Customer relationship management (CRM) is the use of technology in various customer related processes such as sales, customer support and marketing. CRM is a customer oriented platform, this means that CRM is designed in a way that it maximizes or enhances communication with the customer and swiftly responds to any queries raised by/to the customer. It heavily applies the use of technology and aids the business in the management of unanticipated growth in demand. Most businesses try to ensure maximum customer interaction by using CRM models.
The CRM model is applied in marketing automation, customer service automation, sales force automation, and administration.
In the marketing automation, a CRM model is handy when one needs to improve customer response to a marketing campaign by monitoring and evaluating the customer responses to the different marketing campaigns carried out by the business in line with the company’s objectives and goals.
In the customer service automation, a CRM system quickly avails information and analysis of a particular customer and provides multichannel applications to study his trends and preferences.
In the sales force automation, a CRM program is deployed to ensure that there is maximum efficiency in the sales process. Achieving efficiency in this process means that less time is spent on the same and as such, more time is dedicated to the pursuance of customers. Besides these examples, the sales force automation software could also be used in other areas such as the forecasting of sales and so on.
In administration, various administrative tasks can be carried out with the help of CRM tools. One such task is appointment setting. A company that needs to manage appointments would employ the use of a CRM tools to identify the guest, whom he is visiting, what time and at what place.
These and more are some of the numerous applications of the CRM model in businesses.
When trying to implement a CRM program, the company should meet many conditions key among them being that it ought to make strategic decisions concerning the ultimate objective of the CRM. In this scenario, the company should have in mind its requirements or the ultimate objective of the company and should select software that matches the same. The fact that customers serve as the backbone of any business or enterprise means that every effort should be made to ensure maximum interaction with the customer, enhancing customer satisfaction and subsequently resulting to higher profitability. CRM is therefore a strategic business tool in ensuring the same is achieved.
