Definition of Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) refers both to the strategy companies use to manage interactions with prospects and customers, and to the software systems that support those processes. In most cases, CRM refers to the system itself—a centralized platform that stores customer data and manages sales, marketing, and service activities.
What a CRM System Does
A CRM system acts as a single source of truth for customer and prospect information. It tracks leads, sales opportunities, deal stages, communications, customer history, and support interactions. Popular CRM platforms include Salesforce, HubSpot, and Microsoft Dynamics.
CRM Explained for a General Audience
For a general audience, a CRM is like a shared digital notebook for a company. Instead of each employee keeping their own notes, everything about a customer lives in one place. Anyone interacting with the customer can see past conversations, purchases, issues, and preferences, ensuring consistent and informed communication.
Why CRM Is Important
CRM systems help companies improve customer relationships, increase retention, and drive sales growth. By organizing data and processes in one platform, teams avoid missed follow-ups, duplicated work, and lost opportunities.
CRM in Sales and Marketing
Sales teams use CRM to manage leads, track pipeline stages, forecast revenue, and log interactions. Marketing teams use CRM data to segment audiences, personalize campaigns, and track how leads convert into customers.
CRM in Customer Success and Support
CRM systems also support post-sale activities such as onboarding, renewals, upsells, and support tickets. This allows companies to manage the entire customer lifecycle, not just the initial sale.
CRM and Revenue Operations (RevOps)
CRM is foundational to Sales Operations and RevOps. It standardizes sales stages, reporting, and metrics, enabling teams to analyze conversion rates, deal velocity, churn, and renewal performance across the revenue funnel.
CRM Integrations and Ecosystem
Modern CRM platforms integrate with email, marketing automation, CPQ, billing, customer support, and analytics tools. These integrations provide a complete view of the customer journey from first touch to renewal.
CRM in Ratio’s Context
Ratio integrates directly into CRM systems such as Salesforce and HubSpot. This allows financing, quote-to-cash workflows, and payment options to be managed directly within the CRM. Sales reps can offer financing without leaving their primary sales workspace, and deal data remains centralized.
CRM as the System of Record
CRM is typically the system of record for sales and customer data. Keeping all deal activity—including pricing, contracts, financing, renewals, and collections—inside the CRM ensures data accuracy and operational efficiency.
CRM and Process Consistency
By enforcing standardized workflows and definitions, CRM systems ensure consistency across teams. This improves forecasting accuracy, reporting reliability, and cross-team alignment.
Why CRM Matters in a Glossary Context
Including CRM in a glossary explains a core business system that underpins sales, marketing, customer success, and revenue operations. Understanding CRM is essential for understanding how modern companies manage growth and customer relationships.
Summary
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is both a strategy and a software system for managing customer interactions and data. CRM platforms centralize customer information, support sales and marketing workflows, and enable better coordination across teams. As the backbone of revenue operations, CRM plays a critical role in scaling customer relationships and driving sustainable growth.
