CRM is a mix of strategy and technology. It uses data to boost sales and better understand customers. Its success is contingent upon the business creating and implementing a strategy for using CRM tools.
CRM is a program that lets businesses keep track of prospect and customer data, track interactions, automate marketing campaigns, and generate reports. It allows businesses to communicate and interact with customers and prospects through a variety of channels such as text messages, email and other social media platforms.
CRM isn’t only for sales. It can be utilized in any department within a company. For instance the billing department can make use of CRM to track sales commissions, look over contracts and compare projections to actual revenues. Marketing departments can use it to detect trends that will help them target customers better.
Each time a sales staff communicates with a customer or meets a lead or follows up on an existing lead, they create floods of data. The data was typically stored on a physical media such as notebooks and laptops, or in the heads of team members. CRM systems permit data to be gathered and stored in one central location which can be shared immediately with all employees of the company regardless of the method they employ.
And the most advanced CRMs are integrated with AI and machine learning in order to interpret the data and provide actionable insights for each opportunity. The business can then optimize their customer experience, and increase engagement to increase retention and loyalty.