One of the main requirements in the implementation of our CRM strategy is to get to know our customers. In order to do this we recognize the value in information. However, the information that we use tends to be collected in the routine course of daily business. For instance, we routinely store data regarding orders, invoices, and payments so that we can analyze the behavior of customers.
In virtually all organizations there exists a rich source of data that is often discarded. Each time a customer, or prospective customer, contacts the organization in any way, we should be thinking about the value of the information that could be collected and used to enhance our knowledge about the customer. Let's consider for a moment the two main types of contact that we encounter every day:
Enquiries. Every time an existing customer or prospect makes an inquiry about our products or services, we might reasonably conclude that the customer may be interested in purchasing that product or service. How many companies keep a managed list of prospects as a result of this? If we did, we would have a ready-made list for personalized campaign purposes.
Complaints. Customers complain for many reasons. Usually customers complain for good reasons, and most quality companies have a purpose built system for managing complaints. However, some customers are “serial” moaners and it would be good to know, when faced with people like this, what segments they are classified under and whether they are profitable or loss making. If the operators dealing with the communications had access to this information, they could respond appropriately. Remember that appropriate interaction with customers is the second main requirement in the implementation of our CRM strategy.
There is a further point to this. Each customer contact costs money for us to deal with. Remember that the overall objective for a CRM strategy is to optimize the value of a customer. Therefore, the cost of dealing with individual customers should be taken into account if we are to accurately assess the value of customers. Unfortunately, most organizations aren't able to figure out the cost of an individual customer. What tends to happen is they sum up the total cost of customer contact and divide it by the total number of customers and use the result as customer cost. This arbitrary approach is OK for general information, but it is unsatisfactory in a CRM system where we really do want to know which are the individual customers that cost us money to service.
One of the main requirements in the implementation of our CRM strategy is to get to know our customers. In order to do this we recognize the value in information. However, the information that we use tends to be collected in the routine course of daily business. For instance, we routinely store data regarding orders, invoices, and payments so that we can analyze the behavior of customers.
In virtually all organizations there exists a rich source of data that is often discarded. Each time a customer, or prospective customer, contacts the organization in any way, we should be thinking about the value of the information that could be collected and used to enhance our knowledge about the customer. Let's consider for a moment the two main types of contact that we encounter every day:
Enquiries. Every time an existing customer or prospect makes an inquiry about our products or services, we might reasonably conclude that the customer may be interested in purchasing that product or service. How many companies keep a managed list of prospects as a result of this? If we did, we would have a ready-made list for personalized campaign purposes.
Complaints. Customers complain for many reasons. Usually customers complain for good reasons, and most quality companies have a purpose built system for managing complaints. However, some customers are “serial” moaners and it would be good to know, when faced with people like this, what segments they are classified under and whether they are profitable or loss making. If the operators dealing with the communications had access to this information, they could respond appropriately. Remember that appropriate interaction with customers is the second main requirement in the implementation of our CRM strategy.
There is a further point to this. Each customer contact costs money for us to deal with. Remember that the overall objective for a CRM strategy is to optimize the value of a customer. Therefore, the cost of dealing with individual customers should be taken into account if we are to accurately assess the value of customers. Unfortunately, most organizations aren't able to figure out the cost of an individual customer. What tends to happen is they sum up the total cost of customer contact and divide it by the total number of customers and use the result as customer cost. This arbitrary approach is OK for general information, but it is unsatisfactory in a CRM system where we really do want to know which are the individual customers that cost us money to service.