What is Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

What is CRM?

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It refers to a software application that helps companies improve their relationships with customers. It is primarily meant for sales teams of all sizes, but is also used by teams like marketing (to plan their email campaigns) and customer support (to leverage sales information while responding to tickets).

A typical CRM system lets users do many things. They can maintain a database of leads, manage their sales pipelines, send, receive and track emails, create reports, automate repetitive actions and integrate with other applications for enhanced productivity. Some CRM systems also offer built-in phone, making it easier for sales professionals to make calls. CRMs are built for the desktop and laptop, but today they’re also available as mobile apps.

The benefits of a CRM system are:

Clarity in sales outreach: All information about leads is available under one roof. Sales professionals don’t need to switch between spreadsheets, email clients and sticky notes for that vital piece of information.  

Effective communication made easier: Shared data in the CRM system makes it simpler for all members of a sales team to stay on the same page. No needless back-and-forth, no information slipping through the cracks.

Reduced data entry: CRMs can automatically pull information about leads from emails, signup forms and call records. They can also automate repetitive activities, like sending welcome emails to new leads.

Cleaner pipelines: With instant visibility into all deals on the table, reps and managers can prioritize faster and ensure there are no stale deals clogging the pipeline.

More selling opportunities: In a CRM, you can see your customer’s interaction with your website and your product—basically their entire relationship with your business. This data can help you up-sell and cross-sell with higher chances of success.

CRMs used to be hosted on physical servers, but they’ve moved to the cloud now. You can buy CRMs on a subscription, customize the application and not worry about paying for the server. Your data remains secure too.

To reinstate, CRM software are mainly meant for sales teams, but they can also be used by teams like marketing and customer support. By integrating with marketing automation tools like MailChimp, CRMs help marketing teams orchestrate email campaigns and measure results. And by integrating with customer support helpdesks like Freshdesk, your support teams can leverage sales context to add value to their conversations on tickets. The ability to integrate with different applications and share information in real time is another huge advantage with CRMs.

Here’s a list of elements that make up a complete CRM. This list is handy when you’re looking to pick the right CRM for your business:

• Built-in phone

• Email

• Contact database

• A visual sales pipeline

• Reports (created with templates and through customizations)

• Event tracking (tracking prospects’/customers’ behaviour on your website/in your product)

• Workflows (to automate repetitive tasks)