Reading About CRM? Here Are the Top CRM Books and Blogs

The field of customer relationship management (CRM) is dynamic. Any business that wants to learn more about maximizing their client relationships needs to stay as up to date on new CRM developments by using as many reliable resources as possible. Here are 14 books, blogs, and other publications that can help.

Books

Customer Relationship Management: A Databased Approach, by V. Kumar and Werner Reinartz

This book introduces its audience to marketing concepts such as optimum resource allocation and explains the relationship between database CRM and maximizing overall profitability. It gives a comprehensive look at how the different elements in a good CRM program can be used to forecast profitability among new clients.

Customer Relationship Management, by Francis Buttle and Stan Maklan

Each edition of this book looks to update all of the techniques and methods for managing client relationships that were discussed in previous editions. Readers learn exactly what CRM is, how it is to be used and how it benefits corporate profits.

Marketing Management, by Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller

Anyone who wants to dive deep into the marketing theory behind CRM will want to read this book. This is considered to be one of the most influential sources of CRM information in the industry.

Customer Relationship Management, by Ed Peelen and Rob Beltman

This book is intended for graduate- and masters-level marketing students looking for information on maintaining the balance between analytical and operational CRM. It can also be a resource for corporate marketing professionals who want to understand how different aspects of CRM work together to create a complete solution.

The Customer Relationship Management Survival Guide, by Dick Lee

This is a very popular book that outlines the many reasons why corporate CRM strategies fail, and what can be done to repair the damage. This is considered one of the more influential books in the CRM field as it is a very hands-on approach to discussing the benefits of good CRM practices.

Relationship Marketing & Customer Relationship Management, by Adele Berndt and Madéle Tait

Written for undergraduate- and graduate-level college students, this book helps the reader to gain a comprehensive understanding of CRM and the broader field of effective relationship marketing. It breaks CRM down into its components and explains how those components work together to create solutions.

Harvard Business Review on Customer Relationship Management, by Harvard Business Review

This Harvard Business Review book gives insight into how to use each element of CRM to grow a company's brand, retain loyal customers and develop more effective ways to expand the customer base.

Service Management & Marketing: A Customer Relationship Management Approach, by Christian Gronroos

Christian Gronroos is known for his groundbreaking approach to marketing services, and in this book, he marries his ideas on marketing intangible products with a clearly defined CRM strategy.

Blogs

That CRM Blog (formerly "Leon's CRM Musings")

One of the reasons this blog is so popular is its ability to take relatively new CRM concepts and give a tremendous amount of detail. The majority of the posts deal with the relationship between new marketing concepts and their effect on CRM.

Beagle Research

This is a wide-reaching blog that explores many of the worlds surrounding CRM, such as Salesforce and other CRM related products. The writing is very personable and easy to understand, which is one reason why this is such a popular blog.

Inside CRM

Inside CRM has been considered one of the definitive blogs in the CRM field for a long time. This is one of the first blogs industry experts go to when they want to find out the latest in CRM news and tools.

GetCRM Blog

This is a great blog for sales professionals who want to learn how CRM can increase their revenue and improve their closing ratio. For marketing experts, there is plenty of CRM advice and information on how CRM can be enhanced by other marketing platforms such as social media.

DiscoverCRM

When marketing experts or corporate users are trying to find the best CRM resources available, they look to DiscoverCRM. Not only will users find buyer's guides for the very best CRM software available, but they will also benefit from white papers that explain CRM in detail.

Publications

International Journal of Electronic Customer Relationship Management

The IJECRM offers information designed to help corporate users understand how CRM can bridge the marketing gaps between smaller businesses and larger enterprises and help break down the complex notions of CRM into more understandable bits of information. Readers will also find white papers and analytical reports written by CRM experts to help explain the latest in CRM concepts.

In order to get the most out of the world of CRM, it is important to stay up to date on all of the latest developments. The Internet is filled with information that marketing professionals need, but it always helps to narrow down your resources to a few that you can trust so you are not overwhelmed. A list of the best CRM resources from industry experts helps to keep you focused on the latest methods and technologies while also leaving you time to develop new ways of retaining customers and growing your client base.

To view the original article, visit the Contactually blog.