A CRM (customer relationship management system) is software that keeps everything a company knows about its customers in one place. It only helps if every fact goes into the right place. A phone number hidden in a note cannot be found by a colleague; a next step written as "next week sometime" never reminds anyone.
Most CRMs organise information in a few kinds of records. A record is one entry, like one card in a card index. Records are linked to each other: a contact belongs to a company, a deal belongs to a company and has contacts, and activities, tasks and notes are attached to all of them.
Record | What it holds | Example field |
|---|---|---|
Contact | One person: name, role, ways to reach them | Email address |
Company (also called account) | One organisation: name, size, address, industry | Number of employees |
Deal (also called opportunity) | One possible sale: what, how much, which stage, expected close | Deal value |
Activity | Something that has already happened: a call, an email, a meeting | Date and length of a call |
Task | Something someone still has to do, with a due date and an owner | Due date |
Note | Free text that does not fit a field: background, impressions, what was said | "Prefers short emails" |
The case
Northwind Traders is a fictional wholesaler of office supplies. Its seller Tom Richter is trying to win Margie's Travel, a fictional travel agency, as a customer. His contact there is Clara Jensen, the office manager. Tom has collected the facts below, and now they need to go into the CRM.
Teacher notes
How to run it. Read the introduction and the table together (5 minutes). Learners do the four tasks alone or in pairs (15 minutes). Use 5 minutes to discuss the quiz question about health data. For class results, open "Use it with a class" and share the link.
Common mistakes.
Putting "Clara mentioned that the finance director approves orders over 10,000 euros" on the deal. That is defensible, because it matters for this deal. In many CRMs it would go in a note on the company, because it is true for every future deal too. Accept both if learners can explain why.
Confusing activity and task. A simple test: is it in the past (activity) or the future (task)?
Thinking "fine as it is" means "has no mistakes I can see". The two items in that group have a clear role, a link, a date and an owner.
Writing everything into notes. Notes are for what does not fit a field. A date, a value or a stage in a note cannot be sorted or reported.
Follow-up questions.
Margie's Travel opens a fourth office and wants a second contract for it. New deal or change to the old one? Why?
Clara leaves Margie's Travel and joins Fourth Coffee. What should happen to her contact record?
What would a manager need to see in the CRM to decide which deals need help this week?
Data protection. CRM records about people are personal data. Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), companies may only store what they need for a clear purpose. Health data is a special category with stricter rules (Article 9 GDPR). This is an overview, not legal advice.
Going further. The CRM terms match practises the vocabulary, and the weighted pipeline worksheet shows what managers calculate from deal records.