Implementing CRM – The Process Essay Example
Implementing CRM – The Process Essay Example

Implementing CRM – The Process Essay Example

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  • Pages: 3 (680 words)
  • Published: October 24, 2018
  • Type: Essay
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There is growing recognition that CRM involves equilibrating strategic capabilities.

It is important to balance the four main capabilities of CRM: technology, people, processes, and knowledge and insight. These capabilities are influenced by leadership and culture, core customers, channels for stakeholder communications, transactions and logistics and the business model, strategy and structure of the firm. Best practice companies tend to have CRM strategies that focus on developing additional sales from existing customers while prioritizing end customer relationships. Gordon (2002) suggests creating processes for customer collaboration to jointly plan and create new value differentiated by each class of customer, collaborating with intermediaries to embed business rules in CRM databases so appropriate customer reactions trigger effective responses, and designing technology to integrate numerous customer touchpoints with the company.

The goal is to es

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tablish a singular, dynamic overview of each customer in real-time. This includes the ability to sell at the precise moment when the customer is ready to purchase, with tailored appeals to each individual customer. Through employee training, they can differentiate between the diverse needs of customers and staff, providing them with the necessary value. Employee development is a crucial aspect, allowing employees to take charge of their own career growth. Once the decision to adopt CRM as a strategy has been made, the subsequent step would be to initiate the CRM process. Numerous models are obtainable for implementing the CRM process.

The following paragraphs will address the key differences between the process models, while the next chapter will specifically examine their applicability. The crucial initial stage of customer relationship management involves successfully capturing their interest and support – this is accomplished through a seven step process

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According to Griffin (2002), winning customer loyalty involves seven distinct steps, each of which requires extensive effort. Starting from being a suspect, a customer progresses through various stages including becoming a prospect, disqualified prospect, first-time customer, repeat customer, client, and finally, an advocate. Griffin also cites several examples from the book of traditional methods used by companies to cultivate customer loyalty, with the Harley Davidson model being particularly noteworthy.

In 2003, the company marked its hundredth anniversary with nationwide customer loyalty events like motor cycle rallies. Such activities highlight the importance of evolving from conventional customer loyalty building methods to automated CRM processes. This approach can be adapted by all companies, whether or not CRM is a fundamental strategy. Every business should consider winning new customers, making the seven-step Functions Process (Operations, Analytics, and Collaborative) an essential tool.

In essence, CRM involves three main facets: operational, which automates marketing, sales, and service functions; analytical, which analyzes customer behavior; and collaborative, which facilitates contact with customers. Understanding the literature behind each of these aspects is important. Operational CRM support involves tasks such as automating sales forces for improved field force accountability through mobile synchronization and integrated product configuration. The customer service and support function automates service requests, complaints, information, and product returns through web, phone, or in-person interactions.

While online functions make communication easier, it's important to maintain a personal touch. To integrate customer functions with environmental information, firms analyze PEST factors through Enterprise Marketing Automation. This includes analyzing the business environment, competitors, and industry trends. Demographic analysis, variable segmentation, and predictive modeling are some of the functions performed. Operational CRM provides significant benefits to organizations. For Chinese firms,

an effective operational CRM program is a necessity to identify growth areas, retain web-interacting customers through automated programs, and provide personalized service through representative interaction.

Analytical CRM involves analyzing operational CRM data and other sources to identify opportunities for improving customer relationships. Targeted campaigns can then be launched to engage with customers more frequently and ultimately increase sales and customer acquisition. Through decision support tools like dashboards, reporting, metrics, and predictive modeling, analytical CRM also contributes to strategy and research. In addition, gathering customer intelligence through data collection and analysis leads to a better understanding of customer needs and the ability to anticipate them.

The various aspects of customer analysis, such as profiling, segmentation, cost to serve analysis, returns on investment evaluation and predictive modeling are encompassed in this.

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