CRM Executive Recruitment


Recruiting an In-House CRM Executive

Dan Roylance has over 10 years’ experience in CRM tells us what CRM is and how to select the best CRM Executives.

What is CRM:

In my view, CRM is managing the customer experience and engagement for the benefit of both the customer and the business. It is a strategic role that champions all customer experience in a personalised and relevant way.

What value does it add to your business:

CRM enables us to be personalised, timely and relevant to all of our marketing communications both on and offline. It increases efficiency in the production and delivery of activity and helps deliver targeted campaigns helping to achieve a better ROI

A good CRM will help with faster analytics and reporting enabling businesses to be more agile. It will also enable businesses to learn more about their customers through their behaviours and interactions which can help with applying improvements and enhancements to future marketing activity, customer service and the overall customer experience.

What are the stand out qualities in a good CRM Executive?

A strong CRM Executive has to be personable with good relationship skills (as this role would work with many different stakeholders both within the digital team as well as other internal and external teams)

They have to be highly organised, have an eye for detail and care about what it is they do

A good CRM Executive can work to a deadline and is also able to adapt and change direction quickly. This is particularly important in industries such as retail or travel where competition is fierce and businesses need to be able to react in a short amount of time.

They are analytical and always look to explore new ways to engage with the customer. They understand the importance of always monitoring the activity of direct competitors as well as industry-leading businesses who excel in what they do to take inspiration.

They take personal professional development seriously and are keen to ensure that they are abreast of the latest digital trends, skills and seek to improve and increase their knowledge.

It’s also important that they understand key channels in the delivery of a CRM strategy such as email and helpful to understand other channels such as direct marketing and SMS

Who do you look for in an interview

The first and one of the most important things I look for in a candidate is a positive attitude and approachable personality. I look for someone who takes their career and development very seriously and wants to grow in their field. Also important is someone who knows when to have a laugh because it’s important to be able to enjoy yourself at work and be able to interact professionally with colleagues.

What are the red lights?

For me the red flags to look for when interviewing a candidate is whether or not they are unable or unwilling to adapt to change. With new or enhanced Martech entering the digital marketplace all the time, one of the most important skills to learn is how to quickly adapt to change. Poor communication and interpersonal skills is another red light for me since this is a critical skill to have in a role that has to engage with multiple departments and colleagues.

Finally, a lack of emotional intelligence and empathy and a lack of digital and analytical experience would be a problem when recruiting for this role.

What advice would you give someone wishing to start out in CRM?

Take the time to read up on it – good sources are:

Network. Sign up to Eventbrite and look for digital networking events. Talk to professionals in the industry and ask for advice on how to start your career.

Look at courses (some short courses are good and give you the basics on digital marketing) like IDM / CIM

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