A general rule of thumb for businesses is to drop the bottom 10 percent of clients each year, based on the profitability of the relationships. Focusing on the most profitable clients--rather than all of old clients--will, in time, increase the business' overall profitability. One way to manage the profitability of client relationships is through the use of Customer Resource Management (CRM) software.
Both small and mid-sized businesses must have immediate control of customer management through the use of e-mail, Web 2.0 applications, and a single user interface. CRM applications are generally used by employees with moderate technical ability, as they are specialists in the development of customer relationships, not the integration of digital technology. As such, a CRM application must be simple to use and not require extensive planning and software coding. The bottom line, to be effective, a CRM system must enable both sales and marketing staff and business leaders to quickly begin managing their customer relationships.
CRM is valuable to sales and marketing staff in organizations such as membership organizations, professional services, and real estate. CRM applications come in two flavors: 1) locally-installed and hosted services. A hosted service is accessible through a web interface, and may be preferable, since no software need be installed locally, the application may be accessed through any web-enabled device.