WHAT IS CRM
Customer relationship management is for big companies who want to pop irritating mail through your door, right? Wrong: it’s for companies of all sizes who want to sell the right product at the right time to the right customer. Marc Beishon explains how to do it.
The term “customer relationship management” (CRM) has been part of the IT landscape for so long that it’s easy to forget it is really not a computing term; rather, it is simply the practice of how well - or badly - you interact with your customers and learn from the experience.
Received wisdom says that your most profitable business is likely to come from existing accounts rather than continually finding new business. Most CRM ‘gurus’ now say that it is all about empowering your customers to do business with you - to become partners - and not about one-way selling traffic.
The 'management' part of the term has come into widespread use as software tools to automate relationship marketing have appeared. At the heart of things is a customer database, driving the activities that make CRM such a valuable tool:
Keep in touch: so much depends these days on regular, high quality customer contact, be it face to face or by phone or email. Good contact management is a fundamental practice that can be greatly improved by CRM.
Discover your key customers - by segmenting your customers by factors such as average value order or frequency of purchasing, you can target ‘key accounts’ for special treatment. You may also find that those you thought were ‘key’ are actually not as profitable as you thought. It may even change your view on who you take on as a customer.
Empower your customer-facing staff - so your salespeople can talk to prospects and clients with more confidence. Customers respond best to people who have their details to hand and can anticipate their needs.