Definition
A CRM, or customer relationship management system, is software that stores all of your customer and prospect information, tracks your sales interactions, and helps your team manage their pipeline and follow up on opportunities.
In Depth
A CRM is the central hub for your sales operation. It stores contact information, tracks every interaction your team has with prospects and customers, manages your sales pipeline, and helps you forecast revenue. Popular CRMs for small and mid-size businesses include Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive. The biggest problem most businesses have with their CRM is data quality. If the data is incomplete or outdated, your team stops trusting it and goes back to sticky notes and spreadsheets. That defeats the entire purpose. The second biggest problem is keeping it updated, which takes time nobody has. This is why CRM data hygiene and lead enrichment automation are so valuable. When your CRM is automatically kept clean and current, it becomes the tool it was designed to be: a reliable system that helps your team sell more and drop fewer balls.