Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Meaning & Types
Definition
Customer relationship management (CRM) is the practice — and the software — of recording every interaction with leads and customers in one place, so that enquiries are followed up, deals are tracked to an order and customers are kept.
| Term | Customer relationship management (CRM) |
|---|---|
| In Hindi | ग्राहक संबंध प्रबंधन (CRM) |
| Area | Business |
| Search phrase | customer relationship management |
| Try it | CRM for manufacturers |
ग्राहक संबंध प्रबंधन (CRM) — हिंदी में अर्थ
कस्टमर रिलेशनशिप मैनेजमेंट (CRM) लीड और ग्राहकों से हर बातचीत को एक जगह दर्ज करने का तरीका और सॉफ़्टवेयर है, ताकि हर पूछताछ का फ़ॉलो-अप हो, सौदे ऑर्डर तक ट्रैक हों और ग्राहक बने रहें।
Three types of CRM
Operational CRM runs day-to-day sales, marketing and service work — leads, follow-ups, quotations, tickets. Analytical CRM studies the data — which lead source converts, why deals are lost, which customers buy again. Collaborative CRM shares customer information across teams, so sales, production and service see the same history.
What a CRM records
Contacts and companies, leads and where they came from, follow-up calls and visits, opportunities with their value and stage, quotations sent, emails, and the reason a deal was won or lost. The result is a pipeline you can forecast from instead of a list in someone's phone.
CRM for a manufacturer
B2B deals are few, large and slow, so a single missed follow-up costs real money, and the deal does not end at the order — it continues into drawings, production, dispatch and service. In CRE8Rx ERP, Leads and CRM (Pipelines, Opportunities, Territories, Email Templates and Email Sequences) feed straight into quotations and sales orders on the same system.
Related tools and guides
Frequently asked questions
What is the full form of CRM?
Customer Relationship Management.
What are the types of CRM?
Operational, analytical and collaborative CRM.
What is CRM in simple words?
One place to record every lead, call, quote and customer, so nothing is forgotten and every deal can be followed to an order.
Is CRM only for sales?
No. Marketing uses it for lead sources and campaigns, and service teams use the same customer history for complaints and visits.
Related terms
- Capex vs opexCapex (capital expenditure) is money spent on long-term assets such as machinery or buildings; it is capitalised and depreciated. Opex (operating expenditure) is the day-to-day cost of running the business — wages, power, rent — and is charged to profit in the year.
- Cost-based pricing (cost-plus pricing)Cost-based pricing sets the selling price by working out the full cost of a product or job and adding a fixed percentage or amount for profit. The best-known form is cost-plus pricing: price = cost × (1 + markup %).
- Customer service (after-sales)Customer service is the help a business gives its customers before, during and after a sale — answering questions, fixing problems and keeping promises. For a manufacturer the larger part is after-sales service: complaints, repairs, warranty, maintenance and spares.
- EPF payment online (EPFO portal)EPF payment online is the monthly process in which an employer uploads the Electronic Challan cum Return (ECR) for its employees on the EPFO Unified Portal, generates a challan and pays the PF contributions by net banking — due by the 15th of the following month.
- ESIC payment onlineESIC payment online is the monthly process in which an employer files each covered employee's days worked and wages on the ESIC employer portal, generates a challan and pays the ESI contributions — employee 0.75% and employer 3.25% of gross wages — by the 15th of the following month.
- Incoterms (EXW, FOB, CIF, DDP)Incoterms are standard trade terms published by the International Chamber of Commerce that set out, for a sale of goods, who arranges and pays for transport, insurance and customs, and the point at which risk passes from seller to buyer.