Customer Relationship Management: A Beginner’s Guide

Written by: 
Molly Niemczyk
03/23/22

An Introduction to CRM Software

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is a tool that allows businesses to manage current and past customer and client data. In addition to storing essential information on a business’s contacts, a good CRM will also typically aid in the collection and analysis of this data in order to help the company optimize its approach in gathering leads and contacting potential clients.

 

What Exactly Does CRM Tell Me?

A CRM system records a variety of information, contact details being, arguably, the most important. After all, you can’t follow up with a lead if you have no way to reach them! Names, emails, and other basic info are easily accessible using CRM software.

Any correspondence your company has had with a client can also be instantly recorded in a CRM system. This might include calls, emails, or service requests.

Some CRM software goes a step further, and uses the above data to determine qualified leads or provide information on where prospects are in the sales process, if applicable.

 

Does My Business Need CRM?

To figure out whether your B2B business needs CRM software, consider the following benefits and how they might apply to your company’s goals.

 

Increase Your Efficiency

CRM software is built to process enormous amounts of data at a scale that would be near-impossible for a human to replicate, especially in a reasonable amount of time. Instead of worrying about record-keeping and manually categorizing complex data, you can use CRM software to simplify the process. 

Pipedrive is one CRM software that allows users to create customizable reports to suit their needs, so businesses can track and analyze what they need to with ease.

 

Build Good Customer Relationships

Given the name of this type of software, it may go without saying, but if you want to strategically build, manage, and maintain relationships with your customers or clients, it’s worth considering CRM software.

Not only does it allow you to keep a record of the customers who are important to your business, but it also allows you to be proactive by developing an outreach strategy that you can use to find new leads.

 

Marketing Automation

Although this isn’t technically a guaranteed perk of CRM, a lot of today’s software includes marketing support. The tool will often track and provide reports on marketing efforts, which is a great way to see how your efforts to optimize your messaging are paying off. 

Many are also capable of sending automated advertising materials via email or other channels when a customer enters the CRM or a particular funnel. Hubspot is a CRM platform that features marketing automation using an inbound marketing strategy. 

 

Start Using CRM Software Today

If the benefits of CRM seem like they would serve your business well, it might be time to invest in some CRM software. We’ve listed a couple of popular choices above, but there are plenty of options to choose from. At the end of the day, it’s important to find a tool that’s going to do the most for your business.

 

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Our team of experts at Relevance Advisors wants to help your B2B business succeed. Reach out today to learn more about the services we offer.

 

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