A CRM system serves several functions. Along with keeping track of our sales process and the level of customer service, it also gives us first-hand data about our customers and leads. It contains an evolving event called a sales opportunity that, in itself, contains various discrete events, such as visits, and calls, and sales quotes. All this data is important first-hand information about our market. This is especially true in the case of sales quotes, which are documents that are similar to invoices and give us an idea what customers are interested in buying, how much they plan to purchase, and at what price. An opportunity may also include information about its origins, competing offers, and any reason why we failed to convert it into an actual sale.

A CRM system also tends to add more information to the customer catalog, such as demographic information. If customers are people, then we may gather data about their age, sex, education level, income level, marital status...