What is a CRM and what is it for? Discover the marketing and sales tool that helps to manage the relationship between company and customers
What is a CRM and what is it for? It is a question that every entrepreneur has asked himself at some point, a CRM is an essential tool for any company that wants to improve its relationships with customers. In this article we will tell you everything you need to know about CRM
What is CRM?
The acronym for CRM stands for «customer relationship management», that is, customer relationship management. Surely you are wondering why it is so important for your business to organize the information related to your contacts.
Well, the CRM model consists of a marketing and sales strategy that thoroughly analyzes your company’s interactions with your customers. We’re not just talking about getting demographic data, but interests, tastes, challenges, professional environment and needs of your prospects.
The idea is to be able to adapt and improve your communication with customers to offer a personalized message. This is aimed at promoting customer loyalty, which has a positive impact on the sales and profitability of your business. In fact, according to a report on CRM predictions published in 2018, 50% of sales teams that have adopted a CRM system increased their productivity.
What is a CRM for?
The concept of CRM goes beyond computer programs or tools that allow us to record the activity and information of our customers. We are talking about a model made up of several strategies that focus on getting to know your prospects and customers in detail.
The term CRM has become widespread due to the development of these software that facilitate the work. However, the essential concept of adapting the content of your offer according to the characteristics of the customer is not exclusive to digital marketing. It has always been implemented as a traditional strategy.
Among the benefits of a CRM we can highlight:
Facilitate business management when you have a large volume of contacts.
It favors the execution of segmented advertising campaigns that generate leads.
It allows to define the preferences of both prospects and customers.
It allows the information to be accessible to all company personnel who need it, avoiding misunderstandings, misinformation and errors.
It favors the user experience by offering excellent customer service and personalized support.
You can anticipate customer-related problems by implementing internal control systems.
Analyze the buying behavior of customers.
Segment the profile of your target buyer through data analysis.
Creation of reports and reports so that the sales team can optimize communication with prospects and customers.
The success that the CRM strategy has won is based on the fact that customers now have more freedom in the relationship with their suppliers. This means that they have more and more access to information and more options to use when purchasing a product or service.
You may be interested in: Benefits, Advantages and Disadvantages of a CRM
This makes it increasingly expensive for companies to acquire a new customer. That is why they must take very good care of the relationship they maintain with their current consumers, offering a more personalized treatment that allows establishing a sustainable dialogue with the client, the same takes place when you understand and satisfy their needs.
How does a CRM work?
The main function of a CRM is to collect information about customers in order to identify the specific tastes and preferences of each one. This knowledge can come from the interaction that your company has with its consumers, either through conversations, email, forms, surveys, calls, visits, etc.
To facilitate the execution of a CRM strategy in a company that handles a large volume of contacts, it is necessary to have a tool that allows you to record all the information collected. They are known as CRM software and allow you to manage and analyze data more easily.
Once you can visualize all the information of your prospects and customers in an organized way, you will be able to segment profiles and design marketing campaigns based on their preferences. Based on this information obtained we must optimize the relationship of our brand with consumers.
The idea is that all the information is centralized in the same database so that it is accessible at all times. The more knowledge about the customer is nourished, the better service can be offered that allows you to retain your current customers and in turn get new ones.
The usefulness of a CRM strategy has diversified into different categories for which you can get the most out of, among them we can mention:
CRM in Sales
CRM in Marketing
CRM in Customer Service
CRM in Computer Science
What is CRM in sales and what is it for?
A sales CRM focuses on customer retention; it seeks to build customer loyalty and thus increase sales in the long term. It is aimed at giving visibility to all negotiations, whether they are won, lost or in progress, identifying the type of consumer and product involved in each one.
In this way we can evaluate the interaction between both parties, in order to improve the sales arguments and the service to ensure customer satisfaction. In addition, we can analyze the conversion tunnel and identify the stages in which we need to improve our strategy.
By personalizing the sale we will achieve better conversion rates. We can do this only if we acquire a more detailed knowledge of our customers. Through a sales CRM we can segment and prioritize customers, add value to them within our company and start designing specific strategies that adapt to each profile.
What is CRM in marketing and what is it for?
A lot of data is useless if it is not given a meaning and this is precisely the main function of a CRM. Companies that do not implement a CRM model keep their information disaggregated in different formal or informal systems, which facilitates misunderstandings.
Information is the most valuable asset in marketing, so a CRM within this field works as a dashboard that allows you to visualize all the knowledge in an orderly way and relate variables that you might not have associated before. In addition, thanks to its ability to segment, a CRM will help you improve the positioning of your brand.
The fact of giving a sense to all your data and generating a 360° vision of all your customers will help you create more optimized, personalized and measurable marketing strategies that boost the demand for your product or service. Knowing the market to which we sell in depth is undoubtedly the best sales strategy and this is only possible thanks to the CRM model.
You may be interested in: CRM and marketing: Why should sales teams use it?
What is CRM in Customer Service?
A CRM allows you to improve customer service, because when you know the context in which your users operate, you can anticipate their needs and send them an irresistible offer. In addition, it allows you to provide more personalized support by knowing all the variables related to the client and their interaction with your brand.
Let’s remember that a CRM not only collects the business relationships with your customer but the global ones, which indicates that you can continuously improve the assistance and the treatment that you offer.
In addition, all members of the company will be able to know the status of each client and attend to their situation in the most timely manner. Especially in the management of after-sales relationships with your customers, which is where you can influence their decision to continue using your brand or not.
What is CRM in Computer Science?
In computer science we refer to a CRM as a software or program through which you can create, manage and keep updated your customer database, including their movements related to the acquisition of your product or service.
There are many CRM applications and software available that have very sophisticated functions and allow you, among other things:
Record the information of your customers, prospects and leads in real time.
Establish access to certain departments of the company through users and passwords.
Maintain detailed control of the sales flow.
Inventory and budget management.
Analysis of metrics.
Generation of reports and automated reports.
Keep a record of the emails sent and received by each client.
View the orders and the proposals issued.
In short, a CRM is not only a tool, it is the strategic compass that guides your company towards a future where every interaction with the customer becomes an opportunity to strengthen the relationship. So, if you are wondering why a CRM is fundamental for your business, the answer is simple: it is the key to understanding, satisfying and exceeding your customers’ expectations.
