Should You Consider a Growth Stage CRM?

Whether you are part of an early stage or a small business, what is the best path forward for your sales and marketing stack? Let's walk through the two most common decisions made - 1) setting up a stack which will support you through all levels of potential success or 2) choosing a stack that works for you now and changing later as needed.

Many companies choose a stack which is more than they need now, but will have no risk of accommodating them when they become extremely successful. What are the upsides and what are the risks to this strategy?

Upsides

1. If your business grows according to a hockey stick chart, you most likely won't have to deal with switching your CRM, marketing automation system, etc.
2. As the complexities and sophistication of your sales and marketing efforts evolve, you know you have decided on products which can be configured in unlimited ways. 
3. By purchasing brand name systems, you have little risk of internal push back (like the old adage "No one ever got fired for buying IBM").

Risks

1. The real cost of any CRM or related sales & marketing product is the implementation and administration, and the more complex the products the more expensive the ongoing costs.
2. Most early stage and small businesses that do grow, experience two to three significant changes to their model, strategies, and goals per year. The more complex your stack, the more difficult and expensive it is to change, rendering your business less adaptable.
3. Spending a higher percentage of the limited resources you have as a small or early stage business, increases the risk for reaching your success goals in the first place. 

Many companies also choose a stack based on their current needs, conserving resources and deferring the potential need to "upgrade" to a more complex system. What are the upsides and what are the risks to this strategy?

Upsides

1. Addressing your current needs will give you a sales stack which is simpler, reducing implementation and administration costs. 
2. As your model, strategies, and goals evolve, your sales stack will more easily evolve with you, allowing you to quickly adapt to changes. 
3. Investing less in your sales stack allows your business to use more resources to improve your chances for success and give your business more time to reach your goals. 

1. If your business grows like a hockey stick, you may or may not need to upgrade your sales stack to more complex systems.
2. As the complexities and sophistication of your sales and marketing efforts evolve, your existing stack may not be able to keep up.
3. With a wide array of available options outside the "gorilla" players, if you are the decision maker you might be taking a risk going with a less proven vendor.

Only hindsight will know for sure if you made the right decision, however, there are trends which your business might fall within. If you truly believe - and all signs suggest - your business will achieve hockey stick growth in the near future, then the right decision is to plan for that near future. Only a small percentage of businesses realize that achievement, however, and it can sometimes be human nature to believe your business will be the breakout one.

Not surprisingly, the best chances for success are achieved by making decisions which give you the highest probability of success. For example, if you choose a sales stack which meets your needs now, you are deferring a high up-front investment to a potential investment down the road (which if you get there, will be a smaller percentage of your resources at that time).

We believe that maximizing your ability to quickly respond to changes in your model, and minimizing your resource spend will give your business the best chances to succeed. As such, we invite you to give VipeCloud's All-In-One CRM the opportunity to be your growth stage CRM.