Customer relationship management

Business benefits of CRM

Implementing a customer relationship management (CRM) solution might involve considerable time and expense. However, there are many potential benefits.

A major benefit can be the development of better relations with your existing customers, which can lead to:

• increased sales through better timing by anticipating needs based on historic trends
• identifying needs more effectively by understanding specific customer requirements
• cross-selling of other products by highlighting and suggesting alternatives or enhancements
• identifying which of your customers are profitable and which are not

This can lead to better marketing of your products or services by focusing on:

• effective targeted marketing communications aimed specifically at customer needs
• a more personal approach and the development of new or improved products and services in order to win more business in the future

Ultimately this could lead to:

• enhanced customer satisfaction and retention, ensuring that your good reputation in the marketplace continues to grow
• increased value from your existing customers and reduced costs associated with supporting and servicing them, increasing your overall efficiency and reducing total cost of sales
• improved profitability by focusing on the most profitable customers and dealing with the unprofitable in more cost effective ways

Once your business starts to look after its existing customers effectively, efforts can be concentrated on finding new customers and expanding your market. The more you know about your customers, the easier it is to identify new prospects and increase your customer base.

Even with years of accumulated knowledge, there's always room for improvement. Customer needs change over time, and technology can make it easier to find out more about customers and ensure that everyone in an organisation can exploit this information.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• Why CRM?
• Business benefits of CRM
• Types of CRM solution
• How to implement CRM
• Potential drawbacks of CRM
• Questions for CRM suppliers
• Here's how CRM software improved my business

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