CRM
Customer Relationship Management
In short
A CRM is a system where you keep everything about customers and prospects: contact details, conversations, quotes and what happens next.
A CRM replaces the sticky notes, the spreadsheet and your memory. Each customer gets a card with a history: when you last spoke, what you promised and which quote is still open. Well-known examples are HubSpot, Pipedrive and Zoho CRM. Some industry booking systems also have a simple customer register built in.
Where sales go missing
Sales are easily lost in the follow-up. A quote nobody chased, or a lead from the website that sat in the inbox. A CRM reminds you of the next step, and lets a colleague take over without starting from scratch.
Remember that a customer register is full of personal data. You need a legal basis for storing it, and you should delete what you no longer need. See Privacy and GDPR for the basics.
Start simple today
You do not need to buy anything to begin. Make a spreadsheet with five columns: name, contact details, what they asked about, last contact, and next step with a date. Add everyone who has contacted you in the past month, and look at the next-step column every Monday. When the spreadsheet gets too cramped, you will know what you need from a real CRM.
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