Customer Relationship Management Why CRM systems are essential

This blog series explores the world of CRM, Customer Relationship Management.

Understanding CRM, researching, comparing and then implementing or taking an existing CRM to the next level, can be daunting.

No matter your company size, job role, team size and structure, whether you are new to CRM, have intermediate knowledge or skill or you are extremely advanced, this blog series is for everyone.

To automatically receive the next blog published in this series, subscribe alongside. If you are a beginner simply follow along - if you’re more advanced, scroll to the bottom of this blog where we introduce an advanced side of CRM with links and details to more progressive CRM information.

Throughout the series, we also introduce and feature many free user guides, assets and additional awesome tools and resources that explore different stages of CRM in detail.

What is Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and why do we need a CRM system in the first place?

Anyone in business, in any role or function will understand the story about a businesses’s very first sale - how that one sale lead to the next and so grew the businesses and the number of customers, one customer at a time - leading to a thriving business. As people in the business got to know each customer better, so began (and hopefully continued) a wonderful, long-term and mutually beneficial relationship. During the time spent with each customer, it became super important to retain information about each customer relationship and their personal experience with the organisation, and their products, brands or services.

This highlights a significant number of customers, each with a unique relationship. In a non-digital world, managing those relationships would be highly complex and difficult without some sort of system (even if only with a pen and paper). Paper gets lost, misplaced, forgotten and is certainly not connected in any meaningful way. The only connection, the old fashioned rolodex (yes, you may need to look up the definition) has with customers is their proximity, 1mm from each other, as they spin with the dial to the alphabetical letter of choice [ please take a moment to think about this and then, permission to laugh and shake the head]...

In the digital world today, this challenge has progressed significantly -  I am still astonished when I learn of certain organisations that have merely evolved from pen and paper to a simple Excel file. 

Why do we need a CRM system?

In a world rapidly growing with automation and artificial intelligence, Excel files (at a minimum) or other offline systems are morphing into a world of inter-connected data automation, bundled in high speed, cloud-based software platforms, capable of managing your customer interactions and engagements automatically, at scale and pace. For businesses adopting these advanced CRM systems, they are never looking back.

Software has helped evolve from manual pieces of paper, into Excel files and then databases with related software, connecting one to the next and now into incredible, multifunctional and automated CRM systems and platforms.

Almost all businesses should have a CRM although, I should point out that CRM systems may not suit every single business. In subsequent blogs in the series, I introduce where CRM systems are best suited, assessing the right time to consider a CRM system, the types of CRM software available, how to select the right CRM system for your needs and how this all aligns to help your organisation achieve your next level of business growth.

Stay tuned for more by subscribing to this blog now (right side of this blog page, near the top). You can also fast track your skill by exploring Lupo Digital's CRM stream here, our free online (no download required) CRM Guide or download the free: Intro to CRM Guide (also as image below).