Recent CRM White Papers

There's a CRM solution for every business. But which one is best for yours? With so many variations on sales force management, marketing automation, and analytics, it can be difficult to settle on one. This checklist breaks down the five steps to finding a CRM system worthy...  Read more>>

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a concept as old as trade itself. Keeping customers apprised of new products, remembering their likes and dislikes, promptly resolving issues, and giving them chances to vent and offer feedback are customer-centric concepts that we...  Read more>>

Although the Web has made it easier for some companies to attract new clients, many can still perform better over the long run by developing a fanatical devotion to customer service. In today's hyper-mediated markets, repeat business and personal referrals offer lucrative sa...  Read more>>

Even an advanced customer database system can run into trouble during implementation. Company culture clashes and fear of change often play larger roles in the failure of new CRM software tools than the quality of the tools themselves. According to leading sales software exp...  Read more>>

Training is often the biggest challenge in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system adoption. Rather than shying away from this challenge though, a company should consider how to get more out of the training process by involving a broader population of the firm.

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For all the focus a company might put on choosing the right customer relationship management (CRM) system, an even more important emphasis should be on thoroughly planning the implementation of that system. After all, as important as the characteristics and c...  Read more>>

Although customer relationship management (CRM) systems are already established in many organizations, there are likely few organizations that could not get greater use out of those systems. A recession may be an ideal time to explore new ways of using CRM software to increa...  Read more>>

In virtually every industry and every global region, forward-looking organizations are investing in customer relationship management (CRM) technology to support the adoption of more customer-centric strategies.

The 2008/2009 recession has required companies to go through more than the usual “belt tightening” that accompanies normal dips in the business cycle. This time around, the economic decline has been deep and sustained, and as a result the budget impact for the average busine...  Read more>>

An investment in a customer relationship management (CRM) system can increase sales productivity and ultimately represent an addition to, rather than a subtraction from, the company's bottom line. Earning a return on investment from a CRM application depends on whether the c...  Read more>>

In a 2006 survey conducted by CRMGuru, 50% of the respondents indicate that they base their satisfaction with a company on the sum of interactions with a brand's products, services, and people. How does your company measure up? You have an excellent product, your customer...  Read more>>

New initiatives are often the first victims during times of economic stress, whether those difficulties are at the company level or come from the broader economy. Those cuts can be short-sighted, since new initiatives may be exactly the game-changers a company needs to pull...  Read more>>

Business executives are trained to handle, and even anticipate, the different stages of economic and business cycles. However, the extreme nature of the 2008/2009 recession has given a generation of managers a business cycle like they have never seen before. For just about e...  Read more>>

Successful customer relationship management (CRM) implementations usually begin with a quality contact management tool. By making it easy for sales professionals to keep track of vital information, IT managers can pave the way for more advanced sales management software. Und...  Read more>>

Since the 1990s, the customer relationship management (CRM) concept has been embraced by the business world as a way to forge, maintain, and improve bonds with customers. Previously, many companies focused mainly on gathering consumer data for their own...  Read more>>

It would be all too easy for the purchase of a Customer Relationship Management CRM) system to become a classic battle of wills between the finance and marketing departments of an organization. After all, a CRM system is a big investment with ongoing costs-just the kind o...  Read more>>

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software has been developing rapidly. Whether a user is seeking to get the most out of an existing system, or a new buyer is evaluating potential systems, making the right CRM choices requires recognizing and understanding some of the r...  Read more>>

With any business technology, there is something of a chicken-and-egg relationship between the nature of that technology and the tactics that make use of that technology. Because of the time and expense involved in acquiring and implementing technology systems, it is easy fo...  Read more>>

Before you sign on the dotted line, make sure your CRM plan offers terms you can live with. The contract you sign should meet your needs today and tomorrow, as your business evolves. Flexibility and continued vendor support are the hallmarks of a CRM contract built to last.<...  Read more>>

Successive generations of CRM tools have not just added and refined software functions; they have created choices in how the programs themselves are delivered. In fact, the suitability of hosted CRM solutions or on-premises CRM software may be the most primary consideration...  Read more>>

Free customer relationship management tools often sound wonderful to overburdened company directors. While many company leaders have heard of the sales boosts and the productivity gains that effective CRM deployment can bring, some managers still find it hard to unlock budge...  Read more>>

With the economy mired in a recession, many companies these days are in cutback mode. The danger at such times is that cutting back can become the dominant corporate focus, which may create a company climate of planning to fail. A more positive orientation during a recession...  Read more>>

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software brings customer data into focus, allowing businesses to sharpen their customer service, sales, and marketing initiatives. From big-picture snapshots to individual customer details, CRM offers versatile data management on demand...  Read more>>

Over the past decade, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems have progressed from the trial-and-error phase of their life cycle to widespread implementation. More recently, the emergence of hosted CRM solutions has made sophisticated and cutting-edge CRM software ava...  Read more>>

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) techniques can be applied at all points on the sales and marketing spectrum, from low-cost, high volume consumer items, to highly-specialized, big-ticket products for industrial and institutional markets. The details of the approach, ho...  Read more>>

Two thirds of the IT directors responding to a recent Gartner Group survey told researchers that their companies intended to invest in salesforce automation (SFA) systems over the next twelve months. Even companies facing cutbacks in other areas of their budgets recognized...  Read more>>

Choosing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System is a high-stakes decision. To make this decision
with greater clarity, a company should not start by focusing on the details that distinguish different CRM
systems. That should come later, only...  Read more>>

Many companies that have adopted customer relationship management strategies already understand the benefits of tracking client sales and communications. However, companies with older CRM systems and sales professionals saddled with inadequate CRM tools often find themselves...  Read more>>

While marketing automation modules have started to attract a new wave of companies to CRM software, the long-term benefits of CRM systems can help businesses make the most effective use of their advertising and sales resources. According to leading industry experts, compan...  Read more>>

The best potential return on a customer relationship management (CRM) system can be earned when that system is integrated into as much of the organization as possible. This starts with an understanding of how a CRM system can be more than just a customer service tool. Of cou...  Read more>>

Many business professionals consider customer relationship management (CRM) the new frontier in marketing. Despite widespread integration of CRM technologies across the globe, companies are still learning how to adopt and adapt new CRM applications, and how to choose systems...  Read more>>

Competition and innovation among marketing automation providers have created an exceptional market for enterprise buyers. As feature lists for popular customer relationship marketing tools grow, even more vendors compete for their slice of the corporate IT budget. With so ma...  Read more>>

Customer relationship management (CRM) systems are being implemented by a variety of companies looking for a competitive advantage in the global marketplace. Without customer loyalty, many companies won't be able to thrive and grow. Today's consumers are more dema...  Read more>>