CRM: what does it mean and why do I need it?

If you’re a business owner or sales manager, you will likely have heard the term CRM. It stands for Customer Relationship Management. A CRM system enables businesses to manage their relationships and the data and information associated with them.

With a CRM system, you can store customer and prospect contact information, accounts, leads and sales opportunities in one place (ideally in the cloud), for the information to be accessible.

It’s similarly built around people and relationships, which is why it can be so valuable for a fast-growing business. Any business begins with a foundation of great customer relationships. You connect with people who need your product or service. But as your company grows, these connections become more established. Customer service evolves from being simply a transaction between the seller and buyer. You begin to manage connections across time. You need to share information between people within your own organisation who are making contact with these customers.

A CRM system can act as a vital nerve centre to manage the many connections that happen in a growing business.

For small businesses, this system is still beneficial because you’ll be putting your data in the cloud, making it accessible from any device. It can then expand to include more sophisticated features. These can help you collaborate with colleagues and customers, send customised emails, gather insights, and get a holistic picture of your business health in real time.

Businesses manage customer information in various ways, such as filing systems or excel spreadsheets. These ways help in the short term. But if you want to scale for fast growth, it might be time to consider a CRM system to help you collate your data in one place, make it accessible from anywhere, and free up your time rather than letting valuable insights fall through the cracks.

We work with a wide selection of commercially available CRM systems and can help to consult you on a suitable platform for your business if you don’t already have one. We can also help to improve and manage existing CRM systems as well as help with inputting and cleansing data and ensuring that is kept up to date.

To discuss any aspect of your company’s CRM, please get in touch.