Why CRM Is a Game-Changer for Business Growth and International Expansion
- Brainz Magazine
- Jul 28
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 23
Written by Yuliia Solovyeva, Business Growth Consultant
Yuliia Solovyeva is a strategic growth advisor with almost 20 years of experience. She helps clients – from startups to global brands – expand into Europe, the US, MENA, and Asia through market expansion, profitability, sales, positioning, partnerships, and digital strategy.
In today’s competitive world, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is far more than a database. For businesses aiming to scale, enter new markets, and maximize revenue, CRM is the engine that turns relationships into results and missed opportunities into growth. Here's why:
1. CRM helps you identify clients you can scale with right now
You don’t always need to conquer a new market from scratch. Hidden inside your CRM are clients who:
already have offices in other countries,
operate as part of global networks (like international law or engineering firms),
or have shown strong growth and might be ready for more.
Tapping into these relationships is faster, cheaper, and less risky than starting cold with unknown prospects.
2. CRM helps resurrect “untapped” opportunities with new context
Every CRM holds:
Free trials that never converted
Deals that stalled
Clients who previously couldn’t allocate a budget
But circumstances change:
New budgets appear
Leadership changes
Trends such as cybersecurity, automation, and ESG rise to the top of corporate priorities
I always recommend running comeback campaigns at least every quarter. They often deliver the highest ROI of any sales channel.
3. CRM identifies who can spend more, not just who already bought
Your biggest growth potential often isn’t with those who’ve merely purchased, but with those who:
Respond quickly
Regularly engage with your product
They are growing their teams
Or already use similar solutions in other regions
These are your best candidates for cross-sell, upsell, or strategic partnerships.
4. CRM powers ecosystem partnerships: Beyond single sales
Especially in B2B, clients rarely want a standalone solution; they want an ecosystem.
When your CRM connects with delivery systems, billing, document management, or financial APIs, you can track the entire sales journey, create joint commercial offers, and involve partners to support high-value leads.
A practical case study
One of our European clients provides procurement automation solutions for the construction industry. As they analyzed their CRM data, they discovered that one of their clients, initially active only in their domestic market, also operated branches in several neighboring countries.
Inside the CRM were multiple contacts from these other regions who had never been approached.
After a brief conversation with a decision-maker at the client’s head office, the team tailored their solution for multi-country use, including region-specific analytics and reporting.
The result? The client’s monthly spend increased from €2,200 to €5,800 in just one month. No new leads, no marketing campaigns, no discounts, just smart, proactive work with the data already sitting in the CRM.
Practical tips to make CRM your growth engine
My veteran advice:
Don’t just label clients in your CRM; capture their potential: countries, office count, business segments.
Create a “Ready for International Growth” filter. For example, clients are already engaged in cross-border activities.
Involve your account managers in using CRM as a tool for spotting upsell opportunities, not just for record-keeping.
Run audit and reactivation campaigns at least every three months to revisit past leads with fresh context.
CRM isn’t merely a storage tool; it’s a decision-making engine for business growth. Companies that treat CRM as a strategic advisor, not just an archive, consistently outpace their competitors.
Businesses today are under constant pressure to achieve more with less, to turn every relationship into an opportunity, and every piece of data into a strategic advantage. Yet, many find that even the best CRM tools fall short without the right expertise and practical implementation.
That’s where specialists come in.
In the following section, one of my partners at CRMiUM will share their hands-on insights about:
The most common pain points businesses face in adopting and using CRM
How do they help clients overcome these obstacles
A real-world case study demonstrating how CRM can drive measurable growth
1. The pain points: Why CRM projects fail
An expert's job in implementing a CRM solution isn't just about "installing and configuring the software"; it is also about building a system of automated processes that can adapt to business scaling.
However, companies often neglect this approach and make many mistakes. Let's examine the most common ones:
Choosing an overly complex or expensive CRM, "more" doesn't always mean "better," especially when selecting the right CRM.
Implementing a CRM system separately from business processes, if they work independently, the data collection process, and therefore the understanding of customer needs, becomes limited.
Lack of training for employees, the intuitive use of the CRM system can lead to time wastage and decision delays.
No integration between the CRM and IT infrastructure, one of the main problems in this situation is data duplication.
Uncontrolled CRM management can lead to the loss of important customer information or incorrect analytical results.
2. CRMiUM's approach: How we solve it
First, we identify the actual business needs. After analyzing the request, our experts help the company choose a proper CRM, ERP, or HRM system from the leading options (of which we are an official partner), such as Zoho, Creatio, Odoo, Pipedrive, and NetHunt.
Next, we create an actionable roadmap for workflow automation based on a preliminary audit of business processes.
We also provide in-depth training for employees on how to work within the CRM, along with video instructions.
Our team implements the solution thoroughly until complete integration of the business processes and employees into the CRM system.
After implementation, we will continue to evolve the system to meet emerging needs. Our support department will ensure its maintenance.
3. Case study
Our recent client, Biletyna, is one of the largest ticketing platforms in Poland, having been on the market since 2006. Over the years, they've sold more than 20 million tickets and onboarded 1,800 event organizers to their system.
Despite the company's scale, its previous system lacked key functionality for automatic lead collection, support management, and analytics. It also couldn't streamline the creation of commercial offers, so the team had to spend time doing them manually.
After partnering with us, Biletyna received a solution that allowed them to:
Conduct an in-depth analysis of business processes.
Collect customer inquiries.
Centralized management of support tickets.
Optimize a unified sales pipeline.
Automate the creation of commercial proposals.
4. Call to action
CRM isn’t just a tool for keeping records; it’s a way to spot growth opportunities, strengthen your customer relationships, and expand into new markets.
If you’re planning to scale or rethink your current approach, start by asking the right questions. Request CRM demos and see how well it aligns with your actual needs.
Read more from Yuliia Solovyeva
Yuliia Solovyeva, Business Growth Consultant
Yuliia Solovyeva is a high-impact strategic advisor known for helping companies unlock bold growth, scale internationally, and boost profitability. With over two decades of experience across legal and financial services, fintechs, startups, and global brands, she brings rare depth and precision to every engagement. Her approach combines strategic clarity with hands-on execution across market entry, business development, marketing strategy, and partnerships. As the founder of Solovyeva Consulting, she advises leaders across Europe, the US, MENA, and Asia - turning ambition into measurable results.
