- Customer relationship management,
or what most people call CRM,
is a central system to manage customer relationship data.
This information is searchable
and accessible across the organization.
The CRM helps you know your customers, their needs,
their history with your brand so you can engage customers.
These insights help marketers create relevant messaging
and choose the right touchpoints.
For example, CRM can track social media posts
or email click-through rates to help you understand
which touchpoints and messages are most relevant.
CRM data helps customer-facing employees,
like customer service representatives,
effectively solve problems.
They can quickly pull up a customer's information,
like purchase history or product preferences real time
while on the phone or chatting online with the customer.
CRM helps salespeople
by providing lead generation insights about interactions
the customer has had with other teams
within the organization.
Some marketers still use note cards or a spreadsheet.
That's kind of outdated.
If affordable, use CRM technology
to ensure that all internal disciplines
can access the same customer data,
provide real-time data to be responsive and agile,
such as recognizing a product problem
customers are experiencing so you can fix it quickly.
Create automated, synchronized reports
across multiple platforms, such as mobile phones, calendars,
or other client interactions.
Ensure no customer data gets lost.
Help you scale operations to grow.
CRM provides insights
to create emotional connections with customers.
Like I always say,
people buy emotionally and justify rationally.
In fact, people who are emotionally connected to a brand
are two times more likely
to purchase that brand's product or service.
Let's say you own a food catering business
that sells high-quality meals created by talented chefs
that you deliver onsite to companies' events.
As your business grows
and you have satisfied repeat customers,
how will you manage current and new customers?
In this example, a CRM solution could be an integrated app
for the drivers to accommodate last-minute order changes,
or the app could monitor customer satisfaction,
track customers' ordering history,
or share feedback with the chefs.
Create a CRM system to share insights internally
across the organization.
Know your customer
and provide them with a relevant superior experience.