Customer relationship management (CRM) software is a database used to track customer activities, leads, and sales opportunities. Logging this important information provides insights on your entire sales, marketing, customer service, and finance teams, and allows you to tailor interactions to enhance relationships with your customers.
It’s easy to confuse CRM with similar business applications such as content management system (CMS) or customer data platform (CDP) software. CMS software is for creating and publishing content on a website. CDP software collects customer data from multiple sources like webforms and social media accounts to analyze and predict customer behavior.
What a CRM Is
Customer relationship management systems are designed to collect and manage the wide variety of data sales teams collect on leads, prospects, and customers. The software has been around for decades but it’s risen in popularity as features become more advanced. CRM is also gaining traction as an easy-to-use method of tracking sales activities across multiple channels and as a reliable way to improve the customer experience.
What a CRM Does
CRM software does a myriad of things, from housing a customer contact database to managing mass email campaigns and tracking service tickets. Studies show CRMs improve sales efforts in several ways:
- 56% of companies use CRM data to target audiences with the help of CRM features like list segmentation and lead qualification.
- 74% of CRM users say the software enhances access to customer data with filters, advanced search, and custom reports, which can shorten the sales cycle by 8% to 14%.
CRM features vary from system to system, and even between a vendor’s individual service plans. Some systems support only sales efforts, while others also include marketing and sales tools to create a 360-degree view of the entire customer journey and all potential touchpoints.
Click through the tabs below to learn more about what a CRM has to offer small businesses.
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Freshworks CRM’s next action recommendation via Freddy AI (Source: Freshworks CRM)
Freshworks CRM offers a variety of useful customization options throughout its system, including custom lifecycle stages, modules, fields, and sales activity tracking. Its artificial intelligence (AI) component, Freddy, monitors patterns to learn your business needs and provide insights like identifying priority contacts and forecasting revenue. When combined, the two features work together to furnish teams with unique data assessments they can use to increase sales and improve the customer experience. -
Zoho CRM’s social media listening dashboard (Source: Zoho CRM)
Zoho CRM features built-in social media monitoring tools for publishing to social accounts as well as real-time listening across multiple channels for updates from customers and leads. Zoho CRM’s listening streams are customizable and agents can add leads to monitor either manually or automatically. -
HubSpot CRM contact interface (Source: HubSpot)
HubSpot CRM helps sales teams manage leads using tools like smartform lead capture, automatic lead assignment, and a meeting scheduler to set up appointments with potential customers. Live chat and conversational bots help agents connect with leads in real time, and bulk email sends give companies the ability to reach out to a large number of leads at the same time, with the same information. -
Really Simple Systems’ service and support dashboard (Source: Really Simple Systems)
Really Simple Systems incorporates service desk tools into its CRM so support and sales teams alike can stay in sync with customer activity throughout the company, including any service issues they’ve encountered. It offers full case management, including the ability to assign, open, close, and re-open tickets as needed. Really Simple Systems users can also opt in to features like creating new case tickets directly from an email. -
Zendesk Sell’s mobile app with deal management (Source: Zendesk Sell)
Most CRMs offer mobile apps with their software so sales agents can access the CRM system from anywhere. Some include basic tools like call logs, customer contact management, and team chat. Zendesk Sell takes mobile apps a step further with features like call recording, click-to-dial calling, and deal management so sales professionals can stay connected to their team as well as their customers while out of the office.
Recommended CRM Resources
To learn more about how a CRM can help your company track sales activity, keep teams connected, and provide the best customer service, we recommend checking out our informative CRM e-book and in-depth articles on customer relationship management software.
- CRM e-book: A comprehensive look at customer relationship management systems and best practices
- The Ultimate Guide to CRM Software
- Top 10 CRMs for Small Business
- How to Choose a CRM
- Training Your Team on CRM
K. Powers
II am a writing and reading tutor of children. Lately my number of clients has grown to 30+ and I need a more organized way to keep track of information. I used to contact parents (and some older students) through email, but in the past year I find more parents prefer text messaging. Some parents like to receive invoices. Usually I send them by way of email, but I also send a text message alerting parents to check their emails. I’d like to eliminate the duplication. Some parents pay a month ahead; some after the lessons; some at the end of one or two months. I need a way to keep track of who owes me what. I record mileage, meals out, purchases, phone and computer costs and other odds and ends in a bookkeeper’s notebook (by hand, not online). I’d like to send out messages that apply to many parents or students in one email (or text) and have a trail of all messages sent by me and received by me filed under each client’s name. I’d like to record who is referring me to find out what works (referrals from present and past clients, my blogs, a metalic message on the back of my car). Last week I found out about CRM from a Washington Post article. Would CRM help me? Do I need a separate email address for my work? What would you suggest? Also, do I need to invest in any different technology? I use a desktop computer and an iPhone. I am thinking of updating the iPhone this year. Obviously I’m not tech savvy, but I am a good writing and reading teacher. Many thanks. .
Jeremy Marsan
Hi,
It sounds like you’re looking for invoicing software. A program like Freshbooks or Zoho Invoice allows you to track hours & expenses so you can quickly draft invoices. It’s easy to manage who has paid & who hasn’t. Although neither have native SMS tools, both can be setup via Zapier to automatically send SMS messages when an invoice is sent. Learn more about Freshbooks SMS and Zoho Invoice SMS.
Best,
Jeremy
John Bakiko
Great post! Just wanted to share my own experience in using one of those CRM systems. I`ve used for a while EasyERP it seemed like good and quite interesting ERP with a decent CRM module, where you can manage your customers with highest comfort level possible. And it also looks like they`re going to launch some kind of direct integration with different ecommerce platforms (if you can trust those guys from support =)) ). Seen it here https://easyerp.com/. And, yeah, it`s opensource, so it`s kind of free.
Leo
Hello……………How could using Insightly assist me with running a new Real Estate Brokerage?
Presently we have 5 agents on board and are looking to recruit more as we move forward.
It would seem that an email drip campaign used by agents to say in touch with their client base would be more productive? I guess I’m just not sure how a CRM could actually benefit realtors to justify the cost. Also, is there special pricing for Brokerages rather than for individual users?
Thank you
Leo
Jeremy Marsan
Hi Leo,
There’s a wide range of CRMs, and some do include email drip campaigns and other marketing tools. Most, however, are focused on the actually selling process, after you’ve acquired a lead. For example, Insightly would best serve realtors in the transaction management process. It has customizable pipelines that help individual agents and brokers keep a handle on all the steps involved in the process.
You could also check out our guide on the Best Real Estate CRMs.
Best,
Jeremy
Donna
Thank you for reviewing how a CRM works. I’m a solo entrepreneur and was encouraged to begin using a CRM, so this gives me understanding of what I need. I’m looking for a Free or inexpensive version as a start.
Jeremy Marsan
Hi Donna,
No problem – happy to help! For more most solo entrepreneurs, we recommend using Insightly. It’s a simple, user-friendly CRM that gives you all the key tools (contacts, leads, sales opportunities, tasks, reports). Plus, there’s loads of advanced features to dive into once you get your feet wet – you can auto-import leads from your website, integrate with QuickBooks, send mass emails, manage projects, just to name a few. Insightly is also free for up to 2 users.
Zoho would be another option if you want to get into advanced automation – but as a solo entrepreneur, that probably won’t be necessary.
Best,
Jeremy
Abhishek
Hey Jeremy Marsan,That’s pretty amazing introduction to CRM Software, also the software discovery platform you suggested is pretty cool. Here I found this another software discovery platform Software Suggest which has a category specific for CRM that lets the comparison between software much easy and also it recommends alternative software similar to our interests and the software we are opting for. What would you suggest is the better alternative to CRM software trending in 2016?
Jeremy Marsan
Hi Abhishek,
Our best CRM recommendations for 2016 are listed here on our buyer’s guide. While we largely discuss Insightly, Zoho and Salesforce, we mention the rest of the programs we studied in-depth at the bottom of the guide.
Best,
Jeremy