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Engagement & CRM · Guide

Customer Relationship Manager: The Role and the Software

What it is Customer relationship manager means a person who looks after relationships with existing customers, or the software that tracks them. It names a post-sale role, not winning new customers; the software reading is usually written CRM, short for customer relationship management.
Read this if You typed what is customer relationship manager and want to know whether it means a job or software.
Skip it if You want the software side only, or a ranked list of CRM tools to compare.
What this page does A guide, not a ranking: it settles what the term means before you compare tools.
Understand itWhere it sits, and how it works in 3 parts Check it applies3 cases where a tool changes nothing See the tools7 tools people mean by it, grouped by function Go further5 questions answered, then the pages to open next

Last updated on · written from the review set and vendor pages; the oldest reading dates from .

Step 1 · Understand it

Where it sits in the process

Before it, this page, after it. Check you are on the right step before reading on; a link opens the guide when one exists.

Before Closed deal A prospect has signed, and someone must now look after the account.
This page Customer relationship manager A person looks after a customer's relationship once the sale is made.
After Renewal The customer is asked to keep buying, or to buy more, from the company.
Not to be confused with ✕ Account manager: looks after named accounts, often with a sales target ✕ Customer success: helps customers get value from a product after buying
Step 1 · Understand it

How it works

3 things to remember. Each card states one; the line under it is the detail.

The role is to keep existing customers satisfied, active and likely to stay

Day to day, that usually means regular contact with customers, checking how they use the product and spotting problems early.

The role sits between the customer and the rest of the company

It carries a customer's questions and requests to sales, support or product, and brings the answers back to them.

The software reading means a CRM, which records customers and each interaction

A person uses it to keep contacts, deals and notes together, and to see each customer's history before a call.

Step 2 · Check it applies

Does it apply to you?

Tick what is true for you. Each line is a case where a tool changes nothing.

Dedicated software pays off once customers, contacts and follow-ups are too many to hold in a sheet.

Software stores the history, but a person owns the relationship and decides the next move.

Duties, targets and tools differ between employers, so the same title can describe quite different work.

Tick the lines that describe you.

At least one of these is true for you: fix that first. No tool changes it.

None of these is you. The term applies to your situation.

Step 3 · See the tools

The tools people mean by this

Grouped by function, not ranked. A tile opens our review; Try goes to the vendor.

Customer data & CRM

They are CRM or customer-data software, the software reading of the term.
HighLevel (GoHighLevel)Provides an agency CRM Try
KlaviyoUnifies customer data Try
PipedriveKeeps customer data and interactions together Try
SalesforceCentralizes customer data on one platform Try

Accounts & meetings

They map decision makers, track deal stages and book meetings.
CalendlyBooks meetings through shared links Try
ClickUpManages accounts, deal stages and activity Try
HubSpotMaps decision makers automatically Try

Also reviewed: DocuSignRingCentralZendesk

Alphabetical within each group. No ranking implied. 7 of the 116 tools we score in Engagement & CRM.

Go further

Related questions

Calls and meetings with existing customers, follow-up on their questions, early warning on problems, and preparing renewals or upsells with the sales team.

Not always. As a job title it names a person; read as software it means CRM software. This page covers the job first, then the software.

This page holds no salary figure to quote. Pay varies with employer, industry, seniority and location, so check recent US job listings for your title and level.

Titles overlap. Account managers often focus on named accounts and revenue, customer success on product value, and a customer relationship manager on the relationship as a whole.

Employers usually look for communication, patience and product knowledge; some ask for a degree or sales or support experience, others train on the job; check each listing.

Where to go from here
Free CRM for Small BusinessDirectory · What the No-Cost Tiers Really Include How we scoreThe five-dimension grid, the review set, the limits of the method

This page explains a term; it does not score tools.

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