What is the CRM Process

To understand the steps in the CRM process, you have to understand the customer life cycle. It is one of the first concepts that you learn as a sales rep to understand how a person becomes a loyal customer.

The CRM cycle involves marketing, customer service, and sales activities. It starts with outreach and customer acquisition and ideally leads to customer loyalty.

Key Stages in the CRM Cycle

There are five key stages in the CRM cycle:

1. Reaching a potential customer
2. Customer acquisition
3. Conversion
4. Customer retention
5. Customer loyalty

The CRM process is that concept in action. It is the tangible steps that an organisation must take to help drive consumers through the cycle of learning about your brand and ultimately becoming loyal (and repeat) customers.

According to the customer life cycle, we know that the first step in the CRM process is maximising reach with leads. In practice, reach is using your CRM to generate brand awareness via targeted marketing campaigns.

Every stage in the customer life cycle corresponds to an actionable step in the CRM process. The key is knowing what those steps are and how to execute them.