Well firstly CRM stands for ‘CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT’

If you are an established business you would be using a CRM software package of some sort as a business tool to keep track of interactions with your existing customer base.

Sadly, many businesses have a CRM system up and running but few people know how to use it effectively for their own benefit or the benefit of your business.

So that may be through lack of training, lack of understanding of the value of a CRM system, laziness to input relevant communication details by staff, possibly flaws in the management of your business, and a hundred other reasons.

You already know that it is more cost effective to keep an existing customer rather than find new customers – ‘The Tread Mill Syndrome’ – a customer drops off, a new customer hops on. That doesn’t make good business sense!

Effective use of your CRM system is a disciplined approach to managing your all important communication with existing clients and new prospects as well.

A good CRM solution will include all fields necessary for a newcomer into your business to know what is going on with either an existing customer or a new prospect. It is the lifeline to the very heart of your business and should be treated as such. Over time, it becomes the most valuable business asset that you have. People come and go, your CRM keeps going – but is of no value if it is not managed and all relevant information captured like contact details, notes, meaningfull next steps with a prospect or existing customer.

And by the way, if your CRM is server based in house (not cloud based), do yourself a favour and make double sure that your CRM is backed up daily + a copy to an external drive to be stored off site.  

Rick Kemp

Senior BDM

Southern Region

OSS Australia