Customer relationship Management - CRM.

Business is all about managing the relationships it has with its customers. The better the realtionship with the customers the more successful the business will be. In CRM we use available technology and a customer focussed strategy hand in hand to manage the day to day contacts with customers to achieve this.

Customer relationship management is a strategy that helps us understand our customers better, their needs and their purchasing behaviour. This helps us to develop stronger relationships and better marketing strategies, leading to faster growth of the business revenues. It relies heavily on the use of appropriate tools: CRM information systems.

All businesses rely on existing customers for the base of their revenues. Findimng new customers is always more expensive then retaining existing customers. CRM allows us to grow the business we do with existing customers and gives us tools to make sure that our existing customers are satisfied with our products and services and the way they are delivered.

The more opportunities that a customer has to do business with us the better, and one way of achieving this is by opening up new channels such as direct sales, online sales (through websites, e-commerce or E-Bay shops), franchises, agents, distributors, etc. However, the more channels you have, the more complex it is to manage this set of interactions with the customer base.

Customer relationship management is all about maximizing the value of customers over the lifetime of the relationship. By gaining a better insight into the behaviour of ustomers and by adapting the marketing and operational strategies we ensure that customers are served in the best possible way. CRM helps us capitalise on improved customer relations. Summarized CRM is:

• Finding out about your customers' purchasing habits, opinions and preferences.
• Profiling individuals and groups into segments to market them more effectively and increase sales
• Changing the way you operate to improve customer service and marketing

Business benefits of CRM

The most important benefit of CRM is that it allows for the development of excellent relations with your existing customers. This then leads to:

• By analysing historic trends we can anticipate the movements of the market better, leading to better timing of the marketing strategy and thus to increased sales. 
• We can understand the specific requirements of groups of customers or even of individuals better, which allows us to formulate more effective direct marketing strategies
• Using all the opportunities we have to communicate with customers to gain more knowledge and to promote cross selling of related products, new versions or alternatives.
• Segment our customers in groups based on accumulated CRM data about location, purchasing behaviour, channel preferences, interests and sales volume and revenues.

This can lead to better marketing of your products or services by focusing on:

• Effective targeted direct marketing communications aimed specifically and precisely at specific customers with specific needs
• A more personal approach in all our communications with all the relevant information about customers available where and when needed.
• Development of new or improved products and services to grow our business in the future
• Enhanced customer satisfaction and retention, ensuring that your reputation in the marketplace continually improves.
• Increased value from your existing customers at reduced operational costs, increasing overall efficiency and reducing total cost of sales
• Improved profitability by introducing seperate operational processes to deal with more or less profitable customers.

Once your business starts to look after its existing customers effectively, efforts can be concentrated on finding new customers and expanding your market. The more you know about your customers, the easier it is to identify new prospects and increase your customer base. Even with years of accumulated knowledge, there's always room for improvement. Customer needs change over time, and CRM Information Systems can make it easier to find out more about customers and ensure that everyone in an organisation can exploit this information.