What is CRM? (Defining CRM and Customer Relationship Management)

CRM has been a major focus of corporations these days and wisely so. So what is CRM you ask? It is a term that stands for Customer Relationship Management, and it can literally make or break an organization. Basically, it is a philosophy that places the customer and the customer's needs at the center of all business decisions. Companies are successful only because of their customers. Thus, defining CRM and what it means to their specific organization will go a long way to making them successful in the marketplace. 

There are many different aspects to effective customer relationship management and just as customers and their needs vary, so do the strategies to manage them. In order for a CRM strategy to be effective, companies must have a clear picture of the makeup of their current customer base as well as a clear understanding of who their target customers really are. It is only then that companies can effectively strategize as to how to better manage and improve upon those relationships. 

CRM strategies must permeate the entire organization. While marketing, sales, and customer service are obvious first lines of defense to focus on, effective CRM strategies need to be much farther reaching than that. Following is a list of steps that need to be included in any good effective CRM strategy.

• Gathering and continuously monitoring a knowledge database about customer needs, motivations, and behaviors over the life cycle of their relationship with the company
   
• Measure corporate sales, marketing, and service costs and map them to how they affect customer revenue, profit, and value
   
• Apply knowledge gathered towards continuous process improvement
   
• Carefully adapting sales and marketing activities to match the overall CRM strategy
   
• Incorporating the use of software as appropriate to facilitate the gathering and analysis of data in order to determine CRM effectiveness
   
• Constantly analyzing data and making appropriate modifications to corporate strategies to map directly to customer needs

CRM is a process that is always changing. In order for corporations to be successful, it is crucial that they maintain the flexibility among departments that facilitates quick response to changes in customer focus. CRM is certainly not a strategy that can be implemented overnight. It is one of continuous improvement and must be treated as such to stay on top of ever changing customer demands.