CRM Overview

What Is Customer Relationship Management (CRM)?

CustomerRelationship Management (CRM) is often referred to as a process, strategy, or software/technology that enables organizations to manage relationships with their customers, vendors, and suppliers.

A CRM software system performs the following activities:

Collects customer data from multiple sources and applications and stores it in a centralized location

Automates repetitive sales, marketing, and customer service processes

Tracks prospects and customers through their purchase journey

Identifies upselling and cross-selling opportunities

Promotes interdepartmental collaboration

What Are the Types of CRM Software?

Holistically, we can segregate CRM tools into two categories, viz.

Based on installation/implementation

Based on functionality
CRM services

Advantages of CRM

CRM the software provides a business with a means to manage its relationships with existing customers efficiently and also helps it in identifying new leads and prospects. From storing all interactions ever made with a customer, to helping in sales automation, campaign management and customer segmentation, a customer relationship management software does it all.

Enhance sales productivity: A CRM houses all of the important customer information in one place. Need to know the last time a certain customer made a purchase? Need to know the group of people who are still waiting for a follow-up email? Need to see the current level of social media engagement? Need to lay eyes on the sales pipeline to identify the deals that need to be expedited? Need to see how well your business is doing on the sales front? You can have answers to all the above questions without having to leave the application. This helps you close more deals and increase your sales productivity. The aforementioned is backed by the survey conducted by Act! which revealed that around 48% of the 700 people who answered, believe that the CRM helped them achieve to improve the sales function.

Improved customer satisfaction: With a CRM, you can collect data from multiple sources including social media and keep it organized in one place so that you can use it when the need be. By providing attentive customer service, responding to requests timely and catering to the customer needs at all times, a business is able to improve levels of customer satisfaction. The survey by Act! also revealed that more than half (54%) of the 700 people who answered believe that the CRM helped them provide better customer service.

Improved customer retention: A mere 5% increase in customer retention can increase profits by 25% to 95% and the Act! survey reveals that around 38.5% of the responders believe that CRM helps them in increasing customer retention.

Improved efficiency: By providing a better way to manage leads, by bridging gaps between multiple departments (sales, marketing, etc.), by helping find new customers and by automating the most mundane tasks, a CRM helps in improving overall workforce efficiency. The claim can be substantiated by the Act! survey which reveals that more than half (54.37%) of the 700 responders believe that the CRM helped them in improving efficiency.

Improved analytics and reporting: A CRM acts as a central data repository eliminating the possibility of a miscalculation leading to a poor business decision. Modern CRMs also help you in creating aesthetic and insightful reports that help teams visualize business performance. A customizable, central dashboard is home to all the important statistics and information (sales goals, etc.) that managers would like to have eyes on at all times.