Member Article

Why have a Customer Relationship Management system

I am going to delve into a topic that many ask themselves often; does my business or organisation need a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system? It is probably one of the most asked questions within business - why have one? My business is doing ok without one so why bother? What does it actually do?

It is likely that the most important aspect to your business, community or organisation is your customers: how to sustain them, gain more of them and most importantly, keep them happy. A CRM system and keeping your customers happy go hand-in-hand - it is in the name after all: customer relationship management. A CRM systems moves the company from a product-centric focus to a customer-driven one.

Let’s break this down - a CRM system is a piece of technology used to organise, automate and synchronise all of the customer-facing areas and interactions within your company. It gives you time to develop other areas of your business. Imagine that you have 5 clients, all of which are loyal customers and with whom you can have a strong relationship. Then your business starts to grow and it is beomes harder for you to maintain this personal relationship, which your customers have grown to know and expect.

Another scenario: you want to send out information to all of your customers who bought product “X”, you ask yourself “where did I put that list I scribbled down of all those clients?”. You simply can’t find it - resulting in loss of future sales.

Speaking of those 5 clients again: one of those clients informed you they needed service “Z” from you; you made a mental note of it in your head, promised you would deliver this “Z service” by a certain date and then failed to pass the information onto the relevant part of the business . The customer was happy with this promise, then you get side-tracked and a new client grabs your attention - the promise of “Z service” simply slipping your mind, resulting in a promise not being delivered and an unhappy customer.

Now imagine that you stored all this information in the CRM system - the requested service was automatically recorded at the time of initial contact and delivered, resulting in a happy customer. What’s more, it generated repeat business the next service, without you having to do anything!

A CRM system simply allows you to put customers at the heart of your business and makes life easier for you - that is one reason why you should have one!

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Andrea Mason .