Effective CRM solutions should also enable individual users to customize their view according to their needs and specific work activities. For example, a customer call-tracking system will help customer support log, escalate and track customer issues to resolution and store a record of them. The customer support person may also need access to a customer's billing information or order history so that they can track an expected delivery date. CRM solutions allow the customer support person to share customer issues with the sales department to ensure that a sales contact is made at the most appropriate time.

Small to medium-sized businesses need to know who their prospects and customers are, what products and services customers have purchased over the last year, what the critical problems or complaints are, and most importantly what products will likely be sold in the coming months. These businesses also need a snapshot of sales in their pipeline, information detailing what is likely to generate revenue over the next 30, 60, or 90 days. CRM solutions can help businesses predict which customers will be responsible for generating most of a business' revenue. Most critically, a CRM solution will ensure that information stored in back-office accounting and business management applications is available to the salespeople.

Businesses need to automate processes and procedures to ensure that sales and customer support issues are addressed consistently and timely. CRM solutions allow the capture of all this customer relationship management information in a single place where anyone interacting with the customer can gain access. CRM is a software application category that manages all of the marketing, sales, and support interactions that are part of running a small to medium-sized business. In a perfect world, CRM can provide businesses with a holistic view of their customers and new sales opportunities and past transactions of each relationship. This view lets everyone involved see the same information and increases an organization's ability to collaborate more effectively when supporting, selling to, or marketing to the customer. Generally, small to medium-sized businesses have less IT resources and smaller budgets than larger enterprises, and require CRM solutions that can provide cost-effective, suite-level functionality to address all of their marketing, sales, and support requirements.

Alternatively, these same applications can be used to address a single functional need within the small to medium-sized business market. Depending on the businesses' needs be they getting a better handle on the 90-day revenue forecast or getting a report listing of the 10 most profitable customers every week, a sales automation (SA) or an opportunity management application can be customized to help get information when and where it is needed.

What is Customer Relationship Management?

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a business strategy to select and manage customers to optimize long-term value. CRM requires a customer-centric business philosophy and culture to support effective marketing, sales, and service processes. CRM applications can enable effective Customer Relationship Management, provided that an enterprise has the right leadership, strategy, and culture.

Customer relationship management is the superset of business models, process methodologies and interactive technologies for achieving and sustaining high levels of retention and referrals within identified categories of valuable and growable customers.

CRM is about developing and implementing business strategies and supporting technologies that close the gaps between an organization's current and potential performance in customer acquisition, growth, and retention. CRM improves Return on Assets. The assets in this case are the customers and potential customer base.

Customer Relationship Management should be exactly that: the process of actively deepening the knowledge (not data) you have of your customers over time. CRM solutions will then allow a business to use that knowledge gained to customize your business and strategies to meet your customers' individual needs.
It is important to stress this point simply because a large percentage of businesses perceive CRM as simply a technological solution that allows sales force automation or call center operations. CRM solutions are about an entire change of mindset that allow business to focus their efforts on their customers.

CRM is a management approach or model that puts the customer at the core of a company's processes and practices. CRM leverages cutting-edge technology, integrated strategic planning, up close and personal marketing techniques and organizational development tools to build internal and external relationships that increase profit margins and productivity within a company.

The Eight Myths of CRM Solutions: Don't Let CRM "Religion" Derail A Project's Success

It's hard to open a trade publication, newsletter, or industry white paper without reading about the high failure rates in CRM and the newest "answer" to CRM success. Unfortunately, CRM often ends up sounding more like a religion than a business initiative, with high-level mantras and noble "solutions" designed mainly to drive the next consulting project. CRM project managers must debunk the myths and manage executive and business user CRM expectations or risk another round of "flavor of the month" enthusiasm followed by inevitable disillusionment.

Despite lip service to organizational change management and process alignment, most companies still earmark at least 75% of CRM budgets for technology, not people or process investments. Often, companies with the best CRM processes actually have very little technology, instead relying on simple tools and organizational incentives, backed by clear CRM solutions, to get results.

Too many companies try to force customers towards a "management" objective such as profitability or cost reduction. In the "all volunteer" demand chain, every participant must be encouraged with a clear core value proposition and the right incentives to participate. Customer-centric companies start with customer objectives, and then figure out how to match customer needs with the right products and services.

Myth 3: Sales can be automated.

Forget about collecting extensive data from the sales reps or dictating how they spend their time. Instead, focus on offloading routine tasks such as collateral fulfillment, order status inquiries, paperwork, quoting and proposal generation. Also concentrate on delivering better, more qualified sales leads to shorten the sales cycle. The best CRM solutions let sales people do what they do best, sales, and employs technology around, not at the center of, the sales process.

Myth 4: Start with a 360-degree customer view.

Setting complete integration as the first priority for CRM is akin to proposing "world peace" as the first step to help the poor. It is admirable, but doomed to sink under the weight of high expectations and complex execution. Instead, prioritize information that can improve the customer experience or help the company make a better decision (cross sell, retention, etc.). Putting integration in the context of the important interactions with top customers helps turn a multi-year architecture project into a roadmap for incremental improvement and value.

Myth 5: Integration is a product.

Right behind the "integrate first" consultants are the "we integrate it for you" software vendors. Alienated business units or departments, conflicting business processes, and different incentives are often the underlying cause of integration woes. These issues must be addressed up front. Products must be customized to reflect business-specific flows and exception processing. There's nothing simple about integration and no easy answer to getting different organizations to work together on behalf of the customer.

Myth 6: Customer retention means service.

Customer service can improve customer satisfaction and reduce costs but shouldn't be viewed as a primary vehicle for retention management. Satisfied customers can still leave, service relationships usually are not with customer decision makers (especially in B2B) and customer service doesn't have the relationships or selling skills to play more than a supporting role in customer retention. Instead, retention management requires its own processes to reward positive behavior, encourage more frequent activity, and proactively win back customers who have begun to consider other solutions.

Myth 7: One size CRM fits all.

In an industry focused on "one to one" personalization, vendors still insist and companies still want to believe that there is a single best solution to all CRM problems and customer types. "Magic quadrants" aside, the right CRM solutions and business approach depend on what you're trying to accomplish. If you can't define who the target user is, what the customer processes are, and where the opportunities are to improve the customer experience and capture value, you're not ready to select CRM software.

Myth 8: If you build it, they will come.

The Web is littered with under-utilized e-commerce and e-service sites attempting to help customers and partners who never show up. Build in usage and diagnostic metrics as you implement new processes and watch carefully for areas where user acceptance is low. Don't launch new CRM functionality without pilot testing with representative users -- and plan to revise the application quickly as user obstacles surface. The most successful CRM project teams spend as much time on marketing, rollout, training, and user testing as they do on software implementation.

There's no "short cut" to customer enlightenment. Instead, companies must do the hard work to understand customer processes, issues, and opportunities, set clear goals supported by specific actions and metrics and prioritize the "long list" of possible projects into a series of steps that can improve customer value and demonstrate results.

Diamond Marketing Systems - Your Source for CRM Solutions

Diamond Marketing Systems, Inc. offers a range of data management and Sales Force Automation (SFA) solutions to help companies achieve results from customer relationship management (CRM) programs like GoldMine software and ACT! software. Information management services range from planning, customization, and conversion, to installation, training, and support for your business contact management and data management needs.