So what is Customer Relationship Management (CRM)? Simply put, CRM is putting your customer at the heart of your business. With the support of technology, the goal is to have a 360-degree view of the customer that will enable you to improve the quality and satisfaction of each customer interaction and maximise the profitability of your customer relationships... a win/win for both your company and your customers.
The ultimate goal with CRM is to move your customer from having a mere transactional interaction with your company to that of an emotional relationship. Just how is this achieved? To begin with, creating customer loyalty must become an integral part of your company's strategy. After all, understanding customers' requirements is fundamental to your company’s success. The next task requires developing a comprehensive understanding of what drives customer loyalty and how strong those drivers are. This will mean you need to find answers to the following questions:
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The first step in answering these questions is to measure both customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. In working toward a thorough understanding of your customer, begin by looking at why your customers leave. Profitable CRM projects almost always start by developing a sound understanding of customer needs.
Great service and customer recommendations alone are not sufficient for relationships. If you give poor service you won't have a relationship. And if you give great service, you might not have a relationship if you don't take care of that relationship, knowing your customers' preferences. It is essential to have a solid grasp of which factors in your business relationship with your customers are most important to them. Listen to your customers and then begin developing your CRM strategy because if you don't satisfy your customers, they won't come back. And remember:
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Too often, relationship programmes are set up with the arrogant assumption that consumers should be happy in a relationship where they just sit around and receive marketing messages. This is a mistake. There needs to be a feeling of reciprocity by both parties. Importantly, this should not to be confused with economic parity. At the end of the day, you will want both the customer and the company to perceive that they are getting more from the relationship than they are contributing. While the company is most likely defining its benefits and costs in purely monetary terms, the customer is more likely to be weighing more intangible aspects of the interaction. In any event, there is satisfaction in both camps and the relationship is likely to go on. A win-win situation.
