CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management which is the combination of techniques, strategies, and principles used by the companies to manage their customer interactions with the current and potential customers. The CRM system collects a wide range of userdata, such as the contact lists, emails, follow-ups, total leads, appointment details,and displays them in an organized manner under a single dashboard. This data helps the companies to interact with the clients, follow-up with the prospects, manage the appointments and calls, track the total number of visitors and analyze the growth of the company concerning their competitors.

While a CRM is traditionally used by sales, marketing and customer support team can benefit a great deal from it too.

What are the types of CRM?

Based on the characteristics such as acquiring and maintaining customers, sales and marketing, extracting valuable customer data and expanding the business network, the CRM software is categorized into four different types:

Strategic CRM: This type of CRM concentrates on developing a customer-centric business environment. The companies employ new business strategies by tracking the positive responses and feedback from the customers for theservices provided by the company. These strategies help the companies make sure the needs and requirements of the clients are met, client satisfaction is ensured and the risk of losing a potential market share is avoided

Operational CRM: In this type of CRM, the integration and automation techniques are used to track the sales and marketing growth while managing the client’s data in a single dashboard. The Operational CRM focuses on improving and enhancing the business processes by applying automation to various customer service tasks that were manually carried out before.

Operational CRM is made up of three components:

1. Salesforce Automation: Salesforce Automation plays an important role in lead generation and helps the companies to filter out prospective customers from the leads that are acquired. Automatingthe complete sales cycle, from generating the leads to closing the sales reduces the manual administrative tasks undertaken by the sales and marketing representatives of the company. Using Salesforce Automation software enhances the company's customer managing abilities and earn more referrals through client-side networks
2. Marketing Automation: Marketing Automation software helps the companies carry out effective marketing tasks by generating automated emails and relevant content to the prospects across various communication channels. This gives the company a greater insight as to what the various prospects and leads prefer, and adjust their marketing strategies accordingly. Providing client-specific content creates more prospective leads reaching out to the company to purchase their service. Using the Marketing Automation software in the company is more efficient than sending bulk emails as the prospects prefer contents and emails which are personalized and targeted according to their needs.
3. Services Automation: Service Automation is vital for the companies sincethe clients and prospects may have many concerns and requests regarding a certain feature or a service offered by the company. Call center and customer service automation reduce the waiting time for the prospects and clients to reach out to the service providers. The Service Automation software has all the tools designed to help the customers to resolve their issues and requests promptly while helping the companies increase their servicing speed and earn more customers satisfied with the service provided by the company.

Analytical CRM: Forecasting the growth in the sales for the upcoming years and generating accurate reports by analyzing the previous transactions by the clients help the companies to improve their services and take effective decisions on providing a service that best benefits the customers.The various insights from the market research data collected from the Operational CRM are analyzed. This information helps the companies to draw conclusions about their service outreach across various communication networks and coming up with new strategies to attract more leads and prospects thereby improving the service quality and increasing the revenue of the company.

Collaborative CRM: : Collaborative CRM integrates the various departments of the company like the sales, marketing, customer service, and finance groups and shares the client information and preferences to bring further improvements in the customer service and provide a preferred product to the customers. This helps the teams collaborate and use the data that is available to customize the services according to the marketing trends

How does CRM works?

CRM software works by collecting the varioususer data such as their contacts, emails, and requirements by tracking every interaction the customer and/or potential customer has with the company.This helps the company to provide a more targeted service to its clients. CRM system also has a variety of automation tools built-in which helps the companies to capture new leads and import them directly into the CRM dashboard. This information helps the companies gain more loyal customers and come up with new business solutions that help to optimize the revenue while gaining a better understanding of the customer needs.

How to implement CRM in business?

Implementing a CRM system is done by the following steps:

Examining the readiness of the business for implementing CRM Software.

Setting up a clear vision as to how the CRM System will benefit the customers and provide a high revenue for the company.

Identifying the business processes by collaborating with the various teams within the organization helps the companies to identify the areas needing improvement so that suitable features can be selected from the various tools provided by the CRM software.

Specifying the data and technological requirements of the company to the vendorthrough a proposal mentioning the exact requirements and the areas of implementation of the CRM software.

Testing the prototype of the CRM software and checking if it can further be customized according to the company’s needs.

Proceeding to the final installation of the CRM software and evaluating the performance

Who can use CRM?

CRM can be used by any business handling customer inquiries and looking forward to bring forth their products into the global market. Few examples where a CRM system is implemented is as follows:

Hotel Management

Real Estate Software Management

Digital ad sellers and Social Media influencers

Network Service Providers

Booksellers, Shopping Centers, and Supermarkets

Airway firms and much more.

What is CRM in Sales?

Using CRM in Sales helps increase the sales of the company by providing the following features:

Identifying and improving lead management services

Collecting customer purchase histories and behavior patterns to identify their needs and provide personalized service.

Automating the repeated tasks and reaching out to prospective customers.

Tracking the growth in the customer circle and the performance of the company

What is CRM in marketing?

Employing CRM in the marketing team of the company ensures the implementation of the following features:

Conducting marketing campaigns across various social media channels and via regular customer E-mails.

Promoting the business among the various social media platforms and monitoring the product responses or mentions across the web.

Segmenting and targeting the customers based on repeated purchases and expand the business network

Analyzing the data from the past purchases and customer service provided and focusing on the areas needing improvement

Why is CRM important?

The CRM System helps to manage the sales, customer service, and marketing. It provides a better way to engage with the customers since it is crucial to achieving continued sales. CRM System also allows the company to access the data on any authorized device rather than depending on a remote desktop. Without CRM, the company's revenue and customer retention are compromised. To ensure consistent growth and an increase in productivity of the company, the best solution is to use CRM software.

What are the benefits of CRM Software?

Easy and efficient client request management

Inbuilt virtual and automation tools for client interaction.

Simple and convenient features for users to easily adapt to.

Centralized hub to store, upload, retrieve, and update the documents and customer data effectively.

Access client data on smartphones and tablets using the Mobile CRM features.

Why choose CRM for business?

The more you engage with customers the clearer things become and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing - John Russel

Businesses need to implement a strong CRM System to meet the customer's expectations while focusing on retaining existing customers and acquiring new potential customers.Analyzing the CRM services provided by the competitors helps the companies to come up with newer ideas to implement a CRM System with more features thus gaining newer leads in the market. Carrying out proper marketing strategies enhance the chances of prospective leads and customers reaching out to the company. The company needs to come up with a product or service that is in much demand rather than marketing random services. Using a CRM system helpstarget the customer requirements as per the marketing trends and helps the companies generate customized services.