EDOs Should Get With CRM

What is CRM?

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It is a strategy used by many businesses to learn more about customers' needs and behaviors in order to develop stronger relationships with them. After all, good customer relationships are at the heart of business success. There are many technological components to CRM, but thinking about CRM in primarily technological terms is a mistake.

The more useful way to think about CRM in economic development is as a process that will help bring together lots of pieces of information about existing and potential new business, factors affecting their future growth, what services they need from your organization and others to succeed, and other relevant information that will help you serve these businesses better in the future.

What is the Main Goal of CRM?

The idea of CRM is that it helps EDOs use information, knowledge, professional staff, board members and other resources to add new value to your business customers.

Done properly, a CRM system in an EDO can:

1. provide better customer service.
2. give you advance intelligence about future business needs.
3. increase your retention and attraction rates.
4. increase your organization's effiency and effectiveness in serving its major business accounts.