Customer Relationship Management usually refers to software. If you're like me, you find it odd that software does not appear anywhere in acronym. After all, relationship management refers to more than just software. I guess it's just one of those things--like how indie rock is genre despite the fact that indie could refer to any independent artists regardless of their particular genre.
Anyway, many sales and marketing professionals have yet to understand the world of CRM. Though it's been around for a long time, it's only recently that CRM is the standard name thrown around. That is; a lot of sales people have always done CRM but not called it that. Instead, they've done it by using Excel spreadsheets on their desktop.
If I had to define CRM, I'd say it's the act of remembering things about a customer. This helps sales teams-- to know how far along one is in the sales process. But, it also helps for things like nursing potential clients or prospects. For example, everyone loves when you remembe his/her birthday. CRM is good not just for one person to remember these things, but to centralize the information among a large sales team. So if sales man X talks to a customer and goes on vacation, sales man Y can proceed with scheduling a meeting, for example, as the information is all recorded in the CRM database.
For a company to know how financially healthy it is, there needs to be some sort of forecast. CRM helps companies know when a number of deals are likely to close. Though the estimates are never for sure, they often make strong indicators. It does this by taking a look at all the information a sales or marketing team puts into CRM and reporting on it.
It's defenitly worth it for any Sales Manager to look at different options for CRM.
One great resource is the totally crm blog www.totallycrm.com that I am actively involved with.
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