Why a CRM system?

CRM has been around for a very long time. So why buy a CRM system? CRM stands for “customer relationship management”. The average entrepreneur is of course still none the wiser, except for the fact that 99% of entrepreneurs focus on good customer relationships.

What is CRM?

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management . With a CRM system you manage the relationship between you and your customer. In such a system you store the data of your customers , but also contact moments, history and even notes that you should not forget. All your customer data is in one place and easier to manage . You can also manage leads, suppliers and other contacts in this system. The tool can help you to build and maintain relationships.

Why should you choose a CRM system?

Having all your contacts’ data in one place saves you a lot of time and money. But there are even more reasons to invest in CRM:

• You can easily structure your contacts and add extra information if necessary. A CRM system simply works with tags and custom fields to give the database extra structure.
• Employees can consult the history of the contact moments . This way they are immediately aware of the situation. Colleagues should no longer exchange information and customers should not unnecessarily repeat their story multiple times.
• The sales team has an additional advantage of the CRM system. They have a clear overview of their pipeline and can easily see when it is time to follow up and what exactly they do best. That way they can sell better. This also allows you to focus on inbound marketing .
• Keeping the customer satisfied afterwards is also easier thanks to a CRM system. Because you can segment customer groups on specific characteristics in the system, you can easily reach the right customers with the right messages. This way you can provide them with updates and news.
• You can also easily create and send invoices and quotations via the system. This not only saves you a lot of time, but also reduces the chance of errors.

A CRM solution sounds like a tool that only large companies can benefit from, but that’s just an appearance. Even a sole proprietorship has contacts with customers and partners and can work more efficiently with a CRM system. Thanks to this system, you do not lose an overview and important information is not lost.

Note: A CRM system is not the same as an ERP system. ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning and is more suitable for the optimization of business processes. While CRM is all about managing contact details, ERP is more about managing stocks. ERP combines the data from the administration, logistics and finances.