CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It is a strategy that companies use to develop strong relationships with customers by thoroughly researching and understanding their needs and habits. This involves systematically and effectively communicating with customers and managing their information, such as account details, needs, and contact information, to serve them better.
Through a customer relationship management system, customer information is updated and stored in a database management system. With the help of specialized data mining tools, businesses can analyze and create lists of potential and long-term customers to develop appropriate customer care strategies. Additionally, companies can quickly and effectively address customer issues. Establishing a good relationship with customers is crucial for the success of any company.
A simple CRM system involves using software to track customer data. However, a more complex system requires the integration of various factors: information, human resources, policies, and the company's efforts to attract and retain customers.
Purpose of CRM
CRM originated from the idea of helping businesses utilize resources (human and technology) to deeply understand customer attitudes, habits, and the value of each customer segment. With an effective CRM program, businesses can:
- Provide better services to customers
- Enhance the efficiency of customer support centers
- Help sales staff process orders more quickly
- Simplify marketing and sales processes
- Identify new customers
- Increase revenue from existing customers
CRM Functioning Process
The functioning of CRM consists of five main points, forming a closed loop, and we can start from any point (keeping the customer at the center):
-
Sales: This is considered a primary task of CRM, involving transactions, mailings, emails, quotes, appointments, contracts, shipments, and payments.
-
Marketing: Once a customer makes a purchase, the next step is to create marketing plans aimed at encouraging them to buy more products from the company.
-
Service: After a customer purchases a product, the company should provide the best services, such as gifts on anniversaries, Valentine's Day, International Women's Day, Teacher's Day, etc., to encourage repeat purchases.
-
Analysis: By creating a list of target customers or customers who have purchased products (those who have made any transactions), analysis becomes a key factor for future sales, marketing, and service efforts—analyzing age, region, which products are popular, timing, etc.
-
Collaborative: This provides the ability to relate to customers via phone, email, fax, web, SMS, mail, or in person. CRM helps businesses interact with customers through all channels and supports coordination among staff across customer channels. Collaborative CRM ties together people, processes, and data, enabling businesses to serve and retain customers better.
In these five steps, we can start from any point. To use CRM successfully, we must first establish good external processes; when applied to CRM, the chances of success increase significantly. The success of CRM depends primarily on leadership within each company.
How is CRM Implemented?
Implementing a CRM program is not just about purchasing suitable software and installing it. For CRM to be effective, organizations must first decide what types of customer information to focus on and how to use this information. For example, many financial organizations store customers' "lifetimes" to market insurance products at appropriate times based on customer needs.
Next, organizations should consider the various ways customer information is recorded, how customer data is stored and where, and how this data is currently being used. A company can interact with customers in many ways, such as through mail, websites, physical stores, customer support centers, mobile sales forces, or marketing and advertising campaigns. A strong CRM system should connect these "customer interfaces" to each other. Data collected through functional systems (like sales and inventory management) will be analyzed to identify common patterns for each customer group. Analysts will review the collected data and provide an overview of customer groups or service areas needing quality improvement.
Indicators for the Need to Implement a CRM Project
There is no specific way to determine this. However, to assess the need for implementing a CRM project, one can consider the number of customer channels used to interact with the company. The more channels there are, the greater the need for a CRM system, which can provide a centralized view of customers.
How Long Does It Take to Implement a CRM System?
Some providers claim their CRM solutions can be installed and operational within a week. However, these "solutions" are not effective in the long term, as they do not provide managers with an overview across different customer segments. The time required for a meaningful CRM project depends on the complexity and components of the project.
Types of Data Needed for a CRM Project
Typical data that a CRM project needs to collect includes:
- Customer reactions to promotional campaigns
- Order and shipment dates
- Purchase and sales data
- Customer account information
- Web registration data
- Support and service records
- Demographic data
- Online sales data
Users of the CRM System
-
System Administrators: Create databases, set up CRM, configure systems, and establish user groups.
-
Managers: Analyze business performance, set up advertising campaigns, view employee reports, and monitor individual staff processes.
-
Staff: Enter complete information for potential customers, plan daily work, create and track sales opportunities, manage emails, generate customer quotes, and handle orders and contracts.
Key Points for Successful CRM Implementation
-
Human Factor: The most important aspect is the people involved. Leadership plays a crucial role in the commitment to implement CRM. Employees need to see the benefits of CRM for their current and future work to be ready to accept change.
-
Cultural and Process Factors: Companies need to build their own "corporate culture," viewing customers as central to service. Customer care should involve the entire company, from management to all members. Clear work processes should be established before implementing CRM.
-
Technology Factor: It’s advisable to choose a web-based CRM to facilitate work anytime, anywhere, and reduce system maintenance.
-
Building a Customer Database: Creating a customer database from the start will save time and money, allowing staff and the company to focus on leveraging customer data.
