Customer relationship management (CRM)
Reviewed by Dasha ShakovVP Marketing, Proton
Updated
What is CRM?
Customer relationship management (CRM) software is a system for tracking customers and prospects: contacts, calls, visits, opportunities and follow-ups. It also tracks quotes, and distributors commonly connect it to the ERP so each account record shows purchase history.
How it works
A CRM and an ERP overlap on customer records but do different jobs. The ERP records what was ordered, shipped and paid; the CRM records the relationship and the selling work around it.
CRM example
Before a visit, an outside rep checks the account in the CRM: six months of orders, two open quotes and an inside rep’s note about last week’s late delivery.
Further reading
Often confused
Related terms
- Enterprise resource planning (ERP)Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is the central system a distributor runs on, holding orders, inventory and accounting in one database.
- Wallet shareWallet share is the percentage of a customer’s total spending on the products you sell that goes to your company rather than to competitors.
- Outside salesOutside sales is selling done in person at the customer’s location, such as a job site, plant or office.
- Customer churnCustomer churn is the loss of customers, or of their spending, over a period of time.
