• Learn everything about your customers.
• Conduct focus groups to ensure that they want self-service.
• Define clear business goals.
• Evaluate the technology for its technical and financial merits.
• Does it match your customer base? Will it boost profitability?
• Learn everything about your customers.
• Conduct focus groups to ensure that they want self-service.
• Define clear business goals.
• Evaluate the technology for its technical and financial merits.
• Does it match your customer base? Will it boost profitability?
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
What causes CRM projects to fail?
Many things. From the beginning, 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. One Fortune 500 company is on its fourth try at a CRM implementation, primarily because its sale force resisted all the previous efforts to share customer data.
As the largest health insurance provider in New York, Empire manages more than 29,000 corporate employer accounts, of which about 26,700 are small to midsize companies employing 50 people or fewer. Empire services these "community rated" employers via some 1,800 registered independent sales brokers. Because each customer's needs are different, brokers must produce customized coverage estimates for each one. For example, some companies want preferred provider plans, and some want health maintenance plans. Each plan has different "riders," or options, attached, such as vision care or prescription coverage.
As the largest health insurance provider in New York, Empire manages more than 29,000 corporate employer accounts, of which about 26,700 are small to midsize companies employing 50 people or fewer. Empire services these "community rated" employers via some 1,800 registered independent sales brokers. Because each customer's needs are different, brokers must produce customized coverage estimates for each one. For example, some companies want preferred provider plans, and some want health maintenance plans. Each plan has different "riders," or options, attached, such as vision care or prescription coverage.
the impact of CRM on the organisation
Implementing a CRM strategy will have far-reaching implications across your
organisation, from back-office functions (such as finance and logistics) through
customer-facing activities (such as sales, marketing and service) and beyond to
suppliers and partners. The enterprise-wide implications must be fully understood
before organisations embark on a CRM project.
The cultural implications of CRM are significant. Historically,many projects have failed,
despite effective IT implementations, because people-related issues have not been
tackled.
organisation, from back-office functions (such as finance and logistics) through
customer-facing activities (such as sales, marketing and service) and beyond to
suppliers and partners. The enterprise-wide implications must be fully understood
before organisations embark on a CRM project.
The cultural implications of CRM are significant. Historically,many projects have failed,
despite effective IT implementations, because people-related issues have not been
tackled.
Are there any indications of the need for a CRM project?
Not really :)
But one way to assess the need for a CRM project is to count the channels a customer can use to access the company. The more channels you have, the greater need there is for the type of single centralized customer view a CRM system can provide.
How long will it take to get CRM in place?
A bit longer than many software salespeople will lead you to think. Some vendors even claim their CRM "solutions" can be installed and working in less than a week. Packages like those are not very helpful in the long run because they don't provide the cross-divisional and holistic customer view needed. The time it takes to put together a well-conceived CRM project depends on the complexity of the project and its components.
How much does CRM cost?
A recent (2001) survey of more than 1,600 business and IT professionals, conducted by The Data Warehousing Institute found that close to 50% had CRM project budgets of less than $500,000. That would appear to indicate that CRM doesn't have to be a budget-buster. However, the same survey showed a handful of respondents with CRM project budgets of over $10 million.
What are some examples of the types of data CRM projects should be collecting?
• Responses to campaigns
• Shipping and fulfillment dates
• Sales and purchase data
• Account information
• Web registration data
• Service and support records
• Demographic data
• Web sales data
But one way to assess the need for a CRM project is to count the channels a customer can use to access the company. The more channels you have, the greater need there is for the type of single centralized customer view a CRM system can provide.
How long will it take to get CRM in place?
A bit longer than many software salespeople will lead you to think. Some vendors even claim their CRM "solutions" can be installed and working in less than a week. Packages like those are not very helpful in the long run because they don't provide the cross-divisional and holistic customer view needed. The time it takes to put together a well-conceived CRM project depends on the complexity of the project and its components.
How much does CRM cost?
A recent (2001) survey of more than 1,600 business and IT professionals, conducted by The Data Warehousing Institute found that close to 50% had CRM project budgets of less than $500,000. That would appear to indicate that CRM doesn't have to be a budget-buster. However, the same survey showed a handful of respondents with CRM project budgets of over $10 million.
What are some examples of the types of data CRM projects should be collecting?
• Responses to campaigns
• Shipping and fulfillment dates
• Sales and purchase data
• Account information
• Web registration data
• Service and support records
• Demographic data
• Web sales data
What is CRM
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It is a strategy used to learn more about customers' needs and behaviors in order to develop stronger relationships with them. After all, good customer relationships are at the heart of business success. There are many technological components to CRM, but thinking about CRM in primarily technological terms is a mistake. The more useful way to think about CRM is as a process that will help bring together lots of pieces of information about customers, sales, marketing effectiveness, responsiveness and market trends.
What is the goal of CRM
The 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. If it works as hoped, a business can
• provide better customer service
• make call centers more efficient
• cross sell products more effectively
• help sales staff close deals faster
• simplify marketing and sales processes
• discover new customers
• increase customer revenues
That sounds rosy. How does it happen
It doesn't happen by simply buying software and installing it. For CRM to be truly effective, an organization must first decide what kind of customer information it is looking for and it must decide what it intends to do with that information. For example, many financial institutions keep track of customers' life stages in order to market appropriate banking products like mortgages or IRAs to them at the right time to fit their needs.
Next, the 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. One company, for instance, may interact with customers in a myriad of different ways including mail campaigns, Web sites, brick-and-mortar stores, call centers, mobile sales force staff and marketing and advertising efforts. Solid 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. For example, if someone has a mortgage, a business loan, an IRA and a large commercial checking account with one bank, it behooves the bank to treat this person well each time it has any contact with him or her.
What is the goal of CRM
The 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. If it works as hoped, a business can
• provide better customer service
• make call centers more efficient
• cross sell products more effectively
• help sales staff close deals faster
• simplify marketing and sales processes
• discover new customers
• increase customer revenues
That sounds rosy. How does it happen
It doesn't happen by simply buying software and installing it. For CRM to be truly effective, an organization must first decide what kind of customer information it is looking for and it must decide what it intends to do with that information. For example, many financial institutions keep track of customers' life stages in order to market appropriate banking products like mortgages or IRAs to them at the right time to fit their needs.
Next, the 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. One company, for instance, may interact with customers in a myriad of different ways including mail campaigns, Web sites, brick-and-mortar stores, call centers, mobile sales force staff and marketing and advertising efforts. Solid 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. For example, if someone has a mortgage, a business loan, an IRA and a large commercial checking account with one bank, it behooves the bank to treat this person well each time it has any contact with him or her.
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
CRM-The Technology
Technology is used to automate procedures, provide better information and to transform
entire business processes (Dedrick et al., 2003). These capabilities include not only
hardware and software, but also the technical and managerial expertise required to
provide reliable physical services and extensive electronic connectivity within and
outside a firm
Information on customers is critical to developing and maintaining customer
relationships. While small organizations with very few customers find it relatively easy to
collect and use relevant information in building customer relationships, larger
organizations find this practically impossible to do. Thus, information technology,
initially in the form of the database, was regarded as ‘an agent of surrogacy to be enlisted
to help marketers to re-create the operating styles of yesterday’s merchants’
entire business processes (Dedrick et al., 2003). These capabilities include not only
hardware and software, but also the technical and managerial expertise required to
provide reliable physical services and extensive electronic connectivity within and
outside a firm
Information on customers is critical to developing and maintaining customer
relationships. While small organizations with very few customers find it relatively easy to
collect and use relevant information in building customer relationships, larger
organizations find this practically impossible to do. Thus, information technology,
initially in the form of the database, was regarded as ‘an agent of surrogacy to be enlisted
to help marketers to re-create the operating styles of yesterday’s merchants’
CRM and TQM
It is worth considering in this section another contemporary organizational management
discipline that has a strong connection with and is similar to CRM, that is, Total Quality
Management. TQM is a set of management techniques that became popular in the
1980’s The basic principles provide significant contribution to many CRM fundamental concepts.
The four essential dimensions that comprise the practices and techniques of TQM) are:
1. Establish a customer focus – customer satisfaction behaviours and attitudes must be
inculcated into all areas of the organization.
2. Implement continuous improvement practices – procedures and processes must be in
place to allow and encourage continuous self-assessment and adjustment.
discipline that has a strong connection with and is similar to CRM, that is, Total Quality
Management. TQM is a set of management techniques that became popular in the
1980’s The basic principles provide significant contribution to many CRM fundamental concepts.
The four essential dimensions that comprise the practices and techniques of TQM) are:
1. Establish a customer focus – customer satisfaction behaviours and attitudes must be
inculcated into all areas of the organization.
2. Implement continuous improvement practices – procedures and processes must be in
place to allow and encourage continuous self-assessment and adjustment.