The method of customer management implemented by businesses is heavily dependent on the volume of customers they have. As businesses expand more efficient and centralized forms of customer management are typically needed. What are these forms and how do they work?
Good customer service and contact management is the key to a successful business. Did you know that poor customer service is one of the single biggest reasons why businesses lose customers? Seventy one per cent of people who end business relationships claim to do so because of bad customer service. This loss of customers is estimated to equate to a combined $83 billion reduction in revenue each year, with sixty one per cent of that money going directly to competitors.
Protecting your business from this depends on effective customer management. Keeping track of your contact and maintaining your customers can be done using a number of different forms:
Spreadsheets
Whilst this may have been an effective management style during the infancy of your business it will not be suitable for long-term management. The problem with spreadsheets is that they often require a large quantity of human input and management. This means that customer management can often be laborious, lengthy and ineffective.
To make the most of spreadsheets, combine them with other services to provide more integrated and effective services. Utilizing mail merge and similar formats improves their efficiency and the use of discount calculation formats can provide an easy way for customer benefits to be calculated. However, the large level of input needed for these will still not necessarily be suitable for larger business operations.
Contact Management
In some ways contact management resembles mail merge functions but over a more diverse platform. Hosting the service online allows mass emails to be sent to customers, ensuring consistent contact is maintained. This allows customers to be managed more effectively, ensuring that customers’ satisfaction is the central focus.
Contact management services may have automated systems designed to survey customers about their reasons for terminating a relationship or contract. This is a great way to identify areas which need to be development within a business and can help to safeguard against the problem being repeated in the future.
CRM
CRM software offers a comprehensive form of customer management. CRM software is intended to monitor all aspects of customer interaction; from initial contact to subsequent correspondence. A record of interaction across multiple platforms is stored within a centralised platform, which is often hosted online. This provides a clear and full picture of customer relationships, allowing relevant links for marketing to be generated. Storing all of the contact information together also means it is easier for escalated cases to be addressed, reducing the likelihood of customers being lost.
CRM systems also allow automated correspondence to be set-up, via forms such as email, to maintain a consistent level of contact with customers, promoting a loyal customer base.
This article was written by Workbooks, a leading supplier of web based CRM systems.
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