Customer Relationship Management (CRM) consists of the processes a physician can use in order to track and organize its contacts with its current and prospective customers.
CRM software is used to support these processes; information about customers and customer interactions can be entered, stored and accessed by all employees.
Typical CRM goals are to improve services provided to customers, and to use customer contact information for targeted marketing
While Customer Relationship Management can be implemented without major investments in software, software is often necessary to explore the full benefits of a CRM strategy.
However, most CRM software vendors stress that a successful effort requires a holistic approach.
Many initiatives often fail because implementation was limited to software installation, without providing the context, support and understanding for employees to learn, and take full advantage of the information systems.
Tools for customer relationship management should be implemented “only after a well-devised strategy and operational plan are put in place.”
Many problems occur when failing to think of sales as the output of a process that in itself needs to be studied and taken into account when planning automation CRM.
