Lesson 1 - What is CRM

Customer Relationship Management, better known as CRM, is a popular and well-used phrase, yet most people still don’t fully understand what CRM actually is or does.

A commonly cited definition of CRM is that of CRM (UK) Ltd (2002), which states:
"Customer Relationship Management is the establishment, development, maintenance and optimisation of long-term mutually valuable relationships between consumers and organisations".

I know what you are saying…What does that mean in a month of Sundays? If we begin to unpack and break down this definition the key is long-term mutually valuable relationship. So CRM is about building and maintaining long-term customer relationships where the relationship delivers extra value to customers, and more profits to companies.

CRM software centralises all the information within an organisation to give one coherent, 360-degree view, of each customer in real time. This enables all employees of the organisation, whether that is customer support, sales, marketing or call centres, to make quick and knowledgeable decisions on anything and everything from targeting to cross selling, but most importantly to your customers they have a complete knowledge and history of their interactions with you.

CRM One-Step Further.

Once known as just another type of software solution, CRM has evolved into an organisation wide customer-focussed philosophy. A CRM is a process used to learn more about your customers’ needs and behaviours that help you create these long-lasting relationships, increase customer loyalty, satisfaction, and profitability whilst reducing costs.

These relationships are no longer the responsibility of an individual department or team; but of the whole organisation. A CRM solution centralises all the information within an organisation to give one coherent, 360-degree view, of each customer in real time. This enables all employees of the organisation, whether that is customer support, sales, marketing or call centres, to make quick and knowledgeable decisions on anything and everything from targeting to cross selling, but most importantly to your customers has complete knowledge and history of their interactions with you.

To manage your relationships you need to collect, organise, and keep up-date with the right information, and make it easily usable and accessible. With this information and knowledge, you will have the tools to provide personalised communications with each customer, so they feel they are no longer a number on your computer, but an individual

The debate

What does CRM mean to you? How do you use your CRM Software to create long-term mutually valuable relationships?