From Execution to Influence: Why It’s Time for CRM to Take the Lead

CRM teams are being asked to do more with less.

More personalisation. More commercial impact. More alignment across channels, categories, and customer journeys. All while navigating tighter budgets, tech debt, and competing priorities.

And yet in many businesses, CRM is still seen primarily as a delivery function – the team that sends the emails, manages the database, and executes “what’s already been decided.”

It’s a setup that limits growth. Because the truth is: no other team is closer to the customer.

This is the moment to change that.

Download the full Playbook now or follow this series to explore the framework designed to help CRM teams move beyond campaign delivery and take on a more strategic, commercially influential role.

Why Now?

The market conditions have shifted. For mid-sized, multichannel brands in particular, the pressure is building:

• Acquisition is more expensive
• Margins are under scrutiny
• Loyalty is harder to earn and easier to lose
• Regulations are forcing a sharper focus on owned data

In this environment, CRM should be one of the most influential teams in the business. It owns the insight. It steers the relationships. It understands what makes customers stay, spend, or walk away.

But too often, CRM can’t access it to properly act on that insight or isn’t trusted to use it strategically.

Why We’ve Written This Series

At Plinc, we work with CRM, marketing, and customer leaders across retail, travel and hospitality. And the patterns are striking.

Many teams are sitting on high-potential data, valuable customer knowledge, and years of experience. But they’re stuck in a cycle of delivery. Building campaigns at speed, responding to trade asks, and reporting on last week’s performance.

What’s missing isn’t effort. It’s the commercial trust, structure, and space to lead.

That’s what this Playbook is designed to support.

What This Series Covers

Over the next 10 blog posts, we’ll explore 10 strategic shifts CRM teams need to make to earn influence, prove value, and lead growth conversations with confidence.

Each chapter is grounded in real-world CRM dynamics. No transformations. No theory. Just commercially sharp ideas designed to help teams move from:

“We send the emails” → “We shape customer value.”
“We’re waiting on the brief” → “We’re informing the plan.”

Each post will build on the Playbook’s key ideas – adding examples, context, and practical entry points for teams ready to start shifting how they work.

Who It’s For

If you’re leading, supporting, or building a CRM team inside a brand with £50m–£500m turnover where pressure is high and strategic clarity is vital. This is for you.

It’s for anyone looking to:

• Show not just what CRM is doing, but what it’s changing
• Make CRM more visible and valuable to leadership
• Build internal confidence in customer insight
• Strengthen relationships across trading, marketing, finance, and product
• Move fast without being in constant reaction mode

The First Chapter

The series begins where most CRM challenges do: With customer data that exists — but can’t be used.

Chapter 1: Sound the Alarm explores why poor access to insight is no longer a technical issue — it’s a commercial risk.

Read Chapter 1 here or download the full Playbook to explore the full framework designed to help CRM teams move beyond campaign delivery and take on a more strategic, commercially influential role.