Benefits of a CRM

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Benefits of a CRM

Let's take a look at the advantages that a CRM or Customer Relationship Management systemcan bring.

1. Shared or distributed dataAs companies realize that customer relationships are happening on many levels (not just

through customer service or a web presence), they start to understand the need for sharingall available data throughout the organization. A CRM system is an enabler for making

informed decisions and follow-up, on all the different levels.

2. Cost reductionA strong point in Customer Relationship Management is that it is making the customer apartner in your business, not just a subject. As customers are doing their own order

entry, and are empowered to find the info they need to come to a buy decision, less orderentry and customer support staff is needed.

3. Better Customer Service

All data concerning interactions with customers is centralized. The customer servicedepartment can greatly benefit from this, because they have all the information they needat their fingertips. No need to guess, no need to ask the customer for the n-th time. And

through the use of push-technology, customer service reps can lead the customer towardsthe information they need. And, most of the time, the customer can do this on their own,

as the CRM system (remember, the 3 P's) is more and more able to anticipate the need ofthe customer. The customer experience is greatly enhanced.

4. Increased Customer SatisfactionThe customer feels that he is more "part of the team" instead of just a subject for sales

and marketing (the proverbial number), customer service is better, his needs areanticipated. There is no doubt that customer satisfaction will go up. If the products sold

exceed the customers expectation, of course, no CRM system can help you with shoddyproducts. In my opinion, the term statisfaction is a contaminated. Many companies think

that if customers are satisfied that this is a good predictor for repeat business. However,this is not the case. Only delighted customers have a great level of loyalty.

5. Better Customer RetentionIf a CRM system can help to enchant customers, this will increase customer loyalty, and

they will keep coming back to buy again and again, hence customer retention.

6. Loyal customersNeed I say more? Q.E.D.

7. More repeat businessThe repeat business is coming from the delighted customers, who are turned from

doubting clients into loyal advocates.8. More new business

If you are delivering the ultimate customer experience, this will seed the word-of-mouth

buzz, which will spawn more new business.

9. More Profit!More business at lower cost equals more profit.


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CRM: What are the benefits?

Excellent customer service is about being aware of customer needs and reacting to themeffectively. CRM helps you to understand, anticipate and respond to your customers' needs in a

consistent way, right across your organization.

Practicing CRM requires an efficient and integrated internal business system. Many businesses

benefit from the organizational discipline CRM imposes, as well as from the technology itself.

CRM will help your business if you view it as a set of tools that let you do more more for, andget more from, your customer.

CRM can:

y Develop better communication channels

y Collect vital data, like customer details and order histories

y Create detailed profiles such as customer preferencesy Deliver instant, company-wide access to customer histories

y Identify new selling opportunities

How can you measure CRM benefits?

CRM benefits can be measured and quantified. Using CRM applications can lead to increases in

revenue from:

y Reductions in operating costs - it cost around 25 to handle a customer call via a call center but

only 2 via a website

y A higher percentage of cross-selling due to offering a single point of contact with your companyy More success in attracting new customers and closing deals faster, through quicker and more

efficient responses to customer leads and customer information

y Simplification of marketing and sales processes by understanding customer needs

y Better customer service - through improved responsiveness and understanding that builds

customer loyalty and decreases customer "churn"

CRITICAL ISSUES OF CRM

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a fast growing category of application software. CRM is

gaining interest because of its focus on the customer and thus its potential for increasing revenue. It

enhances the ability of a firm to compete and to retain key customers. Furthermore, given the rapidgrowth of e-business applications and the increasing need to sell to and support customers through the

web, CRM provides a focal point for all customer-facing activities. This review ofCRM product

capabilities and key CRM vendors identifies three distinct categories ofCRM vendors and finds that they

are attempting to offer a rich or full set ofCRM features and are rapidly integrating web access into their

products. The study proposes a model to aid in the selection ofCRM products and the evaluation of

CRM vendors


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ECRM

eCRM This concept is derived from E-commerce. It also uses net environment i.e., intranet,extranet and internet. Electronic CRM concerns all forms of managing relationships with

customers making use ofInformation Technology (IT). eCRM is enterprises using IT to integrate

internal organization resources and external marketing strategies to understand and fulfill theircustomers needs. Comparing with traditional CRM, the integrated information for eCRMintraorganizational collaboration can be more efficient to communicate with customers.

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Strategy/PLANNINGOF CRM

For larger-scale enterprises, a complete and detailed plan is required to obtain the funding,resources, and company-wide support that can make the initiative of choosing and implementing

a system successfully. Benefits must be defined, risks assessed, and cost quantified in threegeneral areas:

y Processes: Though these systems have many technological components, business

processes lie at its core. It can be seen as a more client-centric way of doing business,enabled by technology that consolidates and intelligently distributes pertinent information

about clients, sales, marketing effectiveness, responsiveness, and market trends.Therefore, a company must analyze its business workflows and processes before

choosing a technology platform; some will likely need re-engineering to better serve theoverall goal of winning and satisfying clients. Moreover, planners need to determine the

types of client information that are most relevant, and how best to employ them.[2]

y People: For an initiative to be effective, an organization must convince its staff that the

new technology and workflows will benefit employees as well as clients. Seniorexecutives need to be strong and visible advocates who can clearly state and support the

case for change. Collaboration, teamwork, and two-way communication should beencouraged across hierarchical boundaries, especially with respect to process

improvement.[9]

y Technology: In evaluating technology, key factors include alignment with the companysbusiness process strategy and goals, including the ability to deliver the right data to the

right employees and sufficient ease of adoption and use. Platform selection is bestundertaken by a carefully chosen group of executives who understand the business

processes to be automated as well as the software issues. Depending upon the size of thecompany and the breadth of data, choosing an application can take anywhere from a few

weeks to a year or more.[2]

CUTOMER IS GOD:

In the present situation where every one is hit by recession, customer retention is the most

important aspect of any organization. Holding to your customers by reducing the prices mightwork for few ,but I would say invention is important in retention. The customer expectations are


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growing day by day and we should be on our toes to deliver what customer wants rather forcingcustomer to use what we develop.

It take the whole organization to satisfy customer needs, not just bunch of marketing guys. Now

that I am a tester I am the second point of contact to the customer. The first contact will be with

support which might escalate the issue to the QA if required. So when I actually start writing mytest plan and test cases I will keep in my mind the so called "Customer Use Cases" and makesure that piece of software or hardware works accordingly. The software or hardware should

function the way the customer wants it to not the way we want it to. There can be a trade off.Development and R & D may come up with wonderful things but if the product is hard to use

then effort is lost. My point here is customer satisfaction is not one mans job, but it takes thewhole organization. Customer focus should be one of the key aspects of an organization. One

unsatisfied customer might bring you huge losses.

What it is

Customer Intelligence (CI) is the process of gathering and analysing information regardingcustomers; their details and their activities, in order to build deeper and more effective customerrelationships and improve strategic decision making.

CI and CRM

Customer Intelligence is a key component of effective Customer Relationship Management(CRM), and when effectively implemented it is a rich source of insight into the behaviour and

experience of a company's customer base.

As an example, some customers walk into a store and walk out without buying anything.Information about these customers/prospects (or their visits), may not exist in a traditional CRMsystem, as no sales are entered on the store cash register. Although no commercial transaction

took place, knowing why customers leave the store (perhaps by asking them, or the storeperson,to complete a survey) and using this data to make inferences about customer behaviour, is an

example of CI.

Process

Customer Intelligence begins with reference data - basic key facts about the customer, such as

their geographic location.

This data is then supplemented[1]

with transactional data - reports of customer activity. This canbe commercial information (for example purchase history from sales and order processing),

interactions from service contacts over the phone and via e-mail.

A further subjective dimension can be added, in the form of customer satisfaction surveys or

agent data.


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Finally, a company can use competitor insight and mystery shopping to get a better view of howtheir service benchmarks in the market.

By mining this data, and placing it in context with wider information about competitors,

conditions in the industry, and general trends, information can be obtained about customers'

existing and future needs, how they reach decisions, and predictions made about their futurebehavior.[2][3]

Customer equity

n deciding the value of a company, it is important to know of how much value its customer base

is in terms of future revenues. The greater the customer equity (CE), the more future revenue inthe lifetime of its clients; this means that a company with a higher customer equity can get more

money from its customers on average than another company that is identical in all othercharacteristics. As a result a company with higher customer equity is more valuable than one

without it. It includes customers' goodwill and extrapolates it over the lifetime of the customers.

The term is a misnomersince the term has nothing to do with the traditional meaning ofequity.

There are three drivers to customer equity, all of which refer to three sides of the same thing:

1. Value equity: What the customer assesses the value of the product or service provided bythe company to be;

2. Brand equity: What the customer assesses the value of the brand is, above its objectivevalue;

3. Retention equity: The tendency of the customer to stick with the brand even when it is

priced higher than an otherwise equal product;

Customer equity strategy

Companies often attempt to gain more customers and increase revenues by improving customer

equity. They do this by:

y improving consumer service

y improving the value or desirability of the brandy improving goodwill

y improving brand popularity such as by advertisements

CRM Functionsy By friend4all

Last time we talked about 3 different modules in CRM Software.1. Marketing2. Sales


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3. Service

1) Marketing Automation-3

We are talking on marketing automation. It is the very important part of the any business.The person who belongs from the small business must need to understand the marketing

updates. Today we will discuss the last important factor of the marketing automation andthat is the marketing reposting. Create a steady stream of business by putting all of yourmarketing on auto-pilot! Craft and coordinate multi-step marketing sequences that includeemail, direct mail, fax, voice broadcast and tasks. Let this powerful marketing system followup with your customers and prospects automatically! For example, a blinds company whosell vertical blinds and roman shades products online line, use a lead management software,which helps them to convert their marketing automated.

Marketing Reporting

y Track responses and success rates from Marketing Campaignsy Know which of your marketing templates and pieces are most effectivey See what pieces are scheduled to go out, which have gone, track results, and more

through a Marketing Dashboard and Success Reporty Measure your marketing ROI through various reports indicating marketing campaign

expenses & costs and how much revenue was generated through your marketingefforts

y Finally know your cost and conversions by lead management tool, and which leadsources are your best!

y View e-mail blast deliverability, open-rates and click-through rates

Marketing Automation-2

Posted on December 31, 2008 by friend4all

Lead Capture Forms

y Turn your brochure-style website into a lead generating machine! UsingInfusionsofts unlimited web forms capabilities, you can capture lead informationfrom your website(s), automatically segment your leads and customers, and initiatemarketing sequences and other automated actions.

y Offline response forms can be used to capture offline responses to your advertisingand marketing and will also automatically segment your contacts and initiatemarketing sequences and other automated actions

y

2) Sales:-

Power your sales team with CRM that have functionalities of Sales Module. Thesales team can manage leads and keep track of the communication withprospects, referrals and customers. For a big sales team or a call center theCRM must have fast and automated system to pull up customer data. SalesAutomation Module features:


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y Appointment Managementy Time Managementy Calender Managementy Reportingy CRM gives sales team the power to close the sale quickly.

3) Services:-

After marketing and selling the product your company must have a very goodcustomer services team. CRM should have a good services module which canhelp the customer services department. They should be able to manage servicecontracts, tracking individual cases and recording information in a search ableknowledge base.Services Automation Module features:

y Product Databasey Knowledge base search

Customer trackingy Contract Trackingy Customer Historyy CRM gives customer service team a quick way to help the customers. This is

very important so that the customer get satisfy by not just product but also withthe service. These CRM functionalities help make any CRM strong. All of thesemodules must be integrated to make the system strong. Next time we will talkabout Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Sales Force Automation (SFA).What is the difference between ERP system and CRM system?

Customer reference management

updated Sep 25, 2009 2:04 pm | 3,971 views

DefinitionCreated as a tool to increase customer participation in business activities, such as marketing andsales. Although Customer Reference Management is a spin-off of Customer Relationship

Management (CRM), it focuses more on existing customers to gain their opinions by allowingthem to participate in customer reference activities such as mock phone calls with potential

clients, case studies, and personal testimonies.

ITS KEY FEATURES ARE:-

Preventing deals lost to delay/indecision. When the economy gets tough, buyers have to

question evey purchase. Their skepticism of your value proposition increases and opportunitiesare easily lost to delay/indecision. Effectively connecting buyers with customers can restore

confidence in the ROI of your offering in way not possible through other means.


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Ability to measure the return on investment. Unlike so many of the ways that marketingdollars are spent, the sales impact of customer references can be easily tracked and measured.

When investments are being scrutinized, those that can effectively illustrate their results

Aprerequisite to getting new business. While another email campaign or white paper may help

move along new opportunities, it isn't uncommon to find that sharing multiple positivereferences is a requirement of the due diligence process associating with the deal closing. In adown economy, your prospects less likely to let you skip this steps.

A cost effective endeavor. The activities associated with customer reference management are

relatively inexpensive compared with many marketing investments and particularly in light ofthe business impact as mentioned above. This is good news when budgets are being reviewed.

The work done to build relationships and cultivate a diverse community of customers willing tospeak positively about their experiences is a investment that will continue to return value to the

business on a consistent basis through good times and bad.

ESSENTIALS OF CRM:

CRM Essential #1: Rapid Time to Value

Instant messaging, 24/7 customer service, shorter development cycles today,

businesses and their customers move at a rapid clip. Buy decisions are made

quickly, and in fact entire businesses can succeed or fail in a matter of weeks. That

means that the no one has the luxury of waiting months or even years to install a

traditional, expensive, client/server CRM application. The competitive advantage

today is on-demand CRM.

On-demand CRM solutions are better suited to todays fast-moving businesses.You can be up-and-running with on-demand CRM in a matter of weeks, so you can

focus on delivering greater value to customers, rather than worrying about

installing and maintaining hardware and software.

CRM Essential #2: Point-and-Click CustomizationNo CRM solution is going to fit like a glove right out of the box, because the reality is that no two companies customer

relationships and processes are exactly alike. However, because many traditional CRM solutions are difficult and expensive to

customize, some organizations are forced to alter their business processes to fit the capabilities of their CRM technology. The key

to success is a highly flexible CRM solution that allows you to keep pace with changing customer needs and your evolving

business environment.

CRM Essential #3: A 360-Degree Customer ViewThe quality of the customer experience makes and breaks companies. Customers are becoming increasingly demanding and

sophisticated, and theyll take their business elsewhere if you dont deliver the superior service they feel they deserve. Companies

today are challenged to integrate and manage the complete customer lifecycleseamlessly and effectivelyto win and retain

those highly desirable most-profitable customers. For many companies, the underlying, proven formula for success involves

using on-demand CRM across all those critical customer touch points

CRM Essential #4: Real-Time VisibilityTo stay competitive, businesses must mind their metrics. Constantly monitoring the health of the business, determining whats

working and whats not, and making adjustments to improve operations and increase revenue are essential to surviving and


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thriving in todays competitive market. As easy as it sounds, every executive knows that too often, its difficult or impossible toget the timely analysis you need to effectively run the business.

CRM Essential #5: No More Dirty DataAlmost every company suffers from dirty data syndrome, and few have any idea what to do about it. Consider the findings ofthe IBM Global Data Management Survey of 600 major enterprises: 75 percent of the respondents reported significant problemsas a result of defective data, including violated contract terms, failure to bill or collect for services or products delivered, delaysin or abandonment of new systems projects, and extra accounting costs.

CRM Essential #6: High AdoptionTheres nothing worse than investing in CRM and having no one show up. Too many CRM projects fail due to poor useradoption. After all, technology is only as good as the people who use it. To ensure that people do use your CRM system, it mustbe easy to use, accessible, and scalable, and significantly enhance productivity, efficiency, and visibility. On-demand CRMsolutions that are delivered via a Web browser encourage adoption by replicating the familiar point-and-click interfaces of

popular consumer Web sites, where everything must be user friendly.

CRM Essential #7: Extending Your SuccessBusiness is about evolution. Smart and successful companies are flexible enough to adapt as necessary while never letting go of

the core mission and values. If your business must be nimble to survive, why should you commit to a rigid, inflexible technologysolution for something as important and core to your business as CRM? The ability to tie-in additional best-of-breed applicationsthat address other key business initiatives and processes is essential to the long-term success of your CRM solution.

CRM Essential #8: A Broad CommunityCommunity-building Web technologies and sites are some of the most popular and fastest-growing areas on the Internet today.Through blogs, wikis, social and business networking sites, and much morepeople are increasingly engaging with each otheronline. At the same time, companies are realizing that nurturing their customer communities and engaging with customers canyield dramatic results in terms of customer loyalty and brand awareness. At the cross section of these two trends is on-demandCRM: the perfect enabler of community growth.

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Benefits of a CRM