A CRM is a Customer Relationship Management system and is used throughout the corporate world by companies to track their customers and relevant information about them. Now a lot of people see these systems as the enemy within the corporate world, BUT they can be one of your most valuable assets… when used RIGHT!
The reason most people don’t like them in the corporate world is because they are set up by MANAGERS! Meaning that the functionality within the system is there to monitor performance, rather than help people. As a result, systems like this get a bad name and this has then trickled down to the rest of the world. But this won’t affect you, because you get to make your OWN decisions and build your system for exactly what you want, and to give you that competitive advantage!
With huge amounts of functionality, a CRM is a brilliant asset for being able to store a plethora of information about your existing customers and potential leads to allow you to truly streamline your sales process.
There are LOTS of different CRM’s out there that are built for you, and you can build your own, as in reality it is just a database of information relating to account management and sales! They also do not just cover the front end sales processes, but some also have operations elements in them that can help you after the contract has been signed, which really is where the magic of these systems comes into their own to give you a full holistic view of your customer base and how to maximise its potential.
Depending on your budget, what you want to achieve with them and how much you will actually use it (or you AND your team will use it!) will depend on the types of things you can have access to! It is best to really understand what you want BEFORE you dive into looking at systems so you don’t end up in a rabbit hole!
