United Kingdom · Marketing · Mid-Level (2-5 years)

CRM Marketing Specialist

As a CRM Marketing Specialist, you orchestrate the symphony of customer communication with precision and care.

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, a real day, what you decide, how you're judged, how people get here and where they go next. Then the part no course gives you: twelve AI tutors who learn your work.

Free to start: a plan built for this role, and a Future Fluency module to try first. No card.

Keep this job description

Where should we send it?

One email: what AI is changing in this job, and where to start free. With a link back here. Nothing else follows unless you confirm your address.

Upskilling a team in this role? Talk to us

  • Experience bandMid-Level (2-5 years)
  • Direct reportsNo direct reports
  • Reports toSenior CRM Marketing Specialist or CRM Marketing Manager
  • UK framework levelUsually a coordinator, or early in a professional job

Also advertised as Marketing Automation Specialist · Email Marketing Specialist · CRM Executive

Built on 43,079 real UK job descriptions we analysed · grounded in qualifications employers recognise

1From this job to a course

The qualifications matched to this job

OCNLR Level 4 Diploma in Digital Marketing OCN London · Level 4 · covers 5 of 23 standards
OCNLR Level 4 Award in Content Marketing OCN London · Level 4 · covers 2 of 23 standards
AIM Qualifications Level 3 Diploma in Media Creation, Production and Craft Support AIM Qualifications · Level 3 · covers 2 of 23 standards
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma in Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Pearson Education Ltd · Level 3 · covers 2 of 23 standards
Cambridge OCR Level 3 Cambridge Technical Certificate in Art and Design Cambridge OCR · Level 3 · covers 1 of 23 standards
Cambridge OCR Level 3 Cambridge Technical Diploma in Art and Design Cambridge OCR · Level 3 · covers 1 of 23 standards

Matched from the standards this job is measured against: a suggestion, not an official ruling.

The units you would start with

Content Marketing OCNLR Level 4 Diploma in Digital Marketing
Producing Creative Marketing Communications – Advertising Concepts and Solutions for Clients AIM Qualifications Level 3 Diploma in Media Creation, Production and Craft Support
Developing a Marketing Campaign Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma in Enterprise and Entrepreneurship
Design for advertising Cambridge OCR Level 3 Cambridge Technical Certificate in Art and Design

The future skills this job leans on

AI Fluency working with AI as a thinking partner
Data Fluency turning numbers into a decision
Systems Fluency seeing the whole picture
Your Plan Illustration

Built for CRM Marketing Specialist

4 units that map to this job, from the qualifications that cover it.

  1. Content Marketing OCN London · covers 5 of 23 standards Level 4
  2. Producing Creative Marketing Communications – Advertising Concepts and Solutions for Clients AIM Qualifications · covers 2 of 23 standards Level 3
  3. Developing a Marketing Campaign Pearson Education Ltd · covers 2 of 23 standards Level 3
  4. Design for advertising Cambridge OCR · covers 1 of 23 standards Level 3
These are the real units behind this job, in the order they rank for it. Nothing here is marked done, because this plan has not been started by anyone yet. Yours would fill in as you go.

2AI and this work

Will AI change your work as a CRM Marketing Specialist?

Nobody can say exactly how. Here is what this job is being asked for next, and where to start.

How the AI economy is changing work like this

A broad read on this kind of work, not an analysis of this job on its own. Roles that share a pattern get the same answer here.

Fading: AI does more of this

Routine tasks like drafting email copies and setting up basic segmentation are increasingly handled by AI tools.

→
Rising: worth more because of AI

Your ability to interpret data and craft nuanced, personalised customer journeys becomes even more valuable.

The new skills this role is being asked for

  • Prompt Engineering & LLM Integration
  • Advanced Personalisation Techniques
Why each one is rising

The future skills this job leans on

We'll only ever tell you what we can actually back up. No hype, no scare tactics.

What happens when you start

Next, a free account. We build your CRM Marketing Specialist plan as you set up, starting with a Future Fluency module on using AI in your job. No card.

Your first Future Fluency module is free. After that, your AI tutor is £70 a month.

3What this role really is

We see you

You often wonder if AI will make your role redundant, yet you realise it also frees you to focus on crafting more meaningful customer journeys. It's a balancing act between embracing innovation and maintaining the personal touch.

A CRM Marketing Specialist builds emails, sets up automated customer journeys, and keeps customer data clean and accurate. This work sits behind the scenes of customer communications, making sure the right message reaches the right person at the right time. It is a hands-on job where attention to detail matters.

4A day in the life

Not a job advert. A real day, built from what this role actually holds.

08:45
You start the day by reviewing the performance of yesterday's email campaigns, checking open rates and click-throughs to see what resonated with your audience.
11:00
A quick meeting with the sales team to discuss the latest leads, ensuring your list pulls are spot on and everyone is chasing the right opportunities.
14:30
You dive into HubSpot, setting up a new automated nurture workflow, carefully designing the sequence to guide customers through their journey with your brand.
16:15
An unexpected hiccup in the CRM platform requires your attention, so you troubleshoot the issue, ensuring everything runs smoothly before the day's end.

5What you'd actually use

The tools this job runs on, and how well you'd need to know each one.

HubSpot Intermediate

Managing contact records, building static and active lists, executing pre-built email campaigns, pulling basic reports, and setting up standard automation workflows.

Klaviyo Basic

Building and sending one-off email campaigns using existing templates, understanding basic segmentation, and monitoring campaign performance.

ZoomInfo Basic

Using the browser extension to enrich individual contact records and performing simple list exports for prospecting or data validation.

Looker Studio (formerly Data Studio) Basic

Connecting to Google Sheets or HubSpot to build simple charts, understanding and navigating pre-built dashboards for campaign performance.

Asana Intermediate

Managing your personal tasks, updating project statuses, collaborating with team members within existing project boards, and tracking campaign timelines.

Microsoft Excel Intermediate

Proficient with VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, PivotTables, and advanced data filtering/sorting for cleaning lists, preparing data for import, and basic analysis.

6What you get to decide, and how that grows

Power in a job isn't your title. It's what you're allowed to decide. Here's how it grows as you move up.

The choiceComing in Where you are nowThe step above
Campaign Launch & Scheduling Requires approval from supervisor for audience, content, and send time. Independently schedules and launches standard campaigns after content approval; escalates any audience segmentation changes. Approves campaign schedules and audience segments; consults on complex A/B test designs.
Data Import & Cleaning Performs data imports under direct supervision; all cleaning actions reviewed. Independently manages routine data imports and cleaning, following established 'dedupe logic'; escalates complex data discrepancies. Defines 'dedupe logic' and data governance rules; approves large-scale data migrations.
Workflow & Automation Changes Assists with minor edits to existing workflows under guidance. Builds and modifies basic nurture workflows independently; consults on major changes to existing, high-impact workflows. Designs and implements complex multi-stage automation flows; makes recommendations for workflow strategy.
Tool & Feature Adoption Uses existing features as instructed. Explores new features within existing tools and proposes how they could be used for specific campaigns. Evaluates new features for broader team adoption; makes recommendations for tool upgrades or new integrations.

7How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, and what is not on it. The hard targets, how often each is actually looked at, and the quiet signals that never reach a dashboard.

Data Import Error Rate
The percentage of errors or inconsistencies found in data lists you've imported into our CRM system.
Target · Less than 0.5% error rate on all list uploads.

If you import a list of 1,000 contacts and only 3 have malformed email addresses or missing required fields, that's a 0.3% error rate – you're hitting the target.

Standard List Pull Turnaround Time
How quickly you can provide a requested, properly segmented list of contacts from the CRM to a stakeholder.
Target · 95% of standard list pulls completed within 4 business hours of the request.

A Sales Manager asks for a list of all prospects in London who downloaded our Q1 whitepaper by 10 am. You deliver it, correctly segmented and cleaned, by 1 pm the same day.

Campaign Execution Accuracy
The percentage of campaigns you launch that go out with the correct audience, copy, links, and schedule, without needing last-minute corrections.
Target · 99% of campaigns launched without errors.

You've set up 20 email campaigns this month. If 19 of them went out perfectly, and one had a broken link that you caught and fixed within minutes of launch, that's still excellent.

Nurture Workflow Completion Rate
The percentage of contacts who enter a nurture sequence you've built and complete all the steps, rather than dropping out early.
Target · Improve completion rates by 5-10% quarter-over-quarter for key workflows.

A new lead nurture flow you built saw 40% of contacts complete it last quarter. This quarter, after some tweaks you made, it's now at 44% completion.

Data Quality Improvement
How well you contribute to the overall cleanliness and usability of our CRM data, beyond just preventing errors.
  • You'll proactively identify and merge duplicate records. You'll spot inconsistent data entries and suggest fixes. Stakeholders will comment on how much easier it is to find reliable data. You might even create a small guide for others on data entry best practices.
Stakeholder Feedback & Collaboration
How effectively you work with other teams, especially Marketing and Sales, and how satisfied they are with your support.
  • You'll get positive comments from the Sales team about the quality of the lists you provide. Marketing colleagues will praise your reliability in getting campaigns out. You'll be seen as helpful and responsive when issues arise, rather than just waiting for instructions.
Workflow Adherence & Documentation
Your ability to follow established processes for campaign setup and data management, and to contribute to clear documentation.
  • Your work will consistently follow our SOPs for campaign launches. You'll update internal documentation when you find a better way to do something, or if a process changes. New team members will find your documented workflows easy to follow.
Proactive Problem Solving
Your initiative in identifying potential issues with data or campaigns before they become big problems, and suggesting solutions.
  • You might notice a segment of contacts isn't receiving emails as expected and investigate why, rather than waiting for someone else to flag it. You'll suggest improvements to existing nurture flows based on performance data you've seen, even if not explicitly asked.

8Would you like it

Both sides. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy
Order and Structure

You'll genuinely enjoy tidying up messy data, creating clear processes, and building logical, step-by-step automation workflows. The satisfaction comes from turning chaos into order.

You love seeing a perfectly organised HubSpot portal, with clear naming conventions and every contact property doing its job. A clean database makes you happy.

Seeing Direct Impact

You'll get a real kick out of seeing your email campaigns generate clicks, your nurture sequences convert leads, and your data improvements directly lead to better reporting. Your work isn't abstract; it's tangible.

When a sales rep tells you the lead list you provided was 'spot on' and led to a new deal, that's a massive win for you.

Solving Puzzles

Figuring out why a workflow isn't firing correctly, or how to segment a complex audience, will feel like a satisfying puzzle to solve. You enjoy the challenge of making systems work.

You're given a tricky segmentation request, and after a bit of head-scratching and testing, you crack it and deliver exactly what was needed.

What frustrates people
  • The Sales Team Black Hole: You'll spend hours cleaning and scoring leads, only to see them sit untouched in a sales rep's queue for weeks. Then, sometimes, you'll get blamed for 'low-quality leads' even though they weren't actioned.
  • 'Just a Quick List Pull': Expect a constant barrage of 'urgent' requests from stakeholders that derail your carefully planned, strategic work on data governance and workflow optimisation. It's like being a short-order cook for data.
  • Inheriting a Data Graveyard: If you're joining us, be prepared that our CRM might not be perfect. You could discover a lawless wasteland of duplicate records, inconsistent formatting, and years of untracked changes. Cleaning it up is part of the job, but it can be frustrating.
  • Being the 'Button Pusher': Sometimes, your strategic insights on segmentation and behaviour will be ignored, and you'll feel like an order-taker whose only job is to schedule email blasts. It's a balance, and you'll need to advocate for your expertise.
What this role does not give you
  • A purely strategic, hands-off role: You'll be deeply involved in the day-to-day execution.
  • A guarantee that every project you touch will see the light of day: Sometimes business priorities shift.
  • A completely predictable, routine work schedule: Urgent requests will pop up, that's just how marketing works.

9Who you work with

Your work directly influences how effectively we communicate with our customers and prospects. Get it right, and you're boosting engagement, driving leads, and making our brand look good. Get it wrong, and you risk customer churn, wasted ad spend, and a very unhappy sales team. Essentially, you're a key player in ensuring our marketing efforts are both efficient and impactful.

Inside the business
  • Marketing Manager (for campaign briefs and strategy)
  • Sales Team (they rely on your clean data and lead nurturing)
  • Content Team (you'll use their brilliant copy and assets)
  • Data & Analytics Team (for reporting and data integration support)
  • Product Team (occasionally, for product-specific campaigns)
Outside the business
  • Marketing platform vendors (like HubSpot or Klaviyo support teams)
  • Email service providers (for deliverability issues, though less common at this level)

10What you need before you start

Not a wish list. The things you would be expected to already have.

  • At least 2 years of hands-on experience working directly with a CRM or marketing automation platform (like HubSpot, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Pardot, Marketo, or similar).
  • Proven ability to manage and execute email campaigns, including segmentation, A/B testing, and reporting.
  • Demonstrable experience with data cleaning, manipulation, and ensuring data quality, probably using Excel or similar tools.
  • A solid understanding of basic marketing principles and the customer journey.
  • A track record of working collaboratively in a team environment.

11What to practise next

Where the job is going, and what to do about it starting this week.

HubSpot & Klaviyo Mastery

As our marketing becomes more sophisticated, we'll need to use these platforms for more than just basic campaigns. You'll need to understand their advanced features to build truly powerful customer journeys.

Custom Objects & Properties · Advanced Workflow Branching & Goals · API Integrations (basic understanding) · Deliverability Best Practices

  • This quarter: Complete the HubSpot Marketing Software Advanced Certification (if you haven't already).
  • Next quarter: Build a multi-stage, multi-channel nurture flow that uses custom properties for segmentation.
  • Within 6 months: Research and propose one new advanced feature in either HubSpot or Klaviyo that we're not currently using.
  • Within 12 months: Attend a webinar or workshop specifically on email deliverability and sender reputation.

Quick win: Explore the 'App Marketplace' in HubSpot or Klaviyo to see what integrations are possible; you might find a quick win for an existing problem.

12Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Regularly follow industry blogs and thought leaders in CRM, marketing automation, and email marketing (e.g., Litmus, Really Good Emails, HubSpot blog).
  • Attend relevant webinars or virtual conferences to stay updated on new features and best practices.
  • Participate in online communities or forums dedicated to HubSpot or Klaviyo users to learn from peers and troubleshoot challenges.
  • Take advantage of any internal training programmes we offer on new tools or advanced techniques.

13The rising capability

The rising capability

Zavmo analysis

What's rising in its place

This is where the work is heading, and the higher pay with it. Get fluent here and the shift stops being a threat and starts being your edge.

Prompt Engineering & LLM Integration

Honestly, competitors are already using AI (Large Language Models like ChatGPT or Claude) to draft email copy, summarise data, and even outline nurture sequences in minutes. Analysts and specialists who figure this out will outproduce their peers significantly. This isn't future-gazing; it's happening now.

  • Context windows and token limits
  • Temperature settings for different tasks
  • Output validation and hallucination detection
  • Prompt chaining for complex analysis

Advanced Personalisation Techniques

Customers expect more than just their name in an email. Dynamic content, AI-driven product recommendations, and truly individualised journeys are becoming standard. Basic segmentation just won't cut it anymore if we want to stand out.

  • Dynamic Content Modules
  • Predictive Analytics for Next Best Action
  • Real-time Personalisation
  • A/B/n Testing for Personalisation

14What you’ll use

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Lead Lifecycle Management
  • Customer Segmentation & Personalisation
  • Marketing Automation & Nurturing
  • Data Hygiene & Governance
  • Campaign Attribution & Reporting
  • Lead Scoring Basics

15The pathway

The pathway

How you actually get there, here

How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.

  1. 1

    Marketing Coordinator / Assistant

    1-2 years

    Skills to master

    • Basic campaign setup, content scheduling, data entry, understanding of marketing channels, and foundational CRM navigation.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Consistently accurate execution of assigned tasks.
    • Proactive in learning new marketing tools and processes.
    • Demonstrates a keen eye for detail in all work.
  2. 2

    Junior Data Analyst (Marketing Focus)

    1-2 years

    Skills to master

    • Data cleaning and manipulation (Excel, SQL basics), basic reporting and visualisation, understanding of marketing metrics, and an analytical mindset.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Ability to identify and fix data inconsistencies.
    • Can clearly explain basic data insights to non-technical colleagues.
    • Shows initiative in exploring data to answer marketing questions.
  3. 3

    Customer Service / Support Specialist

    2-3 years

    Skills to master

    • Deep understanding of customer pain points, excellent communication skills, experience with CRM systems from a customer interaction perspective, and problem-solving.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Demonstrates empathy and a customer-first approach.
    • Proficient in using CRM to manage customer interactions.
    • Can identify patterns in customer feedback that could inform marketing.

16How people get here · where they go next

Came from
Marketing Coordinator / Assistant
1-2 years
You mastered the essentials of campaign setup, content scheduling, and gained a solid understanding of marketing channels.
You are here
CRM Marketing Specialist
Mid-Level (2-5 years)
A CRM Marketing Specialist builds emails, sets up automated customer journeys, and keeps customer data clean and accurate. This work sits behind the scenes of customer communications, making sure the right message reaches the right person at the right time. It is a hands-on job where attention to detail matters.
Goes to
Senior CRM Marketing Specialist
2-3 years
This role involves leading CRM projects, mentoring junior team members, and making data-driven recommendations to enhance strategy.

The long view: This role can lead to CRM Marketing Manager, Marketing Operations Manager, or Director of Marketing Technology and Analytics.

The ten Future Fluencies

Zavmo analysis

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

A qualification proves you can do the job as it's defined today. These ten are what decide whether you're still the obvious person for it in five years. They're the capabilities employers are now writing into senior roles faster than people are learning them. Zavmo weaves them through whatever you study, so you come out with both: the credential and the fluency.

The highlighted ones are the Fluencies your role leans on hardest, from how CRM Marketing Specialist is actually changing.

How you would learn this

One to one, on the work you already do

A tutor sets the task against your own job and marks the reasoning, at your pace. There is no cohort to fall behind.

A lesson from Content Marketing, worked against CRM Marketing Specialist.

Content Marketing Level 4

Applied to your work in CRM Marketing Specialist

This unit aims to provide learners with a thorough understanding of content marketing principles and their application in a business context. Learners will develop content marketing strategies aligned with business goals, create engaging content for target audiences, and distribute it effectively across various channels. Upon completion, learners will be able to measure and analyse the performance of content marketing initiatives to optimise their effectiveness.

The Coach Last time, we looked at your campaign's audience segmentation. How did the adjustments impact your open rates?

You The open rates improved slightly, but I think there's room for more refinement.

The Coach Great observation. Let's refine your segmentation further by incorporating dynamic content blocks in your next email template for a more personalised touch.

How the thinking builds
  1. 1 Remember
  2. 2 Understand
  3. 3 Apply
  4. 4 Analyse
  5. 5 Evaluate
  6. 6 Create
An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.

It is £70 a month, billed monthly. Your free first module is Future Fluency, and you can cancel any time.

A year from now

A year from now, you are confidently leading complex CRM projects, leveraging AI to enhance customer interactions while mentoring others in your team.

See Your Progress Grow Illustration
CRM Marketing Specialist
  • Lead Lifecycle Management
  • Customer Segmentation & Personalisation
  • Marketing Automation & Nurturing
  • Data Hygiene & Governance
  • Campaign Attribution & Reporting
  • Lead Scoring Basics
This is your Mind Palace on learn.zavmo.ai. Every skill above comes from this role's own record, not an example borrowed from another job. A node lights up when you evidence it, and what you build stays yours between jobs. That is the part a course cannot do.

17The detail, folded away

Everything else the record holds

The career branches in full, how AI is already showing up in the day-to-day, and the questions people ask about this job. Here when you want them, out of the way while you decide.

Where it leads next, rung by rung

Where it leads

The career path, and where it branches

CRM Marketing Specialist is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. Senior CRM Marketing Specialist

    2-3 years (from CRM Marketing Specialist)

    Level 3 (Senior)

    • Optimising existing workflows and designing new, more complex segmentation models.
    • Managing CRM projects from conception to completion, including stakeholder communication.
    • Making data-driven recommendations to leadership on CRM strategy and improvements.
    • Deeper understanding of API integrations and data flow between systems.
  2. Marketing Automation Lead

    3-4 years (from CRM Marketing Specialist)

    Level 3 (Senior) or Level 4 (Lead)

    • Architecting complex, multi-channel marketing automation strategies.
    • Defining and refining the lead lifecycle and scoring models across the organisation.
    • Evaluating and implementing new marketing automation technologies.
    • Training and enabling other marketing team members on automation best practices.
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Imagine having a super-smart assistant that handles the tedious, repetitive bits of your CRM work, leaving you free to focus on the truly impactful stuff. That's exactly what AI can do for a CRM Marketing Specialist. It's not about replacing you; it's about making you incredibly efficient.

In a CRM role, you're constantly dealing with data, content, and campaign setup. AI tools are becoming brilliant at automating these tasks, from drafting email copy to predicting lead behaviour. We're already seeing our team members reclaim significant chunks of their week, allowing them to dive deeper into strategy or tackle more creative projects. Here's a glimpse of how AI can transform your day-to-day:

Copy & Subject Line Generation

Use AI tools to generate dozens of variations for email subject lines, preview text, and even entire email body paragraphs. You can then A/B test these AI-generated options against human-written ones to rapidly optimise engagement and open rates. It's like having a copywriter on demand, helping you overcome writer's block and speed up campaign creation.

Predictive Lead Scoring & Segmentation

Leverage AI models to analyse historical data and identify the key attributes and behaviours of high-converting leads. Instead of relying on manual, rule-based systems, AI can create dynamic, predictive lead scores that are far more accurate. This moves your focus from guessing to data-driven prioritisation, significantly increasing sales efficiency and your impact on the pipeline.

Nurture Sequence Architecting

Input a target persona and a specific goal (e.g., 'book a demo'), and an AI assistant can outline a logical, multi-step, multi-channel nurture sequence. It'll suggest content topics, optimal touchpoint timing, and even different message types (email, SMS). This dramatically cuts down the time it takes to design effective customer journeys.

Process Documentation & SOP Creation

Use screen recording AI tools to automatically document the steps for a complex process, such as setting up a new campaign in HubSpot or importing a tricky data file. The AI generates a step-by-step guide with screenshots and text, perfect for training new team members and creating consistent SOPs. No more spending hours writing out every single click!

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become a CRM Marketing Specialist?

Common routes in include Marketing Coordinator / Assistant (1-2 years), Junior Data Analyst (Marketing Focus) (1-2 years) and Customer Service / Support Specialist (2-3 years). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a CRM Marketing Specialist progress to?

This role can lead on to Senior CRM Marketing Specialist (2-3 years (from CRM Marketing Specialist)) and Marketing Automation Lead (3-4 years (from CRM Marketing Specialist)), depending on the skills you build.

What new skills matter most for a CRM Marketing Specialist?

Increasingly, Prompt Engineering & LLM Integration and Advanced Personalisation Techniques. These are the skills our record of this role lists as growing.

Free tools

Want a read on where you stand?

Three free tools, no account needed. Each one ends with a role, a level and a way in.

18Where to go from here

Other roles at Level 3

Same depth of qualification, different job. Useful if the work appeals but this particular role does not.

More jobs in marketing

Stay in the field you know and move sideways rather than up.

If you leave this industry

The skills built in this role transfer well. They can lead into broader Marketing Operations, a move into Data Analytics, or a shift to Product Marketing, particularly in SaaS companies. Expertise in customer data and automation is useful across many industries.

This role profile is © 2026 Growth Engineering Technologies Ltd. Built from UK occupational standards and regulated qualification data, and written for Zavmo.

You're not behind. You're right on time. The shift is only just beginning. Your role won't look the same in two years. Be the one who leads the change, not the one it happens to. Start my CRM Marketing Specialist plan, free What happens next: a free account, then we build your plan as you set up. No card. Build your plan, see your roadmap and meet the twelve tutors matched to you. All free. When you're ready to start learning, it's £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.