CRM Implementation: How To Build A Customer Centred Enterprise Successfully.

Before CRM can be implemented in any organisation, there are some basic things that must be put in place so that the whole process will not fail.

#1 Business Focus

Any product-centred organisation that wish to now make customers the deciding factor of its activities must communicate its new business focus to its customer.

As we all know that the main reason why businesses are established is to make a profit, it is not so in a customer-centric enterprise.

This is because, when you are embarking on a customer-centric enterprise, profit will not come early because you have to divert your resources to customer satisfaction.

I can assure you that when you have a loyal customer, your profits will be in leaps and bounds.

#2 Organizational Structure

This is another thing you have to address if you wish to embark on a customer-centric enterprise.

There is a need for you to have a flexible organizational structure so that decision-making will not be delayed.

You must not have an organizational structure that makes access to information about customers difficult. You don’t need an organizational structure where the C.E.O. will have to approve a change of address of customers.

Under the new organizational structure, staff and partners relating to customers must be able to resolve customers’ issues without having to leave their tables.

#3   Business Metrics

Another thing that is needed for a successful evolution into a customer-centric enterprise is Business metrics.

When we talk of this, we are talking about means of knowing whether we are succeeding or not.

A customer-centric enterprise must be able to decide at every point in time where they are as well as what they need to do in order to move forward.

#4 Marketing Focus
In a business environment, most especially in a product-centric enterprise, organisations tend to judge their performance based on how many of their products are purchased.

They will say Dangote cement can dictate the price of cement because it has the largest market share in the cement industry in Nigeria.

In a customer-centric enterprise, it is a different ball game: a customer-centric enterprise will never compete for market share but their primary objective will be how to meet the need of their customers and how to meet customers at the right place with the right products and services.

#5 Technology

A serious-minded customer-centric enterprise must-have technology at its beck and call.

This is to prevent customers from being frustrated. It also presents customers with various channels through which they can be served.

Implementation Challenges

#1 Technology Infrastructure Management

We have said that, in rolling out a customer-centric enterprise, technology must be present.

Various applications must be deployed in order to ensure that customers are left with a variety of choices.

Note that, any technology that will be deployed must be scalable, flexible and must not contradict what the organisation already has on the ground.

#2 Change Management

It has been said that one of the reasons why many l.T projects failed, was because the employees were not properly integrated into the new system.

Many times, top management just come up with the suggestion of deploying an l.T technology without the proper education of the employees who are likely to revolt against the innovation.

 
An organisation that wants to migrate to a customer-centric enterprise must properly sensitize its employees.

They must be made to see the reason(s) why the business philosophy has to change. Tell them that “Employees loyalty is customer’s loyalty”.

#3 Project Management

In any l.T. project, you need a Project Manager who is very conversant with what you are about to do.

Although it has been said that no two I.T projects are the same, it should be stated here that before migration to a customer-centric enterprise can be successful, there must be a Project Manager that knows what it takes for an organization to be customer-centric.

He is the one that will oversee the project from the beginning to the end.

SUMMARY
In this chapter, we have looked at what E-CRM is and we said, it is a web-based CRM that allows customers to relate with the organisation across multiple channels. We also looked at some of the differences between traditional CRM and E-CRM which includes the fact that:

• E-CRM is web integrated CRM;

• F-CRM technology and architecture differ from conventional CRM;

• E-CRM has heightened interactivity;

• E-CRM renders an enterprise ‘web experience’; and

• E-CRM is the CRM concept that tries to integrate multiple channels through a web access point.

We also looked at some concepts under ECRM implementation which includes Business focus, organizational structure, business metrics, marketing focus and technology.

Above all, we said that, in implementing E-CRM, an organization must be involved in technology infrastructure management, change management, and CRM project management.

Brainstorming Session

1. Examine the difference between CRM and E-CRM?
2. Why do you think many organisations are establishing call centres for their customers?

3. Which is the most important? CRM or E-CRM.

4. Examine the differences between CRM and E-CRM.

5. What sonic of the implementation challenges of CRM.

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Action Point
PS: If you would like to have an online course on any of the courses that you found on this blog, I will be glad to do that on individual and corporate levels, I will be very glad to do that I have trained several individuals and groups. They are doing well in their various fields of endeavour. Some of those that I have trained include staff of Dangote Refinery, FCMB, Zenith Bank, and New Horizons Nigeria among others. Please come on Whatsapp and let’s talk about your training. You can reach me on Whatsapp HERE. Please note that I will be using Microsoft Team to facilitate the training.

I know you might agree with some of the points that I have raised in this article. You might not agree with some of the issues raised. Let me know your views about the topic discussed. We will appreciate it if you could drop your comment. Thanks in anticipation.

CRMNuggets is committed to fact-checking in a fair, transparent and non-partisan manner. Therefore, if you’ve found an error in any of our reports, be it factual, editorial, or an outdated post, please contact us to tell us about it.

Hi, I now use RavenBank to send, receive and save money. I also pay my bills with ease, you should try it out too

Electronic CRM: How To Deploy The Internet For Customer Conversion.

What is E-CRM?
Electronic CRM can simply be defined as the introduction of technologies and the internet in order to ensure that customers enjoy the maximum experience from the organisation irrespective of the channel that they have chosen to interact with the organisation.

It helps a customer-centric enterprise to formulate rules that will cover business processes across the organisation which ensures that the organisation is able to retain its customers, and not lose them to competitors.

 
What is E-CRM?
Electronic CRM can simply be defined as the introduction of technologies and the internet in order to ensure that customers enjoy the maximum experience from the organisation irrespective of the channel that they have chosen to interact with the organisation.

It helps a customer-centric enterprise to formulate rules that will cover business processes across the organisation which ensures that the organisation is able to retain its customers, and not lose them to competitors.

E-CRM covers many aspects of the organisation. It involves the deployment of applications that captures contacts, accounts, opportunities, activities, marketing, customer support, sales and service-related process in the organisation.

Differences between CRM and Electronic CRM

#1 E-CRM is web integrated CRM

Under conventional CRM, we have an organisation that tries to meet customers’ needs and do business from their perspective without giving customers the upper hand or leaving them with a choice.

In E-CRM, we have a web-integrated service point which allows customers to dictate the pace of things. It is meant to improve efficiency and the rate of customer satisfaction.

It is also meant to ensure that the organisation have direct contact with customers as much as possible.

#2 Technology and Architecture

Under CRM, customers’ information is completed and integrated into one single database which is made available to the various departments in the organisation.

This allows the staff to be able to have access to the customer database anytime they want to resolve issues that have to do with them.

Through the use of the Internet also, E-GRM allows Internet customers to relate with their organisation through their preferred means of communication.

This makes the personalization of services easier.

#3  Enterprise-Wide Web Experience

     E.CRM gives room for the deployment of the Internet across the various part of the organisation.

Through the deployment of E-CRM, various departments in an organisation are no longer constrained by walls.

They can now share customers’ information and resolve customers’ issues using the Internet as an enabler.

#4 Customer Facing Web Front

E-GRM provides direct access to interfaces and performs other functions which are not directly available to traditional CRM users.

It integrates different functions that can be performed in order to retain the customer. These functions are all web-based.

#5 Integration of Multiple Channels

        One other thing that gives E-CRM the upper hand over and above traditional CRM is that it integrates various channels.

Customers that like to go to the branches can also transact business with the organization online.

Lack of integration in the traditional CRM which is the order of the day in Nigeria frustrates customers who might not be at liberty to relate with the organization across multiple channels.

In most banks in Nigeria for example, customers that withdraw from the counter are charged one hundred naira, this is because they are expected to use the Automated Teller Machine.

This is not one of the qualities of a customer-centred enterprise. You should note that E-CRM encompasses the whole of CRM and CRM is gradually evolving into E-CRM.

Do you enjoy this article, add Our Posts to your Reading List.

Action Point
PS: If you would like to have an online course on any of the courses that you found on this blog, I will be glad to do that on individual and corporate levels, I will be very glad to do that I have trained several individuals and groups. They are doing well in their various fields of endeavour. Some of those that I have trained include staff of Dangote Refinery, FCMB, Zenith Bank, and New Horizons Nigeria among others. Please come on Whatsapp and let’s talk about your training. You can reach me on Whatsapp HERE. Please note that I will be using Microsoft Team to facilitate the training.

I know you might agree with some of the points that I have raised in this article. You might not agree with some of the issues raised. Let me know your views about the topic discussed. We will appreciate it if you could drop your comment. Thanks in anticipation.

CRMNuggets is committed to fact-checking in a fair, transparent and non-partisan manner. Therefore, if you’ve found an error in any of our reports, be it factual, editorial, or an outdated post, please contact us to tell us about it.

Hi, I now use RavenBank to send, receive and save money. I also pay my bills with ease, you should try it out too

Shocking Facts About CRM Solution Map

#1 Marketing

In the marketing department’s plans to shift to CRM, they needed applications that can identify prospective customers.

They must be able to identify prospective customers. They must be able to identify the calibre of customers that they want and how they can meet their needs.

#1 Marketing

In the marketing department’s plans to shift to CRM, they needed applications that can identify prospective customers.

They must be able to identify prospective customers. They must be able to identify the calibre of customers that they want and how they can meet their needs.

Also, there is a need for segmentation of customers. Under this, organizations that deal with different age groups must be able to come up with products and services that will meet the needs of the various age groups.

The organisation also needs accurate targeting. Under this, they must be able to predict correctly who their prospects are and how they can meet them at the right place with the right products(s) and services.

The marketing department in this organisation must also be able to come up with correct customer acquisition strategies.

They must be able to pinpoint how various prospects want to be approached. Some like to relate with the customers online while some others want to do business from the convenience of their homes.

There is also a need for campaign management.

When we talk of campaign management, we are talking about creating awareness about the products and services that the organization has to offer.

This includes making sure that the existing products get to the final consumers.
 
     
Finally, under marketing, we can have lead distribution, this involves follow-up on information that you have about a particular prospect.

Take for example a customer that likes to do business from the convenience of his home; such a customer/prospect will easily jump at products and services that will afford him the opportunity to do so.

Scenario
Benson is a 9mobile customer while his father who happens to be a carpenter also uses the same network. Benson who likes socializing and free things decided to migrate from easy starter to easy cliq because it gives him the opportunity to enjoy low call rates, get megabytes for browsing and free access to Facebook and 2go among others.

His father on the other hand migrated from front easy cliq to easy starter simply because he does not need some of those things that his son wanted in a sim.

He was attracted to easy starter because of the “you and me” which allowed him to talk to his wife free of charge and home zone which allowed him to enjoy low call rates from his workshop.

#2 Sales

The sales department in a customer-centric enterprise also needs some application that will allow the staff of the department to satisfy the needs of customers.

One of such is the application that will allow effective sales processes so that closure of deals can be faster.

This will allow the department to know those that really need the product and the best way to sell it to them.

The sales departments also need proposal generation took. This tool automatically notifies prospects and customers about products and services that might be of interest to them.

These are programmed based on information at the disposal of the organization about the prospects or customers.

The sales department. might also need a knowledge management tool.

As we all know. information is power. The organisation could only succeed if they have valuable information that could help in the faster closure of deals.

We also have contact management tools. Under this, the organisation tries to manage their contacts and database in order to see how it could help in the closure of deals.

If you suddenly discovered that you have Aliko Dangote’s son as one of those that have used your product or you have a link to the Nigerian President, this might help you to sell your products to them.

As was said earlier the problem remains that. many organisations in Nigeria cannot say precisely the total number of customers that they have.

            Finally, there are applications that can help in forecasting. When you are forecasting, you are predicting things that are not in demand now but customers are likely to request for in the future.

This can be done using information that is available in the customer database.

#4     E-commerce

The benefit of the e-commerce platform is to ensure that the organisation is able to use the World Wide Web to increase its sales effortlessly.

The organizations have to deploy applications that will ensure that both the online customers and those that walk into the various branch offices enjoy the same benefits.

#5 Services

This is the medium through which the organization support customers that have purchased their products and services.

This might include the deployment of call centre applications, portals or customized interfaces which arc meant to meet the need of the customers.

A good example of this is the MTN online service centres which are meant to provide support to customers who might be having challenges with their MTN services.

Summary

So far. we have looked at the various applications that are needed for a CRM program.

We said that these various applications are mostly needed in various departments that have to deal with the customers directly such as Marketing, Sales, Customer service and B-Commerce departments.

Brainstorming Session

1. Do you think marketing is relevant to CRM? Give reasons for your answers.

2. Discuss the various branches of CRM in relation to any beverage firm that you know.

3. Examine marketing and sales in a product-centric enterprise. Why are they

                        different?

Do you enjoy this article, add Our Posts to your Reading List.

Action Point
PS: If you would like to have an online course on any of the courses that you found on this blog, I will be glad to do that on individual and corporate levels, I will be very glad to do that I have trained several individuals and groups. They are doing well in their various fields of endeavour. Some of those that I have trained include staff of Dangote Refinery, FCMB, Zenith Bank, and New Horizons Nigeria among others. Please come on Whatsapp and let’s talk about your training. You can reach me on Whatsapp HERE. Please note that I will be using Microsoft Team to facilitate the training.

I know you might agree with some of the points that I have raised in this article. You might not agree with some of the issues raised. Let me know your views about the topic discussed. We will appreciate it if you could drop your comment. Thanks in anticipation.

CRMNuggets is committed to fact-checking in a fair, transparent and non-partisan manner. Therefore, if you’ve found an error in any of our reports, be it factual, editorial, or an outdated post, please contact us to tell us about it.

Hi, I now use RavenBank to send, receive and save money. I also pay my bills with ease, you should try it out too

Customer Relationship Management Strategy: Designing Effective Blueprint For Customers Success

Introduction
In defining CRM strategy in chapter one, we said that any organisation that desires to be customer-centred must have a laid down plan on how they want to achieve their objectives.

In this article, we will be talking about those things that needs to be present in any CRM strategy before we can say that it is worthwhile. Let’s look at this together.

Scenario

Mr Winfred is an entrepreneur. His products were well-known in his country and beyond.

Introduction
In defining CRM strategy in chapter one, we said that any organisation that desires to be customer-centered must have a laid down plan on how they want to achieve their objectives.

In this article, we will be talking about those things that needs to be present in any CRM strategy before we can say that it is worthwhile. Let’s look at this together.

Scenario

Mr. Winfred is an entrepreneur. His products were well-known in his country and beyond.

Until the recent time, he held sway as he controlled a large percentage of the market share.

There was also another entrepreneur, Mr. Hanold, a business man that had decided to do business from customer perspective with technologies to back it up.

At the onset, Mr. Hanold decided that profit will not be of priority. He decided to meet the needs of his customers first, by meeting every of the prospects and the customers at the right place, right time with the right products.

When Mr. Winfred could not hold it any longer, he contacted a consultant to help him out of the situation.

The consultant advised him to formulate policies that will allow them to meet the customers/prospects with the right product at the right place.

He also advised him to treat his loyal customers especially in order to retain them for life.

He told him that before he could formulate a good strategy, there are some factors that must be considered. These are in the diagram below

#1 Integration

A good CRM initiative should be integrated to the business processes throughout the enterprise.

What we are saying here is that there must be a conscious process to change the orientation of the various departments in the organisation, most especially those that deal directly with the customers, that is, marketing, sales and customer service departments of the organization.

They must be taught how to deal with the customers and make them the center-piece of the entire organisation.

#2 Accessibility

A good CRM initiative must be accessible to every personnel involved in customer’s interaction with the organisation to provide a consistent approach and enhance customer’s experience.

Much of the customer-centric ideology must revolve around the customer.

The levels of success that will be recorded have much to do with the amount of information that the organisation have about their customers.

This information must be available to all the departments in the organisation so that they can take decisions without much delay.

Although there is the need for the organization to protect customer’s information but this should not be done in a way that it will slow down business processes or it will be difficult for those that need it to access it.

#3 Measurability

The problem we have in most part of the world, most especially countries is that, there is no maintenance culture. In formulating a customer-centric enterprise, there must be a way of analyzing and measuring the results.

When the process is being monitored, it will be very easy for the organisation to measure the progress and make necessary changes as the situation demands.

#4 Unified Data

At times in many banks in Nigeria, you would have observed that it’s always difficult for some calibres of staff to attend to you.

This is because some of them  do not have the required information concerning the customers.

Each department in the organisation must have the same information as regards their customers.

This information must be made available to every department in the organisation that might need it in order to take decisions.

#5 Coordination

A good CRM strategy must have a coordinated process and strategy.

There must be a project manager who is well vast in customer relations to manage the project.

As soon as the initiator have the support of top management, a team must be set up to manage the whole process in order to ensure that, it is well coordinated.

#6 Web-Based And Real Time

A good CRM strategy must be web-based and it must be available twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week.

There is the need for it to be web-based because some of your customers also have their own business that they are doing, therefore they must be able to do business with your organization from the convenience of their homes.

It must also have reporting metrics which notify you when things are going wrong.

There are also applications that will suggest to you some important information about their customers. Just feed in your customer information; the application will provide the results. 

SUMMARY

In this lesson, we have learned that a good customer-centric strategy must be:

• Integrated into the business processes throughout the enterprise;
• Accessible to every personnel involved in customer care; and
• Web-based and process real-time analytics with closed-loop reporting features.

Brainstorming Session

1. As the consultant employed by Mr Winston, how will you go about the job of turning his firm from a product-centric enterprise to a customer-centric Enterprise?
2. In your own view and using a well-known organization in Nigeria as a case study, explain what CRM strategy is.
3. Differentiate between Customer strategy and CRM strategy.

Do you enjoy this article, add Our Posts to your Reading List.

Action Point
PS: If you would like to have an online course on any of the courses that you found on this blog, I will be glad to do that on individual and corporate levels, I will be very glad to do that I have trained several individuals and groups. They are doing well in their various fields of endeavour. Some of those that I have trained include staff of Dangote Refinery, FCMB, Zenith Bank, and New Horizons Nigeria among others. Please come on Whatsapp and let’s talk about your training. You can reach me on Whatsapp HERE. Please note that I will be using Microsoft Team to facilitate the training.

I know you might agree with some of the points that I have raised in this article. You might not agree with some of the issues raised. Let me know your views about the topic discussed. We will appreciate it if you could drop your comment. Thanks in anticipation.

CRMNuggets is committed to fact-checking in a fair, transparent and non-partisan manner. Therefore, if you’ve found an error in any of our reports, be it factual, editorial, or an outdated post, please contact us to tell us about it.

Hi, I now use RavenBank to send, receive and save money. I also pay my bills with ease, you should try it out too

Customer Care In CRM: How To Make Customers Stick To You For Life

In my previous article, I looked at all that you need to know about customer strategy in CRM. In this article, I want to look at all that you need to know about customer care in CRM. Follow me as we are going to look at this together in this article.

When we talk about customers in either product-centric or customer-centric organisations, we are talking about a specialised centre that is saddled with the responsibility of resolving customer issues.

Many Organisations are now realizing the need to put customer issues on the front burner with dedicated staff to handle customer issues. The grave mistake that many organisations are making today is that the majority of them equate customer service with CRM. Some even assume that every dick and Harry can be a Customer Service Representative, this is wrong.

CRM is broader than customer service. In CRM, you are not only concerned about the CSR that is asked to attend to customer issues or complaints, but you are looking holistically at the whole organisational structure. You want to know why the business is on. What is their perception of their customers? Do they treat customers as one of those things? Are they doing business with customers’ perspectives? All these come into play when we are considering CRM but they are not important for customer service.

In a customer-centric enterprise, the entire members of the organisation are trained to place customers first and do business from their perspective. In this kind of organisation, profit is not the man motive of establishing business.

A CRM-savvy organisation believes that profit will come, but not immediately. Their immediate concern is to exceed customers’ expectations and gain their confidence. Once this is done, profit will start coming in torrents.

Do you enjoy this article, add Our Posts to your Reading List.

Action Point
PS: If you would like to have an online course on any of the courses that you found on this blog, I will be glad to do that on individual and corporate levels, I will be very glad to do that I have trained several individuals and groups. They are doing well in their various fields of endeavour. Some of those that I have trained include the staff of Dangote Refinery, FCMB, Zenith Bank, and New Horizons Nigeria among others. Please come on Whatsapp and let’s talk about your training. You can reach me on Whatsapp HERE. Please note that I will be using Microsoft Team to facilitate the training.

I know you might agree with some of the points that I have raised in this article. You might not agree with some of the issues raised. Let me know your views about the topic discussed. We will appreciate it if you could drop your comment. Thanks in anticipation.

CRMNuggets is committed to fact-checking in a fair, transparent and non-partisan manner. Therefore, if you’ve found an error in any of our reports, be it factual, editorial, or an outdated post, please contact us to tell us about it.

Hi, I now use RavenBank to send, receive and save money. I also pay my bills with ease, you should try it out too

6 Components Of Customer Relationship Management: What Make CRM The Favourite

In my previous article, I looked at some of the drivers of customer relationship management. In this article, I want to look at some of the components of a customer relationship management strategy. Follow me as we look at that together in this article.

In defining Customer Relationship Management Strategy, we said that any organisation that desires to be customer-centred must have a laid down how they want to achieve their objectives. In this article, I will be talking about those elements that need to be present in any CRM strategy before we can say that it is worthwhile. Let’s look at this together.

Case Study

Mr Winfred is an entrepreneur. His products are well-known in his country and beyond. Until recent times, he held away as he controlled a large percentage of the market share in his own area of interest.  There was also another entrepreneur. Mr Hanold is a businessman that has decided to do business from a customer perspective with technologies to back it up.

At the onset, Mr Hanold decided that profit will not be his priority. He decided to meet the needs of his customers first, by meeting every one of his prospects and customers at the right place, at the right time with the right products and services.

When Mr Winfred could not hold it any longer, he contacted a consultant to help him out of the situation. The consultant advised him to formulate policies that will allow them to meet the customers/prospects with the right product at the right place.

He also advised him to treat his loyal customers, especially in order to retain them for life. He told him that before he could formulate a good CRM strategy, there are some basic things that he has to do.

Now the components…

#1 Integration

A good CRM initiative should be integrated into business processes throughout the enterprise. What we are saying here is that there must be a conscious effort to change the orientation of the various departments of the organisation, most especially those that deal directly with the customers, that is, the marketing, sales and customer service departments of the organisation.

They must be taught how to deal with the customers and make them the centrepiece of the entire organisation.

#2 Accessibility

A good CRM initiative must be accessible to every person involved in the customer’s approach and enhance a customer’s experience. Much of the customer-centric ideology must revolve around customers.

The level of success that will be recorded has to do with the amount of information that the organisation have about their customers.

This information must be available to all departments in the organisation so that they can take the business decision without much delay.

Although there is a need for the organisation to protect customers’ information, this should not be done in a way that it will slow down business processes or it will be difficult for those that need it to access it.

#3 Measurability

The problem we have in most parts of the world, most especially in third world countries is that there is no maintenance culture. In formulating a customer-centric enterprise, there must be a way of analysing and measuring the results. When the process is being monitored, it will be very easy for the organisation to measure its progress and make necessary changes as the situation demands.

#4 Unified data

At times, in some banks in Nigeria, you would have observed that it’s always difficult for some calibres of staff to attend to you. This is because some of them do not have the required information about customers.

Each department in the organisation must have the same information as regards their customers. This information must be made available to every department in the organisation that might need it in order to make decisions or resolve issues.

#5 Coordination

A good CRM strategy must have a coordinated process and procedure. There must be a Project Manager who is well vast in customer relations to manage the project. As soon as the initiators have the support of top management, a team must be set up to manage the process in order to ensure that it is well coordinated.

#6 Web-based and real-time

A good CRM strategy must be Web-based and it must be available twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week There is a need for it to be Web-based because some of your customers also have their own business that they are doing, therefore they must be able to do business with your organisation from the convenience of their homes.

It must also have reporting metrics that notify you when things are going wrong. There are also applications that will suggest to you some important information about your customers. Just feed in your customer information, and the application will provide the results.

Do you enjoy this article, add Our Posts to your Reading List.

Action Point
PS: If you would like to have an online course on any of the courses that you found on this blog, I will be glad to do that on individual and corporate levels, I will be very glad to do that I have trained several individuals and groups. They are doing well in their various fields of endeavour. Some of those that I have trained include staff of Dangote Refinery, FCMB, Zenith Bank, and New Horizons Nigeria among others. Please come on Whatsapp and let’s talk about your training. You can reach me on Whatsapp HERE. Please note that I will be using Microsoft Team to facilitate the training.

I know you might agree with some of the points that I have raised in this article. You might not agree with some of the issues raised. Let me know your views about the topic discussed. We will appreciate it if you could drop your comment. Thanks in anticipation.

CRMNuggets is committed to fact-checking in a fair, transparent and non-partisan manner. Therefore, if you’ve found an error in any of our reports, be it factual, editorial, or an outdated post, please contact us to tell us about it.

Hi, I now use RavenBank to send, receive and save money. I also pay my bills with ease, you should try it out too

In my previous article, I talked about all that you need to know about customer relationship management. In this article, I want to talk about some of the major drivers of CRM. Follow me as we are going to look at that together in this article.

The word “driver” is not strange to some of us, even to a layman. He is the one saddled with the responsibility of taking you to your desired destination.

CRM as a concept to has its own drivers. There are some components that must be present before you can achieve a desired customer-centric enterprise. Let’s journey together as we look at the four drivers employed by CRM.

#1 Location

The first reason why organisations have to evolve into a customer-centric enterprises is that in today’s business world, businesses are no longer limited by geographical location. Many people for example buy from Amazon.com, eBay and other online markets without knowing their exact business locations.

Distance between you and your market is now a mouse click away. That is why distance is no longer a barrier in business.

#2 Size

In today’s world, the size of an organisation is no longer a barrier. Contemporary organisations now have a level playing ground with the advent of the internet.

Some smaller organisations today can now have an edge of they are able to provide the appropriate logistics and solutions, The world wide web has made organisations stand out on the internet if they are able to provide appropriate technology to back it up.

#3 Internet

The coming of the internet has brought about the introduction of business models. We now have the internet being part and parcel of many organisations.

There is also the proliferation of e-marketplaces which has brought about stiff competition among many organisations. Some organisations have also been able to automate their business processes.

This has allowed customers to be able to do many of what they would have had to go to the branch office to do.

Case Study

In the past, Mr Adio could not do anything from his current account domiciled with an old-generation bank without reaching the Bank’s office at Victoria Island in Lagos.

When the bank launched itself on the internet, it was a relief to him. he can now transfer money from one account to another, check his balance, pay his staff and withdraw from the ATM. he can now shop online while his bank settled the bills on his behalf.

You should know that there are different types of automation that a customer-centric enterprise can adopt such as Enterprise Resource Planning, Sale Force Automation and Customer Information Factory among others.

#4 Technology

One could safely say that with the advent of technology, a palace coup has occurred between the customer and the organisation. With the advent of technology, customers now dictate the pace of things in the business environment.

Customers of today are aware of their choices. They also know how to navigate the internet in order to find what they want. This has placed a serious expectation on service providers who now have to meet up the demands of the ever-demanding customers.

You should know that it is difficult for organisations to control the pace of technology, but they can definitely control the pace of technology, but they can definitely control the pace of interaction with their customers. This can be done with the use of technology as an enabler.

I want you all to know that what can make organisations stand out today has to do with how well they treat customers. Organisations must ensure that customers achieve their desired results irrespective of the communication channel that they have chosen to relate with the organisation.

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3 Major Achievements From CRM Initiatives: Why Should Consider Starting Now.

I know that CRM or CRM Initiatives is a buzzword. Almost every organisation wants people to know them as being customer centred. In this article, I want to look at three main focuses of any CRM initiative. Follow me as we are going to look at that exclusively in this article.

The sweet fruit of customer relationship management is ample and ripe. Organisations view customer relationship management as the opportunity to achieve the following :

• Hold on to the existing market share.
• G ab more market share.
• Exploit existing market share more fully.

If you look at it critically, you will see that they are right. The key to being able to do all of these things and more is understanding the customer.

Once you understand who your customers are, what their habits are, and what they represent, you are positioned to do a thousand positive things.

In a word, the world of CRM is attractive – compellingly competitive. Corporations simply can’t wait to start exploiting the newfound knowledge of the customer.

In the rush to reap the rewards of CRM, businesses often forget that supporting CRM requires an infrastructure.

Without the infrastructure, CRM just doesn’t play. Yet the infrastructure needed to support CRM receives scant attention because it is, well, not as glamorous as CRM.

Building the infrastructure requires work, investment, and understanding of architecture, dealing with complexity and time.

Whatever the difficulties in the building of the infrastructure, it is nevertheless absolute essential for successful CRM.

The elements of this CRM infrastructure are:

• Integration
• History
• Quality, detailed data.

Without integration, one customer looks pretty much the same way as another customer.

But once data is integrated, the business analyst can start to distinguish customers from each other and, in doing so, the business analyst is able to start to personalise the relationship with the customer.

Please note that integration adds colour to a black-and-white picture.

History is vital because it is with history that the future can be predicted. History is a great predictor because customers are people, and people are creatures of habit.

The habit we form early in our adulthood sticks with us throughout our lives. Knowing what habits an individual has today enables us to predict what patterns of consumption and other activities the customer will engage in tomorrow.

When it comes to customers, the secret to predicting the future is carefully understanding the past.

Another important aspect of the infrastructure is quality, detailed data. Detailed data is important because once an organisation has a handle on its detail, it can reshape the data into any pattern desired. And to look at the customer in many different ways, flexible data is crucial.

These three elements- integration, history and detailed data – are not automatically aligned upon entering the organisation.

Some data come in one way, whereas other data come in other ways. Some data is time-constrained and other data comes in other ways.

Some data are structured and other data are unstructured. Some data are current while some are time-sensitive. Some data are o good quality whereas some data are questionable.

To align this data, the infrastructure needs its own architecture. This architecture is called the Corporate Information Factory.

The Corporate Information Factory is the ideal structure for the needs of the business that is serious about CRM. The CIF enables multiple touchpoints where the information needed does the best.

If your organisation is one of the growing numbers is organisations making their transaction from a product orientation to a customer focus, there is probably disagreement, or at the very least confusion, about how to get there. It’s not uncommon to find confessions and questions about the meaning of customer relationship management, its value to organisations, and the technologies needed to support it.

However, there is one issue upon which most business and technology executives agree. Accomplishing the transition to CRM requires a fundamental shift in business strategies and in organisational thought processes.

It also requires a comprehensive infrastructure of integrated customer information technology to support these changes.

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Discussing Customers As The Centre The Of Universe

Many CRM definitions focus on the importance of knowing your customer and acting on that knowledge. Putting this principle into practice is where the complexity lies. In this article, I want to introduce you to Samson, a sophisticated but demanding customer, and his bank, a CRM-savvy organization that has embraced the principles of CRM wholeheartedly. In this article, I want to discuss the roles of customers in a business.

As you will see, Samson has not always been a customer of his current bank.

As it is very common today , he brought his business from a competitor when his initial bank would not, or could not, adapt its treatment of him to reflect his increasing value and changing banking requirements.

The following true story chronicles Samson’s experiences with his first bank, a bank that should have been his bank for life. Instead, the bank lost a truly valuable customer, one who would have willingly assisted them in the transition to CRM.

As you read about Samson’s experience, I will encourage you to reflect on the stories of lost customers within your own organization.

If you find similarities to the story below – and most of you will –  read on to learn what your organisation must do to correct these problems.

When Samson was in secondary school, he opened a savings account with a local bank. In college, he opened another account as well. During his NYSC, the bank offered him his first credit card which he accepted- thrilled that any company would offer an unproven customer such a wonderful thing, credit. Although he has a credit limit of $500 because the bank is not ready to take such risks.

Through the years, Samson maintained loyalty to that bank, slowly increasing his credit limit and monthly expenditures as his financial picture improved. He began using the card to charge all his travel expenses, racking up significant bills each month.

All this while, he believed that his bank knew him and valued his continued loyalty. Ignoring the bombardment of their banks offering lower interest rates, no annual fee, and other enticements, he continued to use his original credit card.

Even after the bank merged, acquired and other banks and change its name, and eventually lost all of that local bank flavour that attracted Samson to begin with, he still maintained his credit card account- until the following incident.

During a particularly hectic travel month, he was several days late in making his monthly payment. Certainly, he fully expected to get ‘dinged’ with the interest charges stated in the applications filled out so many years ago. What he did not expect was the impersonal and insulting treatment that he received from the bank.

His next bill contained not only the expected finance charge, a hefty $321 but also a number of other unexpected and disturbing charges.

He had a $29 “late payment fee”, a $29 over-the-limit” fee and an annual fee of $30!

Predictably, Samson’s reaction was “Excuse me!” He was certainly willing to finance the charge but not the other charges.

He called the number on the back of the credit card to speak to his “personal” care representative. The first annoyance was typing his credit card number into the system (so we can serve you better) and then having the customer service representative ask for the number again after she answered the call. Ok, he let that one pass.

He first requested that she remove the two $29 fees and was told that she was not authorised to do that, he would have to speak to her ,m who was out at the moment.

Next, he requested that she remove the $50 annual fee charge because she must know that he was a loyal and profitable customer, which should count for something -particularly since he could certainly get another credit card for free.

He was told that there was nothing she could do and that the annual fee was the same for all credit cardholders.

Finally, he requested that she increase the credit limit so that he would be less likely to go over the limit, should this happen again. He was told that she could not do that because it was not part of her job.

He must call another 800 number if he wanted to do that. Samson hung up the phone, immediately paid his bill, cut up the credit card, and nailed the entire package to package to the president of the bank. He never heard a word back from them.

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In my previous article, I talked about Samson and some of the mistakes that the bank made that made them lose Samson as a customer. In this article, I want to expose five main reasons why organisations keep losing customers. I will also do this using the Samson example as I did in my previous article.

First and foremost, increasingly sophisticated customers like Samson are demanding that companies demonstrate that they understand their value as customers; this is, in turn, driving companies as CRM.

Samson’s first bank made many mistakes – the worst of which was not learning from poor dealings with him, anticipating his needs and tailoring future interactions accordingly.

Other mistakes include:

#1 Not empowering customer service representative

The first issue is that customer service representatives are not empowered.  They are not empowered to resolve Samson’s issue. You should know that effective CRM requires a holistic approach to managing interactions with customers.

Service representatives must understand the objectives of the organisation with respect to its customers.

They must be educated about the importance of CRM to the organisation. They must be judged and compensated on customer-oriented measures such as customer satisfaction.

And they must understand the vital role they play in retaining good customers imparting valuable information and product offers to these customers and gaining permission to engage in a dialogue that allows a continuous two-way flow of information between the customer and the organisation.

#2 Non-implementation of a customer service organisation

Also, not implementing a customer service organisation that facilitate the seamless personalised service that sophisticated customers like Samson demand.

While some organisational structures facilitate CRM, others impede it.

In Samson’s eyes, the credit limit, the late fee, the finance charges and the inability to talk to a single customer service representative are all features associated with his credit card.

In the bank’s organisation, the credit department handles credit limits, the collections area handles late fees and finance charges, and the cacentertre interacts with customers.

A problem like this is compounded when organization has multiple cacentersres for different products, district channels such as the internet and brick-and-mortar stores that are not fully integrated, or service, sales, and marketiorganizationsons that operate independently.

The dramatreorganizationion may be out of the question; however, your company can take steps to ensure that someone is responsible for the cross-functional coordination required in CRM.

#3 Not Developing Integrated Technology

Also, not developing the integrated technology environment required understanding Samson’s true value as a customer and not distributing this information to customer contact points.

As the example indicates, CRM requires integrated customer information at the enterprise level.

Without comprehensive customer information, the bank can’t determine who its best customers are or what products these customers own, and business strategies such as customer service activities cannot be tailored to acknowledge the importance of the customer.

In a company actively moving toward CRM, there will be n increasing demand to share customer information across business units.

Satisfying this demand will require a technical architecture such as Corporate Information Factory to facilitate the integration and distribution of customer information to all points of customer contact.

#4 Lack of executive sponsorship

Another one happens when you do not get executive sponsorship for CRM. In the case of Samson’s original bank, several factors point to a lack of executive support for CRM. First, a strong complaint directed at the office of the president received no response.

Second, the service representative had no interest in preserving customer satisfaction.

Third, the serviorganizationion was not set up to provide seamless customer service to customers.

#5 Executive mandate

The executive mandate is one of the most important factors in CRM success. Executive support facilitates the sweeping changes needed to achieve effective CRM.

Without executive backing, it will be almost impossible to implement cross-functional business strategies, adopt a CRM-friendly structure and culture, and fund the integrated customer systems that support CRM.

The technology exists today to facilitate truly seamless global communications among customers, suppliers, geographically dispersed business units, and even competitors.

Today’s healthy economy and recent deregulations are combining to provide an increasingly level playing field in many industries with competition in some instances coming from non-traditional sources.

With so. many options to choose from, consumers can afford to be demanding, and aorganizationsons must be in a position to profitably satisfy these demands.

Action Point
PS: If you would like to have an online course on any of the courses that you found on this blog, I will be glad to do that on an individual and corporate level, I will be very glad to do that because I have trained several individuals and groups and they are doing well in their various fields endeavor. Some of those that I have trained include the staff of Dangote Refinery, FCMB, Zenith Bank, and New Horizons Nigeria among others. Please come on Whatsapp and let’s talk about your training. You can reach me on Whatsapp HERE. Please note that I will be using Microsoft Team to facilitate the training.

I know you might agree with some of the points that I have raised in this article. You might not agree with some of the issues raised. Let me know your views about the topic discussed. We will appreciate it if you can drop your comment. Thanks in anticipation.

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In my past articles, I have always been using the story of Samson and the bank. I have explained how he was treated harshly and the steps that he took after that. In this article, I want to look at how to excite informal Customers effectively.

What do I mean by informal customers ….

Informal customers are elderly customers who have not passed through the four walls of a university. They are elderly citizens who would like to be served in the convenience of their homes. Let me show you in this article how you can retain this kind of customer for life.

The second customer is Samson’s parents- a busy, older retired couple who love to travel and who also have standard banking requirements. A point of interest here is that although Samson’s parents are individual people, each with specific relationships to bank products, they function as an economic decision-making unit.

This unit is recognised by the bank as a type of customer and is treated as such. 

Samson’s parents do not own a debit card and rarely if ever, use the ATM service. They use the monthly account statements to balance their chequebook, and they open and read all the literature that comes to their house from the bank. 

Samson’s parents frequently visit their local branch to perform banking transactions. If they have banking operations while they are on a trip, they call the bank’s service centre and speak to a phone service representative.

Their package of products and services provides free cheques, free credit protection on their credit cards, and branch and service centre transactions support at no charge. 

They have minimum balance requirements on their savings accounts and pay a fee for each non-bank ATM use. 

A well-managed banking interaction that satisfies them and profits the bank would go like this: 

• Samson’s parents receive the monthly statement for their savings account. Included with the statement is a circular announcing an open house to introduce the new travel service associated with the bank’s credit card.

The statement also includes a letter from the branch manager personally inviting his parents to attend the open house. The letter also details a discounted travel promotion for a Caribbean cruise that will be featured at the event.

• The letter from the branch manager is no accident. The bank understands that Samson’s parents have a high level of interest in luxury travel because of the consistent usage patterns on their credit cards.

The branches hosting the open house have also been selected with care; they are typically located in communities containing large concentrations of wealthy retired people.

His parents and others like them, have been identified as likely candidates to utilise the new travel service and have received personalised invitations to the open house. 

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What is Customer Interaction In CRM?
 
It has much to do with talking to your customers and customers talking to you and among one another about your products and services.

 Many at times organisations have put mechanisms and technologies in place that allow the customers to relate with organisations; ask questions and make suggestions.  If this is well utilized.

 
What is Customer Interaction In CRM?
 
It has much to do with talking to your customers and customers talking to you and among one another about your products and services.

 Many at times organisations have put mechanisms and technologies in place that allow the customers to relate with organisations; ask questions and make suggestions.  If this is well utilized.

It will help the organisation to satisfy its customers and retain them for life.  Now let’s go through the stages of the Customer Interaction Cycle as presented in the diagram below.

#1 Be Ready

In relation to your customers, you have to be ready.  You must be ready to prevent attrition. 

You must be ready to guide your customers.  You must be ready to see to it that you do not lose customers that are still learning about your competitors. 

This involves welcoming new customers to your Life Cycle and assuring them of superior products and services as they enter your Life Cycle.

#2 Receiving

The next thing is to receive new customers into your fold.  When you are receiving them, you have to give them a feel of what they should expect from your organisation. 

You should also take into consideration the fact that they have not made their final decision, as to whether they should stay with your organisation or not. 
 

#3 Understanding

As you and I know that if two people want to have a long-lasting relationship with each other, they have to take time to learn their like and dislikes of each other, which will help them to have a long-lasting mutual relationship.

This principle is also applicable to you and your customer; you have to learn the best ways that they want to be served.

Give them what they want and they will be with you for life. In doing this, you have to listen to them, and allow them to do the talking.

Apart from that, you have to ask them questions concerning areas that are not clear to you about what they want.

On a final note in this section, you have to confirm their facts and feelings. All these will help you in serving them better.
 

#4 Helping

if you want your customers to remain with you for life, you and your entire workforce should learn how to treat them like royalty.

You have to help them; they came to your life cycle so that they can be served.

You should see that as an opportunity to gain them for life. Not only that, they will drag their friends and families to your Life Cycle.

#6 Keeping

This has much to do with guiding our customers so that you don’t lose them to your competitor’s life cycle.

In order to keep your customers, you must be able to produce quality goods and services that are better than what they can get from your competitors.

You should understand one thing about customers, one better opportunity avail itself, they are bound to leave.
 

#7 Follow-up

This is just telling you that you have to continue to learn about your customers.

You must find out how they live their life, the kind of relationship they keep; their marital status; their mother’s maiden name and all other details about your customers.

You can also use their birth date to your own advantage. Take, for example, I have been trying to reduce the number of saving accounts that I have but I will never close down n my GTB account.

They always wish me a “happy birthday” on my birthday. The same thing applies to those that moved to GT Bank because of their zero account policy.

Customer Interaction and CRM

In a contemporary time when the next organisation that produces similar products and services are just a mouse click away, organisations have to devise ways of maintaining a consistent customer interaction in order to stay afloat.

In a customer-centric organisation, they devise ways of learning from the customers in order to use the knowledge in devising ways of delighting the customers, we have said earlier that the beauty of a customer-centric enterprise is the ability of the organisation to predict the customer’s next move and meet them at that destination with goods and services that meet their specification.
 
Through interactions with your customers, you should be able to group your customers based on the nature of their needs. 

You can do this by segmenting and profiling your customers in order to come up with models that can meet up with their needs. 

This will help customers to come up with goods and services that will meet the need for a very large number of your customers, thereby reducing costs.

Changing Role of CRM
In the past, in advanced countries of the world, CRM was all about attending to some customers’ complaints and setting up chairs and tables in order for customers to ask some questions and get some inconclusive answers. 

In such settings, the Customer Service Representative (CSR) is not fully empowered to resolve customers’ complaints completely.  In that archaic setting, as it is still applicable to many organisations in Nigeria today, customers’ files move from one table to another unattended to.  It is very bad for a forward-looking organisation.

What we are saying, in essence, is that CRM is ever-dynamic.  It is no longer what it used to be.  In modern times, the multifaceted job of customer relations is no longer left in the hand of the Customer Care Agent. 

Almost all the departments having direct contact with customers are involved in customer relationships. 

In this era, you can’t say that because you are a salesperson, and not in Public Relations, there is nothing that concerns you about projecting the good image of the organisation to customers when you are trying to sell some products or services to. 

That is why CRM is no longer what it used to be.

 
Brainstorming Session

1. Discuss the Customer Interaction Cycle

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Action Point
PS: If you would like to have an online course on any of the courses that you found on this blog, I will be glad to do that on individual and corporate levels, I will be very glad to do that I have trained several individuals and groups. They are doing well in their various fields of endeavour. Some of those that I have trained include staff of Dangote Refinery, FCMB, Zenith Bank, and New Horizons Nigeria among others. Please come on Whatsapp and let’s talk about your training. You can reach me on Whatsapp HERE. Please note that I will be using Microsoft Team to facilitate the training.

I know you might agree with some of the points that I have raised in this article. You might not agree with some of the issues raised. Let me know your views about the topic discussed. We will appreciate it if you could drop your comment. Thanks in anticipation.

CRMNuggets is committed to fact-checking in a fair, transparent and non-partisan manner. Therefore, if you’ve found an error in any of our reports, be it factual, editorial, or an outdated post, please contact us to tell us about it.

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At the end of this article , readers should be able to understand:

•     Who a customer is,
• What it means to treat customers like a king
• The act of knowing your customers and the relationship that they keep can help an organisation to retain its customers for life.

Let us first clarify some points about a customer.  It is widely agreed that a customer is a person who has come to experience the product or services that you have to offer. 

He is interested in the products and services that you have to offer and would likely move to another organisation that produces similar products and services if you are no longer satisfying his or her needs. 

Therefore the following point must be well noted.

Customer is king
Have you ever been to a palace?  If your answer is no, you need to visit one.  It’s also very imperative for you to study Royalty. 

A king is treated with respect.  He commands, in Yoruba land, for example, it is not proper for kings to make suggestions, they give orders.

When we say that a customer is a king, all we are saying is that you have to treat them with respect and honour. 

You don’t need to argue with them about whatever they are doing.  That is why it is often said that “A King does no wrong”

It always amazes and baffles me the way some organisations and small businesses treat their customers. 

They treat them as if they are doing them a favour. 

This is with the wind of privatization that is blowing in the government sector, customers will dictate the way they want to be served.

Organisations that are not ready to abide by the rules of the game should prepare to go out of the market.  It is as simple as that.

On the other hand, every organisation; most especially the customer-centric enterprise, treat customers as an asset.

When we say something is an asset, we mean that such things are capable of generating more wealth.

You should know that the first thing that drives vent customers to vent life Cycle is because you have goods and services that can satisfy their needs.

You should also know that you are in a competitive environment. If another organisation is able to produce superior goods and render services at a cheaper rate.

There is a high tendency that your customers will move to their Life Cycle.

That is why customer-centric enterprise always finds every opportunity to delight their customers.

They treat their customers with dignity and respect. They treat them like Royalty and retain them for life. This xviii force the customer to introduce the product to another customer.

A  Scenario

There was a time when I was so much delighted in using Dudu-Osun as my bathing soap. I will buy twelve at once as if I am going to use them all at once.

I started using the soap because of the scent and name. It got to a stage where I forced my wife to be using the soap, even though it is not really good for her.

The company producing the soap has increased the price many times over but still continues to use the soap, along with my wife.

That means I am one of their assets and if they failed to meet up with my expectation, it can force me to start using another soap.

Know your Customer

I want you to take the time to ask this question from many organisations in Nigeria.

It will surprise you the kind of result that you will get from them. Ask giants like MTN, and GLO. First Bank of Nigeria Plc. Zenith Bank Plc, Oando or any other organizations in Nigeria to tell you the exact number of customers that they have or who their customers are: many of them cannot answer those questions correctly. They don’t know their customers.

Many organizations in Nigeria today just open shops and start selling, they don’t take into consideration who their customers are, who are the end-users. 

How many of their products does a particular customer need?

As a customer-centric enterprise, you must endeavour to know the person that is actually responsible for the settling of the bills.

Don’t just assume that the person using the line is also the person making the recharge.

As a boss, I will compel my staff to open a salary account with GT Bank Plc. If the bank is no longer meeting my expectations as the boss, I might be forced to move them to another organisation.

It is very sad that organizations in Nigeria do not really understand the potential of CRM. If you ask an average business person, they thought it is all about opening a call centre with multiple touchpoints.

But CRM involves almost every department in an organisation. Part of it is what we called Partner Relationship Management where you let your partners and distributors understand the position of your organisation as far as the relationship with your customers is concerned

This will ensure that you are not misrepresented by them.

Knowing your customers goes beyond giving out a form to fill out. It goes beyond KYG in banks.

It involves looking in-depth into those forms and deducing some facts which you can use in retaining those customers for life.

Some scholars have argued that it is more profitable to do business from a customer perspective than a product perspective but many organisations in Nigeria still prefer to do business from a product perspective. Discuss the factors that are responsible for this.

• Many Customer Care units in many organisations in Nigeria attend to customers’ issues as if they are doing them great favour and this is affecting the perspective of the organisation from the aspect of the customers and management seem to be helpless. As a CRM Consultant, how do you think Management can address this issue on the ground?

SUMMARY

In this chapter, we have learned that:

• A customer is someone who is interested in any goods or services that you have for sale.

• A customer should be treated as a King. That is, you should allow them to determine what you produce and how you produce them. Never argue with them.

• Knowing your customer should go beyond getting data about your customer. You should be able to ascertain the kind of relationship that they keep and how you can use such a relationship to your own advantage.

Brainstorming Session

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Action Point
PS: If you would like to have an online course on any of the courses that you found on this blog, I will be glad to do that on individual and corporate levels, I will be very glad to do that I have trained several individuals and groups. They are doing well in their various fields of endeavour. Some of those that I have trained include staff of Dangote Refinery, FCMB, Zenith Bank, and New Horizons Nigeria among others. Please come on Whatsapp and let’s talk about your training. You can reach me on Whatsapp HERE. Please note that I will be using Microsoft Team to facilitate the training.

I know you might agree with some of the points that I have raised in this article. You might not agree with some of the issues raised. Let me know your views about the topic discussed. We will appreciate it if you could drop your comment. Thanks in anticipation.

CRMNuggets is committed to fact-checking in a fair, transparent and non-partisan manner. Therefore, if you’ve found an error in any of our reports, be it factual, editorial, or an outdated post, please contact us to tell us about it.

Hi, I now use RavenBank to send, receive and save money. I also pay my bills with ease, you should try it out too

When we talk about dimensions of customer service, it is a concept that helps us to understand that customers rate the level of services been provided by any organisation in two dimensions.

We are going to take a closer look at these dimensions in order to have a good grasp of it.

#1 Procedural Dimension

This is die established systems and procedures to deliver products or services.

If for example, an organisation has problems as related to the quality of their products, inadequate equipment or supply issues or your procedures as an organization are not customer-friendly, you have faded as an organization from the perspective of the customers. 

In the view of the customers, you have succeeded as an organisation when you operate from their own perspective.

#2 Personal Dimension

 This has to do with how service providers interact with customers (attitudes, behaviours arid verbal skills).

The personal dimension is the key to success. When a customer begins to do business with an organisation, they are already in some type of emotional state.

The impression an organisation gives in the first time may be the deciding factor in retaining an existing customer, obtaining a new customer or gaining referral business.

You should know that using the following strategies makes a tough job just a bit easier Take the initiative, anticipate the customer’s needs, be helpful, be positive; listen and understand, deal with the uniqueness of the situation, and always make the customer feel special.

Acquiring and Retaining Customers
Studies have shown that it is more costly to acquire new customers than to retain existing ones.

The reason for this is very simple, in acquiring new customers; you are trying to steal people from other people’s Life Cycle into your own Life Cycle;

This is somehow very difficult where every organization is trying their possible best to retain their customers.

Every serious-minded organization must endeavour to retain their hard-earned customer.

A simple positive decision can make prospects to Hood your Life Cycle while a simple negative decision by the management can also lead to attrition.

That is why it is advisable that when carrying out customer-centric strategies, the top management must be carried along.

There are two main reasons why the top management must be carried along when embarking on a customer-centric enterprise.

The first reason is that you will need them when you need to take some crucial decisions.

You will also need them to approve your spending. Without their approval, you might be cash-strapped along the way.

Another reason is that the organizational structure employed in a customer-centric enterprise is much different from the one used in organizations that are not customer-centric in nature.

An organisation that is customer-centred must empower its customer-facing agents so that they can resolve customers’ issues completely.

In order to retain customers, you must not ask customers to wait when you can answer them now. Staff dealing with customers must be able to resolve their issues. This will help in retaining customers for life.

You should know that you cannot retain customers if you fail to meet their needs. Know that the first point that is dragging customers to you is that, they have a need to satisfy. If you are able to satisfy those needs and go beyond their expectation.

There is nothing stopping the customers from sticking to you for life.

SUMMARY
In this article, we have learned that:

• There are two types of CRM dimensions which were the Procedural dimension and the Personal dimension.
• It is more expensive to acquire new customers than to retain existing ones.
• In order for organizations to acquire new customers, they must be ready to do more than what the organization that is currently satisfying their needs is doing.
• You have to continually increase customers’ experience if you really want to retain them for life.

Brainstorming Session

1. Discuss the two dimensions of a customer relationship.
2. Discuss acquiring and retaining customers and CRM.

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Action Point
PS: If you would like to have an online course on any of the courses that you found on this blog, I will be glad to do that on individual and corporate levels, I will be very glad to do that I have trained several individuals and groups. They are doing well in their various fields of endeavour. Some of those that I have trained include staff of Dangote Refinery, FCMB, Zenith Bank, and New Horizons Nigeria among others. Please come on Whatsapp and let’s talk about your training. You can reach me on Whatsapp HERE. Please note that I will be using Microsoft Team to facilitate the training.

I know you might agree with some of the points that I have raised in this article. You might not agree with some of the issues raised. Let me know your views about the topic discussed. We will appreciate it if you could drop your comment. Thanks in anticipation.

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