Account and contact management: One of the core features of a CRM is extensive account and contact management. Contact management features allow users to sort contacts by the accounts they are associated with. This allows users to have key contact information such as phone numbers and email addresses of various roles at any given company. This way if someone wants to contact a product marketing manager or even the CRO at a company they can quickly reference the contacts associated with the account. 

Opportunity management: Another core feature of CRM software is opportunity management. This allows users to track a sales opportunity through its various stages, forecast the likelihood of closing an opportunity, take notes on customer pain points and needs, and track opportunity quotes. As an opportunity moves through the various stages, users can assign a percentage chance to the deal closing as well as mark if an account renewal is at risk of being lost. This will highlight a call to action for salespeople and will alert them that they might need to address any customer concerns to increase the likelihood that they will sign a deal. Additionally, within the opportunity section, salespeople can assign quotes for the deal based on how the deal is progressing. This helps salespeople give an accurate quote to a potential customer and forecast revenue for the fiscal year. 

Lastly, it’s crucial for users to take diligent notes on customer needs as the deal progresses. For example, if a call was conducted and the potential customer indicated their pain points and what’s most important to them, users can record that within the opportunity page on the CRM. This allows salespeople to come back with their needs addressed and increases the likelihood of closing a deal.

Lead management:  Lead management features are another core feature of a CRM that can help drive more revenue for businesses. When a lead filters into the company, whether that be from an event, an online form, or tracking online visitors, the CRM can automatically store a lead’s contact information as well as provide additional features to help pursue the lead. For example, CRMs generally provide lead scoring features that automatically determine the best leads to chase based on various factors including how that lead has already interacted with the business website. If a lead has visited certain pages or downloaded certain resources, it may be a good indicator of what product or solution they are looking for. 

Additionally, CRMs can filter in important demographics and make it easy to visualize lead information such as job titles, company size, company revenue, and more. This further makes it easier to filter out leads that businesses shouldn’t waste time pursuing.