Jay LeonardIn this modern age of having software to manage every aspect of a business, you’ve probably stumbled upon the term “CRM.” With any luck you know that it stands for “Customer Relationship Management.” Those words individually make sense, but together, what do they mean? What is CRM? The concept of the CRM is actually pretty easy. It represents two things: the software and the strategy.
The CRM software
The software side of CRM is the easier of the two. Popular CRM software include Salesforce, Infusionsoft, Nimble, and SugarCRM. And while there are a litany of others our there, those are just a few of the heavy hitters.
Now, there are a few things you should be able to do with any given CRM:
- Track conversations – As a relationship management tool, you’d need conversations to be tracked for later review or as a reminder. And now, with CRMs becoming more feature rich, social media conversations are also tracked.
- Customer data tracking/management – Customer data is invaluable. What did the customer buy from you? What’s their phone number? Are there any documents related to this customer?
- Reports – Track your performance. There’s no use spending a ton of effort without knowing how well you or your team is doing.
- Workflows – Automate processes. It’s a serious time saver.
The CRM strategy
OK. You know what it does — but how do you use it? The strategy of customer relationship management can further be broken down into two large groups: sales/marketing and customer service.
As a sales person or marketer, it’s important to keep track of anyone in your pipeline from the time they’re a lead all the way to the time they become a customer and beyond, whether it be from inbound marketing or direct sales. The CRM process (coupled with great software) will allow you to do just that.
If in a team, you’ll be able to see real-time data on performance, delegate accounts among employees, and spend fewer hours overall messing with data so you can focus on what matters most: relationship management.
When used as a means for customer service, the notion of CRM changes a tad. Instead of working with a sales pipeline, you’re working to deliver excellent customer service, whether it be through email, social media, or by going where the questions are being asked.
Looking for more info on CRMs? Check out how we compare with Nimble.
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This article was written for Business 2 Community by Jay Leonard.
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Great article Ouzy. I believe it is important for firms to know what CRM platforms are and how they can be a very useful tool. A CRM platform provides endless possibilities for a firm to grow and be successful. They are designed to strengthen the relationship between firms and their clients, thus creating more revenue. Aside from the basic CRM functions that you mentioned, like tracking communication between firms and clients or creating reports, many systems have developed more intricate features that are aimed at making a firm successful. One of these CRM platforms is GreenRope. They are a complete CRM platform that integrates all of its features into one central location and provides efficient and advanced features like predictive analytics and social media integration. It is essential for firms to realize the impact that an efficient and complete CRM platform can have in making them successful.
Hey Oscar,
Thanks for the kind words! And you hit it right on the head: “A CRM platform provides endless possibilities for a firm to grow and be successful. They are designed to strengthen the relationship between firms and their clients.” And how you do that is up to you, since CRMs are so versatile.
I haven’t heard of GreenRope, but I’ll take a look!
These days the question is no longer whether to implement a CRM system, but which one to choose. More and more providers are present in the market, with options on offer that are increasingly varied. One of the most important characteristics of a good vendor is flexibility: the possibility of adjusting your CRM’s mobility, adding functionalities as your business grows or switching between on-premise and cloud based solutions are only a few to mention. When choosing a solution for your business, you might want to have a look at our ‘Ensuring your CRM delivers’ guide, published by Maximizer earlier this year.
Mike Richardson, Managing Director – EMEA, Maximizer Software