five-star rating at Capterra is something we're proud of at aACE Software. So if your company is ready for the cross-platform tools to accelerate your business velocity, check out our reviews and browse our site to learn more about our business management software for Mac and PC.

"I had done my research about aACE and the references were consistent: aACE had the experience and know-how to get this done." ~ Wendy Donenfield, CPA and Controller, M & R International