CRM is utilized by companies both big and small to maintain a positive relationship with their clientele and effectively market to potential customers. But what exactly is customer relationship management used for? Customer relationship management offers a way to compile and organize customer data so it can be used for marketing, sales, and customer relationships.

What kind of data is collected? Aside from basics like names, phone numbers, email addresses, and mailing addresses, data can be collected to help your company understand your customer on a more in depth level. You can learn their interests, habits while online or in your marketplace, purchase histories, and demographics. Demographics such as family size, gender, ethnicity, and age can help serve your customer. Once all of this information in at your fingertips, you have a better understanding of your customer.

This brings us to the next purpose of customer relationship management, which is utilizing all of the information to better serve your customer and improve your company. This information can help with customer support, retention, and help you gain new customers. Marketing plays a huge role in the ever evolving system that is CRM. By knowing your customers’ wants and needs, you can market to them specifically, and catch new business in the process. CRM is directly related to increased revenue for your companies.

You can utilize lead forms via social media, forms on sweepstakes, surveys, and newsletter sign-ups to collect information and gain insight into your customers’ lives as related to your company.

Chances are, you already have a version of CRM in place at your company. You might be collecting some information but don’t know how to house it or utilize it. This is where choosing a CRM software comes into place. There are a lot of companies out there, and you need to choose one that will best serve your purpose. What are you hoping to accomplish using CRM? How would you like to improve?

Don’t be afraid to ask potential vendors questions. Find out how they can serve your business and how they will organize and analyze your customers’ data. Will the proper security measures be taken to make sure all of the information is safe? What can they offer you that other companies cannot? Is their software easy to use? You’ll most likely be training your employees on how to use said software, and many won’t be technology developers, so the software has to be simple enough to use on a daily basis.