What does CRM mean?

August 12, 2015

Customer Relationship Management is a term that can be confusing to most people who are interested in knowing what CRM means. Perhaps you’ve been told your business needs a CRM database or maybe a friend that works in sales has told you to look up some new service. Either way there’s no doubting the power and flexibility that the right CRM solution can do for your business

What sounds like a marketing buzzword is actually a foundation to operate your business. Successful use of CRM software can improve communication and efficiency across your business.

CRM is a software or interface that controls and handles your leads, clients, vendors, etc... and helps keeps this information organized for marketing and sales purposes. This central database not only tracks contact details. CRM software can store emails, meetings, phone calls and log sales prospects.

Benefits of CRM

Being able to clearly and effectively organize your data to streamline your business and increase conversion and revenue is one of the true keys to a successful CRM system. Some of the more powerful CRM programs can change the way your sales team operates, and can analyze key performance indicators.

Marketing your brand and product becomes instantly easier with a CRM platform, using the right resources to convert leads to sales. But this isn’t the only area where a CRM can help your company improve efficiency. CRM software can unlock your support team’s true potential and allows them to build and support relationships with your most important customers.

Customer service is nearly impossible in this day and age without the proper CRM control. Keeping logs and track of past issues can help identify potential product or service issues, to minimize error and waste.

Without the use of a customer management system, keeping track of these records and data would be nearly impossible to organize and even harder to use. This is why your business needs the right CRM solution to truly foster an environment of growth and productivity.

How to Choose a CRM

When you want to find the best CRM platform for your business, it’s often best to ask yourself what you need it for. Are you changing the way your sales team gathers and follows up on sales leads? Try looking into a software solution that keeps track of sales leads and insights on prospects that seem most interested.

Do you need a new way to keep track of your sales and customer support issues? Find a flexible and scalable CRM that can grow using your customer database as the foundation of a successful and long term model.

Many corporations use a customer relationship management system as an internal network for many B2B transactions. When your business needs a way to keep track of contacts on a large scale level, the CRM can become a unique solution to your problem. Try to find the right platform that can provide a comprehensive solution to handle your business contacts, phone numbers and tasks.

Social networks have also become a big part of the way businesses interact with their customers, and CRM’s are no different in this regard. Many newer CRM platforms can combine social contact information to make prospect leads easy for your sales representatives to follow.

When you want to make the choice on which CRM your company should be using it can be a difficult decision to make. One of the best ways to do it is through a company audit to determine what the needs of your corporation are.

Finding out what your employees need to become more productive can help you discover what they need. Carefully plotting out areas where your company needs support can assist you in making the educated choice. Without this solid foundation to make your decision, you might make the wrong choice which could lead to lost time and money.

If you have an existing marketing platform in place, this is yet again another factor to consider when making your CRM choice. Integration should be seamless and invasive to make this transition, and if you believe that it could be a problem, you might want to rethink your choices.

Ultimately deciding on a CRM is the best way to improve communication within your company and equip your sales and marketing teams with the means to increase revenue. For your company to enjoy success and maintain it now as well as the foreseeable future, you need a proper platform to build your customer base and corporate brand.

This vital connection to your brand is made possible through the use of the right CRM to propel your business ahead of the competition. Ultimately the recipe for your success hinges on your company’s ability to please and connect to your customers.

This becomes much easier when your employees are equipped with information about them, giving them the tools to personalize the support experience and help your company thrive.

Many cloud CRM solutions (also know as software-as-a-service) provide free trial periods which are a good way to decide if that CRM is right for your business.  Sign up for Zoho CRM Basic which includes a "forever free" plan that provides the most basic of CRM functions.  But some CRM is much better than no CRM.