CRM in plain English
CRM stands for customer relationship management. In practice, a CRM is a system for organizing people, sales opportunities, communication history, tasks, and customer context.
A contact is a person or company record. An opportunity is a potential sale. A pipeline shows the process that sale moves through. Automation can then use those records and events to trigger repeatable actions.
When a small business needs CRM
- Leads are getting lost
- More than one person handles customers
- Follow-up is inconsistent
- Sales status is unclear
- Customer history lives in several places
- Automation would remove repetitive work