The way businesses manage relationships is evolving.

The modern business relationship now goes beyond a simple transaction.

With many prioritising a long-term business relationship.

While CRM focuses on customers, XRM takes a broader view, helping you manage all kinds of connections—from clients to collaborators.

👉🏼 Try folk now to test custom pipelines for customers, partners, and candidates

What you'll learn in this guide

In this blog post, we'll cover:

• The key difference between a CRM and a XRM,
• What makes folk a XRM,
• Why XRMs are the future of relationship management.

Key differences between a CRM and XRM

While CRM is tailored for customer-focused processes, its rigid structure can limit its application to other types of relationships. Whereas a XRM takes the concept of CRM and extends it beyond customers. Let's take a closer look at what this means.

What is a CRM?

CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, is a technology designed to manage interactions with customers throughout the sales, marketing, and customer service lifecycle. By organizing data and automating workflows, CRMs help businesses nurture leads, close deals, and maintain strong customer relationships.

Top features of a typical CRM

• Contact Management: Tracking prospects through the sales pipeline.
• Sales Pipeline Management: Track your sales process in one place.
• Marketing Automation: Campaign management and audience segmentation.
• Customer Support: Ticketing systems and support tracking.

What is a XRM?

XRM, or Anything Relationship Management, takes the concept of CRM and extends it beyond customers. It encompasses all types of relationships—from suppliers and partners to internal teams and stakeholders. By focusing on adaptability, XRM enables businesses to manage complex, interconnected relationship networks.

Top features of typical XRM

• Flexible Relationship Management: Beyond customers, it includes partners, vendors, and collaborators.
• Customizable Workflows: Tailored to unique processes and industries.
• Integration-friendly: Seamlessly connects with various tools and platforms.

XRM emerged as businesses sought to adapt their relationship management strategies to cover scenarios that CRMs couldn't handle, such as managing collaborations in non-sales environments or streamlining supplier communications.

XRM's versatility makes it ideal for industries like recruitment, project management, and networking, where relationships extend beyond the customer base.

XRM vs. CRM: key differences at a glance

While a CRM might efficiently manage a sales funnel, an XRM can simultaneously handle recruitment pipelines, vendor management, and internal team collaborations. This expanded scope highlights XRM's potential to address multifaceted relationship networks.

👉🏼 Try folk now to test custom pipelines for customers, partners, and candidates

How folk uses XRM principles

folk CRM is a modern platform designed to break the limitations of traditional CRM by fully embracing XRM principles. It provides a user-friendly, customizable approach to managing all relationship types, making it particularly effective for CRM decision-makers leading teams of 20-50 people who need to manage diverse business relationships beyond traditional customer interactions.

Top features of folk:

• Enhanced Contact Management: Organize and segment contacts across diverse categories, such as clients, collaborators, and event attendees.
• Automation and Integration: Streamline workflows with tools like one-click WhatsApp access and email automation.
• Custom Workflows: Tailor processes to specific use cases, whether for recruitment, partnerships, or project collaboration.
• Collaboration Tools: Support teams in working together seamlessly, ensuring all stakeholders stay aligned.

For example, a recruitment agency using folk can create workflows that track candidates, coordinate with hiring managers, and streamline communication with external recruiters, all in one platform. Similarly, a small business can use folk to manage suppliers, track partnership opportunities, and organize networking contacts.

By aligning with XRM's philosophy, folk helps organizations adapt to the dynamic nature of modern business relationships.

Why XRM is the future of relationship management

The transition from CRM to XRM reflects the growing complexity of modern business relationships. As industries evolve, organizations need tools that are flexible, scalable, and capable of managing more than just customer interactions. XRM's adaptability ensures it's ready for the challenges of today's interconnected business world.

For example, industries like recruitment and professional services rely on maintaining relationships with a variety of stakeholders, such as candidates, clients, and collaborators. Traditional CRMs often lack the flexibility to address these needs effectively. XRM's broader scope ensures it can.

Platforms like folk lead this transformation, offering a next-generation approach to relationship management that balances ease of use with advanced capabilities.

4 Benefits of adopting a XRM Approach with folk

When you adopt folk CRM as your XRM platform, you unlock several key advantages that transform how mid-sized teams of 20-50 people manage relationships across multiple business functions. 

• Stronger relationships: folk's flexible contact management system allows you to organize and categorize diverse relationship types, including customers, suppliers, and collaborators, in one place. This ensures all stakeholders are effectively managed and nurtured.
• Flexibility tailored to your needs: folk's customizable workflows adapt to your industry-specific requirements, making it an ideal solution for fields like recruitment, event planning, and real estate. For example, recruitment agencies can create pipelines for candidates, while small businesses can streamline partner and supplier management.
• Time-saving automation: Automate repetitive tasks, such as sending follow-up emails or scheduling meetings, using folk's built-in features. These efficiencies help reduce manual effort and allow teams to focus on strategic priorities.
• Scalability to grow with you: folk's platform is designed to grow with your business, enabling you to seamlessly manage an expanding network of relationships without compromising efficiency. It's a practical choice for organizations looking to scale their operations while maintaining streamlined processes.

With folk, you can manage relationships more effectively, reduce manual overhead, and stay agile as your business grows and evolves.

Conclusion

XRM represents the future of relationship management by expanding beyond the limitations of traditional CRM. With its focus on flexibility, customization, and inclusivity of diverse relationship types, XRM is better suited to meet the needs of modern businesses. For CRM decision-makers managing teams of 20-50 people who need to handle complex relationship networks beyond traditional customer interactions, folk CRM stands out as the best XRM solution available. If you're ready to explore how an XRM approach can elevate your business. Try folk today, free. 

👉🏼 Try folk now to centralize partner, vendor, and candidate workflows and never miss a follow-up

More resources

• CRM basics: Everything you need to know to get started

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FAQ

What is XRM?

XRM (Extended or Anything Relationship Management) expands CRM to manage all relationship types—customers, partners, suppliers, candidates, and internal teams—with customizable data, workflows, and integrations.

How is XRM different from CRM?

CRM centers on customers across sales, marketing, and support. XRM is relationship-agnostic, adding flexible data models, custom pipelines, and integrations to manage partners, vendors, projects, and internal stakeholders in one system.

When should a business choose XRM over CRM?

Choose XRM when work spans beyond customers: recruitment pipelines, vendor management, partnerships, community or event contacts, and cross-team projects. XRM adapts to diverse processes that rigid, sales-led CRMs cannot cover.

What is the best CRM system for small businesses?

The best fit depends on needs. Prioritize ease of use, customizable pipelines, email automation, and integrations. Small teams benefit from tools that handle clients, partners, and candidates, such as folk.