I have not written in some time now a blog, but I decided that the topic of the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a pretty important topic for all businesses who are in contact on a first bases with their customers. As being part of the Hospitality Industry, CRM is becoming a very important part of the business. Their fore it is very important how one uses the CRM to their advantage.
So what exactly is CRM?: It is a strategy used to learn more about customers' needs and behaviors in order to develop stronger relationships with them. Good customer relationships are at the heart of every business success. The most useful way to think about CRM is as a strategic process that will help you better understand your customers' needs and how you can meet those needs and enhance your bottom line at the same time. This strategy depends on bringing together lots of pieces of information about customers and market trends so you can sell and market your products and services more effectively.
The whole idea of CRM is that it helps businesses use technology and human resources to gain insight into the behavior of customers and the value of those customers. Some of the more enhancement and effective CRM strategy's, is to increase the bottom line of every business if it is done properly.
What are some of the strategy's that could help your business:
1. Offering better customer service
2. Providing products and services that your customer needs and require, and with a better effect.
3. Cross Selling
4. Adding to your customers database, instead of loosing customers.
5. Helping Sales people close faster deals.
How all this come about:
This does not happen by simply buying software and installing it. For CRM to be truly effective, an organization must first understand who its customers are and what their value is over a lifetime. At this point any company must then determine what the needs of its customers are and how best to meet those needs.
Next, any organization must look into all of the different ways information about customers comes into a business, where and how this data is stored and how it is currently used. For instance, a company may interact with customers in many different ways including mail campaigns, Web sites, brick-and-mortar stores, call centers, mobile sales force staff and marketing and advertising efforts. CRM systems link up each of these points. This collected data flows between operational systems (like sales and inventory systems) and analytical systems that can help sort through these records for patterns. Company analysts can then comb through the data to obtain a holistic view of each customer and pinpoint areas where better services are needed.
When you needs CRM!, when it is clear you don't have an accurate view of who your customers are and what their needs or desires are or will be at any given stage in their lives. If you are losing customers to a competitor, that's a clear indication that you should improve your understanding of your customers.
How long will it take to have a functional CRM!, It depends. If you decide to go with a hosted CRM solution from an application service provider and you are planning to use the software for a specific department like sales, the deployment should be relatively quick – perhaps 30-90 days. However, if you are deploying either a hosted application or an on-premise package (involving the purchase of software licenses upfront) on an enterprise-wide basis (that involves different departments like sales, marketing and operations), you should expect the implementation and training to take months, if not years. The time it takes to put together a well-conceived CRM project depends on the complexity of the project and its components and how well each business can manage the project.
What would be the cost of a CRM!, Again this depends on the business. A hosted sales automation application can cost much less for a basic sales automation package. If you want more sophisticated functionality and a greater level of support, you pay a lot more. An enterprise on-premise CRM package depends on the functions you purchase and how many computers or have access to the software. For instance, one company or department might purchase an email marketing management application or a sales force automation application, while a larger firm might want to purchase an integrated package that includes a database as well as applications for marketing, sales and customer service and support (via call centers and online). Obviously, the integrated software package is much more expensive.
What is the key to successful CRM implantation!
1. Develop your customer-focused strategy first before considering what kind of technology you need.
2. Make sure your CRM plans include a scalable architecture framework. Think carefully about what is best for your enterprise: a solution that ties together "best of breed" software from several vendors via Web Services or an integrated package of software from one vendor.
3. Be thoughtful about what data is collected and stored. The impulse will be to grab and then store EVERY piece of data you can, but there is often no reason to store data. Storing useless data wastes time and money.
4. Don't underestimate how much data you might collect and make sure that if you need to expand systems you'll be able to.
Who should run the CRM project!, The biggest returns come from aligning business, CRM and IT strategies across all departments and not just leaving it for one group to run. In fact, it's best for the business departments who actually use the software to take ownership of the project, with IT and the CIO playing an important advisory role.
What can cause a CRM system to fail?, From the beginning, many things, but the biggest of them is the lack of a communication between everyone in the customer relationship chain can lead to an incomplete picture of the customer. Poor communication can lead to technology being implemented without proper support or buy-in from users. For example, if the sales force isn't completely sold on the system's benefits, they may not input the kind of demographic data that is essential to the program's success.
Which industries are leading in the CRM implementation!, As in most leading-edge technology implementations, the financial services and telecommunications industries set the pace in CRM. Other industries are on the CRM bandwagon include consumer goods makers and retailers and high tech firms.
Which industries are behind in the CRM innovation!, As a rule, the further an industry is away from the end customer, the less important CRM is.
Do not get overwhelmed, as you read this because today's technology is working towards all business owners benefit. Even the smallest company can take advantage of all the software just as a big business does, and this is done by using the Cloud Computing. But this is for another day and another blog.
