CRM - Whats it all about

OpenCRM is a hosted CRM software application, but what is CRM? The true definition of CRM is Customer Relationship Management, although lots of CRM products deal mainly with the sales process CRM should deal with the complete customer journey.

As always in situations like this I turn to Wikipedia.com for help, this is what they have to say;

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a widely-implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer service, and technical support.

The overall goals are to find, attract, and win new clients, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service. Customer relationship management describes a company-wide business strategy including customer-interface departments as well as other departments.

The three phases in which CRM support the relationship between a business and its customers are to:

* Acquire: CRM can help a business acquire new customers through contact management, selling, and fulfilment.

* Enhance: web-enabled CRM combined with customer service tools offers customers service from a team of sales and service specialists, which offers customers the convenience of one-stop shopping.

* Retain: CRM software and databases enable a business to identify and reward its loyal customers and further develop its targeted marketing and relationship marketing initiatives.