Your Email Program Is Not a CRM!

First things first – CRM stands for “customer relationship management.” While the term can be used to refer to a general concept, we use it to describe software specifically. CRM software is used to organize all of the information related to customers (or other contacts) as well as automate many tasks related to marketing and customer service. It is a sales tool that will keep you well organized and support your ability to plan and track your success.

I was chatting with my friend, Brandon Wise of Wise Agent the other day and he said something that really caught my attention. “I can’t tell you how many people are using Microsoft Outlook and believe that it is a CRM,” he said. “There’s not a day that goes by that my Wise Agent team doesn’t move someone over from the Outlook system because it has come back to bite them.”

Now, I’ve said it before, but clearly it’s not getting through so I’ll say it again: Outlook (or Mac Mail) is not a CRM! At the most basic level, this is because email programs like Outlook focus on just that – email! What happens when communication with that customer jumps out of the inbox and onto the phone, into the physical mailbox, or otherwise into the “real world?” I’ll tell you what – mail programs become blind to any non-email activity, prohibiting you from tracking important touch points. They also can’t help with marketing the way that a true CRM can.