What is a CRM system and when does your company need one?

What is a CRM system in plain English?

A CRM system is your company's shared ‘memory’ of its customers: every customer has a record showing who spoke to them, what they were offered, what they ordered and what needs to happen next. In everyday speech it is also called CRM software, a customer management system or simply a CRM.

The key difference from a plain contact list is history and actions. The system doesn't just store a phone number and email address – it reminds you about a scheduled call, shows which stage a deal has reached and lets a manager see everyone's work in one place. Most CRMs run in the browser, so you can use them on a computer and on a phone. If an off-the-shelf system doesn't fit the way you work, you can have a CRM built around your own processes.

What does a CRM system do?

A CRM system logs customers and enquiries, moves them through sales or service stages, reminds you about tasks, helps you prepare quotes and shows reports. The exact modules depend on the system, but most CRMs include the following:

• Customer record – contacts, company details, enquiries, quotes, orders, files and comments.
• Enquiry logging – enquiries from the website form, email or phone land in a single list and are assigned to the person responsible.
• Stages and statuses – e.g. ‘enquiry – quote – contract – completed’, so you can see where a deal has stalled.
• Tasks and reminders – who has to do what, and by when.
• Documents – quotes or contracts generated from a template using the customer's data.
• Roles and permissions – a sales manager sees their own customers, the accountant sees invoices, the director sees everything.
• Reports – sales, quote-to-order conversion, staff workload.
• Integrations – connections with your website, email, online store or accounting software.

How is a CRM different from an Excel spreadsheet?

An Excel spreadsheet stores data; a CRM system also organises the work around it: it controls who sees what, records the history of changes, reminds you about tasks and lets several people work on the same records at the same time. For one or two people, a well-kept spreadsheet is often perfectly adequate.

Moving away from spreadsheets doesn't mean giving up Excel: lists and reports can be exported from the CRM and analysed as usual. We describe how this works in practice on our page about moving Excel spreadsheets into a CRM.

How is a CRM different from accounting software?

A CRM system is for working with customers before and after a sale: enquiries, quotes, orders and tasks. Accounting software is for bookkeeping: invoices, VAT, i.SAF (the Lithuanian tax authority's invoice data register) and payroll. One does not replace the other, but the two can be connected.

For example, a sales manager marks an order as confirmed in the CRM, and the invoice data is passed automatically to Rivilė, B1.lt or other accounting software, as long as it has an API or an import option. The payment status can flow back into the CRM, so the sales manager can see whether the customer has already paid.

When does your company need a CRM system?

Companies usually need a CRM system when 3 or more people work with customers, information about those customers is scattered across several places and some enquiries or agreed actions get lost. The more of these signs you recognise, the more seriously your company should consider a CRM:

• Information about the same customer sits in emails, Excel files and staff notes.
• When an employee leaves, their customers' history leaves with them.
• An enquiry from the website or by phone sometimes goes unanswered because nobody knows who is responsible for it.
• Several people fill in the same spreadsheet and the number of file versions keeps growing.
• Every month the director pieces together a sales or progress report by hand.
• Staff need to see different data, but in the spreadsheet everyone sees everything.

When don't you need a CRM yet?

A CRM system won't help if you have few customers and one person handles them, if your process hasn't settled yet, or if nobody commits to keeping it up to date. The system only works when every customer and enquiry is logged in it – not ‘sometimes’.

• You work alone or as a pair – a tidy spreadsheet with protected columns is usually enough.
• You need bookkeeping rather than customer management – that's what accounting software is for.
• You can't yet spare a few hours to map out your process – without that, any system will be set up at random.

What types of CRM systems are there?

By how they are deployed, CRM systems fall into three groups: off-the-shelf cloud systems with a monthly fee, open-source platforms that have to be installed and configured, and custom systems built around a specific company's process. No group is best for everyone.

• Off-the-shelf CRM (SaaS), e.g. Pipedrive or HubSpot. The quickest way to get started; you usually pay monthly per user. Suits a standard sales process.
• Open-source CRM platform. The licence is often free, but you need a server, installation and configuration. Suits companies with their own IT specialist or partner.
• Custom CRM. Fields, stages, permissions and reports are built around your process, and the cost usually doesn't depend on the number of users. Suits a non-standard process: property, service jobs, rentals, production orders.

How to choose a CRM system

Choose a CRM system by your process, not by a feature list: first describe how an enquiry or order currently moves through the company, who works on it and what they need to see – and only then compare systems. Test them with your own data, not demo data.

1. Map out the process from enquiry to payment and mark the points where information currently gets lost.
2. List the roles: who will work in the system and what each person needs to see and edit.
3. Note where data will have to be moved from: spreadsheets, email, an old system.
4. List the integrations: website, email, online store, accounting software.
5. Check where the data is stored and how it is handled under the GDPR, especially if the system will hold personal data.
6. Compare the cost over 2–3 years, not the first month: as the team grows, so do per-user licence fees.
7. Make sure you can export and move your data at any time.

How do you make sure staff actually use the CRM?

A CRM system is only useful when every customer and enquiry is logged in it. So agree from day one that the system is the only place for customer data, appoint someone responsible and start with the smallest set of fields you really need.

• One switchover date. From the agreed day, new customers and enquiries are logged only in the CRM, and the old spreadsheets are kept as an archive.
• Essential fields only. The longer the form, the more often it is filled in hastily – or not at all.
• Something in it for staff. Reminders, quote templates and search should save them time, not just collect data for management.
• Training for each role. The sales manager, the accountant and the director are shown different parts of the system.
• A review after a month. Discuss which fields are unnecessary, what is missing and where staff still fall back on spreadsheets.

How long does it take to implement a CRM?

You can start using an off-the-shelf CRM within a few days, but configuration, data import and staff training often take several weeks. A custom system takes longer: Saitai.lt delivers a system based on 1–2 tables in 2–4 weeks, and a business CRM with tasks, reminders and integrations in 4–8 weeks.

A larger system is best launched in stages: customers and orders first, then quotes, reports and integrations. If several people who need different permissions work with the same customers, see our page ‘Online CRM for teams’.

Not sure whether your company needs a CRM yet? Use our enquiry form to describe how an enquiry or order currently moves through your company and how many people work on it. Within 1 working day we'll tell you whether an off-the-shelf or a custom system makes more sense.