Name. Phone number. Email address.
Done! CRM complete.
Well… not exactly.
If that’s all you’re keeping in your CRM, congratulations, you’ve built a very expensive address book.
The right information to track in a CRM goes far beyond contact details. Your CRM should help tell the story of your relationship with a customer. Who are they? How did they find you? What have they asked for? Who spoke with them last? What’s happening next?
And because no two businesses operate exactly alike, what belongs in your CRM depends on how you work.
Start With the Information Every Business Needs
Whether you sell roofing systems to homeowners or industrial equipment to manufacturers, some information is universally useful.
The information to track in a CRM should include:
- Contact Information: Names, phone numbers, email addresses, companies, locations, and every person associated with the account.
- Lead Information: Where the lead came from, what they’re interested in, when they contacted you, and ultimately, what converted them.
- Communication History: Calls, emails, notes, chats, meetings, and who on your team interacted with the customer last.
- Tasks and Follow-Ups: Calls to make, emails to send, next steps, deadlines, reminders, and who is responsible for getting them done.
- Appointments and Calendars: Meetings, estimates, consultations, service appointments, project dates, and other scheduled interactions connected to that customer.
- Photos and Files: Jobsite photos, before and after images, product photos, measurements, attachments, and other files your team may need later.
- Contracts and Documents: Proposals, estimates, agreements, signed contracts, invoices, and important paperwork should stay connected to the customer they belong to.
- Projects and Requests: Internal projects, external requests, support tickets, service issues, and who’s responsible for handling them.
- Customer and Opportunity Status: Is this person a new lead, active opportunity, current customer, past customer, or somewhere in between? Your team should know without asking around.
- Team Activity and Ownership: Who is working with the customer? Who handled them last? Who owns the next step? Your CRM should answer all three.
- Sales and Conversion Information: What did they buy? Which opportunity converted? What marketing source brought them in? Knowing what worked helps you do more of it.
- Payment Information: Payment status, transaction history, outstanding balances, and other relevant payment details can help complete the customer story without another scavenger hunt.
Basically, if your team might someday ask, “Wait… what happened with this customer?” it probably belongs there.
What Should B2C Businesses Track?
B2C businesses usually work directly with individual customers, so your CRM should make it easy to understand that person’s complete history.
A hair salon might track appointments, client preferences, before and after photos, color formulas, visit history, and stylist notes. A fitness instructor may need client goals, training sessions, progress tracking, measurements, and scheduling details. A med spa might care more about inquiries, appointments, treatment history, preferences, and previous interactions.
The important thing isn’t collecting information just because you can. It’s keeping the information your team needs to provide better service without making the customer explain everything again.
Nobody wants to tell the water heater story for the fourth time.
What Should B2B Businesses Track?
B2B gets a little more complicated because one “customer” might actually involve six people… or more.
You may have an owner, purchasing manager, billing contact, project manager, and Walter. Nobody knows exactly what Walter does, but he’s copied on everything.
Important information to track in a CRM for B2B includes company details, multiple contacts and roles, opportunities, proposals, contracts, decision makers, communication history, projects, tickets, and next steps.
It should also show how those people connect to the larger account. The billing contact isn’t necessarily the decision maker, and the person requesting a quote may not be the person signing the contract. That context matters.
You also want visibility into how the relationship developed. Who originally contacted you? Where did the opportunity come from? Which marketing source worked? What ultimately converted the lead into a customer?
That’s useful information for serving customers AND figuring out how to find more of them.
What if You Have B2B and B2C Customers?
Ah, yes. Both.
Wouldn’t it be great if your CRM could keep everything in one place? Wouldn’t it be even better if you didn’t need separate systems just because one customer is a homeowner and another is a company with seven contacts?
That’s exactly why Water Bear Marketing created LinearCRM.
We needed a CRM flexible enough for real businesses, including those serving B2B, B2C, or both. Keep contacts, opportunities, notes, calendars, appointments, photos, contracts, projects, tickets, payments, marketing activity, and customer history together, where your team can actually find them.
The best information to track in a CRM is the information that helps you run your business better.
Start your free 7-day LinearCRM trial today and see how much easier “keeping track of everything” can actually be.
