Is CRM a Software or a Strategy?
Before CRM software, customer relationships occurred slowly — one-on-one in person or on the telephone. Someone said, “Technology does not drive change; technology enables change.” That is especially true of the technology for customer relationship management (CRM). Now that there is technology for customer relationships, there must be a plan or a strategy to go with the use of the technology.
What do you want to accomplish through CRM software? CRM solutions can help you get to know your customers better, understand their needs, and respond to those needs to create a valuable customer experience.
CRM can even begin prior to the customer relationship with lead generation and qualification. CRM software can help you target the right groups of people and the right people within those groups. And CRM solutions can follow customers through various purchases and upgrades to better meet customers’ needs and to build or refine products or services to meet those needs.
Your CRM solution must fit your CRM strategy. But if you don’t have a CRM strategy, you won’t know what solution fits that strategy. However, every business has a CRM strategy which is implied through its business goals. If those goals are only concerned with the financial bottom line, you will quickly realize that your company is not customer-centric, or even client-friendly.
Start by evaluating your short-term and long-term business goals. Which ones are or can be customer-facing? What do you want to accomplish in lead generation, lead qualification, customer satisfaction, cross-selling and up-selling?
Next, look at your market and your industry. What are the customer drivers? What is your competition and what are they doing? Consider how your company can differentiate itself from all the others through customer experience. Don’t forget to consider the impact and requirements of your strategy across different geographies, languages, markets, and channels!
Your company’s CRM strategy is unique – driven by your company’s goals, customers, conditions, and environment. When done right, CRM strategy creates differentiation across the firms of an industry. For that reason, a variety of CRM solutions exist and must be explored for their “fit” with your strategy.