An increasing number of companies claim to have adopted
principles of Customer Relationship Management (CRM), but in many cases they are simply paying lip service to what has become one of latest ‘buzzwords’ Carried out correctly, CRM is an active process. It makes a difference which is noticed by your customers. That difference reflects in your bottom line.Exactly what is CRM The idea itself is nothing new; its roots have been around since trading began. The principle of looking after your customers so that they come back regularly is, after all, merely basis of good trading. In an increasingly competitive commercial world however, strong customer relationships take on an increasing importance. With cost of selling to a new customer being five times cost of selling to an existing one you can’t afford to lose established business.
Yes, you still want new markets, and yes, for various reasons customers will still disappear. The important thing is to minimise this loss and make sure reasons behind it don’t stem from something you are doing – or more significantly something you are not doing.
Which is why good Customer Relationship Management is vital – and why process has now been refined to make it more effective than ever.
What does CRM Involve? In essence, making your customer feel special by understanding his needs and fulfilling those needs in a personal manner which will keep him coming back for more.
Going that extra mile and providing service beyond that which was expected takes your customer to next stage, where he becomes a ‘raving fan’ of your business - and you can’t have too many of those. Achieve this and your customer suddenly becomes part of your sales force, telling everyone he meets how good you are.
This can actually be achieved without computers and software. A good memory and a card index can keep track of customer’s preferences and buying patterns. Newsletter campaigns, post sale follow-ups and special offer mailings can all be organised - given time; except that this is where it so often falls apart. For most companies time is commodity in shortest supply.
Identifying Challenge This is where you find first steps into CRM. Contact Management or Personal Information Manager software can provide substantial benefits. A database of customers for envelope labelling, simple word processing and calendar functions can save an enormous amount of time. The latest breed of contact manager software can do this quite efficiently across small groups of people, an office based sales team for example. So what’s point of moving to a full CRM strategy? Why not stick with a simple address book style contact manager?
The real secret of selling has always been to ‘Think Buying’ So consider for a moment, things that annoy you as a customer:
