31-08-2012, 10:07 AM
Successful CRM
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Introduction
You must have heard of the quote “The customer is king” or “If we don’t take care of our customers, someone else will”; Ask any successful businessman or entrepreneur and what you will conclude from the discussion, that has been said in these quotes. For any business to succeed, grow and expand, maintaining a good relationship with customer is very necessary. Creating and managing a good relationship with customer is not that easy especially, when you are consistently facing a worthy amount of competition and because of the knowledge the customer has about the product or service. The strategy used for solving and simplifying this issue is called “Customer Relationship Management” also known in short as CRM.
History:
Customer relationship management is a concept that became very popular during the 1990s. While CRM is excellent in the long term, those who are looking for short term results may not see much progress. The foundation for CRM was laid during the 1980s.
During this time, it was referred to as being database marketing. The term "database marketing" was used to refer to the procedure of creating customer focus groups that could be used to speak to some of the customers of the company. The clients who were extremely valued were pivotal in communicating with the firm, but the process became quite repetitive, and the information that was collected via surveys did not give the company a great of information. Even though the company could collect data through surveys, they did not have efficient methods of processing and analyzing the information.
The 1990s saw the introduction of a number of advances in this system. It was during this time that term Customer relationship management was introduced. Unlike previous customer relationship systems, CRM was a dual system. Instead of merely gathering information for the purpose of using for their own benefit, companies started giving back to the customers they served. Many companies would begin giving their customers gifts in the form of discounts, perks, or even money. The companies believed that doing this would allow them to build a sense of loyalty in those who brought their products.
Types of CRM Services/Strategies:
• Sales Force Automation:
Sales force automation involves using software to streamline all phases of the sales process, minimizing the time that sales representatives need to spend on each phase. This allows sales representatives to pursue more clients in a shorter amount of time than would otherwise be possible. At the heart of SFA is a contact management system for tracking and recording every stage in the sales process for each prospective client, from initial contact to final disposition.
• Marketing:
CRM systems for marketing help the enterprise identify and target potential clients and generate leads for the sales team. A key marketing capability is tracking and measuring multichannel campaigns, including email, search, social media, telephone and direct mail. In a web-focused marketing CRM solution, organizations create and track specific web activities that help develop the client relationship. These activities may include such activities as free downloads, online video content, and online web presentations
Conclusion
CRM-SCM integration strives to satisfy and promptly deliver products to customers, ensuring availability of the product and maintaining profitability of the manufacturer. There are many lessons learned from Dell’s experience. These lessons can be transferred to other companies in the industry.