CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. CRM is a term for software solutions that help companies manage customer relationships in an organized & controlled way. The purpose of customer relationship management is to enable a company to serve its clients & customers in a better way through automated processes, personal information gathering software, processing and self-service.

CRM is an industry term for software solutions that help companies manage customer relationships in an organized & controlled way.

A typical example could be the customer database containing complete information & details, which the company management & sales department personnel access. They use this data to cross sell different products to customers, depending on customer requirements, contact them for new product launches, etc.

The goal of CRM is to provide the ability to communicate with customers through any media they choose & deliver information to customers in real-time. While doing this, the CRM Software should analyze & provide complete view of customer's behavior patterns, past & present transactions to salespeople in order to offer the best possible solution/product to the customer.

In today's demanding business scenario, personalized focus & attention to every customer is vital to gain loyalty & trust from customers. Personalized service & attention is a must in order to effectively drive up sales. To improve relationships between customers and company personnel CRM software uses all possible channels of feedback & interaction. Today, every media is exploited to achieve higher degree of interaction. Typical entry points are Toll free calls, Internet, Kiosk terminals & most popular lately is SMS.

With Internet based interaction being popular, web-based CRM software is a must today. Companies today are looking at ways to provide more information through self-help services, which are typically online. These are help-desk centers, info downloads or new product updates into your mailbox, etc.

Goals of CRM are:

• To provide better customer service & in the process gain loyal customers.
• These loyal customers should be nurtured to long-term profitable customers.
• To cross sell products more effectively.
• Get new customers from existing customers through referrals.
• To provide support lifeline to salespeople.