Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems have already more than proven their worth in business. But what makes a CRM system useful to you as a professional recruiter?

As you may have heard, not every implementation of a CRM system has been immediately successful. Through trial and error, CRM systems have more than proven their worth in business. Now that web-based software has become common, such systems are becoming progressively easier to implement.

What is a CRM system?

It is difficult to offer a clear, uniform definition; opinions differ too wildly. But it is possible to identify a number of general features that CRM systems share:

• database containing information about (potential) clients and the products and services to be provided
• Support and registration of contact times, such as telephone calls, correspondence by letter and e-mail, meetings, etc.
• registration and tracking of sales opportunities at client companies

By now, the CRM field is viewed as a serious field of study. Since 2004, Tilburg University has had its own degree programme in CRM.

What are the advantages?

It goes without saying that setting up a CRM system and using it to track information is not the ultimate goal. The advantages include the following:

• Safeguarding the sales process: How you work largely determines your formula for success. Guaranteeing a uniform approach improves your sales team’s quality, speed and efficiency in communications.
• Continuity in your business relations: It becomes simple and easy for colleagues to assume responsibility for business contacts and sales opportunities if a co-worker is ill or on holiday, or has left the company altogether. As a result, you miss fewer opportunities and improve the continuity of your carefully cultivated relationships with your customers.
• Insight leads to improvement: You will gain a better understanding of how your clients work, how your sales team is performing and what your marketing efforts are achieving. This insight improves your ability to manage your activities effectively.

Moreover, a CRM system often improves communication between co-workers and branch locations. It accelerates response time and cuts down on the costs of communication – and the costs of miscommunication, which are often difficult to quantify.

CRM for professional recruiters

There are many CRM systems on the market, most of which are not quite what you need in your work as a professional recruiter. Your activities aren’t limited to building relationships with customers; you also work with candidates. Your company doesn’t ship boxes off to customers; you select candidates from a network that you carefully constructed and meticulously maintain.

It is important to ensure that your CRM system supports relationships with your customers and with potential candidates. And it is equally important that your CRM system can see sales opportunities and match candidates to customers.