Secrets

CRM What is it? And How to Use it...

CRM is short for “customer relationship management” and these days you can buy off-the-shelf software specifically designed as a complete “customer relationship management” system for your business. But let's not forget the basics – CRM is a tool to help you to track contact with potential and existing customers and to make sure that you keep in touch with them.

Ignoring the term CRM for the moment, finding ways to communicate with your customers has always been important and you're sure to find that you're more likely to do business with somebody that has bought from you before than somebody who hasn't. So continuing the relationship after they've bought from you is an opportunity not to be missed! But capturing their data and keeping it is a hot topic too and making sure you're registered with data protection and keeping personal data securely is an absolute must.

So what can you use a CRM system for?

Tracking potential customers from sales enquiry through to sale and beyond
Maintaining contact with existing customers such as following up at service or renewal intervals by flagging important dates
Tracking marketing campaigns
Generating reports and useful data on your customers' behaviour and history

Now software obviously makes this process very easy, but it's still only as good as the information you put in. If the thought of learning new software is still off-putting, just keeping good records of potential customer contacts, any contact (with dates) that you have with any type of customer and always tracking your marketing – means you are running a CRM system anyway.

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