The Power of a Customer Relationship Management System

When a customer is calling to reorder, having a customer relationship management (CRM) system to track past orders, is critical in providing the best service possible. “Customer relationship management is a widely-implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer service, and technical support. The overall goals are to find, attract, and win new clients, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service. Customer relationship management describes a company-wide business strategy including customer-interface departments as well as other departments.”

If you are a business owner, manager or service employee, keeping this system up to date is one sure way to please your customers and keep them for a lifetime. If you are looking for a customer service position, your knowledge of using the current CRM programs available, would be a benefit to your job search.

In addition to having the name and contact information for each client, there are several features of an effective and efficient CRM system. Some of these include:

History of:
Emails
Product or service preferences
Past product or service purchases
Notes and history of interactions
Complaints
Payment history
Potential areas for additional sales and service
Sales Funnel tracking
Referrals received and tracked

As a small business consultant, it is surprising for me to see how many companies and non-profit organizations do not even have a CRM system. Some have tried it and found it to be too cumbersome and stopped using it, while others never really felt the need to implement one.

Of those that have tried to use a CRM system and didn’t stay with it, many of them did not have their staff take the time to learn how to adequately use it. In other cases small businesses that never felt the need for one, many times these companies severely limit their efficiency, effectiveness and growth potential.

The advantages of having a CRM system that meets your organization’s specific needs are many. Here are just a few:

First, it builds confidence in your employee’s mind, knowing that he or she has a history of pertinent customer information and other pertinent data on that specific customer.

Next, it allows both you and your staff to be familiar with the purchase history of all customers. Incidentally, knowing this information allows you or your staff to contact the customer from time to time and recommend a re-order of a particular item or service. Dentists are a good example of a business that uses this approach. After each dental cleaning, their staff person will reschedule the next visit for their patients.

Your business does not have to be one that frequently provides a service or product to that customer. It could be as little as once every year. But, by scheduling it, you are increasing the odds that they will repurchase.

Finally, knowing specific information about your customer allows you the opportunity to customize the service or products you provide to them. This can be a distinct advantage that you can use against your competition.

Tom Borg is a consultant in leadership management, team building and customer service. Please see more of his blogs at csjobsblog.com and businessworkforceblog.com. To view additional job postings at Nexxt