Part 1: What is CRM?

Anyone who has their own business will probably have heard of CRM - but believe it or not a great deal of these people don't actually understand what it means.

In short CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, but this is a very general term and it does not really take into account the full scope of what a CRM solution really means.

Obviously, customers are the backbone of any business- without them a business would fail. CRM or the implementation of a CRM service is a way that a business would go about organizing, handling and tracking its customers and potential customers. To do this successfully a specific CRM software program is used, this is typically a multi featured type of software program which can then be altered to suit the individual business.

There are of course some features of a CRM software program that all businesses will use such as:

• Customer contact details - it is essential that these are kept up-to-date and accurate as communication with customers is crucial to any business.
• Customer order details - once again it is essential that these details are up-to-date and accurate as they are needed to process jobs and create invoices.
• Quoting and invoicing tools - having such tools within a CRM program means that users do not have to have several programs open at once.
• Outstanding debt and payment information.
• Current tasks/jobs that outstanding and in which department.
• Employee information, this can be anything from employee contact information and departmental information to information relating to employee wages and holidays.
  

Using CRM correctly should mean that all customer transactions and interactions are fluid and efficient. Customer relationship management is becoming one of the most fundamental aspects of any business and it can mean the difference between increased profits through repeat sales and customer dissatisfaction.

CRM also plays a large role in targeted marketing to businesses, it can help a business plan a marketing strategy based on previous sales figures. This means that money is not wasted on marketing campaigns targeting the wrong demographic, something which all too often happens to many businesses. Similarly CRM can also be a huge help to sales staff when they are speaking on the phone to customers as it can help them to identify trends in customer’s habits which can then enable them to up sell products and increase profits.

Using CRM in any business is a step in the right direction, particularly if they have previously been no kind of customer management in place. Thankfully CRM providers recognize how difficult it can be to implement a new customer relationship management software program and with this in mind the programs are very easy to use. In fact many require minimal training before their use and staff can learn to use the program as they are using it.

CRM can make all the difference to any business who values its customers and wants to implement more streamlined and efficient working practices.

Part 2:  Who actually uses CRM?