Did you know the cost of acquiring new clients is five times higher than the cost of retaining existing customers? That’s exactly why building a seamless client experience strategy is vital for the success of any small business. One tool that can significantly improve your strategy is a Client Relationship Management (CRM) system.

But not every CRM system is equal, so when it comes to choosing the right one to optimize your operations and elevate your client experience, here’s everything you need to know to make the right choice, along with my number one recommendation.

Factors to Consider

The core purpose of a client relationship management (CRM) system is to provide a central place where you can capture the information of leads and current clients, track communication, and share information. It’s exactly what it sounds like, a place to manage the relationships you have with your clients.

At the bare minimum, your CRM system should have the ability to send invoices (preferably automatically), receive payments (preferably via credit card and bank transfer), sign contracts, capture lead information, and utilize templates. 

But if you want a system that’s better than average and offers more streamlined process, you’ll want to consider these factors as well:

1. Ease of Use – both behind the scenes and for clients
2. Aesthetic – how customizable is it
3. Automation/Integration – how well does it work with the other systems you use
4. Reporting – how easy is it to capture lead, client, and project data for analyzing trends
5. Price – what is the monthly cost to use it
6. Scheduling – are clients able to schedule meetings within the system

4 Common Client Experience Issues That a CRM Can Solve

Imagine if the next time someone filled out the contact form on your website, you were instantly notified via email and that potential client instantly received a brochure outlining your services and asking them to make a selection or book a call through your automated scheduler. 

Then once they submitted their selections, you could send a customized contract, invoice and onboarding questionnaire in minutes from an app on your phone, and your new client could review the file, pay their invoice, see their upcoming payments, and all email communication in one easy to access portal.  

You could say goodbye to manually scheduling calls, getting ghosted on discovery calls, chasing down late payments, spending hours on billing, and struggling to maintain client boundaries because they don’t fully understand your process. 

That’s what happens when you implement a CRM, here’s exactly how a CRM can help fix all of those operational headaches.

Manually scheduling calls

Tired of going back-and-forth with “when are you free?!” emails when trying to schedule calls with potential and current clients? Say goodbye to excessive emails with automated scheduling inside your CRM.

By integrating your call scheduler with your Google calendar, allowing clients to access your real-time availability without the hassle of email chains. Plus, seamless integration with platforms like Zoom ensures clients receive the meeting link right alongside their booking confirmation (no more sending out Zoom meeting invite emails), making the process a breeze for everyone involved. 

Clients ghosting you on calls

Ever experienced the frustration of logging on for a scheduled call, only to find yourself waiting for a client who never shows up? Such a waste of time. But, with the right CRM, you can significantly reduce the likelihood of no-shows. 

Take advantage of features like one-click cancellation and rescheduling, giving your clients  the flexibility to easily adapt for unexpected changes in their schedule and ensuring you get advance notice of that change. Additionally, CRM’s that offer automated email and text reminders make a huge difference in reducing no-shows, by serving as a friendly nudge to ensure your clients don’t forget about their appointments. 

Chasing down client payments and getting paid late

How many times have you spent hours billing clients only to find yourself chasing down overdue payments weeks later?

With the right CRM system, you can eliminate manual billing and late payments for good with autopay. With auto-pay functionality, you only need to create the invoice once, and your clients only have to enter their payment information once, after that the system takes over and sends the invoice automatically and processes your clients payment automatically. The only time you’ll need to step in is for a change of price/service or if your client’s payment method is declined. This is a game changer for service providers that work with clients on a recurring basis.

Plus, automatic payment reminders ensure that you maintain clear communication with your clients about their financial obligations. And with the time-saving benefit of auto-deposit to your bank account, you won’t need to manually transfer your funds each month. 

Still worried about overdue payments? Choose a CRM that gives you the ability to automatically assess a set percentage late fee when an invoice goes unpaid past its due date. 

Clunky Onboarding

Client onboarding is not only important when it comes to making a great first impression on a new client, it’s super helpful to eliminate time consuming emails back and forth asking and answering questions. Sending a client onboarding guide at the beginning of your relationship with a client helps set expectations about goals, deadlines, communication boundaries, and proactively answer any frequently asked questions before they even have a chance to ask.

With the right CRM you’ll be able to create on-brand informational guides that elevate the welcome period for your new clients, as well as build an interactive experience with built in questionnaires for your clients to share information, upload files, and submit to you before the project even kicks off.

In short, you could eliminate the four most common client management issues and cut the time it takes to manage your clients in half (or more) while also creating a simple and professional experience that your clients would rave over – just by implementing a CRM. Do I have you convinced yet? Great, now here’s my number one recommendation.

My CRM recommendation

As a marketing and operations manager for female owned small businesses, I’ve worked in just about every CRM there is (Dubsado, Notion, 17hats, Bonsai, and even Zoho) and the best one by far is Honeybook. 

Not only can Honeybook fix all of the common issues I mentioned above, it’s top of the line for many of the other factors you should consider, like: 

Ease of Use (it’s extremely user friendly for both business owners and clients)  

Aesthetics (it’s extremely customizable and can be tailored to fit any brand)

Automation/Integration (it integrates seamlessly with most major tools like Google Calendar, Calendly, Zoom, Google Meet, and Zapier and has advanced automation capabilities)

Reporting (you can access detailed client and financial reports in seconds) 

Price (with plans beginning as low as $16 per month)

So, if you’re ready to elevate your client experience with Honeybook, try it for 50% off your first year.

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In case we haven’t met yet, I’m Michaela – a content marketer, systems architect, and chaos coordinator (aka the virgo energy to your creative spirit). 

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