A STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM) ON SALES PERFORMANCE

Abstract

Customer Relationship Management improves customer understanding, builds loyalty, and strengthens communication. It helps firms track preferences, respond faster, and deliver personalized services. Effective CRM increases customer satisfaction, repeat purchases, and long-term relationships. These outcomes directly enhance sales performance by improving conversion rates, cross-selling opportunities, and revenue growth. Data-driven insights support better decisions, targeted marketing, and efficient sales planning, leading to higher productivity, stronger retention, and sustainable business profitability levels overall. The literature consistently indicates that effective CRM favourably influences customer satisfaction, loyalty, and overall business performance across sectors like banking, MSMEs, agribusiness, and services. Employee engagement and service quality are critical in translating CRM use into better customer outcomes.
CRM is also a driver of innovation, as it enables process innovation, digital transformation, and the development of sustainable business models, especially with regard to e-CRM and AI-enabled tools. Nevertheless, most of the causes of CRM failure have been related more to poor implementation, weak strategic alignment, and data quality problems than to technological limitations. Overall, the studies underline that CRM success stands on strategy, technology, people, and data integration within given industry contexts.