Are you our member? Do you want to be our member? All I need is your NRIC and mobile number, that’s all. 9 out of 10 Singaporeans will agree (for the extra discounts) and that is where companies gain information of our buying behaviors and our personal information. For what? To interact with you and get you to spend more money of course. Every now and then, we receive these annoying emails from stores that tempt us to spend money online. It’s your birthday, celebrate your birthday with a 20% voucher from us! Storewide sales, up to 50% off. We see it, we fall for it and kaching there goes our money.
All these falls under CRM. C-R-M stands for Customer Relationship Management. At its simplest, a CRM system allows businesses to manage business relationships and the data and information associated with them. Do not undermine the power of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). There are plenty of reasons why CRM gives businesses so much potential to grow and increase revenue. It is one of the useful customer service tool companies use to interact and engage with their existing clients and consumers. It is a better way to manage so that you can be more organized and do more with less.
Realize which customers fetch you the most money
CRM allows businesses to understand the value of each client relationship. By analyzing the buying behavior and other customer data, it is easier to gain a better understanding of who are the best customers which allows segmentation into groups, differentiating customers with promising prospects and those with budget challenges differentiate, those who provide the highest profit margins and those that simply bring the most revenue. Resources are then prioritized to benefit the most profitable accounts. Therefore, these useful information provides a better type of tier customer service for better customers.
Increase Customer Retention
Sometimes, it is not about getting new customers, it is about retaining them. Yup, Brand Loyalty.
The e-commerce expert, Susannah Patton, said that one of the key CRM objectives is to help enterprises keep track of their customers and increase revenue by retaining them. Loyal customers is an important revenue source because they not only already buy what you are selling, but also provides an opportunity to up-sell and to further drive sales.
Coordinated Marketing and Sales Campaigns
Marketing department has a role in helping the Sales department to close more leads by working closely with them. However, one reason hindering this process is the lack of communication between the two departments. CRM can resolve this problem since one of its core features is the centralization of data. The advantage of having all customer information in one place is that front- and back-office operations run more smoothly due to everyone having access to the same information. Seamless communication between all departments will help both departments use their leads more effectively because they will be focused on achieving the same goals with the same strategy.
Nowadays, SMEs manage customer connections and information in a variety of ways. Some store information on their mobile phone while on the go. Some use Excel spreadsheets or Google documents. These may help in the short term when the team is still small and there are no plans on expanding the business. However for expansion, it is time to consider a CRM system to help consolidate the precious business data in one place, making it accessible via the cloud, allowing more time to focus on enticing customers, keeping them satisfied rather than letting valuable insights and information fall through the cracks.
