CRM as a Strategic Marketing Tool

CRM AS A STRATEGIC MARKETING TOOL

Marketing is one of the new discoveries in business management. Of late, marketing has come to occupy significant position in the overall strategic studies. Various challenges are emerging in marketing as well as new approaches are being made in its study to view its different aspects of the many things it has been recently realized that customer is the most important elements in marketing and its sustenance and retention is far more important than any other marketing functions.CRM is one of the core area in marketing.

The major areas of CRM focus on:

•      Generation and servicing more loyal customers.

•      Expansion of customer base

•      Reduction of advertising costs

•      Increase in profitable customers

•      Ease in introduction of new products

•      Personal Information Gathering and Processing, Self-Service.

•      CRM is the marketing management practice of identifying, attracting and retaining the most valuable customer to sustain profitable growth

•      CRM is the process of making and keeping customers and maximizing their profitability, behaviors and satisfaction.

•      Today customer demand open equal access, real time specialized information, convenient access, portability, process and logistics transparency, pricing transparency, global pricing, ability to set prices, choices of distribution channels and control over their information.

•      First time customer can become a repeat customer, thereafter a client, then an advocate and finally one‘s partner in progress.

Loyal customers always create a profit and also reduced operating cost, increased purchases and give plenty of referrals.

•      The realistic observation on customers that it costs ten times more to sell to new customers than to sell to an existing one.

•      Existing customer deliver most of the revenues.

•      It‘sveryimportant part of CRM is to identify the Most Valuable Customers (MVC) for the success of the business.

•      A small net upward migration of customers (5-10%) can deliver a dramatic improvement in business performance.

•      Marketing and sales are charged with influencing customer behavior.

•      Customer success always equal to business success.

CRM SIGNIFICANCE TO STAKEHOLDERS

•      Four principal stake holders play a major role in the entire process of customer relationship management.

1. Customers

2. Employees

3. Suppliers

4. Partners

CRM SIGNIFICANCE

•      Perpetual stream of revenue

•      Positive referral creation

•      Provides premium

•      Helps customer retention

•      Lowers cost of sale

•      Helps understanding consumer behavior

•      Provides opportunity to cross-sell and up-sell

•      Reduces marketing time

•      Channel cost rationalization

•      Enables business process re-engineering.