From Contact Management to CRM

Any company that needs to keep better track of their customers-because of sheer volume of clients or complexity of the sales process-could use CRM. Companies that want to keep and grow their current clients can use CRM to unlock the full value of their customers.

With sales people on the road and offices scattered around the country, if not the world, CRM can also greatly increase visibility into the sales cycle and make sure that there are no nasty surprises at the end of the next financial quarter.

Customer Relationship Management is also a great way to get visibility into the company itself to see what sales practices are working best and what needs tweaking. By paying attention to customer behavior during the selling and renewal processes, it's possible to see leaks in the system and plug them before they become a torrent of lost customers.

CRM is a Journey, Not a Destination

Most companies already have some sort of customer relationship management in place. Customer relationship management isn't just technology, but the practice of growing small customers into bigger customers, and making sure the biggest customers are well cared for. In a traditional sales environment, this has meant extra C-level face time with the biggest clients, special customer appreciation events, and the like.

Technology will never replace these "old-fashioned" ways of doing business. But, technology can better pinpoint the problems that need smoothing out with old-fashioned personal attention.

Managers who have their finger on every pulse, big and small, that pumps profit into their company probably don't need a very sophisticated CRM. In fact, if they have insight into every customer and every interaction that the customer has with their company, CRM would be redundant, because that kind of insight is exactly what CRM is designed to produce.

Many Sizes and a Fit for All

E-mail address books and calendars have become the de facto contact management for many small businesses. With CRM solutions coming down substantially in cost thanks to a price war between the major vendors, more small companies are giving Customer Relationship Management software a chance. Especially attractive are online CRM solutions-many vendors offer a free trial period.

Medium-sized businesses often have some stop-gap customer relationship management applications in place but are often seeking to morph their hodge-podge of programs into one smooth system. Mid-level businesses that want to increase their sophistication often say that CRM helped them perfect their business practices before inefficient ways of doing things were permanently tattooed on company culture.

Large companies usually already have ton of data on their customers. The problem is, this information is stored in a number of different places throughout the company. It's as if everyone has one piece of a big jigsaw puzzle, with no way to figure out who has what piece. CRM arranges all the pieces into one clear picture. Often, even the most sophisticated and mature companies are surprised by what they see.

CRM is for anyone who needs help keeping track of sales leads, unresolved customer issues, the changing whims of clients, or any of the other many pieces of information that are part of making a modern business run.