Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software refers to the tools, techniques,

strategies, and technologies employed by enterprises for developing, acquiring, and

retaining customers. This software guarantees that every single step while
interacting with consumers goes efficiently and smoothly in order to increase the
overall profits. CRM software is capable of collecting customer data from multiple
channels. CRM thus stores detailed information on the whole purchase history,
personal information, and also purchasing behavior patterns.

CRM Software: Significance

CRM software mainly focuses on improving relationships with business clients by

providing businesses with smart tools in order to come up with a successful strategy.
The implementation of this useful tool can definitely bring about a major difference
when it comes to equally positioning yourself with some of your biggest competitors.
One notable feature refers to the fact that all of these data are stored safely in a
unified CRM database. Thus, users will be able to effortlessly access and manage
an increasingly significant data through one powerful source of information.

CRM: How does it Work?

The CRM is a compact system with tracking features that record a number of
customer interactions online. CRM is also capable of automating a wide variety of
business processes and provides managers with essential tools that help in tracking
and measuring the company’s productivity and performance. However, the business
success as always depends on the correct strategy.
In any business, overall business objectives, customer needs, and most importantly
the proper alignment of the CRM strategy are elements that are considered to be
greatly important. It is essential for companies to pursue their objectives with the
care for the customer and also feel the need to add value by enhancing the
efficiency of customer interactions. Improved customer acquisition, retention, and
development is the outcome of a properly developed CRM strategy.

CRM software thus has the potential to connect critical business operations such as
service, marketing, and sales activities in order to improve a customer’s experience
and motivate the customer to repeat purchases. Since any CRM system is expected
to streamline and simplify a company’s workflow, it can effortlessly help businesses
to close the gaps existing between sales, marketing, and customer service
departments helping companies of all sizes to reach their ultimate goal at nominal
costs.

CRM: How does it Benefit a Business?

In today's world, a number of modern measures are needed for staying afloat and
exceptionally surpassing the competition. Business Process Management (BPM)
technology adopted in CRM permits companies to rapidly adapt to changes evolving
in the business environment by granting:

 Security, scalability, and mobile CRM access.

 Transparent and simplified work processes from the very first day.

 Enhanced reporting tools for rendering increased sales.

 In-depth analytics and reports on the team’s performance.

 Easy information sharing across the company.

 Improved tools for better collaboration among departments and with consumers.

 Immediate access to all the vital information, which helps in significantly

speeding up the workflow.

 Improved CRM strategy for a bigger impact on target audience through

personalized marketing campaigns.

Conclusion
CRM provides better decision making and consistency for businesses both big and
small. Even for just a small base of consumers, CRM can still function as a simple
management software that steadily increases the worth of your organization. The
CRM system is thus considered to an efficient strategic tool that has the ability to
mark the future of a business. Businesses should use the CRM system since the
industry has already acknowledged the potential that can be offered by CRM to
businesses, specifically related to customer satisfaction.

Pivotal role CRM

Pivotal CRM enables you to build precisely the tools you need to offer your
customers and your own sales and marketing team the service and information they
require. Whether through the more efficient management of marketing campaigns,
sales opportunities, or through increased levels of internal communication, or better
contact list management, Pivotal CRM can provide you with the functionality to meet
your and your customers’ expectations.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
1. 1. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Jaiser Abbas FB.com/Jaiser.FanPage
2. 2. What is CRM? <ul><li>CRM “is a business strategy that aims to understand, anticipate
and manage the needs of an organisation’s current and potential customers” (1).
</li></ul><ul><li>It is a “comprehensive approach which provides seamless integration
of every area of business that touches the customer- namely marketing, sales, customer
services and field support through the integration of people, process and technology”
(1) </li></ul><ul><li>CRM is a shift from traditional marketing as it focuses on the
retention of customers in addition to the acquisition of new customers (2)
</li></ul><ul><li>“ The expression Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is
becoming standard terminology, replacing what is widely perceived to be a misleadingly
narrow term, relationship marketing (RM)” (3). </li></ul>
3. 3. Definition of CRM <ul><li>“ CRM is concerned with the creation, development and
enhancement of individualised customer relationships with carefully targeted
customers and customer groups resulting in maximizing their total customer life-time
value” (2). </li></ul>
4. 4. The purpose of CRM <ul><li>“ The focus [of CRM] is on creating value for the
customer and the company over the longer term” (3). </li></ul><ul><li>When
customers value the customer service that they receive from suppliers, they are less
likely to look to alternative suppliers for their needs (3). </li></ul><ul><li>CRM
enables organisations to gain ‘competitive advantage’ over competitors that supply
similar products or services (1) </li></ul>
5. 5. Why is CRM important? <ul><li>“ Today’s businesses compete with multi-product
offerings created and delivered by networks, alliances and partnerships of many kinds.
Both retaining customers and building relationships with other value-adding allies is
critical to corporate performance” (3). </li></ul><ul><li>“ The adoption of C.R.M. is
being fuelled by a recognition that long-term relationships with customers are one of
the most important assets of an organisation” (2) </li></ul>
6. 6. Why did CRM develop? <ul><li>CRM developed for a number of reasons:
</li></ul><ul><li>The 1980’s onwards saw rapid shifts in business that changed
customer power (4) </li></ul><ul><li>Supply exceeded demands for most products (4)
</li></ul><ul><li>Sellers had little pricing power (4) </li></ul><ul><li>The only
 protection available to suppliers of goods and services was in their relationships with
customers (4) </li></ul>
7. 7. What does CRM involve? <ul><li>CRM involves the following (4):
</li></ul><ul><li>Organisations must become customer focused
</li></ul><ul><li>Organisations must be prepared to adapt so that it take customer
needs into account and delivers them </li></ul><ul><li>Market research must be
undertaken to assess customer needs and satisfaction </li></ul>
8. 8. “ Strategically significant customers” <ul><li>“ Customer relationship management
focuses on strategically significant markets. Not all customers are equally important”
(3). </li></ul><ul><li>Therefore, relationships should be built with customers that are
likely to provide value for services </li></ul><ul><li>Building relationships with
customers that will provide little value could result in a loss of time, staff and financial
resources </li></ul>
9. 9. Markers of strategically significant customers <ul><li>Strategically significant
customers need to satisfy at least one of three conditions (3):
</li></ul><ul><ul><li>Customers with high life-time values (i.e. customers that will
repeatedly use the service in the long-term e.g. Nurses in a hospital library)
</li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Customers who serve as benchmarks for other customers
e.g. In a hospital library consultants who teach on academic courses
</li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Customers who inspire change in the supplier
</li></ul></ul>
10. 10. Information Technology and CRM <ul><li>Technology plays a pivotal role in CRM
(2). </li></ul><ul><li>Technological approaches involving the use of databases, data
mining and one-to-one marketing can assist organisations to increase customer value
and their own profitability (2) </li></ul><ul><li>This type of technology can be used to
keep a record of customers names and contact details in addition to their history of
buying products or using services (2) </li></ul><ul><li>This information can be used to
target customers in a personalised way and offer them services to meet their specific
needs (2) </li></ul><ul><li>This personalised communication provides value for the
customer and increases customers loyalty to the provider (2) </li></ul>
11. 11. Information Technology and CRM: Examples <ul><li>Here are examples of how
technology can be used to create personalised services to increase loyalty in customers:
</li></ul><ul><li>Phone calls, emails, mobile phone text messages, or WAP services
(2): </li></ul><ul><li>Having access to customers contact details and their service or
purchase preferences through databases etc can enable organisations to alert customers
to new, similar or alternative services or products </li></ul><ul><li>- Illustration:
When tickets are purchased online via Lastminute.com, the website retains the
customers details and their purchase history. The website regularly send emails to
previous customers to inform them of similar upcoming events or special discounts.
This helps to ensure that customers will continue to purchase tickets from
Lastminute.com in the future. </li></ul>
12. 12. Information Technology and CRM: Examples <ul><li>Cookies </li></ul><ul><li>“ A
“cookie” is a parcel of text sent by a server to a web browser and then sent back
unchanged by the browser each time it accesses that server. HTTP cookies are used for
authenticating, tracking, and maintaining specific information about users, such as site
preferences and the contents of their electronic shopping carts” (5).
</li></ul><ul><li>Illustration: The online store, Amazon, uses “cookies” to provide a
personalised service for its customers. Amazon requires customers to register with the
service when they purchase items. When registered customers log in to Amazon at a
later time, they are ‘greeted’ with a welcome message which uses their name (for e.g.
“Hello John”). In addition, their previous purchases are highlighted and a list of similar
items that the customer may wish to purchase are also highlighted. </li></ul>
13. 13. Information Technology and CRM: Examples <ul><li>Loyalty cards
</li></ul><ul><li>“ the primary role of a retailer loyalty card is to gather data about
 customers. This in turn leads to customer comprehension and cost insights (e.g.
customer retention rates at different spending levels, response rates to offers, new
customer conversion rates, and where money is being wasted on circulars), followed by
appropriate marketing action and follow-up analysis” (6) </li></ul><ul><li>-
Illustration: The supermarket chain, Tescos, offers loyalty cards to its customers. When
customers use the loyalty cards during pay transactions for goods, details of the
purchases are stored in a database which enables Tescos to keep track of all the
purchases that their customers make. At regular intervals, Tescos sends its customers
money saving coupons by post for the products that the customers have bought in the
past. The aim of this is to encourage customers to continually return to Tescos to do
their shopping </li></ul><ul><li>CRM software- “Front office” solutions
</li></ul><ul><li>- “Many call centres use CRM software to store all of their customer's
details. When a customer calls, the system can be used to retrieve and store information
relevant to the customer. By serving the customer quickly and efficiently, and also
keeping all information on a customer in one place, a company aims to make cost
savings, and also encourage new customers” (7) </li></ul>
14. 14. Face-to-face CRM <ul><li>CRM can also be carried out in face-to-face interactions
without the use of technology </li></ul><ul><li>Staff members often remember the
names and favourite services/products of regular customers and use this information to
create a personalised service for them. </li></ul><ul><li>For example, in a hospital
library you will know the name of nurses that come in often and probably remember the
area that they work in. </li></ul><ul><li>However, face-to-face CRM could prove less
useful when organisations have a large number of customers as it would be more
difficult to remember details about each of them. </li></ul>
15. 15. Benefits of CRM <ul><li>Benefits of CRM include (8): </li></ul><ul><li>reduced
costs, because the right things are being done (ie., effective and efficient operation)
</li></ul><ul><li>increased customer satisfaction, because they are getting exactly
what they want (ie. meeting and exceeding expectations) </li></ul><ul><li>ensuring
that the focus of the organisation is external </li></ul><ul><li>growth in numbers of
customers </li></ul><ul><li>maximisation of opportunities (eg. increased services,
referrals, etc.) </li></ul><ul><li>increased access to a source of market and competitor
information </li></ul><ul><li>highlighting poor operational processes
</li></ul><ul><li>long term profitability and sustainability </li></ul>
16. 16. Implementing CRM <ul><li>When introducing or developing CRM, a strategic review
of the organisation’s current position should be undertaken (2)
</li></ul><ul><li>Organisations need to address four issues (2):
</li></ul><ul><li>What is our core business and how will it evolve in the future?
</li></ul><ul><li>What form of CRM is appropriate for our business now and in the
future? </li></ul><ul><li>What IT infrastructure do we have and what do we need to
support the future organisation needs? </li></ul><ul><li>What vendors and partners
do we need to choose? </li></ul>
17. References <ul><li>Liz Shahnam. What’s really CRM? CRM Today. [Online]
[Accessed November 2008] </li></ul><ul><li>Adrian Payne. Customer relationship
management. Cranfield University. [Online] [Accessed June 2006, no longer available
online] </li></ul><ul><li>Francis Buttle. The S.C.O.P.E of Customer Relationship
Marketing. Macquarie Graduate School of Management. [Online] [Accessed June 2006,
no longer available online] </li></ul><ul><li>Manchester Business School. 2003.
Customer Relationship Management: Where do you start? </li></ul><ul><li>Wikipedia.
HTTP Cookie . Online] [Accessed November 2008] </li></ul><ul><li>Brian Woolf. What
is loyalty? The Wise Marketer. [Online] [Accessed June 2006, no longer available online]
</li></ul><ul><li>Wikipedia. Customer Relationship Management . [Online] [Accessed
November 2008] </li></ul><ul><li>BusinessBalls. Customer Relationship Management
 1. 18. Useful resources <ul><li>If you wish to learn more about CRM, the following
resources may be of use to you: </li></ul><ul><li>CRM Guru </li></ul><ul><li>CRM
Knowledge Base </li></ul><ul><li>CRM Today website </li></ul><ul><li>InsightExec:
Customer Management Community .

Pivotal CRM’s strength lies in its flexibility and configurability. Our LLP CRM team
can adapt and extend Pivotal CRM to meet customers’ specific needs, and to model
even the most complex processes. LLP CRM has over 12 years’ experience of
consulting and implementing Pivotal solutions across the CEE region.

Clv:
When upper-level management thinks about customer support and
customer success, they typically focus on their roles as soldiers
working on the front lines to ensure customers are able to gain as
much value as possible from the company’s products.
However, in reality, these customer-facing teams, which together are
responsible for a company’s post-sale customer experience, not only
bring value to customers but also to their employers by contributing to
both new and recurring revenue.
One common way that success professionals in particular can help
boost the company’s bottom line is through referrals that lead to sales
from new customers. Another way that both support and success
teams can contribute to revenue generation is by increasing the
lifetime value of an existing customer

Clv:
The lifetime value of a customer, or customer lifetime value (CLV),
represents the total amount of money a customer is expected to spend in
your business, or on your products, during their lifetime. This is an
important figure to know because it helps you make decisions about how
much money to invest in acquiring new customers and retaining existing
ones

What Is Customer Experience?

Customer experience is the overall quality of all the interactions a
consumer has with a company and its products and services. These
include pre- and post-sale interactions, and can be of two types:
  Direct: When a customer calls a company’s service department.
 Indirect: When a customer reads a social media post about another
person’s interaction with the company.

The best customer experience improvement strategy begins with getting

the right software tools.

In this article, we’ll talk about five key tools that businesses can
use to leverage CX to achieve better customer retention, lower
operating costs, increased sales and faster growth—all as a
natural extension of what they’ve already been doing.

Here’s a graphical representation of the tools:

Five Key Tools to Improve Customer Experience

Her