CRM System for Consulting and Professional Services: How to Build a Successful Relationship Business

Consulting and professional services is an industry where stable success is impossible without strong expertise and a flawless reputation. It is often referred to as the business of relationships. Therefore, companies that have chosen this path make their primary investments in personnel and in tools that allow them to gather vital insights whenever and wherever they are needed.

Traditionally, such a tool is CRM, and for consulting, it must be exquisite.

The main task of such a CRM system for consulting is to integrate contacts, relationships, marketing, and sales in such a way that it constantly provides accurate and meaningful metrics and allows the team to always operate with up-to-date data on current and potential clients, while having a real-time 360-degree view of interactions with them.

This can be achieved by automating and optimizing the operational business model to minimize manual processes and errors, reduce non-operational time to the minimum, and organize project management effectively.

This is how Openwork works – a well-known British company in the field of financial consulting, which has signed franchise agreements with over 650 consulting firms operating in finance and employs nearly 4,000 financial advisors.

By creating a centralized platform for client interaction based on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and adding simple configurations that ensure flexibility when connecting data sources, standardizing processes, and enabling efficient collaboration among all consultants, the company has managed to achieve a leading position.

Another consulting company that has succeeded in building relationship business on the Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform is Ingram Micro.

This well-known business consulting company helps clients worldwide achieve their business goals based on a deep understanding of their data.

“Must-Be” Functionality of CRM Systems for Consulting and Professional Services

When assessing the necessary functionality for a CRM system in consulting and professional services, it is crucial to understand that its primary task is to transform expertise into a product that generates profit.

When choosing a CRM for consulting and the service industry, it’s important to clearly define the requirements for both basic functionality and “specific” functionality, dictated by the characteristics of the industry.

In particular, the specifics of this business are determined by the fact that companies working in the service sector must optimize lead acquisition processes, shorten the path of potential clients through the sales funnel, and maximize automation of client management.

Basic CRM Functionality for Consulting That Will Ensure No Interaction with Leads, Potential, and Existing Clients Is Lost

• Contact Management: A key function that allows central storage and organization of client data in a user-friendly way, including potential clients. The solution should provide the team with tools for quick access to the database from any device, with easy data input capabilities.
• Interaction History: A good CRM system helps collect data from every call, email, or task. It should also offer the possibility of creating a notification system for effective planning of future interactions with potential and existing clients.
• Client Segmentation and Personalization of Offers: The presence of tools to group clients according to a clear and convenient logic. A centralized and structured approach ensures that no data is lost and provides the team with comprehensive information necessary for personalizing every call, email, and offer. Segmented client data is the foundation of an effective targeted marketing strategy.
• Marketing Campaign and Sales Automation: In consulting, it is especially important to have efficient tools for automating sales, marketing, and client service processes. Special attention should be given to email automation solutions. Specifically, it’s crucial to provide the ability to send bulk emails for mass messaging and personalize communication with email templates. Additionally, it’s important to automate the sales funnel creation and visualize it. This includes tools that allow task flows to be formed and their performance to be tracked.
• Analytics and Reporting: Generating reports to support accurate forecasting and informed decision-making. In particular, tools for real-time tracking and analysis of marketing campaigns and sales results are critically important.

Additional CRM Features That Will Provide Competitive Advantages for Consulting

• Control of Marketing and Advertising Campaigns and Efficient Project Management: This includes the ability to break large tasks into stages and sub-tasks to ensure complete control and a clear overall picture. The availability of task automation tools is critically important; tracking the effectiveness of task execution and gathering reports on completed work is key.
• Tools for Organizing Effective Teamwork: This is facilitated by creating a reminder system, allowing teams to plan interactions with leads, potential, and existing clients.
• Team Performance Monitoring: Consulting, as a relationship-based business, relies heavily on consultant motivation. Therefore, it is crucial not only to track the status of specific tasks in real-time but also to have metrics to assess the overall effectiveness of each team member. Tools for building a relevant bonus and reward calculation system are essential.

How SMART business Solution Strengthened AQUA plus’s Client-Oriented Strategy in a Family Business

SMART business, a leading Microsoft partner, has been helping clients from 65 countries worldwide increase the profitability of their businesses through automation and optimization of key business processes for 16 years.

Among our clients are large retail companies, postal services, world-renowned restaurant chains, powerful manufacturing and IT companies, educational institutions, and service businesses.

For consulting and professional service businesses, a great example of mutually beneficial cooperation is the Ukrainian company AQUA plus. The company offers a full range of water purification services, including the installation, maintenance, and reconstruction of water treatment systems. It is recognized as the leader in the water treatment industry in Western Ukraine.

This success was achieved primarily thanks to the client-centric strategy adopted from the outset. However, at a certain point, the significant expansion of the customer base posed a real challenge for the company.

To continue providing consistently high levels of service, the company needed additional tools that would allow efficient control of all tasks across its entire client base. For example, ensuring timely replacement of filter cartridges in installed systems, as this is essential for guaranteeing consistently high water quality.

AQUA plus is a young, ambitious team with a clear vision of how the company should evolve. An unconventional approach requires unconventional solutions. Therefore, the search for appropriate software was conducted alongside the search for a suitable vendor. The main requirements for the solution included:

• The ability to fully migrate data from the previous system, as the company’s clients are its core asset.
• Compliance with the highest data protection standards.
• Simplicity and ease of use for managers.
• Extensive functionality and customization options to meet the unique needs of the business.
• Availability of convenient tools for configuring reports to analyze the performance of each manager.

Equally important for the company was the high expertise of the implementation team, which would clearly understand the needs and propose only the necessary features, ready to customize them if required to maximize business efficiency.

Another key “must-be” was training the staff to use the new software and providing ongoing support, not only during the implementation phase.

After a convincing demonstration, the SMART business team began the implementation of the SMART Order Management solution.

 

For AQUA plus, upgrading their IT ecosystem meant not only moving to a higher level of business process optimization but also discontinuing the use of russian software in favor of solutions that enable future development.

Replacing Bitrix24 with a Microsoft-based solution was viewed as “upgrading from a bicycle to a modern car”.

During the project implementation, all customer data, including interaction history, was fully migrated. These data are now structured and stored in a centralized environment with team access. The data is securely stored thanks to Microsoft technologies, is easy to use, and can be easily analyzed.

The implementation of the SMART Order Management solution improved and automated order processing. The system allows tasks to be conveniently assigned to employees, performance to be tracked, information to be exchanged quickly, and bottlenecks to be addressed promptly.

As a result, personnel now spend significantly less time handling customer inquiries and can focus on improving the quality of interactions, which immediately led to an increase in customer satisfaction levels.

The SMART Connector for GMS was also implemented, optimizing communication with potential and existing customers by enabling bulk and triggered SMS and Viber messaging, with results analytics and instant synchronization with the CRM system.

The SMART business team didn’t just implement modern software for AQUA plus to solve a specific task; we provided the client with a powerful tool that enables flexibility in adapting to changes in business processes and market conditions, and scalability when needed.

Our solutions are modular, allowing for the expansion of system functionality according to the client’s requirements. For instance, if the company decides to free service staff from routine tasks and integrate a chatbot into client communications, we have a ready solution that can be deployed within days.

Moreover, one of the advantages of the platform is the ability for the client to independently or with our help modify built-in processes to better suit their needs.

Thus, the SMART Order Management solution successfully aligned with AQUA plus’s ambitious growth strategy and is now effectively contributing to the achievement of the company’s key business goals.

Why Businesses Choose SMART CRM

The SMART business CRM system is a comprehensive platform for automating sales, marketing, and service management, built on Microsoft technologies. It offers all the classic functionality of a high-quality CRM, as well as a suite of useful “nice to have” features.

In particular, it provides:

• The ability to create a unified environment for working with consumers and storing interaction history, regardless of which channel the interaction took place through.
• The implementation of omnichannel communication, with the ability to integrate popular messengers (WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Viber, Telegram) and chatbot in a single window.
• Enabling customers to communicate without limitations with their consultants and easily make orders, pay for them, and receive services thanks to integrations with popular payment systems and communication and delivery services. This includes integrations with PayPal; Rozetka; GMS, Infobip; eSputnik; Nova Poshta, Ukrposhta, and InPost delivery services; Binotel, Ringostat, and Stream Telecom IP telephony providers; connectors for UAPAY, plata by mono (monopay), and Przelewy24 have been implemented. The list can be significantly expanded as customer needs often drive our developments.

Why do successful businesses from around the world choose SMART business? Primarily because of our team’s high level of expertise. We don’t just implement the full range of vendor products but also develop our own automation and optimization tools for business solutions, addressing specific operational challenges for our clients.

We help businesses remain highly effective, manageable, and predictable, always staying one step ahead in today’s dynamic environment.

Want to learn how SMART business CRM can enhance your business? Request a free consultation here.

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