According to the Giga Information Group, enterprises spend $3,5bn [$2,2bn] annually on Customer Relationship Management CRM software alone, plus three to five times that sum on related implementation, integration, and training issues.
According to manufacture research, it is 10 times more expensive to pursue fresh customers than to sell to existing ones.
CRM can help gain a greater share of a loyal Customer's business/services/manufacturing.
Establishing a strategy for change management, communicating those changes and driven benefits upfront, providing sufficient and continuous training, and above all monitoring results are winning components to help you achieve real ROI with your Customer Relationship Management CRM implementation.
CRM data integrity starts from data collection and leads all other steps back to the relationship with the Customer.
Customer Relationship Management CRM Opportunity Management - Helps sales people to focus on moving sales opportunities to completion.
CRM analytics software has been improving, thus increasing the ability to extract and analyze dates as regards Customer value and transaction profitability.
Effective CRM initiatives utilize enterprise software as an integral part of a successful strategy.
Customer Relationship Management CRM improvement is measurable and discernable - It is not hidden in vague notions and concepts.
But whatever the name, this form of business development has many attractions - not least that on the face of it, it seems far simpler than finding and targeting new prospects and potential new customers.
Yet even a strategy as simple as selling more to existing customers requires some careful preparation and good organisation, particularly when it comes to your customer database.
Managing Your Customer Data Before you can even embark on selling more to your existing customers, you need to know as much as you can about them, and ensure this information is held in an accessible and accurate form.
Your existing customer database therefore becomes an essential tool in achieving business growth, and so you should invest effort in making sure your database meets your needs.
Firstly audit the databases which are held in your organisation. Often the same customer details may be held across several databases in different formats. If this is the case consider merging databases into one, or creating frequent data feeds between databases (for example between your website database and your internal database).
Then you need to examine the quality of the data that you hold. Quality can be defined in a number of ways; accuracy of information held, frequency that it is updated, and the scope of information held.
All three factors in data quality can be addressed by using external data cleansing and enhancing services. For example:
§ Some data cleansing programs and services can cross check your data against the latest external records to ensure accuracy, which helps correct errors in data inputting.
§ The same tools can be used on a frequent regular basis to keep data up to date, because some of your customers will inevitably change their contact details on a constant basis.
§ Finally data cleansing tools can even be used to enhance your data, perhaps by adding telephone numbers where they hadn’t previously been obtained, screening data against the Telephone Preference Service register, or profiling your data using geodemographic profiling.
Once your data is in good shape, you can commence your customer loyalty marketing with confidence. Your efforts in improving your data will also be rewarded through reduced wastage if you use direct mail, which is good news for your bottom line, and for reducing the environmental impact of your business. And if you use telemarketing to your existing customers, making sure all phone numbers are screened against the TPS or CTPS registers before you call could even protect your business potential legal action and a hefty fine.
Ensuring you have a well managed and accurate customer database will give you a valuable tool when it comes to gaining more business from your existing customers.
Both S. Maurer & Josh Whiten Whiten are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
S. Maurer has sinced written about articles on various topics from . S. Maurer is a 53-years old college graduated IT professional, with 30 years of experience in the computer and technology business. Now is the Correspondence Courses Director of the Abet Open University:. S. Maurer's top article . to your Favourites.
Josh Whiten Whiten has sinced written about articles on various topics from French Vacation, Business Loans and Marketing. Steve Sellwood is from , an independent UK provider of data cleansing services to clean and improve your existing customer database. The Sel. Josh Whiten Whiten's top article generates over 6600 views. to your Favourites.