How the business of a CRM integrator works — an interview with Serhii Tymchuk

Hello!

I’m Serhii Soloviov, CEO of Solve Marketing. Today I’m going to talk to Serhii Tymchuk, our partner and CEO of CRM Solutions.

What we will discuss:

why Ukrainian businesses continue to use Russian CRMs;
software to automate the transition from Russian CRMs;
how much CRM costs and what the price consists of.

And other interesting topics.

— Serhii, I’m glad to invite you to our interview. Today we’re going to talk about you, CRM integrations, and more.

So, let’s get started! Self-presentation trainings teach you how to tell about yourself, your business, and its benefits in one minute. Can you do it?)

— I can’t say that I’m great at it, but I’ll demonstrate:

My name is Serhii Tymchuk. I am the CEO of CRM Solutions and the founder of the volunteer support center that we launched during the full-scale war in Ukraine.

CRM Solutions is engaged in the implementation of CRM systems that people are happy to use. Our goal is to help our clients increase sales and facilitate the work of the sales and customer service departments.

How a CRM business integrator works — an interview with Serhii Tymchuk

— Very cool! I still have information about you and your project, so I think you’re good at it. You and I both know that quick self-presentation skills are taught in case of a short meeting with a famous person or businessman in an elevator. In this case, you have less than a minute to say something and schedule a meeting.

What was the most important thing that changed for you on February 24?

— I began to realize what I really wanted and what I didn’t. I stopped putting up with things I didn’t like. I lost a lot of unnecessary filters, hopes, and stopped moving in directions that were difficult for me. I realized that I have the opportunity to live, so every day should be full and useful, so that I could be satisfied with it. That is, I started living consciously.

For example, a week ago I was talking to my friends after yoga, where we were standing on nails, and we came to the conclusion that our lives have become brighter and more intense than they were before the war.

This happened precisely because of the desire to live.

But in the first month of the war it was very difficult, we were trying to figure out what to do next. And here I was once again convinced that I could react quickly to the changes. That’s why I felt like a fish in water. I quickly solved problems and did not even fully understand what was happening.

When I was left alone with myself, I realized all the horrors that were happening and decided to busy myself with something useful. Then I created one volunteer project, which later transformed into another.

— What do you think are the prospects in Ukraine? What does the near future hold for us?

— For some time we will live in the current situation. It will last at least six months. After the war, the economy will recover and the consciousness of the Ukrainian people will be transformed in a positive way. However, this is a long process, and we need to prepare for the consequences of which in order to cope with the opportunities that will be waiting for us.

If we are not ready for this, we will be overwhelmed by the number of offers, money, and the obligation to provide our services and perform our functions. Therefore, we need to prepare ourselves and our team for positive changes in Ukraine.

This brings to mind the mission of our company, which, in a loose paraphrase, sounds like this:

To improve the quality of service with the help of automation tools, which will help the client to receive high-quality service, and the business to increase its throughput and earn more.

We are currently helping businesses to stay afloat and compensate for the downturn. And when the situation stabilizes, we will help them cope with growth.

But the business situation is certainly quite difficult, as you know.

— And so we’re back to CRM. How much does it cost?

— All the money in the world 🙂

The cost of CRM depends on what kind of business you have, what business processes you have in it, and what you want to get from the system in general.

A simple CRM system can cost an average of $8-10 per month per user. It is suitable for those who are just starting a business, and you can try to set up such a system yourself.

More advanced systems cost an average of $40-50 per month per user.

The price consists of three components:

the cost of integrators’ work;
the cost of the license of the CRM system itself to use it;
the cost of creating additional functions that are not in the system or connecting existing modules to the current system.

Of course, in wartime, we set the most loyal prices.

Cost of work

Integration of a simple system will cost from $300. The price includes the terms of reference, setup, training, and technical support after we have done everything to ensure that the client understands that everything will be fine. Integration of more complex systems will cost from $800 and more.

The cost of the license

A license to use the system can cost from $5. Everything will depend on the number of users. The more users, the higher the cost.

The cost of customization

The cost of revision is the most personalized thing, as it requires studying the existing project and the complexity of the technical task. On average, it costs $100-150 per task.

— After the outbreak of a full-scale war, how many businesses started switching from Russian CRM systems to others?

— Almost everyone wanted to switch. But only 10-15% actually did it.

Why is this happening? There are two main reasons:

First, when a business has been developing a Bitrix-based system for many years, it decided to switch, but found out that a similar system would cost 2-3 times more. And they don’t have the money for it.

The second is when a business really wants to switch to another CRM system, but doesn’t understand what exactly to do. In this case, it’s much easier for us to help, as the client can get all the necessary information and make a decision in one consultation.

Of course, there are many other factors that influence what people want to do and what they can do.

You have to understand that there are about 10% of people who don’t care.

They say: “Business is business”, “I don’t want to change anything because I’m happy with my CRM system or Bitrix”, and so on.

— Isn’t there a Ukrainian CRM vendor that has come up with a convenient connector that you just plug into the AMO and it simply pulls everything in? It’s a gold mine:)

— There is such a system, but it is not Ukrainian. But not all data can be pulled through the API.

Some systems specifically design their architecture so that it cannot be replicated or would be difficult to do so. This is done to retain customers so they don’t go to competitors.

— Still, do you think the transition from Russian to Ukrainian systems is a matter of time, or will many businesses remain on Russian CRMs?

— It depends on the industry. We have a very developed system for the commodity business. They will easily switch to Ukrainian systems there. Other areas, on the other hand, will think carefully before doing so.

We have a Ukrainian system, but it is of an international level — Terrasoft.

But their pricing starts at $2000 for implementation. For our small and medium-sized business, this is very expensive, especially now. And their license now costs $20, with a discount for Ukrainian businesses. The usual price is $40-$50 per month for foreign companies.

— What changes have taken place in your business since February 24?

— Previously, we didn’t look much into the future. But now we are striving to optimize certain processes in the company more strategically.

— When I talk about a system business, I mean the organized work of several separate departments that work as a single organism. It can consist of production, sales, marketing, and other systems.

That is, our marketing department works to attract leads, requests, and builds a brand. Then the sales system has to process these leads efficiently, giving the customer exactly what they need. Next, the production department has to fully deliver what the customer needs and even more to exceed their expectations. That is, they should get better than what they expected. That’s what I mean by system business.

— Then yes, we are trying to build a systemic business 🙂

— How do you look for people to join your team?

— I have a circle of people who trust me. When I just make a post on social media, they find me by themselves. Then we do a basic selection. There are not many interviews because the candidates are adequate. Thus, I have formed sales, customization, and external marketing departments as our partner.

— So people come to you on their own. How do you attract them?

— This is not a question for me, but for those people 🙂

First, I try to always develop. Despite my experience, I realize that I don’t know something or can’t do something. So I am open to new things, I can see how it is done. This helps me find more opportunities for interaction and cooperation.

Secondly, I am a sincere person who cannot lie. I really want to help people. This trait resonates with people who resonate with me.

And then there’s my reputation. When people come to me, I try to bring them more benefits. Even if something goes wrong, I will do my best to make sure it doesn’t hinder me.

For example, today there was a situation with one of my partners. I was given an opportunity, but my partner made a mistake. I shared the risks with him and minimized them. I could have told him: “This is your problem. Goodbye!”. But if we are in a boat together, we are sailing.

If something goes wrong, I’ll warn you in advance, we’ll get there, I’ll give you my oars, tell you where to go, push you and then I’ll swim in the right direction myself. But in such a way that everything is super:)

I also have a good sense of people — I got it from my father. I studied profiling in order to understand what kind of character and physical characteristics I need people with, and what stage of life they are in.

It helps me not to be under any illusions and to clearly understand what kind of personality traits I need. This way I understand who to cooperate with and who not to cooperate with.

If you see that you may still need this person, but in other scopes, then you just remember about them and cooperate on other issues.

In general, I recommend learning profiling!

At first, I started studying it to understand myself. When I came to self-understanding, I realized that I needed people to complement me.

For example, I don’t really like to do tasks that require prolonged concentration. I can do it, but it takes a lot of energy. So I’m looking for people who like such tasks. That is, I generate ideas and tasks, and they fulfill them. I focus on this during the interview.

— It’s a cool metaphor with a boat and the people who sail in it. Because when you start working with someone, whether it’s a partner or a team, you’re all in the same boat, so the responsibility lies with the people and with you.

— Exactly!

— How do you find clients? Also through profiling? 🙂

— Unfortunately, no. But still, thanks to my observation and communication experience, I understand whether it makes sense to cooperate with a particular client. But this is an intuitive thing.

Profiling helps me identify people who are also result-oriented. So profiling helps me to establish a connection with clients, to understand how to communicate with them, and how to attract a client to our company.

There are moments when a client does not go further with us, but after a while they come back to us, recommend us to their friends, because we have inspired their trust and they realize that they can come to us.

Nowadays, many people come to me for recommendations. Before the war started, we experimented with advertising. But in general, it is building a partner network, business community, etc.

In other words, the lead generation channels are as follows:

recommendations from other clients, in other words, word of mouth;
business clubs and communities;
partner network with companies in related industries;
advertising on social networks.

In June 2022, CRM Solutions started working with Solve Marketing. Our goal is to set up effective lead generation channels, build an expert content factory, and make the company a leader in its segment.

— And which channel is more active after the war and gives more results?

— Advertising generates more leads, and partners’ recommendations bring in more customers. The latter channel demonstrates a conversion rate of almost 100%. When it comes to leads, people make decisions differently:

Some are quick and need it “yesterday”;
someone says: “My business is not working”, “let’s do it later”, “let’s do it after the war”, “I still have a valid license on the old system”.

— If you could remove one thing from your business that hinders development, what would it be?

— I would eliminate the fact that people buy integration but don’t use CRM.

We provide our clients with training and help them adapt, but it takes some extra time to make sure that managers really understand the CEO or other key person. On our part, we try to help our clients sincerely and tell them to ask questions. I believe this is because they do not fully understand what they have bought. We try to explain it to them so that they understand why it is important for their business.

There are also clients who understand this, but there are other factors involved: they don’t have time to manage and control their employees properly or they are focused on other things.

I would turn this off and introduce magic, so that people who have ordered CRM integration use 100% of the functionality we have provided.

This would increase conversion, recommendations, and simply the satisfaction of the team itself, because we put a piece of our soul into each project.

— What is the ideal service for your clients that they are ready to queue up for?

— For me, it’s when a client feels that some additional superpower has connected to them, which gives them many opportunities. This is in terms of customer perception of the service.

And this feeling remains all the time, not just until the customer has made a payment.

How we realize this: each client is assigned a manager who is constantly helping the client. Even after we have implemented and trained, this manager keeps in touch with the client so that they can ask for help even six months later.

In this way, our company is perceived as a friend who will always come to the rescue — this is the kind of association that should be created.

In general, it looks like this:

a client comes to us and we communicate with them in detail;
based on the communication, we present an ideal picture of the system’s operation;
we customize the CRM system based on their wishes;
we conduct training so that managers understand what exactly is happening and how it is going to work;
provide support and assistance.

But as we all know, there is no such thing as an ideal. We should always try to do something better than yesterday. Then we will always move forward, and our clients will want to work with us.

— Thank you for an interesting conversation. I sincerely wish your business success, as this approach to work and to clients personally inspires deep respect in me. I propose to talk to you in six months and see what results you have achieved.