CRM stands for customer relationship management and is a software that allows a business to store information on its clients and prospects for the purposes of “managing” the relationship. Early CRM systems like ACT! and Goldmine were database programs that allowed companies to store notes, files and information on customers and communications, and organize their list into intelligent groups for marketing purposes. As CRM systems evolved, they became more sophisticated by allowing e-mail broadcasts and fax broadcasts, and incorporating other online tools for social media.
Marketing automation systems are the next generation of CRM, providing more sophisticated list segmentation, tracking and reports as well as the ability to implement sophisticated “if-then” logic in campaigns. For example, we can build campaigns that trigger once a lead opts in on your website or a person registers for a webinar. Such campaigns can automatically send e-mails, set up tasks for your sales team to call or your marketing team to mail information, and provide reporting on the entire process. Other campaigns can trigger appointments to be scheduled automatically by your client or prospect and then continue to send e-mails or send your sales team alerts if the client or prospect does NOT take that action. It can also remove people from campaigns once they’ve completed an action you’re driving them to do, such as registering for a seminar, downloading a free report or scheduling a consultation.
Our MAP program is a combination of CRM and marketing automation, AND the actual campaign blueprints are pre-built, pre-written and ready to go for an MSP that wants to get more clients and sell more to the clients they already have.
If you want to communicate INTELLIGENTLY with clients and prospects WITHOUT massive manual labor, making sure they are getting appropriate communications based on their actions and preferences, you need a marketing automation software, not just a CRM.