What is CRM?

The term Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has been around for a while but there is a lack of awareness about what CRM is. There is a common misconception that CRM is a technology, but it is much more than that. CRM is a business-wide strategy which integrates organisational culture, people, processes and technology, to acquire and retain high value customers.

Although CRM is not a technology, CRM software plays a vital part in the implementation of the strategy. CRM software brings together all data sources within an organisation, to give one 360° view of customers and prospects. This allows all your employees to effectively manage, service and target customers and prospects.

Knowing your customers, in particular, your most valuable customers, has become vital to business success. Studies have shown that it costs 6-10 times more to acquire a customer than to retain one. On top of this, most organisations follow the 80/20 rule, in that 80% of their revenue comes from 20% of their customer base.

Therefore your business needs to service your most valuable customers effectively to prevent customer defection. On top of this you also need to know which prospects you want to acquire, and target them effectively.

Business Benefits of CRM

There are several business benefits to implementing CRM.  Some of the main benefits include:

• Maximise opportunities to up and cross-sell.
• Increase loyalty and build long-lasting relationships with high-value customers.
• Increased loyalty lowers chances of defection to competitors.
• Reduction in costs through improved efficiency and automation of key processes.
• Reduction in costs by improved targeting.  Concentrating sales and marketing only on high-value prospects reduces wasted spend on the wrong types of customer.

To find out more about CRM and how a CRM solution from Eureka Solutions can benefit your business, please contact us.