CRM: Do you know your Customers?

CRM’ has been the media hype for 2 years now and generally speaking it’s been ‘business’ as opposed to ‘IT’ managers that have been driving customer relationship initiatives - so why have 39% of the target market never heard of CRM?

According to Martyn Riddle, FrontRange Solutions marketing manager for the Asia Pacific region, it is due to, “business executives not wanting to get caught up in over-hyped computer jargon.”

Fair enough! Maybe the vendors have spent their marketing millions only to alienate their potential customers? Let’s have a look at the myths and realities of CRM from an independent perspective. Firstly though, what is CRM and why is it important?

Customer Relationship Management is…

“…an enterprise wide business strategy to optimise profitability, revenue and customer satisfaction by organising the enterprise around customer segments, fostering customer-satisfying behaviors and linking processes from customers through suppliers”

Why so important?

Why, because it addresses the number one issue troubling business owners

Do You Know Your Customers?

90% or more of dissatisfied customers will not buy again .
Each dissatisfied customer will tell their story to nine other people .
96% of dissatisfied customers don’t tell their story to you.

(Source: Fredrich Reichheld, The Loyalty Effect.)

Benefits of CRM

Increase your customer base

Identify and retain your most profitable customers

Increase your market share

Take a pro-active “customer view” rather than a “product view”

Build loyalty through intimate customer relationships

The Benefits Are Clear…

Companies that successfully implement CRM programs report:

Sales increases of 51% per representative

Customer satisfaction rating improvements of 20%

Cost of sales and services decreases of 21%

Reductions in the length of the sales cycle of as much as one-third

The BIGGEST Secret to Success and increasing your ROI

Easy to Justify - CRM needn’t and shouldn’t cost the world
Easy to Implement - CRM needn’t and shouldn’t take forever to setup
Easy to Manage - CRM needn’t and shouldn’t require IT gurus to run the system
Easy to Use - CRM systems needn’t and shouldn’t be laborious and difficult to use