Before jumping into the specific CRM features of Odoo, it is valuable to briefly discuss the importance of a comprehensive approach to implementing a CRM system in your business. The fact is that successfully implementing a CRM system requires much more planning than just installing software and asking employees to fill in the data. CRM software systems are only a technical tool in assisting your sales and marketing department in acquiring and keeping customers. Certainly the software will play an important role, but to obtain real benefits from a CRM system you must do the hard research to understand your customer and exactly how you wish to shape their customer experience.

It is critical that the sales people share account knowledge and completely understand the features and capabilities of the system. They often have existing tools that they...