Customer relationship management is the process and tools through which your company grows and maintains a long-term relationship with its clients and customers. Since it is a process and there are several tools on the market, it’s important to craft an intentional CRM strategy, taking into account your unique business needs. Moreover, creating a CRM strategy should be a cross-functional endeavor that involves IT in the implementation process.

How to Choose CRM Software

B2B vs B2C

CRM in B2B vs. B2C are both complex in their own ways. In a B2B setting, you’re juggling multiple stakeholders, and it takes time and savvy to know whom to contact. In fact, the purchasing group at any given company contains an average of 6-10 people, according to Gartner. Given that there are often multiple people to please and convince, the length of time for tracking, negotiating, and finalizing contracts in B2B is also longer than CRM processes in the B2C environment.

The purchasing group at any given company contains an average of 6-10 people.

At the same time, B2C has its own level of complexity. For starters, B2C sales are often repetitive and cyclical, so analytics that provide detailed insights into consumer purchasing patterns will be a key feature to seek in CRM software. There are far more customers in this selling environment, making lead management essential in your CRM software of choice.

Whether you do business in a B2B or B2C setting, you’ll want to focus on CRM software that can handle the level of intricacy unique to your selling environment.

Read more: How to Create a CRM Strategy (Step-by-Step Guide)