CRM or Contact Management

Choose a Solution not a product!

Most people believe they want CRM but the first question you need to ask is “What does 'CRM' actually mean to you?,"

Because CRM is ultimately about capturing every process that impacts upon a customer’s view of your business, it is important to define your business processes, best practices, organisational needs and requisite results before selecting a product.

Effectively just about every CRM solution can provide a 360° view of customer data. Some may be stronger for sales and marketing and others for service and support. It is important to determine where your organisation will benefit and whether this is likely to be from a feature rich or foundation architecture solution before selecting a final solution.

When you arrive at your conclusions you will want to view systems that can offer a solution.

At this point it is crucial not to get hung up on whether the system you need is CRM or Contact Management.

In simplistic terms as their names would imply a CRM solution handles the relationship with existing customers and a Contact Management System deals with recording contact with prospective and existing customers.

All products in the market place have gravitated towards calling themselves CRM solutions so it is important to be very clear about what you are trying to achieve.

At Focus on Business, we help you clear the confusion between CRM and Contact Management and show how your company can become more successful by effectively utilizing a system that suits your business and budget…now and in the future