Quick! Other than a killer product or superior service, what makes one SMB successful when so many others fail to find their footing?

Give yourself two points if you said the ability to build lasting relationships with profitable customers; a.k.a. customer lifetime value (CLTV)! A loyal customer base provides much-needed revenue predictability, and that equates to operational stability. We all want to grow profits – basically to attract more customers; but how?

The strongest customer relationships are a direct result of how SMBs treat customers – or maybe more accurately – how customers perceive they’re being treated by SMBs. This is a tall order, as people come in all kinds, and their expectations are likely to vary widely. Let’s face it, some people require more attention than others, but it’s not always obvious who they are.

Despite the occasional challenges, it’s people that are keeping you in business, so treating every customer “like they’re your only customer” needs to be more than a cliché, it needs to be your goal. It requires personalizing your interactions – saying the right thing to the right clients at the right time. This requires some segmentation and organization that may seem daunting without the right tools, but once set, can consistently engage and delight customers and prospects. Even (yes!) automatically reaching out to advance buyer journeys, prompt renewals, drive promotions, or capture attention throughout the pre-and post-sales process.

If you’re not using software to solve the customer relationship management (CRM) conundrum, you’re likely missing out on efficiencies – and enduring complexities – that keep you from organizing or prioritizing your activities. If you, or your staff, are sifting through spreadsheets to find client details, there’s a better way. If you have a cabinet full of file folders, there’s a better way. File folders are not easily searchable and spreadsheets were never designed to unearth the insights among client records.

Isn’t it time to get and stay organized? Avoid wasting time, losing sales, and feeling overwhelmed. Discover a better way: CRM solutions from Act!.

Act!, the Scottsdale, Arizona-based pioneer of CRM and contact management, has been helping hundreds of thousands of small businesses around the world since 1987. The company’s namesake CRM solutions centralize and secure customer data and enable businesses to keep up with demand, predict problems, and make the most of every day. Helpful dashboards, robust reporting, and mobile apps are available to help you focus on what matters.

Millions of users start their day with Act!. They easily customize the interface so that it works the way they work, ensuring that the most useful information is front and center. Modules like contacts, calendars, and history are easily accessible and sensibly organized. With built-in advanced search filters, information related to customers is just a few clicks away.

“Since we started this software category in 1987, Act! has been centered around the belief that business, especially small business, is all about relationships. Our CRM solutions enable business people to get beyond transactions and see their customers as individuals. Strengthening relationships improves retention and loyalty and drives profitability,” says Bruce Reading, CEO, of Act!.

Centralizing and leveraging client data is only one aspect of CRM. Another critical component is customer marketing. Automated, personalized email communications that educate prospects and customers provide value, and (yes) promote upsell and cross-sell opportunities – are critical to maximizing revenue by informing and engaging your clients without consuming all of your time. “Set it and forget it” email campaigns (that you can build with the Act! generative AI integration) can run all year long, amplifying your personal touch, despite resource constraints. Seasonal or short-term promotions are a snap with the included templates, and leveraging client details to build segmented audiences, is nothing short of a go-to-market game-changer.

Act! in Action

Every Act! product includes email & marketing automation, campaign builders, and segmentation tools, all seamlessly integrated with a CRM database, so you can tailor your sales and marketing strategies and target your prospects with personalized communications. The combination of a customer database with a marketing engine is a real force multiplier. Imagine logically grouping your clients, sorting every transaction, and informing it with every client conversation. Personalizing your outreach is the key to growing your revenue. Automating your outreach is the key to scaling your productivity.

As client lifecycles and purchasing habits change, e.g., retirement age, change in net worth, procurement of new products or services, these database changes ensure the marketing campaigns reflect the change, so that upgrades, renewals, and relevant promotions reach their intended targets. Whether it’s sending notice of an expiring contract, or wishing them a happy birthday, the embedded campaign builder can let you seem bigger than you are, and focus on delivering superior service.

“We believe an easy-to-use CRM integrated with marketing automation helps SMBs market more intelligently with targeted communications. They can sell more effectively by surfacing opportunities rather than having to hunt for them, and it makes customers feel special by automating meaningful communications – real outreach without all the effort,” remarks Reading.

Standing Behind Service

For most small businesses, incorporating a CRM can raise concerns about complexity and the lack of in-house IT resources. Act! understands this, and practices what it preaches about strong customer relationships, investing mightily in customer success. Every customer is assigned a dedicated Account Manager, responsible for their success—from onboarding onward. Not a chatbot, not an email response, not a knowledge base, but a real live person, no matter the size of the account.

“That’s not common in the SMB SaaS space. Unless you’re a hundred-seat shop, our competitors are not likely to assign you an account manager. We do, and their compensation is based directly on the customer satisfaction of their accounts. They are motivated to be attentive, and incentivized to solve problems,” asserts Reading.

Ensuring Success

Among the hundreds of thousands of global small and mid-size businesses that use Act! each day, one common challenge is that, while they know sales and marketing are essential to growth, they are rarely the primary focus due to limited resources and competing demands. Sales and marketing are critical for all kinds of business – from insurance, manufacturing, remodeling, and financial service to pest control – but the central focus must be delivering the core service, not on self-promotion.

Reading recounts the story of one customer, SmartVentilation. This long-time customer provides environmental remediation services and consulting. To start and grow his business, owner Wayne Dean knew he needed to spend time building prospect lists and sending marketing campaigns. Wayne used Act! to build targeted marketing campaigns capable of reaching the right people. With Act!’s assistance, he easily set up marketing campaigns on a large scale, quickly, and with minimal upfront training.

By leveraging CRM contact data, SmartVentilation’s marketing campaigns unearthed new prospect interests and identified outreach opportunities. Now, Wayne integrates state regulatory information and radon measurements into the Act! CRM. Sorting this data yields a refined list of over 450 contacts—potential business partners, installers, and clients worth pursuing. This is a critical element of Wayne’s expansion plans. “I love seeing small businesses use our software to organize their teams and prioritize their work. Wayne is a great example,” states Reading.

A Real Value

The benefits of CRM software and marketing tools are immense, and one obstacle to their adoption should not be the cost. Act! offers affordable, full-featured, and easy-to-use solutions to ensure small businesses get the features they need, without the cost and complexity they don’t. “Our solutions include features and functions that other providers simply don’t offer at our price point,” states Reading.

Act! includes team calendaring, email and activity tracking, pipeline management, text and email marketing, industry-specific templates, dashboards, and reporting. The marketing automation component includes more than 170 responsive templates, powered by a generative AI interface to craft comms and build landing pages. Act! also includes a visual workflow designer, email tracking and interaction metrics, robust DRIP marketing, and deliverability reporting. Act! all-in-one CRM and marketing automation solutions start at $30/user/month.

“While we are proud to offer lots of add-ons and integrations, we find the majority of our customers, especially as they start out with CRM, are very happy with our out-of-the-box solution,” he adds.

Still Going Strong

After more than 37 years of publishing CRM software, Act! continues to be profitable, with investors dedicated to growing the business. It benefits from a strong global network of reseller and development partners and continues to support and enhance multiple platforms. With users around the world, Act! products are sold, supported, and provisioned in English, French, German, and Dutch.,

Act! recently released a new mobile app to spur user productivity and better serve field service businesses. It will soon welcome new accounting integrations, expanded Outlook integration, and improved support for Gmail and others. Potential acquisitions of complementary technology to deliver more customer value are being considered. The company may choose to expand this footprint next year, either directly or through relationships with new partners. “We’re growing! We’re growing as a company. We’re growing the functionality within our products. We’re growing the depth and breadth of our relationships with customers, partners, and prospects. Powered by our passionate people, I know we’ll continue to deliver affordable, effective solutions for better customer relationships, and we’ll continue to strengthen our own,” concludes Reading.

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