Customer relationship management

CUSTOMER
RELATIONSHIP
MANAGEMENT

by

B.Charan Kumar Reddy

`

DEFINITION OF CRM :

CRM is a business strategy directed to understand,
anticipate and respond to the needs of an enterprise's current
and potential customers in order to grow the relationship
value. This definition can be defined by five views.

TYPES OF CRM
 Types of CRM are:

1. Analytical CRM

2. Collaborative CRM

3. Operational CRM

4. Geographic CRM

5. Sales Intelligence CRM

ANALYTICAL CRM:-

Analytical CRM is designed to analyze deeply the customer’s information and data
and unwrap or disclose the essential convention and intension of behaviour of
customers on which capitalization can be done by the organization

.

COLLABORATIVE CRM:-

Collaborative CRM deals with synchronization and integration of customer
interaction and channels of communications like phone, email, fax, web etc.
with the intent of referencing the customers a consistent and systematic way.

OPERATIONAL CRM:-
Operational CRM is mainly focused on automation, improvement and
enhancement of business processes which are based on customer-facing or
customer supporting.

GEOGRAPHICAL CRM:-
Geographic CRM (GCRM) combines geographic information system and
traditional CRM. Geographic data can be analyzed to provide a snapshot of
potential customers in a region or to plan routes for customer visits.

SALES INTELLIGENCE CRM:-Top-performing sales organizations are
meeting the challenges of identifying the most likely buyers of their products
and services through the deployment of sales intelligence solutions that
introduce a wide variety of data streams to their front-line staff. By empowering
their sellers with better information about their prospect companies, markets and
individuals, these firms are able to maximize their chances of hitting quota, and
at the same time create efficiencies within the sales operations environment

THE PURPOSE OF CRM :

 The focus of CRM is on creating value for the customer and

the company over the longer term.

 When customers value the customer service that they

receive from suppliers, they are less likely to look to

alternative suppliers for their needs .

 CRM enables organisations to gain ‘competitive advantage’

over competitors that supply similar products or services .

WHY IS CRM IMPORTANT?
 Today’s businesses compete with multi-product
offerings created and delivered by networks, alliances
and partnerships of many kinds. Both retaining
customers and building relationships with other value-
adding allies is critical to corporate performance.

 The adoption of C.R.M. is being fuelled by a
recognition that long-term relationships with customers
are one of the most important assets of an organisation.

WHY DID CRM DEVELOP ?
CRM developed for a number of reasons:

 The 1980’s onwards saw rapid shifts in business that
changed customer power .

 Supply exceeded demands for most products.

 Sellers had little pricing power .

 The only protection available to suppliers of goods and
services was in their relationships with customers .

WHAT DOES CRM INVOLVE ?

CRM involves the following:

 Organisations must become customer focused

 Organisations must be prepared to adapt so that it
take customer needs into account and delivers them

 Market research must be undertaken to assess
customer needs and satisfaction

IMPLEMENTING CRM:
 When introducing or developing CRM, a strategic review
of the organisation’s current position should be undertaken
 Organisations need to address four issues :
1. What is our core business and how will it evolve in the
future?
2. What form of CRM is appropriate for our business now
and in the future?
3. What IT infrastructure do we have and what do we need to
support the future organisation needs?
4. What vendors and partners do we need to choose?

STRATEGICALLY SIGNIFICANT CUSTOMERS :
 Customer relationship management focuses
on strategically significant markets. Not all
customers are equally important.
 Therefore, relationships should be built with
customers that are likely to provide value for
services.
 Building relationships with customers that will
provide little value could result in a loss of
time, staff and financial resources.

IDENTIFICATION OF STRATEGICALLY SIGNIFICANT CUSTOMER :

 Strategically significant customers need to satisfy at least
one of three conditions :

 Customers with high life-time values (i.e. customers
that will repeatedly use the service in the long-term
e.g. Nurses in a hospital library)
 Customers who serve as benchmarks for other customers
e.g. In a hospital library consultants who teach on
academic courses
 Customers who inspire change in the supplier

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND CRM :

 Technology plays a pivotal role in CRM .

 Technological approaches involving the use of databases, data
mining and one-to-one marketing can assist organisations to
increase customer value and their own profitability.

 This type of technology can be used to keep a record of customers
names and contact details in addition to their history of buying
products or using services.

 This information can be used to target customers in a personalised
way and offer them services to meet their specific needs.
 This personalised communication provides value for the customer
and increases customers loyalty to the provider.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND CRM:
EXAMPLES
Loyalty cards
The primary role of a retailer loyalty card is to gather data
about customers. This in turn leads to customer
comprehension and cost insights (e.g. customer retention
rates at different spending levels, response rates to offers,
new customer conversion rates, and where money is being
wasted on circulars), followed by appropriate marketing
action and follow-up analysis.

CRM software- “Front office” solutions :
Many call centres use CRM software to store all of their
customer's details. When a customer calls, the system can be used to
retrieve and store information relevant to the customer. By serving the
customer quickly and efficiently, and also keeping all information on a
customer in one place, a company aims to make cost savings, and also
encourage new customers .

FACE-TO-FACE CRM :

 CRM can also be carried out in face-to-face interactions
without the use of technology
 Staff members often remember the names and favourite
services/products of regular customers and use this
information to create a personalised service for them.

 For example, in a hospital library you will know the name of
nurses that come in often and probably remember the area that
they work in.
 However, face-to-face CRM could prove less useful when
organisations have a large number of customers as it would be
more difficult to remember details about each of them.

BENEFITS OF CRM :
Benefits of CRM include

1. Reduced costs, because the right things are being done
(ie., effective and efficient operation) .

2. Increased customer satisfaction, because they are getting
exactly what they want (ie. meeting and exceeding
expectations) .

3. Ensuring that the focus of the organisation is external .

4. Growth in numbers of customers .

 Maximisation of opportunities (eg. increased services,
referrals, etc.)
 Increased access to a source of market and competitor
information.
 Highlighting poor operational processes
 Long term profitability and sustainability

REFERENCES
1. Liz Shahnam. What’s really CRM? CRM Today. [Online] [Accessed November
2008]

2. Adrian Payne. Customer relationship management. Cranfield University.
[Online] [Accessed June 2006, no longer available online]

3. Francis Buttle. The S.C.O.P.E of Customer Relationship Marketing. Macquarie
Graduate School of Management. [Online] [Accessed June 2006, no longer
available online]

4. Manchester Business School. 2003. Customer Relationship Management:
Where do you start?

5. Brian Woolf. What is loyalty? The Wise Marketer. [Online] [Accessed June 2006,
no longer available online]

6. Wikipedia. Customer Relationship Management. [Online] [Accessed November
2008]

USEFUL RESOURCES
If you wish to learn more about CRM, the
following resources may be of use to you:

1. CRM Guru
2. CRM Knowledge Base
3. CRM Today website
4. InsightExec: Customer Management Community
5. http://crm.dynamics.com/en-us/home

Customer relationship management

Customer relationship management

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Customer relationship management