What is CRM?

CRM, or customer relationship management, refers to strategies that businesses use to manage customer interactions and data. With a CRM system like Pipedrive, you can organize, manage, track and improve the customer experience throughout the entire customer lifecycle. Our CRM platform helps you automate communications, simplify processes and build stronger customer relationships.

What is CRM software?

CRM software is a tool that enables you to manage customer data and nurture customer relationships.

Each CRM platform is different, but here are some practical CRM features to look for:

  • Lead management: Capture lead data from various sources, assign lead quality scores and match new leads with the right sales rep.

  • Pipeline management: Map your sales pipeline with a CRM to better understand how customers move through the buying journey and to encourage conversion.

  • Reporting and forecasting: Use dashboards, CRM analysis and reporting tools to identify customer trends and assess sales performance.

What is CRM software?

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What are the benefits of using a CRM?

A CRM system helps you manage all customer data in one database, improve sales management and track sales.

Here’s how those benefits work on a daily basis:

  • Manage CRM data in one database: A central hub for contact management makes it quicker and easier for salespeople to access valuable customer information.

  • Improve sales management: The data stored in a CRM tells you who your customers are, how they behave and what they want. This information helps you improve sales decisions and marketing efforts.

  • Track sales and financial performance: A CRM platform provides a rundown of your sales, revenue and financial performance. This helps you see how well you’re doing and pinpoint areas of the sales process that need improvement.

Learn more about the benefits of CRM

How users benefit from Pipedrive’s CRM

Increase deals in your pipeline by 93%

Reduce average deal closing time by 46%

Increase average deal value by 21%

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Who benefits from using a CRM platform?

CRM software is useful across a range of industries, from SaaS and real estate to manufacturing and marketing. A CRM platform will benefit any large or small business that wants to improve customer satisfaction, increase efficiency and boost sales.

Within an organization, teams like sales, marketing, customer support, finance and operations can profit from using a CRM to perform the following activities:

  • 1. Optimize the sales funnel to close more deals
  • 2. Generate higher-value leads to increase profits
  • 3. Build solid relationships to boost customer loyalty
  • 4. Streamline cross-team collaboration to achieve bigger goals
  • 5. Eliminate busywork to grow productivity

How Pipedrive’s CRM helped Tiffany Largie grow her business to $2.5 million

Tiffany Largie, a successful entrepreneur, business speaker and consultant, found her sales team leaving money on the table as they struggled to keep up with data management.

Pipedrive’s simple CRM solution helped her team instantly begin tracking customer data in real time. The CRM software enabled sales reps to manage multiple revenue streams simultaneously, automating the sales process to help them close deals faster.

We were managing between 150–300 outreaches a day. With Pipedrive, we could handle that data in real time in a way that didn’t require us to perform a lot of data entry.

Read the full case study
Tiffany Largie Case Study

The advantages of using a cloud-based vs. an on-premise CRM platform

Unlike an on-site CRM (which lives on your company’s server), a cloud-based CRM is accessible online. Here are a few benefits of using an online CRM vs. an on-site solution:

Cloud-based CRMOn-premise CRM

Work from anywhere: All you need are your login details and a solid internet connection

Access is limited to set devices and locations

Access to real-time data means all employees work from the most up-to-date files

Manual updates can lead to employees working from out-of-date files

Quick and easy installation: The software and all its features are online and ready to use immediately

A complex structure needs expertise and time to install locally

Vendor support and maintenance make for a cost-effective solution

Costs add up with the internal staff required to provide support and maintenance

Easy to scale with added resources and various pricing plans as your business grows

Changes to the size or capacity of the platform require new purchases or additional software and take time to install

How to manage and improve customer relationships with CRM

A CRM platform can help you maintain better relationships with your customers by enabling you to:

  • Visualize the customer journey: A CRM system tells you where new customers came into contact with your brand. For example, via your social media page, website or sales email.

    These touchpoints give you a clear picture of how customers move through the buying journey and what you can do to make it easier for them and encourage them to buy.

  • Identify trends in customer behavior: With a CRM, you can easily spot patterns in customer behavior. You’ll better understand buyer behavior and how to meet their needs.

  • Create a personalized customer experience: A CRM allows you to send personalized communications to customers. As a result, they enjoy their experience with your business and are more likely to keep moving along the sales cycle to make a purchase.

Build customer relationships with Pipedrive’s CRM

Used by over 100,000 companies in 179 countries

In the forecast view, we look at what deals are due to close this month, next month just to make sure everyone is really honest about what they should be working on.

Carolyn PearsonFounder, Maiden Voyage

One of the favorite features within Pipedrive is the email integration. It pulls all of the clients details in, so that we don’t have to think about it.

Erin and DrewFounders, Pro Arts

As a business owner, my favorite feature in Pipedrive is the statistics and being able to look at the dashboard and use those metrics to help each individual on the team.

Lisa CoyleCEO, 360 Payments

Over 350+ integrations

Expand the capabilities of Pipedrive with hundreds of apps and integrations

CRM FAQs

  • What does CRM stand for?
  • What is a CRM system?
  • What are CRM tools?
  • What does a CRM do?
  • How to use CRM software in each department
  • What are the three types of CRM?
  • What is a CRM in business?
  • What is a CRM in sales?
  • What is a CRM strategy?
  • What is the future of CRM?

See how Pipedrive works for your business