CRM S1 Merged

(1) Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs):
(a) Long term CRM involvesoperational cost. (Nov. 19)

(i) High (ii) Low (iii) Medium (iv) None
(b) is the heart of selling process. (Nov. 19)
(i) Customer delight (ii) Customer satisfaction (iii) Customer retention
(iv) Customer loyalty is also known as opportunity
management. (Nov. 19)
(i) Customer relationship management (ii) Lead management
(iii) Contact management (iv) Knowledge management
(d) Privacy laws protect the interest of(Nov. 19)
(i) Customers (ii) Employees (iii) Organizations (iv) Business enterprises

[Ans.: (1 (2 (3-ii), (4 -iv)J
(2) Fill in the blanks:
(a) helps the organization to increase the profitability at
less operating cost.
(b) CRM helps a customer at many retail outlets
loyalty programs through individual mobile phone.
chain is designed in the 1990s to show the exact

relationship and interconnectivity between Satisfaction —
LoyaltyRetention and Profits, whereby it directly links to CRM.
(d) CRM strategy cycle comprises of Customer acquisition, retention and
(e) ERP stands for (Oct. 18) is a business statement

the summarize why a customer should buy a
particular product.
[Ans.: (a) CRM, (b) Mobile, (c) Company Profit Chain, (d) Win-Back, (e)
Entrepreneur resource planning, (f) Customer lifetime valuel
(3) True or False:
(a) The cost of acquiring a customer is five times the cost of retaining
an existing•customer.
Scanned with CamScanner

(b) Customer lifetime value represents how much a customer is

worth in terms of monetary value. (Oct. 18)
(c) Customer win-back is a key element to CRM strategy.
(d) Up-selling is a fairly established strategy for customer
expansion, whereby one sells other products and services to
existing customers.

(e) Salesforce automation involves converting manual sales activities to
electronic processes through the use of various combinations of
hardware and software applications. (Oct. 18)
Customer retention is the first step in the CRM strategy cycle. (Oct.
18)
[Ans.: (a) True, (b) True, (c) True, (d) False, (e) True, (f) False] 4)
Match the Following:
Group 'A' Group 'B'
(a) Customer acquisition Saves new customer acquisition cost
(b) Customer Expansion Satisfaction-Loyalty-Profit chain
(c) Customer Satisfaction (iii) Lead Management
Customer Loyalty Cross-Selling
(d)
[Ans.: (a —iii), (b — iv), (c —i), (d ii)l

(a)measure customer satisfaction, and therefore help to determine

customer loyalty.
(i) customer representative (ii) Customer Service (iii) Customer
Satisfaction Survey (iv) Customer EPOS
(b) indicates the difference between the service expected
by customers and the service they receive. (i) Customer
representative gap (ii) Customer Service gap (iii) Service quality gap
(iv) Customer EPOS
(c) is an unpleasable fulfilment response.
(i) Customer Service gap (ii) Service quality gap (iii) Customer EPOS
(iv) Dissatisfaction
(d) model suggests that if customers perceive their
expectations to be met, they are satisfied.
(i) No eXpectations—confirmation (ii) Expect?tions—Disconfirmation
(iii) Expectations—confirmation (iv) Expectations—satisfaction
(e) Company 3E measure does not include . (Oct. 18)
(i) effectiveness (ii) endurance (iii) employee change (iv) efficiency
[Ans.: (a —iii), (b —iii), (c— iv), (d —ii), (e — ii)J

(a) In CRM implementation Process, is the last stage to check
whether the goal has been achieved or not.
(b) Quality = Customer's perception v—
(c) The gap model is also known as the of service quality.
(d)is the customer's fulfilment response to

customer experience, or some part thereof.
is all about attracting the right customer, getting
them to buy, buy often, buy in higher quantities and bring more
customers to the firm.

[Ans.: (a) CRM Evaluation, (b) Customer's expectations, (c) "5 gaps model",
(d) Customer satisfaction, (e) Customer loyalty)
(3) True or false:
(a) The service quality gap indicates the difference between the
service expected by customers and the service they receive. (Oct.
.18)
(b) Satisfaction is an essential part of any business that wants to offer
products or services that are focussed and well-targeted.
(c) Dissatisfaction is an unpleasant fulfilment response.
(d) Expectations—Disconfirmation model suggests that if customers
perceive their expectations to be met, they are satisfied.

Multimedia contact means well-organized contact data, viz.
communication with clients, meetings, calls, email, as well as interactions
through websites.
Once the survey design issues have been determined, the survey
should not be pre-tested.
[Ans.: (a) True, (b) False, (c) True, (d) True, (e) False, (f) Falsel
(4) Match the Following:
Group 'A' Group 'B'
(a) Gap 1 (ii) The gap between management perception and the
actual specification of the customer experience.
Gap 2 (iii)
The Gap between experience specification to the
delivery of the experience.
(b) Gap 3
The gap between what customers expect and what
seryice providers think they expect.
Gap 4
The gap between a customer's perception of the
(d) experience and the customer's expectation of the
Gap 5 service.
The gap between the delivery of the customer

experience and what is communicated to customers.
[Ans.: (a — iii), (b (c— ii), (d —v), (e— iv)J
(a) Provides access to all customer information including

enquiry status and correspondence.
(i) Customer Management (ii) Knowledge management (iii) Account
management (iv) Back end integration
(b) access to customer information and history, allowing

sales teams and customer service teams to function efficiently. (i)
Customer Management (ii) Knowledge management (iii) Account
management (iv) Back end integration
(c) also includes a response to a prospective customer

immediately after the inciuiry without any delay.
(i) Customer acquisition (ii) Customer satisfaction (iii) Customer
retention (iv) E-CRM
(d) Itis ä well-established fact that the cost of acquiring a

customer is the cost of retaining an existing customer.
(i) Three times (ii) Four times (iii) Two times (iv) Five times is a
key element to E-CRM strategy.
(i) Customer acquisition (ii) Customer win-back (iii) Customer

retention (iv) E-CRM
(f) Calls from customers regarding their queries, problems, and suggestions
are calls. (Oct. 18)
(i) inbound (ii) outbound (iii) directional (iv) horizontal
[Ans.: (a —i), (b — iii), (c —i), (d—iv), (e—ii), (f
(a) is an integrated online sale, marketing and service
strategy that is used to identify, attract and retain an organization's
customers.

(b) There areEi s in E-CRM.
(c) takes marketing techniques and concepts, and applies

them through the electronic medium of the internet.
(d) E-CRM is an integrated online sales, marketing and service strategy that
is used to identify, attract and retain an
[Ans.: (o) E-CRM, (b) Six, (c) E-Marketing, (d) Organization's customers]
(3) True or False:
(a) New electronic channels such as the web and personalized e-
Messaging has become the medium for fast, interactive and
economic communication, challenging companies to keep pace with
this increased velocity.
(b) Through e-marketing, a company gains the means to -touch and
shape a customer's experience through sales, services, and corner
offices-whose occupants need to understand and assess customer
behaviour.
(c) An e-CRM solution must be structured to deliver timely pertinent,
valuable information that a consumer accepts in exchange for his or
her attention.
(d) An e-CRM strategy ideally should concentrate on customer profits,
which drives smart asset-allocation decisions, directing efforts at
individuals likely to provide the greatest return on
customercommunication initiatives.
Understanding customer economics relies on a company's ability to
attribute customer behaviour tö market programs, evaluate
customer interactions along various customer touchpoint channel,
etc.
(f) E-CRM takes marketing techniques and concepts and applies them
through the electronic medium of the internet.

(g) E-Marketing is an integrated online sales, marketing and service
customers. (May 19)
[Ans.: (a) True, (b) False, (c) True, (d) Faße, (e) True, (f) False,(g) Truel
Group 'A' Group 'B'
(a) Customer management Billing, inventory, and logistics
(b) Knowledge management Centralized knowledge base
(c) Account management Report generation
(d) Case management Handling Customer
Back-end integration information
(iii)
Reporting and analysis
(iv) Escalates priority cases
(v) Access to customer
(vi) information
[Ans.: (a — iv), (b ii), (c— vi),

relates to codes of conduct regarded as right and good,
based on morality or values, faith or some higher authority.
(b) CRM Solution providers are also working on providing simpler and
easier ways of handling customer data using mobile devices which are
known as
(c) Key ethical issues in the information age, including the increased
ubiquity of computerized databases, are often popularly
summarized under the four headings of
[Ans.: (a) Ethics, (b) Mobile CRM, (c) P-A-p-A1
(1) Interruption Marketing refers to any marketing activity that a
viewer's attention.
(a) Interrupts (b) Premise (c) Transact (d) Relate
(2) Permission Marketing is the way to make work effectively.
(a) Interruption (b) Advertising (c) Transactional (d) Relationship

(3) Transactional Marketing is a business strategy that focuses on
transactions.
(a) Interruption (b) Permission (c) Single point of sale (d) Relationship
(4) Relationship Marketing is a business strategy that seeks to establish long
term relationship with its customers rather than focusing on
(a) Single Strategy (b) Permission Marketing (c) Transactional Marketing (d)
Single Transaction
(5) is the person who suggests buying product or service.
(a) Influencer (b) Buyer (c) Initiator (d) Decision Maker

(6)is the person who will choose which product to buy.

(7) is the person whose point of view or advice will influence the
buying decision.
(8) Quick response, efficient customer response, JIT are the techniques used for
reducing levels
(a) Price (b) Inflation (c) Stock (d) Customer

(9)refers to the Cumulative image of a product held by
the consumer, resulting from long exposure to the product or marketing
of the product

(a) Customer Category (b) Category Management (c) Communication (d)
Customer Franchise
(10) Uncertain waits are longer than known waits
(a) Certain (b) Long (c) Finite (d) Infinite
(11) waits are longer than Equitable waits
(a) Longer (b) Unfair (c) Fair (d) Infinite
(12)waits are longer than explained
waits (a) Unexplained (b) Equitable (c) Fair (d) Infinite
(13) Unoccupied time feels than occupied time.

(a) Longer (b) Shorter (c) Finite (d) Infinite
(14) The flat part Of curve in the middle of the diagram reflecting link between
customer satisfaction and retention is called as
(a) Zone of Retention (b) Zone of CRM (c) Zone of Indifference (d)
Zone of difference
(15) Artificial neural networks, Genetic Algorithms, decision trees are
commonly used tools of
(a) Data Interpretation (b) Data Mining (c) Data retrieving (d) Data
Analysis
(16)analysis operates at the server level by collecting.
clickstream data related to the path the user takes when navigating
through the site.
(a) Data (b) Mining (c) Traffic (d) E-commerce
(17)based analysis uses clickstream data to determine the
effectiveness of the site as a channel to-market quantifying the users behavior
while on the web site.
(a) Data (b) Mining (c) Traffic (d) E-commerce
(18) Administrators can define for each user by setting the
design of the portal structure for different users.
(a) Branding (b) Marketing (c) Advertising (d) Personalization
(19)refers to as extremely unsatisfied Customer
(a) Detectors (b) Rejecters (c) Vulnerable (d) Terrorists

(20) can be practiced by adoption of. new products and
services.
(a) Cross Selling (b) Customer Retention (c) Customer Expansion (d) Up
selling
(21)has a greater impact on retention than satisfaction.
(a) Customer Category (b) Dissatisfaction (c) Communication (d)

Customer Franchise
(22) Customeris a key element to CRM strategy.
(a) Selling (b) Retention (c) Expansion (d) Win-back

(23)involves leveraging and building knowledge
management architecture upon existing databases, data mining and
data warehousing systems.
(a) Evaluation (b) System analysis, design and development (c)
Deployment (d) Win-back
(24) Key ethical issues in the information age are often summarised under 4
headings with acronym P-A-P-A which stands for
(a) Privacy-Authencity-Property-Accessibility (b) Privacy-

AccuracyPropaganda-Accessibility (c) Privacy-Accuracy-Property-Alteration
(d) Privacy-Accuracy-Property-Accessibility
(25) The wordin B2B refer to electronic middlemen who
are necessary to facilitate online trades between buyers and sellers which
are both businesses.
(a) Enterprises (b) intermediaries (c) Privacy (d) Customer
(26) is also known as opportunity management.
(a) Customer relationship management (b) Lead management (c) Contact
management (d) Knowledge management
(27)is a business statement the summarize why a customer
should buy a particular product.
(a) Customer relationship management (b) Customer Lifetime Value
(c) Contact management (d) Knowledgé management
(28) Quality = Cus!omer's perception

(a) Customer experimentation (b) Customer Lifetime Value (c) Customer
management (d) Customer Expectation
(29) The gap model is also known as theof service quality.
(a) 3 Gaps Model (b) 2 Gaps Model (c) 5 Gaps Model (d) 6 Gaps Model
(30) Expectations—Disconfirmation model suggests that if perceive
their expectations to be met, they are satisfied.

(a) Manufacturers (b) Producers (c) Customers (d) B2B
(31) The gap indicates the difference between the service expected
by customers and the service they receive
(a) Service Delivery (b) Service quality (c) Service quantity (d) Service
Productivity
(32) is an unpleasant fulfilment response.
(a) Disqualification (b) Disappointment (c) Dissatisfaction (d)
Satisfaction
(33) As per walker loyalty. Matrix, customers have all the goals
of continuing to do business with the company and they have a positive
attitude •towards this company.
(a) Truly Loyal (b) Accessible (c) High risk (d) Trapped
(34) As per walker loyalty Matrix, customers have a good
attitude about working with this company, but do not plan to continue
their relationship.
(35) As per walker loyalty Matrix, customers show every sign of
continuing business with you, but they're not very happy about it.

(36)Customers are halfway out the door and not only will
they no longer be a customer, but will also talk poorly about the company
in the marketplace.
(37) is an integrated online sale, marketing and service
customers.
(a) CRM (b) Customer Loyalty (c) E-CRM (d) TRP
(38)CRM, the customer are many retail outlets loyalty
programs can participate through individual mobile phones.
(a) Mobile (b) Customer Loyalty (c) E-CRM (d) TRP
(39) is the study of how individuals, groups and organizations
select, buy, use and dispose off goods, services, ideas or experiences to
satisfy their needs and wants.
(a) Consumer behavior (b) Product cycle (c) Purchase behavior (d) None
of the above
(40) Percentage or number of customers who move from one level to next
level in buying decision process is called
(a) Conversion rates (b) Marketing rates (c) Shopping rates (d) Loyalty
rates
(41) The real value of a company's marketing research and information
system lies in the
(a) Amount of data it generates (b) Marketing information system it follows

(c) Variety of contact methods it uses (d) Quality of customer insights it
provides
(42) In CRM, findings about customers discovered through
techniques often lead to marketing opportunities.

(a) Data warehouse (b) Customer loyalty management (c) Customer
relationship strategy (d) Data mining
(43)are issued to key customers which transmits all the

relevant information, details of previous and repeat purchases, to make
it convenient for the customers to recall and for the banks to keep a track
of the behavioural and purchase trends.
(a) Customer card (b) Customer ATM card (c) Customer Credit card
(d) Customer Smart card

(44) A is a professional who works either directly with or directly for
the customers and prospective customers of a given company.
(a) Customer executive (b) Customer Complainant (c) Manager
(d) Customer Service Representative
(45) are the most critical asset in a call centre as it is they who
deliver the business performance.
(a) Location (b) People (c) Customer (d) Process
(46) technique is used to develop and use customer data to
check their profile, retention and loyalty patterns.
(a) Data Operating (b) Data Warehousing and data mining (c) Data analysis
(d) Data Interpretation
(47) The process of forecasting contact centre workload and then scheduling
agents to handle the workload is known as
(a) CRM (b) Call scripting (c) Workforce management (d) Relationship
marketing management
(48) McDonald's has a strategy where a salespersonewill ask for "Anything else
would u like to order with French Fries?"lt's a case of
(a) Cross-Selling (b) Up-selling (c) Sales (d) Customer Satisfaction

(49) Syndicate bank now caters to the needs of its customers by offering various
ICICI prudential Fund schemes and help in strengthening the existing
relationship with the Bank's clientele base. This strategy is known as
(a) Cross-Selling (b) Up-selling (c) Sales (d) Customer Satisfaction

(50)is crucial to maintain and grow customer relationships to
sustain profitable growth.
(a) Customer Management (b) Customer Retention (c) Customer
Acquisition (d) Customer Attrition

BENEFITS OF E-CRM
Prof. Shalini Chauhan

INTRODUCTION
▪The term e-CRM is derived from e-commerce.
▪It is the application of internet based technologies to
achieve CRM objectives.
▪Provides avenue for interaction.

BENEFITS
▪Direct
▪Indirect
▪Strategic

LIMITATIONS
▪Too much dependence on technology
▪Expensive
▪Require additional work
▪Difficult to integrate with other management systems

SIX E’S OF E-CRM
▪ Electronic channels
▪ Enterprise
▪ Empowerment
▪ Economics
▪ Evaluation
▪ External information

▪ Thank you.
▪ Questions..

APPLICATIONS OF E-CRM

INTRODUCTION

APPLICATIONS
▪ Reducing technological gap
▪ Maintaining a data warehouse
▪ Reaching out to the customers by different channels
▪ Identifying customers profitability
▪ Measuring communication efforts
▪ Providing quick customer service

▪ Thank you.
▪ Questions..

CONCEPT OF E-CRM

INTRODUCTION

FEATURES
▪ Internet access
▪ Web-based technologies
▪ Centralized knowledge
▪ Customer management
▪ Reaching out to maximum customers through various channels
▪ Identifying customer profitability segments

BENEFITS
▪Direct
▪Indirect
▪Strategic

LIMITATIONS
▪Too much dependence on technology
▪Expensive
▪Require additional work
▪Difficult to integrate with other management systems

SIX E’S OF E-CRM
▪ Electronic channels
▪ Enterprise
▪ Empowerment
▪ Economics
▪ Evaluation
▪ External information

▪ Thank you.
▪ Questions..

PRIVACY IN
E-CRM

SOLUTIONS FOR PRIVACY
ISSUES
▪Visualizing collected information
▪Promoting understanding about privacy policy
▪Increasing consumer trust about the third party
▪Use of IT
▪Government interference

▪Thank you.
▪Questions..

SOFTWARE
APPLICATIONS

SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS FOR
CUSTOMER SERVICE
▪ Activity management (connects the activities related to
company/individual)
▪ Agent management (it connects globally dispersed business
operations)
▪ Case management (is also known as incident management/issue
management) (software automatically connects to the customer)
▪ Case assignment (each enquiry gets routed to the right agent)
▪ Contract management (takes care of the contracts between the
customer and the company)

▪Customer self service (track shipment)
▪Email response management system (ERMS)
▪Escalation (internally determined rules)
▪Inbound Communication Management (ICM)

▪Invoicing
▪Outbound communication management (this information
can be costly to obtain)
▪Queuing and Routing (that every service issue is presented
to the most appropriate agent)
▪Scheduling (involves planning and organizing technician’s
activity)

▪Thank you.
▪Questions..

SOCIAL
NETWORKING
AND CRM
INTRODUCTION:
▪The combination of social networking and CRM provides
an enormous opportunity to enrich customer interactions
and give businesses a way to manage and measure how
they use social networking while successfully engaging
social customers.

STRATEGIES:
▪Treat social networking as a new channel within CRM.
▪Enhance and extend CRM through social networking
▪Combine the strengths of both, CRM and social networks

BENEFITS OF SOCIAL
NETWORKING
▪Find and connect with new prospects
▪Engage in more meaningful conversations
▪Better understand customers

SOCIAL NETWORKING FOR
CUSTOMER SERVICE
▪Create an early warning system for product issues
▪Provide efficient multi-channel service
▪Tap into new feedback channels

▪Thank you.
▪Questions..

TRENDS IN
CUSTOMER
RELATIONSHIP
MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION:
▪CRM is a business strategy used by an organization to
develop strong relationships with its customers.
▪One of the major emerging trends in CRM is that
organizations have started investing on their most
important assets, which are customers.

CRM IN RURAL MARKET
▪ Rural areas are developed in small towns and villages of a country.
▪ Different organizations use different strategies to capture the rural
market.
▪ Some organizations differentiate their products as per the
requirements of rural and urban markets.

▪Thank you.
▪Questions..

TRENDS IN
CUSTOMER
RELATIONSHIP
MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION:
▪CRM is a business strategy used by an organization to
develop strong relationships with its customers.
▪One of the major emerging trends in CRM is that
organizations have started investing on their most
important assets, which are customers.

CRM IN RURAL MARKET
▪ Rural areas are developed in small towns and villages of a country.
▪ Different organizations use different strategies to capture the rural
market.
▪ Some organizations differentiate their products as per the
requirements of rural and urban markets.

ETHICAL ISSUES
• Privacy and confidentiality are at the heart of many ethical issues related to CRM.
• In some cases, sensitive data may be gathered, including credit card or bank details.
• One of the most important features of ethical CRM is that customer participation is
voluntary.
• Similarly, some customers may wish to withdraw from a CRM program - if this is the
case, data stored about these customers needs to be destroyed.

ETHICAL ISSUES IN CRM
▪Issues while data collection
▪Data storage
▪Usage of Data
▪Disposing of CRM data
▪Personalized technology
▪Customer focus

▪Thank you.
▪Questions..

Company 3E Measures

Company 3E Measures
• Efficiency
• Effectiveness
• Employee Change

Efficiency
• Training
• Data transparency
• Increasing complexity of the sales process
• Reduction of meeting time
• Customer satisfaction

Effectiveness
• The planned approach
• The event driven approach

Employee change
• Increased employee motivation
• Better trained
• Improved responsiveness to customer and prospect requests

Thank you.
Questions..

Customer-Company
Profit Chain

Customer-Company Profit Chain
• This chain is designed in 1990s to show the exact

relationship and interconnectivity between satisfaction –
loyalty – retention and profits, whereby it directly links to
CRM.

Satisfaction – loyalty –Profit Chain

Customer Loyalty Ladder
• The loyalty ladder is a relationship marketing concept that
sees customers gradually moving up through relationship levels, starting at
the bottom as prospects (those who have the intent to purchase but have not
yet done so) and ending up at the top as advocates (intensely loyal
brand champions).

CRM Implementation

Introduction
• CRM implementation is not an easy task, rather it requires

continuous efforts and commitment of the top
management.

Steps in CRM implementation are:
• Business planning
• Architecture and Design
• Technology selection
• Development
• Delivery
• Measurement
CRM Evaluation
• Service quality
✔ Tangibles
✔ Reliability
✔ Responsiveness
✔ Assurance
✔ Empathy
Thank you.
Questions..

Customers Value
Management Strategy

Customer Value Management Strategy
• While working towards the creation of customer value,

arises a need to go through a well – planned framework
of CVM, which includes customer analysis, customer
acquisition, customer retention and expansion.

CVM Framework:
• Customer Analysis
• Customer Acquisition
• Customer Retention
• Customer Expansion
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
✔ A shift from CRM to CVM
Implementing CVM

Planning
Implementation and
Evaluation
Planning of CRM
• B2B CRM
• Building customer loyalty in B2B commerce
• Cross border B2B relationship with intermediaries

Process of Developing Market Intelligence
Enterprise
• Collecting information
• Identify customer expectations
• Aligning strategies
• Manage customer experience
• Managing customer relationship
• Embracing Market intelligence technology
Thank you.
Questions..

Service Gap Model

Service Gap Model
• Customer expectation
• Management perception
• Service Quality Specifications
• Service Delivery

Company 3E Measures
• Efficiency
• Effectiveness
• Employee Change

Thank you.
Questions..

Understanding
Customers

Understanding Customer Value and CVM
• Customer value is based on the quality of the customer

relationship, as experienced from both sides – that of the
customer and the marketer.

Given below is the five step model for creating
and managing customer value:
• Discover
• Commit
• Create
• Assess
• Improve
Thank you.
Questions..

Understanding
Customers

Categories of Customers
• Undaunted Striver
• Savvy Maximizer
• Content Streamer
• Secure Traditionalist

Thank you.
Questions..

(a) An customer is from outside the organization providing

the product or service.
(i) External (ii) Internal (iii) Active (iv) Passive
(b) type of customers stands out as being the most

trendoriented and product-focused.
(i) Content streamer (ii) Savvy Maximiser (iii) Undaunted driver (iv)
Secure traditionalist
(j) type of customer is driven by value. He makes
impulsive decisions.
(i) Content streamer (ii) Savvy Maximiser (iii) Undaunted drive r (iv)
Introduction and Benefits of CRM 43
type of customer is suspicious of everyone, believing that all

people are selfish.
type of customer knows just what they want and do not
want to try any other goods or services.
Secure traditionalist is a component of CRM. (Oct. 18)
(i) people (ii) technology (iii) information (iv) all of the above
(g) CRM is a discipline that covers allneeded to build
successful relationship with customers. (May 19)
(i) essential (ii) elements (iii) equipment's (iv) endeavours
(h) CRM saves expensive datatime. (May 19)
(i) membership (ii) management (iii) movements (iv) none of these
(i) The tier describes the company's most profitable customers.
(May 19)
(i) gold (ii) platinum (iii) iron (iv) lead
[Ans.: (a —i), (b—iii), (c—ii), (d —i), (e—iv), (f—iv), (g—ii), (h —11), (i —ii)l

(a) Someone who buys goods or services is known as
(b)customers stands out as being the most trend-oriented
and product-focused.
customers makes impulsive decisions.
(d) type of customer knows just what they want and do not want to try any other
goods or services.
A database that collects information about all the customers is known as
(f) CRM works on increasing customer
(g) CRM is a business strategy that aims to

increase customer satisfaction and customer loyalty by
offering more responsive and customized services to each
customer.
(h)is an intelligent strategy for selling goods or services to your
customers that uses direct marketing tactics to ensure the customers stick
with the membership for months or years.
[Ans.: (a) Customers, (b) Undaunted Striver, (c) Savvy Maximiser,
(d) Secured traditionalist, (e) CRM, (f) Loyalty, (g) Customer-focused, (h)
Continuity Marketing]
(3) True or false:

(a) Analytical CRM provides support to "front office" business
processes.
(b) Operational CRM analyses customer data for a variety of purposes.
It applies to the marketing level and aims to propose an in-debt
market analysis.
(c) Sales Intelligence CRM is similar to Analytical CRM but is intended
as a more direct sales tool.
(d) CRM management combines elements of Operational and analytical
CRM.
(e) Collaborative CRM covers aspects of a company's dealings with
customers that are handled by various departments within a
company, such as sales, technical support, and marketing.
(f) CRM is used as synonyms to Relationship marketing, which took
place back into the pre-industrial era in the form of interaction
between producers of agricultural products and consumers.
(g) Customers evolve from strangers to partners. (May 19)
(h) CRM wastes the time and money of the service organization. (May
19)
[Ans.: (a) False, (b) False, (c) True, (d) False, (e) True, (f) True, (g) True, (h)
False]
(4) Match the following:
Group 'A' Group 'B'
Initiator Decision to buy
(b) Influencer (ii) Choose which product to buy
(c) Decision maker (iii) The person outside the group
who influence
(d) Buyer (iv) Suggest buying
(e) Convenience Product
Customer value and benefits (vi) Place
[Ans.: (a —iv), (b —iii), (c— ii), (d — i), (e — vi), (f— v)]

(a) refers to any marketing activity that "interrupts" a
viewer's attention.
Interruption Marketing (ii) Permission Marketing
(iii) Transactional Marketing (iv) Relationship Marketing
(b) is the way to make advertising work effectively.
Interruption Marketing (ii) Permission Marketing (iii)
Transactional Marketing (iv) Relationship Marketing
(c) is a business strategy that focuses on "single point of
sale" transactions.
Interruption Marketing (ii) Permission Marketing
(iii) Transactional Marketing (iv) Relationship Marketing
Relationship Marketing and CRM
61
(d) is a business strategy that seeks to establish long term

relationship with its customers rather than focusing on a single
transaction.
Interruption Marketing Permission Marketing (iii) Transactional
Marketing (iv) Relationship Marketing
(e) is a set of methods, strategies, and applications that
facilitate a company to manage customer relationships. (i) Customer
Relationship (ii) Customer Relationship Management
(iii) Customer Lifetime value (iv) Relationship Marketing
(O are repeated interactive discussions among randomly selected
customers.
(i) Group discussion (ii) Focus group interviews (iii) Debates
(iv) Relationship Marketing

(g) CRM and relationship marketing focus on customer retention and
(May 19)
(i) mutuality (ii) loyalty (iii) treaty (iv) popularity
(h) A service level agreement (SLA) is a tool for building
relationship with high value customers. (Nov. 19) (i) formal (ii)
informal (iii) shared (iv) none
[Ans.: (a —i), (b—ii), (c—iii), (d—iv), (e—ii), (f—ii), (g—ii), (h

(a)refers to any marketing activity that "interrupts" a
viewer's attention.
(b)is a business strategy that seeks to establish long
term relationship with its customers rather than focusing on a single
transaction.
(c) Transactional marketing is a business strategy that focuses on
point of sale" transactions,
(d)is based on the quality of the customer relationship, as
experienced from that of the customer and the
marketer.
(e)is the result of cumulative net returns received over the
lifetime of customers.
(f) Calls from customers regarding their queries, problems, suggestions are
handled by
[Ans.: (a) Interruption marketing, (b) Relationship marketing, (c) Single,
(d) Customer value, (e) Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), (f) Cal/ CentresJ
(3) True or False:
(a) Relationship marketing refers to any marketing activity that
"interrupts" a viewer's attention.
(b) Interruption marketing is a way to make advertising work effectively.
(c) Transactional marketing is a business strategy that focuses on
"single point of sale" transactions.
(d) Customer Relationship represents how much a customer is worth in
terms of monetary value, and therefore, how much money should
be spent on the acquisition and retention of that customer by the
marketing department of the company.

(e) Customer Lifetime value is a set of methods, strategies, and
applications that facilitate a company to manage customer
relationships.
(f) A customer relationship agreement is a contract between a service
provider and the end-user that defines the level of service expected
from the service provider. (Oct. 18)
(g) CRM maintains a relationship with customers by frequent contacts
to obtain their maximum data. (Nov. 19)
[Ans.: (a) False, (b) False, (c) True, (d) False, (e) False, (f) True, (g) False]
Group 'A' Group 'B'
(a) Customer lifetime value Long term relationship advertising
(b) Relationship marketing work effectively marketing activity that
(iii)
(c) Transactional marketing "interrupts" a viewer's attention
"single point of sale" transactions
(d) Interruption marketing (iv) MQ.aetary value
Permission marketing (v)
[Ans.: (a— v), (b — i), (c— iv), (d — iii),
(a) is one of the most useful tools in a salesperson's toolbox
when it comes to increasing sales volume per customer.
(i) Customer Management (ii) Up-selling (iii) Cross-selling (iv) Directselling
(b) Offering a greater quantity for a slightly higher price is an example of

. (Oct. 18)
(i) Cross-selling (ii) Up-selling (iii) Personalization (iv) Bancassurance
reflects "the state of mind that customers have about
a company and its products or services when their expectations have been
met or exceeded.
(i) Customer Management (ii) Customer Retention (iii) Customer
Acquisition (iv) Customer Attrition
(d)is crucial to maintain and grow customer relationships
to sustain profitable growth.
(i) Customer Management (ii) Customer Retention (iii) Customer
Acquisition (iv) Customer Attrition
[Ans.: (a — iii), (b — ii), (c— ii), (d — iv)]
(a) The state of mind that customers have about a company and its
products or services when their expectations have been- met or
exceeded is known as
(b)ties to both financial and social incentives.
There are levels of retention strategies.
(d) bond deals with Mass customization and customer
intimacy.
customers have every intention of continuing to do

business with you and they have a positive attitude toward your
company.
desk is situated mostly near the entrance to the
store, (g) marketing is also customer-specific marketing.
[Ans.: (a) Customer Retention, (b) Social bond retention strategy,

(c) Four, (d) Customization bonds, (e) Truly Loyal, (f) Customer service, (g)
Event-based marketing]
(3) True or False:
(a) Up-selling is one of the most useful tools in a salesperson's toolbox
when it comes to increasing sales volume per customer.
(b) Cross-selling involves the increase of order volume either by the sales
of more units of the same purchased item, or the upgrading into a
more expensive version of the purchased item.
(c) Customer retention requires attention to customer details.
(d) Customer retention reflects "the state of mind that customers have
about a company and its products or services when their
expectations have been met or exceeded.
(e) Customer attrition is crucial to maintain and grow customer relationships to
sustain profitable growth.

Event-based marketing is also known as trigger marketing. (Oct. 18)
(g) Customer engagement is not a customer retention strategy. (Oct. 18)
Personalization consists of tailoring a service or product to

accommodate specific individual needs. (Oct. 18)
[Ans.: (a) False, (b) False, (c) True, (d) True, (e) True, (f) True, (g) False, (h)
True]
Group 'A' Group 'B'
(a) (i)
(b) Financial bonds (ii) Low price to make huge purchases
(c) Social bonds (iii) Strategic changes
Customization bonds (iv) Personalization incentives
(d) Structural bonds Financial and social incentives
[Ans.: (a —i), (b — iv), (c— iii), (d
means providing a quality product or service that
satisfies the needs/wants of a customer and keeps them coming back.
(i) Customer representative (ii) Customer Service (iii) Customer

Survey (iv) Customer EPOS
(b) is an electronic system whereby at checkout point data is
been collected customers will get served quicker.
(i) E-CRM (ii) Customer Service (iii) POS (iv) EPOS
(Electronic point of sale)
allows the organization to contact its customers in the
medium of their choice — voice, e-mail, web chat, fax, SMS.
(i) E-CRM (ii) Multimedia contact centre (iii) PO (iv) EPOS (Electronic
point of sale)
(d)of the call centre is critical in terms of the cost
of the building and also the ability to recruit and retain employees to
work in the centre.
(i) Location (ii) Customer (iii) Technology (iv) Process
(e) Choice of depends on the size and nature of business.
(i) Location (ii) Customer (iii) Technology (iv) Process are the most
critical asset in a call centre as it is they who deliver the
business performance.
(i) Location (ii) People (iii) Customer (iv) Process
(h) exists when perception > expectation. (Oct.
18)
(i) Customer satisfaction (ii) Customer dissatisfaction (iii)

Customer delight (iv)Customer engagement
(i) The process of forecasting contact centre workload
and then scheduling agents to handle
the workload is known as (Oct. 18)
(j) CRM (ii) call scripting (iii) Workforce management
(iv) Relationship marketing management is a central
point in an enterprise from which all customer
contacts are maintained such as e-mails, newsletters,
chats, etc. (Oct. 18)
(i) Call centre (ii) Contact centre (iii) Customer care centre
(iv) Development centre
(k) A business strategy designed to optimise
profitability, revenue and satisfaction. (May 19)
(i) producer (ii) distributor (iii) consumer (iv) government

[Ans.: (a — ii), (b — iv), (c—ii), (d—iii), (e — iii), (f—iii), (g — i), (h iii), (i—ii), (j - iii)l
(a) Customermeans providing a quality
product or service that satisfies the needs/wants of a customer and
keeps them coming back.
(b) Modern CRM theory refers to the idea of t the customer'.
is a professional who works either directly with or

directly for the customers and prospective customers of a given
company.

(d) is an electronic system whereby at checkout point data is
been collected customers will get served quicker.
(e) Research shows that companies can increase profitability by
percent if they can just retain 5 percent more of their
profitable customers per year.
starts with the ability to listen to the customer and find
out through polite questioning what he/she needs or wants.
[Ans.: (a) Service, (b) Integrating, (c) customer service representative, (d) EPOS,
(e) 100, (f) Customer service]
(3) True or False:
(a) Effective customer segmentation is only possible through a
multidimensional customer view.
(b) Research shows that companies can increase profitability by 100
percent if they can just retain 10 percent more of their profitable
customers per year.
(c) Internet self-service reduces support costs by increasing call
centre volume.

(d) Good customer service results in consumer satisfaction
and returns customers and growth in business.
Customer Survey starts with the ability to listen to the customer and find
out through polite questioning what he/she needs or wants. Customer
Service is the interaction between a customer and the company, usually via
traditional channels like phone or email.
An EPOS system comprises computer hardware, peripherals, and EPOS

software ideally suited to the point of the sales environment.
(h) Call routing helps to save expensive man-hours. (May 19)
[Ans.: (a) True, (b) False, (c) False, (d) True, (e) False, (f) True, (g) True, (h)
True]
(4) Match the following:
Group 'A' Group 'B'
(a) ACD flexible software
(b) IVR (ii) Customer contact channels with the computer
system
(d) ICR (iii) The first point in the contact centre
(iv) front end
[Ans.: (a — iii), (b — iv), (c ii), (d — i)]
(a) plays a significant role to generate revenue, control

costs and mitigate risks.
(i) Data Profiling (ii) Data Control (iii) Data management (iv) Data
Integration
(b) .is generated from data warehouse. Business views are
calculations or summaries compared over some time.
(i) Transactional Data (ii) Reference Data (iii) Business view Data
(iv) Data Integration
(c) is the data without which you cannot do any
transactions and is mandatory for every organization.
(i) Transactional Data (ii) Reference Data (iii) Business view Data
(iv) Data Integration
(d) refers to the data that is created and updated within the
operational systems.
(i) Transactional Data (ii) Reference Data (iii) Business view Data (iv)
Data Integration resulting in a single source of "truth"
and making it easier for end-users to access information.
(i) Data Profiling (ii) Data Control (iii) Data management (iv) Data
Integration is a method of recommending product or
services to visitors on websites. (Oct. 18)
(i) Clickstream analysis (ii) Online analytical process
(iii) Collaborative filtering (iv) Traffic analysis

(g) OLAP means the on-lineprocessing. (May 19)
(i) analytical (ii) administrative (iii) adjustment (iv) affiliation

(h)
Data is the process of collecting and
submitting data to the entitled authorities. (May 19)
(i) Assembling (ii) recording (iii) reporting (iv) reversing
[Ans.: (a iii), (b — iii), (c— ii), (d — i), (e iv), (f —i), (g —i), (h i)]

(a)refers to the collection of raw facts and figures.
(b)refers to the data that is created and updated within

the operational systems.
is the data that will describe the type of object, like
name, description, cost, length and dimensions of the object. It is
one-time data.
(d)is generated from data warehouse. Business views are
calculations or summaries compared over some time.
[Ans.: (a) Data, (b) Transactional data, (c) Reference Data, (d) Business View
Data]
Group 'A' Group "B'
Data Profiling achieving data accuracy and ensuring
the right users have access to the right
information
Data Control Data created and updated within the
(b) (ii) operational systems
Data Integration
(c) Data Augmentation (iii) adds value to base data
(d) Database Marketing (iv) Integrate data in one system identify
(v) potential problems with current data
Transactional Data Data without which you cannot do any
(vi) transactions and is mandatory for every
organization unique segments in the
Reference Data database
(g) (vii)
[Ans.: (a (b —i), (c — iv), (d — iii), (e- vii), (f- i i), (g- vi)l
(4) True or False:
(a) Accurate information and reports are the lifeblood of an effective sales
force.
(b) Data control is all about understanding your data.
(c) Data profiling is all about achieving data accuracy and ensuring
the right users have access to the right information, which also
means blocking access, as needed.
(d) Data integration results in a single source of atruth" and making
it easier for end-users to access information.
Data Augmentation can help reduce the manual intervention required to
developed meaningful information and insight into business data.
(f) Data profiling helps to plan and get qualitative information. (Oct. 18)
(g) Data reporting is a written script that has correct wordings and
assists an agent in handling a contact. (Oct. 18)
Usually, the information is the raw material of CRM. (May 19)
[Ans.: (a) True, (b) False, (c) False, (d) True, (e) True, (f) True, (g) True, (h)
True]
Behavioral Prediction

Behavioral Prediction
• Behavioral Prediction helps marketing departments determine what
customers are likely to do in the future.

Analysis includes:
• Propensity to buy analysis
• Next sequential purchase
• Product affinity analysis (dependency)
• Price elasticity modelling and dynamic pricing

Thank you.
Questions..

CRM AND
CUSTOMER
SERVICE
Shalini Chauhan
Customer service:
■ Tracking and managing customer purchases and contacts
■ Customer history and segmentation
■ Surveying customers
Shalini Chauhan
Functions of Call Centre
■ A third party operation
■ Reach out the customer
■ Reduce the turnaround time
■ Customer can reach out the organization
■ Automatic call distribution
■ Monitoring, recording and analyzing
■ Interactive voice response
■ Performance of the operators
Shalini Chauhan
Call Routing
■ To minimize the wait times, “load balancing” the ability of the network to automatically
route a customer’s call to the first available operator is a critical operational objective.
Shalini Chauhan
Types of call routing:
■ Least occupied routing
■ Performance-based routing
■ Skills based routing
■ Location based routing
■ Service level routing and dynamic based routing
■ Value based routing
■ Data directed routing
Shalini Chauhan
CALL-SCRIPTING
AND CYBER
AGENT
Shalini Chauhan
What is Call-Scripting?
■ A call script is a written script that has correct
wordings and assists an agent in handling a contact.
■ Call scripting guides members of the sales and service
teams through their interactions with customers.
■ https://www.salesforce.com/products/service-cloud/bes
t-practices/guide-to-effective-call-center-script/
Shalini Chauhan
Shalini Chauhan
Benefits of Call Center Scripts
■ Call centers scripts, are, for lack of a better word, scripts that live
representatives can read from when interacting with customers.
■ These scripts can be as thorough as detailing every word that should be
spoken by the representative in any given situation, or be something as
simple as a basic outline that representatives can follow to ensure that
they’re never left hunting for the correct words to say.
■ These scripts ensure that only accurate, company-endorsed information is
being shared, while also safeguarding the organization in regard to
legal-compliance issues.
Shalini Chauhan
■ As such, many companies are finding themselves stuck
between a rock and a hard place;
■ They need to ensure accuracy, speed, and compliance in
their call centers,
■ But they need to do it in a way that isn’t obviously
scripted, for fear of alienating their clients.
■ It is possible to create effective call center scripts while
also providing your customers with the
highly-personalized interactions that they prefer.
Shalini Chauhan
The following sample inbound call center scripts may be helpful
in giving you an idea of the basic preferred structure of the scripts
that are most effective.
Call Center Opening Scripts
Example:
Hello, and thank you for calling (name of company). My
name is (name of representative). At this time, I’d like to
let you know that this call may be recorded for quality
assurance and training purposes. How may I assist you
today?
Shalini Chauhan
■ Call Center Closing Scripts
Once the problem has been effectively resolved, the agent should ask if there is anything
else that the customer would like addressed, thank them for taking the time to call,
restate the company name, and then politely sign off. Much like the opening script, this
should be done in a concise way—the customer, at this point, is hopefully satisfied, and
will probably be eager to bring the call to a close.
Example
Is there anything else that I can help you with today? (Wait for response; address any
additional concerns) In that case, thank you for calling (name of company). We hope
that you had a satisfactory experience with us today, and we look forward to working
with you in the future. Have a great day!
Shalini Chauhan
Cyber Agents
■ Cyber agents attempts to pull together the best of both
personalization and advanced technology.
Shalini Chauhan
Channel optimization

Channel Optimization
✔ To offer right message to the right customer at the right time.
✔ With the advent of the Internet, many firms are appending “ through the
right channel”.

Personalization
• Personalization, sometimes known as customization, consists of tailoring a
service or a product to accommodate specific individuals, sometimes tied to
groups or segments of individuals.

Event-Based Marketing
• EBM, also known as trigger marketing, is a form of marketing in which
marketers identify the key events of a customers lifecycle and place their
product accordingly.

COLLABORATIVE
FILTERING
Shalini Chauhan
Introduction
■ Collaborative filtering (CF) is the method of making automatic
predictions (filtering) about the interests of a user by collecting
information from many users (collaborating)
Shalini Chauhan
Shalini Chauhan
Shalini Chauhan
Shalini Chauhan
Types of Collaborative Filtering
■ Active filtering
■ Passive filtering
■ Item Based filtering
■ Explicit Versus Implicit filtering
Shalini Chauhan
Shalini Chauhan
Shalini Chauhan
CONTACT
CENTRE- SALES
SUPPORT
Shalini Chauhan
Contact Centre
■ A contact centre or a customer interaction centre is a central
point in an enterprise from which all customer contacts are
managed.
Shalini Chauhan
Shalini Chauhan
Shalini Chauhan
Web-based Self-Service
■ Customers are often refreshed and annoyed by company websites
re-intermediating the support process.
Shalini Chauhan
Example: Person-to-person electronic support by offering customers ability to
chat online with a customer care representative.
Shalini Chauhan
Shalini Chauhan
Web sites have
made FAQs
Shalini Chauhan
CRM Marketing Initiatives,
Customer Service
and
Data Management
CRM Marketing Initiatives
• Cross-selling
Cross-selling is an act of selling additional products to customers.
• Up-selling
It is concerned with selling a higher-end version of the product the
customer originally came to buy.

Brand Switching
• Brand switching means a situation in which someone changes from buying
one brand of a product to buying a different brand.

Reasons for Brand Switching
• Value for money
• Marketing mix (ELEMENTS OF PROMOTION)
• Improper service
• Outdated technology
• Marketing communications (REGULARLY)
• Brand fatique
Customer Profitability
and
Value Modelling
Customer Profitability and Value Modelling
• Two fundamental costs:

✔ To know the revenue and the costs for each customer.
✔ To move away from a brand management focus to a customer management
focus.

To know the revenue and the costs for each
customer
✔ To turn CRM data into a customer profitability model.
✔ Activity based cost accounting

To move away from a brand management focus
to a customer management focus.
✔ Understanding true value of the customer
✔ Customer may be a low value customer for a brand, but may be valuable
across the entire organization.

Unit II
CRM Marketing Initiatives,

Customer Service
and
Data Management

Customer Retention
• Customer retention refers to the activities and actions companies and
organizations take to reduce the number of consumer defects.

Need for Customer Retention
• Getting new customers is expensive
• Satisfied, loyal Customers refer others
• Satisfied Customers are loyal customers
• Existing customers provide better metrics

• Repeat customers spend more
• Existing customers present up-sell and cross-sell opportunities
• Loyal customers are less price sensitive

CUSTOMER
SATISFACTION
MEASUREMENT
Shalini Chauhan
Introduction
■ Customer satisfaction measure of how products and services supplied by
a company meet or surpass customer expectations.
■ It is essential for businesses to effectively manage customer satisfaction
■ To be able to do this, firms need reliable and representative measures of
satisfaction.
Shalini Chauhan
Reasons to measure customer satisfaction:
■ Customer satisfaction is leading indicator of consumer repurchase
intentions and loyalty.
■ It is a point of differentiation.
■ It increases customer lifetime value
■ It is cheaper to retain customers than acquire new ones.
Shalini Chauhan
Design and use of CSM program:
■ Defining the objectives
■ Develop the research design
■ Questionnaire design
■ Improve customer, client or employee loyalty
Shalini Chauhan
IDENTIFYING
DATA QUALITY
ISSUES
Shalini Chauhan
Some of the most common sources of data
quality issues/problems are:
■ Customer Data Deterioration
■ Source Data quality (data warehouse) (analysed)
■ Lack of customer trust
■ Untrained staff
Shalini Chauhan
Types of Data Analysis :
■ Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)
■ OLAP Techniques
■ Clickstream Analysis
Shalini Chauhan
Challenges of Tracking with Click Stream
Data
■ Identifying the Visitor Origin
■ Identifying the session
■ Identifying the Visitor
■ Proxy Servers
Shalini Chauhan
IDENTIFYING
DATA QUALITY
ISSUES
Shalini Chauhan
Some of the most common sources of data
quality issues/problems are:
■ Customer Data Deterioration
■ Source Data quality
■ Lack of trust
■ Untrained staff
Shalini Chauhan
Types of Data Analysis :
■ Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)
■ OLAP Techniques
■ Clickstream Analysis
Shalini Chauhan
Challenges of Tracking with Click Stream
Data
■ Identifying the Visitor Origin
■ Identifying the session
■ Identifying the Visitor
■ Proxy Servers
Shalini Chauhan
WORK FORCE
MANAGEMENT
Shalini Chauhan
■ CALL SCRIPTING
■ CYBERAGENT
■ WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT
Shalini Chauhan
Introduction
■ Work force Management is primarily concerned with
forecasting the workload and creating a schedule for the
agents.
Shalini Chauhan
CRM and Data Management
■ Data refers to the information that serves as a helpful tool that
enables companies to identify consumer trends, understand
their behavior, communicate, create loyalty etc.
Shalini Chauhan
Types of Data:
■ Reference Data
■ Transactional Data
■ Warehouse Data
■ Business View Data
Shalini Chauhan
3rd August 2020
Customer
Relationship
Management

Module 1
Introduction to Customer Relationship
Management

What is Customer Relationship Management (CRM)?
CRM refers to a business strategy that enables

organizations to better serve the needs of their
customers, improve customer service, achieve a high
level of customer satisfaction thereby maximize
customer loyalty and retention.
HOW DO YOU CREATE A CUSTOMER RETENTION STRATEGY

THAT KEEPS YOUR CURRENT CUSTOMERS ENGAGED AND
HAPPY?

Example:
1. Onboarding Program
2. Customer Feedback
3. Communication Calendar
4. Customer Loyalty Program

Definitions :
“A business strategy designed to optimize profitability,

revenue and customer satisfaction.’’
“A business strategy that aims to understand/appreciate,

manage and personalize the needs of the organization's
current and potential customers.’’

Features of CRM:
1. Central Database
2. Effectiveness
3. Useful to various departments in an organization
4. Helps to attract potential customers and retain
existing ones
5. High cost
6. Simple and Easy.
7. Reduces process time

Customer relationship management (CRM) software refers to any tech solution that helps
businesses manage communication with current and potential clients. Some examples of
leaders in the CRM software industry include:
•Bitrix24 for multi-channel communication

•Salesforce Sales Cloud for customizability
•Zoho CRM for making sales fun
•Freshsales for being easy to use
•Nimble for customer prospecting
•Insightly for project management
•Nutshell for managing a sales team
•Apptivo for business management
•Agile CRM for marketing
•Streak for Gmail power users
https://zapier.com/learn/crm/best-crm-app/

EVOLUTION OF CRM:
Stage I Refers to the first generation of CRM:
Involves two aspects i.e. Sales Force Automation and Customer Service Support
Stage II CRM software- “Front office” solutions :

Many call centers use CRM software to store all of their customer's details. When a
customer calls, the system can be used to retrieve and store information relevant to
the customer. By serving the customer quickly and efficiently, and also keeping all
information on a customer in one place, a company aims to make cost savings, and
also encourage new customers.
Stage III Refers to the third generation of CRM: In this stage, organizations
realized the need of integrating front office CRM systems with back-office CRM
systems.

CATEGORIES OF
CUSTOMER
Cosmopolitan's Valia College, Prof. Shalini Chauhan

CATEGORIES OF CUSTOMER:
• UNDAUNTED STRIVER
• SAVVY MAXIMISER
• CONTENT STREAMER
• SECURE TRADITIONALIST

6th August 2020
Introduction to Customer
Relationship Management

Concept of CRM:
“The purpose of a business is to create customers”
• Today one of the most difficult task and challenge is to understand the importance of keeping
those same customers and of growing the depth of their relationship with business.
• CRM is the process of carefully managing detailed information about individual customers and
all customer “touch points” to maximize customer loyalty.

EVOLUTION OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP

Customers as Strangers:
• The firm has no relationship with the customer at this point

• The firms primary goal with these potential customers/strangers is to initiate communication with
them to attract them.
Customers as Acquaintances:
• The primary goal of the company at this point is to satisfy the customer.
• Organizations provide them with the value that the competitors don’t.
Customers as Friends:
• The primary goal at this stage is customer retention
• Customers at this stage avail full benefits of loyalty programmes and get preferential treatment.
Customers as Partners:
• At this partnership stage the firm is concerned with enhancing the relationships.
• The loyal customers provide a strong base for organizational growth
Operational CRM:
• Sales automation
To set standard within the organization to acquire new
customers and deal with existing customers.
• Marketing automation
To find best way to offer products and approach potential customers.
• Service automation
Enable business to retain customers by providing best quality of service and building
strong relations.

Analytical CRM:
• Gather customer’s information, coming from different channels and

analyze
data in a structured way.
• Help organization to set business methodology in sales, marketing to
improve customer relationship and loyalty.
• Improve the CRM system effectiveness and analyze key performance
indicators, set by business.

Collaborative CRM:
Enables an organization to share customers’ information among various

business units like sales team, marketing team, technical team and support
team.

Customer Relationship
Management
OBJECTIVES OF CRM:
Creating value for the customer

Creating value for the company over the longer term
Gain competitive advantage
Increase customer service
Increase efficiency
Lowering marketing cost
Aids the department

BENEFITS OF CRM
Benefits to
Benefits to
organization
customers
s
• Improved customer services • Better coordination and cooperation

• Responsive to customer’s • Improved customer experience
needs • Identify the potential customers
• Improve customization of • Automated analytics and reporting
marketing • Customer segmentation
• Time saving • Process automation replaces repetitive manual tasks
• Improves customer satisfaction and loyalty

Limitations of CRM:
• CRM is mainly focused on retention of existing customers rather than on the

acquisition of new ones.
• Legal aspects and ethical issues need to be considered during the CRM implementation.
• CRM may lead the organizations to discriminate group of customers

Relationship Marketing

• What business sector do you operate in B2B or B2C?
• Surely, all business are P2P (people to people)
• The future of your business lies in people and the connection
you build with them
BUILD RELATIONS
DEVELOP RELATIONS A LOYAL CROWD OF HAPPY
CREATE ENGAGEMENT CUSTOMERS
EARN TRUST
Understanding relationship marketing can make a real difference to your business

• If relationship marketing is done right, it can help companies to have a brand ambassador of
their own.
• Customers who love the company and are extremely happy with the products and services are
very likely to share and promote the company on their own will and at times at very high
places.
• This helps in enhancing the market for the company.

What is relationship marketing?
• The term relationship marketing can be defined as a series of interactions that take place between two parties
over a period of time.
• Relationship marketing is a strategy used by an organization for increasing the level of customer satisfaction and
establishing long-term relationships with them.
Definition:
• “ The aim of relationship marketing is for building mutually satisfying long-term relations with key parties like
the customers, suppliers, distributors in order to earn and retain their business.”

Relationship Development Strategies:
• Organizational Pervasive approach
• Managing Customer Emotions
• Brand Building through relationship Marketing

Relationship marketing and CRM:
• Relationship marketing and CRM are closely related to each other.

• However, marketers state that relationship is a broader concept and CRM is an evolution that introduced new
concepts of customer retention.
• However both concepts relationship marketing and CRM focus on customer retention and loyalty.
• Relationship marketing is a concept of customer retention.
• However, CRM is the implementation of that concept in a more effective way.
• It can be said that relationship marketing and CRM work to achieve the same goal but in a different way.

SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT

Service Level Agreement (SLA)
A service- level agreement (SLA) is a part of standardized service contract

where a service is defined formally.
SLA is a tool for formalizing a relationship with the customers and is

mainly used for high value customers.

It is an agreement between two or more parties, where one
is the customer and others are service providers.
This can be a legally binding formal or an informal

"contract”.

Elements of SLA:
1. Overall Objectives
2. Description of the Services
3. Performance Standards
4. Compensation/Service Credits
5. Critical Failure

SEVEN C’S OF Customer
Relationship Management

SEVEN C’S OF CRM:
C1: CONVENIENCE (PLACE)
C2: CUSTOMER VALUE AND BENEFITS (PRODUCT)
C3: COST TO THE CUSTOMER (PRICE)
C4: COMPUTING AND CATEGORY MANAGEMENT
C5: CUSTOMER FRANCHISE
C6: CUSTOMER CARE AND SERVICE (COMPETITION)
C7: COMMUNICATION AND CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

(PROMOTION)

INTRODUCTION TO CUSTOMER:
The traditional definition of a customer is:
"Someone who buys goods or services."
A customer is someone who buys something. This person is a customer of a private sector business
where a product or service is sold for profit. If a private-sector enterprise loses its customers, it loses its
sales, profit, and its future.
Widening the definition, the customer culture is also applied to the public sector where assessments are
needed for the day for existence. Unless and until an organization is not investigating, the customer will
not come to the premises. Every government department has to carry out some, operations else it will
lead to closure. for example, Local doctors refer to some divisions in a hospital.
There are two main types of customer:
An External customer is from outside the organization providing the product or service.
An internal customer is in the same organization as the person who is providing a product or service to
an external customer.
CATEGORIES OF CUSTOMERS:
There are four consumer types:
(1) Undaunted Striver,
(2) Savvy Maximiser,
(3) Content Streamer, and
(4) Secure Traditionalist, span a wide range of personalities, preferences, and buying behaviours.
Let us understand these four types of customers in detail:
(1) The Undaunted Striver (Loyal and Technology Driven Customer):
(a) These types of customers stand out as being the most trend-oriented and product-focused. These
consumers want the latest, most up-to-date products, and are often willing to pay more for them.
(b) In addition to their focus on current trends, they like to be the centre of attention at parties and lead
incredibly active social lives, building relationships. at home, work, and in their broader community.
(c) These consumers are also optimistic about ambitious dreams for themselves, their countries. and
beyond; they truly believe they can make a difference in the world.
(d) In all this set of customers possess four traits:
(i)Care about the perception of others.
(ii) Prefer brand names.
(iii) Feels empowered.

(iv) He likes to stand out in the crowd.
(e) In other words, they are also more socially aware and early adopters. And "Child" like personality.
(2) Savvy Maximiser (Bargain Hunter):
(a) This type of customer is driven by value. He makes impulsive decisions.
(b) These Customers are more family-oriented Discounts offer to attract them to a greater extent.
(c) A good bargain hunter seeks to beat seller down, no matter how good the deal. They will keep asking
for more until they are certain they will not get more.
(d) A good bargain hunter will ask lots of questions and listen very carefully before they get anywhere
near discussing price. And then they may surprise seller by how well they understand it.
(3) Content Streamer (Judgemental Customer):
(a) This type of customer is suspicious of everyone, believing that all people are selfish. They will never
believe what the seller says. After all, he is trying to sell to them and therefore will deceive them at the
drop of a hat. They will judge sellers by their values and high standards.
(b) He may well have read up on the case beforehand' and arrive having already made their decision.
They will choose based on what independent facts they can find, for example through magazine reviews,
references, mouth publicity, etc.
(e) Such kind of customer is price-conscious also.
(4) Secure Traditionalist (Matured Customer):
(a) Such type of customer knows just what they want and do not want to try any other goods or
services.
(b) They will not negotiate. They will tell the seller what they want and expect them to give at the best
price.
(c) They may start off appearing to be a bargain hunter as they ask detailed questions, but they will not
attempt to negotiate. They will listen, ask price, and then decide.
(d) If they feel a seller is cheating or misleading them or any such clever stuff then they will leave and
ignore any apologies or pleadings.
INTRODUCTION TO CRM:
Loyal customers are both a scarce resource and a source of value. How can business managers nurture
this crucial asset? For a start, companies must make maximizing customer value an explicit and
measured business goal.
As companies evolve from product-or campaign-centric to customer-centric marketing, a set of best

practices is emerging that focuses on measuring and increasing the lifetime value of the customer base,
one customer at a time. We call these practices as "Customer Relationship Management".
At its simplest, a relationship is a series of repeated exchanges between two parties known to each
other.
Since the 1980s, marketing theory and practice have shifted its emphasis from individual transactions to
the wider customer relationship.
Technological advances in database applications and software in the 1990s gave an additional impetus
to this change in focus, with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) being touted as the panacea for
a whole host of marketing dilemmas.
A customer approaches the organization for product or service with certain expectation. If the fulfilment
a experience of the expectations is encouraging then the customer will revisit for service. If the
expectation is not encouraging customers will go to a competitor. The ability to recognize this aspect
and to actively manage customer behaviour is the basis for customer relationship management.
THE CRM COMPRISES OF:
A database that collects information about all the customers.
A way to analyze the information in the database.
A strategy for applying the analysis to better meet your clients' needs and identify potential customers.
Collecting data to ensure business strategy is effective.
DEFINITIONS OF CRM:
"Customer Relationship Management is a comprehensive set of processes and technologies for

managing the relationship with potential current customers across the business functions.'
"Customer Relationship Management is a comprehensive strategy and process of acquiring, retaining

and partnering with selective customers to create superior value for the company and the customer."
"CRM is business strategies that integrate people, processes, and technology to optimize the
relationship of an organization with all types of customers."
"Customer relationship management is a combination of process, procedure technologies and

competencies fit to analyze and satisfy customers knowing their needs and preferences."
In simple words:
"CRM is a comprehensive approach to creating maintaining and expanding customer relationships."
The goal of CRM is to optimize customer satisfaction and revenue through a relationship built with the
potential current customer across the business function. Its goal also lies in optimizing customer
satisfaction and revenue through the relationship built between customers and all those who deal with
the customers.
The relationship is built through managing customer initiative and behaviour in such a way that
customer experience is full of comfort, happiness, and satisfaction.
CRM is a management approach or model that puts the customer at the core of organization processes
and practices. It seeks to create develop and enhance the relationship with carefully targeted customers
to maximize customer value, corporate profitability and shareholders' value. The essence of CRM is to
treat customers individually and offer them customized products or services.
FEATURES OF CRM:
There is a range of CRM from the most simple (a spreadsheet or database containing information about
the customers referred to as a contact management system) to the most complex (online applications
automatically linked with back-end systems). An integrated CKM system can include the following
features:
A central database that is available by all employees to view and update customer data.
Analysis of customer data including customer segmentation and segmentation of potential customers.
Customer self-service where the customers can self order and help themselves using web-based,
password access.
Identifying and tracking potential customers.
Reports generated with up-to-date information, including revenue forecasting and trend analysis.
EVOLUTION OF RELATIONSHIP WITH CUSTOMERS:
A high degree of involvement is required to build a strong relationship with customers. Social data and
innovative marketing strategies are making it easy for corporates to create a strong relationships with
their customers.
There are four types of brand-consumer relationships:
Customer as Strangers
Customer as Acquaintances
Customer as Friends
Customer as Partners
Typology of Customer Relationship
(1) Customer as Strangers:
These are those untapped class of customer who has not done any transaction with the firm. They may
find the company's product as the next best purchase alternative making them aware.
The greatest challenge for brands is creating meaningful interactions with potential customers with no
previously identified preference. These consumer are strangers and brands must use every tool in their
arsenal to convert them.
The good news is that the data is readily available when a user registers with a social profile, but how
you use that data is paramount to building a meaningful relationship.
(2) Customer as acquaintances:
Here the strangers get converted into acquainted ones and create an exchange process as they both
cater to each other needs.
At this stage, brands are looking to increase preference and consideration to turn a consumer into a
customer and then turn that customer into a repeat customer and an advocate.
Acquainted customer is a satisfied customer in its way as he feels he is getting an industry-standard

product and his need is also fulfilled.
This is the stage where a customer could be quality or price-sensitive, any lucrative offer can turn him to
competitors' product. Therefore a company needs to take care of such customers to a greater extent.
The main aim of the company is to develop a product as per the needs and specifications of the new
customer.
(3) Customer as friends:
At this stage the firm begins to specific knowledge of customer's needs, allowing it to create an offering
that directly addresses customers' specifications.
This is the point where the company can count on their customers to consistently pay attention to their
offers and promotions. It's the point where the customer, fully invested in the brand's marketing and
loyalty program, can expect to experience forms of preferential treatment like VIP shopping events,
birthday discounts, and enhanced customer service..
Differentiated marketing strategies are been adopted for a different class of customers. In other words,
this is a sensitive stage as there is a very slight difference between competitors' strategies.
Heterogeneity knowledge could be converted into product specifications.
This relationship directly affects the profitability and growth of the business.
(4) Customer as partners:
At this stage with more years in a relationship, the level of trust deepens and customers receive the
customized product.
The customer becomes fully engaged with the brand to the degree that they consider it representative
of their beliefs and lifestyle. The customer wants to share their love for the brand with others and
convert them to advocates as well.
A friendship requires equal participation from both parties. A company needs to take an active role in
creating and nurturing a relationship that will result in converting a friendly customer into a stakeholder
(partner).
SEGMENTATION OF CUSTOMERS AS PER PROFITABILITY:
To be a truly customer-centric business, you must understand the profitability of every customer. A key
to releasing the value of CRM lies in differentiating your services and offerings in a way that's
commensurate with the value of each client. If you don't know the client's value, your company may be
misallocating valuable resources. Very profitable customers may be underserved, while marginally
profitable or even unprofitable customers may be receiving too many services.
There are four categories of customers classified based on the profitability of an organization:
Quadrant 1 (Best Customers): If companies have to maintain profitability over the long term, managers
must I have an understanding of the profitability of each of their customers and products offered to
them. With that knowledge, they can segment customers according to their value and maximize the
mutual benefits of their relationships. These are the most profitable customers of an organization
serving as the basis for its operations. They are the one who brings success to the brand. In siraple
words, happy customers are good customers and usually profitable.
Quadrant 2 (Profit potential Customers): As relationships and service become increasingly pivotal in
business, the profitability of customers is becoming more important than the profitability of products.
Despite profitable products, many such customers are unprofitable. To improve profitability, they need
to be identified. Companies need to look for warning signs that likely signal unprofitability, such as late
payments, excess service calls, numerous returns or frequent complaints. Once unprofitable customers
have been identified, the next step is to increase their profitability, either by increasing revenue or
lowering associated costs.
Quadrant 3 (Slow leak Customers): If a firm is dealing with more than one product it is better to analyze
which is profitable and which is not. There could be few unprofitable products in the product line but
the firm continues with it due to some reasons. This category of customers is different who demands an
unprofitable product, but their total purchases from the company are so profitable that they can
subsidize the product due to which firm decides to continue.
Quadrant 4 (Worst Customers): Companies also need to identify worst, "bottom-tier" customers, so that
they can minimize unprofitable attempts to convert these customers in the future. These customers
would be those that are consistently unprofitable based on cost per transaction analyses. The company
needs to look for those customers that have a high rate of product returns, low average order values,
and a high rate of customer service calls or inquiries. Typically, unprofitable customers are those looking
for the lowest priced deals and are therefore usually not the most loyal customers. Knowing such
customers can give top executives the flexibility to include or exclude them in targeted marketing
initiatives. Remember that each new customer who turns out to be unprofitable destroys shareholder
value.
BENEFITS OF CRM TO CUSTOMERS:
(a) The benefit of Better Service: CRM collects information that identifies customers' buying habits,
including preferences and frequency, CRM systems give businesses a closer look at their customers'
wants and needs so they can provide better customer service solutions. Through a CRM system,
customer service representatives have detailed information on the customers readily available so that
they can adapt their approaches as needed. Customer's feedback i implemented in products or services
which make them avail of better service.
(b) Improved Relationship: CRM is all about merging marketing efforts with business processes to be
able to identify, pursue and manage valuable customer relationships. understanding and and CRM is
customers' about knowing preferences so the organization can place themselves squarely at the point of
sale buying habits - and about supporting those same customers after the sales transaction is complete.
(c) Social Relationship: CRM helps to build social CRM. Social CRM the integration of social media with
customer relationship management (CRM) strategies. It is the next frontier for organizations that want
to optimize the power of social interactions to get closer to customers.
(d) Involvement in Process: CRM is a management approach or model that puts the customer at the core
of organization processes and practices. It seeks to create develop and enhance the relationship with
carefully targeted customers to maximize customer value, corporate profitability and shareholders'
value. The essence of CRM is to treat customers individually and offer them customized products or
services. Customer is involved in the process by obtaining and inculcating their valuable suggestions.
BENEFITS OF CRM TO ORGANIZATION:
Intensified competition and increased customer power have driven institutions to pursue a variety of
new strategies, all of which are dependent on new ways of understanding and relating to customers.
With the market suffering from overcapacity and the growing competition from online providers, the
industry-standard growth in earnings per share is increasingly hard to achieve. The simple fact remains
that many firms will not survive in competition. Only those that adapt to a new strategic imperative of
customer-focused strategies stand a chance.
CRM's benefits to the Organizations are:
(a) Identification of Potential Customers: With Liberalization, Globalization, and Privatization coming
into effect, there is always a flow of new entrants in the market creating competition. With the help of
CRM software company can identify potential aspirants that can be converted into customers.
(b) Increase Profitability: Effective customer segmentation is only possible through multi a dimensional
customer view. Research shows that companies can increase profitability by 100 percent if they can just
retain 5 percent more of their profitable customers per year.
(c) Decrease Operating Costs: CRM helps institutions reduce these non-revenue generating activities by
enabling agents to access customer information over the web via a browser. Furthermore, cost centres
can be turned into revenue centres.
(d) Increased Customer Loyalty: More customers expect to access and update account information
online. Internet self-service reduces support costs by reducing call centre volume. It can improve the
customer experience by providing ready access to relevant information. When designed correctly it can
also lead to effective cross-selling and increased customer intelligence. Customers expect to see a view
of all of their account information, which requires the financial institution to provide a multi-
dimensional view.
(e) Improved Customer Satisfaction: Customers expect that every conversation is referenced against all
previous contacts and channels, whether through phone or fax or a web-based interaction. A customer
should be able to initiate contact with the organization through one channel, such as the internet, and
then complete the interaction through another, like the call centre, with a seamless transfer of
information between the different underlying technologies.
(f) Other benefits:
It also helps in stipulating data regarding the history and preferences of customers. It also provides an
excellent view of customer relationships which will help to encourage customers and improve
productivity.
Storage and provision of the customer database.
Easily assess to collated data.
Managing deals.
Evaluation of potential customers.
Aiding client acquisition.
Investment selling.
Tracking and monitoring deals.
Aiding the sales team in the provision of customers' needs.
Encouraging and assisting the increase of cross selling and up-selling.
BENEFITS OF IMPLEMENTING CRM SYSTEM AS PER FUNCTIONAL AREAS:
Implementation of a CRM system in an organization provides various benefits. These benefits are
classified into three aspects:
(1) Marketing.
(2) Customer Support.
(3) Sales.
(1) Marketing:
Identify and target customers.
Manage marketing campaigns with clear goals and quantifiable objectives.
Create and manage solid sales leads for field representatives. Increase in marketing and cross-selling
opportunities.
Increase returns on marketing investment through accurate targeting and one-to-one marketing.
Improved product development process with knowledge gained directly from customer interaction.
(2) Customer Support:
Strengthen shared relationships with individualized customer care.

Improve call centre efficiency and help desk support through an automated system.
Fewer mistakes in customer billing.
Minimize shifting between the products.
Decrease support and service costs while increasing customer satisfaction by extending web-based
support functionality directly to the customer.
Centralize all customer contact from sales, support, field service, and marketing to deliver excellent
customer service.
Provide the option of self-service to the customer over the company's website.
(3) Sales:
Improve the speed of communication and sales process. Increase sales efficiency through wireless and
internet based order entry.
Improve entire sales force by capturing, distributing the success and expertise of highest performers.
Increase revenue per visit by focusing on growing best accounts.
Repetitive sales to existing customers due to customer satisfaction.
DISADVANTAGES OF CRM IN AN ORGANIZATION:
(1) CRM is mainly focused on the retention of existing customers rather than on the acquisition of new
ones which may also affect the market share in the long run.
(2) There are various legal aspects (eg.: privacy) and ethical issues that need to be considered during its
implementation.
(3) It may lead organizations to discriminate group of customers. More profitable customers may enjoy
better treatments and conditions than occasional customers. This may damage the image of the
company.
TYPES OF CRM:
Businesses must build top-line growth strategies upon the foundation of their CRM programs by
ensuring that strategic intent and cost management measures are institutionalized. CRM is a
fundamental shift in the way a company does business with its customers, rather than just a one-time e-
business initiative, it requires continuous leadership support over multiple years. There are various
types of CRM applicable as per sector needs:
(1) Operational CRM: Operational CRM provides support to "front office" business processes.
Interactions with customers are generally stored in customers' contact histories, and staff can retrieve
customer information as necessary. The contact history provides staff members with immediate access
to important information on the customer (products owned, prior support calls, etc.), eliminating the
need to individually obtain this information directly from the customer.
(2) Analytical CRM: Analytical CRM can be deployed to understand the processing of claims in the
Insurance sector. Deregulation of the insurance industry in the global has resulted in an increased
number of players in the market hence competition.
Analytical CRM can be used in the insurance industry for the following applications:
Acquiring new customers.
Identifying cross-selling/upselling opportunities.
Establishing the premium rates.
Assisting the regulators to understand from Rate and Models.
(3) Sales Intelligence CRM: Sales Intelligence CRM is similar to Analytical CRM, but is intended as a more
direct sales tool. It is oriented to sales staff. Its features include alerts sent to sales staff regarding cross
selling/up-selling/switch-selling opportunities, customer drift, sales performance, customer trends,
customer margins, etc..
(4) Campaign Management: Campaign management combines elements of Operational and analytical
CRM. Campaign management functions support the development of efficient marketing campaigns.
(5) Collaborative CRM: Collaborative CRM covers aspects of a company's dealings with customers that
are handled by various departments within a company, such as sales, technical support, and marketing.
Staff members from different departments can share information collected when interacting with
customers.
(6) Geographic CRM: Geographic CRM (GCRM) combines geographic information systems and traditional
CRM. Geographic data can be analyzed to provide a snapshot of potential customers in a region or to
plan routes for customer visits.
(7) Strategic CRM: Strategic CRM is a core customer centric business strategy aiming at winning and
sustaining profitable customers along with an increase in customer loyalty.
OBJECTIVES OF CRM:
The idea of CRM is that it helps businesses use technology and human resources to gain insight into the
behaviour of customers and the value of those customers. With an effective CRM strategy, a business
can increase revenues by:
(1) Providing services and products that are exactly what your customers want: CRM helps to design the
product as per the specifications of the customers that can be obtained through feedback from them.
(2) Offering better customer service: Prior goal of CRM was to establish customer loyalty and perfect
relationships. This is the key target for all the companies which are trying to implement CRM strategies
and solutions. The company will not be able to achieve it unless it works like one entity. It is very
significant to provide clients with high-quality service. Otherwise, they will look for another supplier of
goods or services. At the same time, another objective is to attract as many new customers as possible,
which is harder than keeping already existing clients.
(3) Retaining existing customers and discovering new ones: CRM helps to establish long term
relationships with customers by obtaining their feedback and responses, it also helps not only to retain
its old customers but keeping them as base an organization could attract new customers as well.
(4) The lower level of operating cost: The reduction of costs is one of the main priorities for every
company. All CRM processes are aimed at helping you to achieve it. At the same time, it is very
important to have a clear understanding of the strategy that you have chosen for your business. Every
process needs to be very efficient. The workforce managing system is the best tool for increasing the
level of skills. It will eventually result in cost reduction. Every CRM process should be implemented and
handled in a specific way in case lowering the costs is your main target.
(5) Aiding the Marketing Department: Implementation of CRM helps in determination of objectives,
audience, ways to accomplish those goals and how to measure the success of its effectiveness.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF CRM:
CRM is used as synonyms to Relationship marketing which took place back into the pre-industrial era in
the form of interaction between producers of agricultural products and consumers. Slowly it moved to
artisans, who started offering customized products. With the expansion of markets, a large number of
middlemen was involved to facilitate the quick flow of product to the widespread customer. With the
advent of middlemen in the channel, the producer went away from the consumer, which thus realized
the need of maintaining a relationship with the customer, to provide them with the customized product.
Some factors led to the growth of CRM years: (1) Growth of telecommunication technology that allows
in recent
the producer to directly interact with the customer. (2) Customers are offered online retailing facilities
which help them to acquire the product as and when required. For example, one can order a Cheque
book through ATM Machine rather than personally visiting the branch.
(3) Hyper competition has also forced producers to be in touch with customers and get them with a
personal appeal. It's not only competition in the aspect of product offering but also it is in the context of
the customer again coming back to demand our product.
(4) TQM (Total Quality Management) is also an evolving concept used in modern business these days
which says that qualitative products should be offered to a customer, which needs to inculcate feedback
from regular customers for the quality improvement process.
(5) Expensive Marketing cost is also an important reason for the growth of CRM as acquiring new
customer cost a company around 20% of its profit whereas retaining the customer cost only 2% of it. To
sustain competition organizations are forced to concentrate on CRM rather than spending huge
amounts on advertising and promotional efforts.
(6) Organizations are targeting the whole globe as their market. Gone are those days when the
organization used to concentrate only on local markets. To grab the global market, an organization has
to first gain a large market share among local competitors which is possible only when it is targeting a
maximum number of customers. Thus to become a market leader organization has to put extraordinary
efforts to position itself in the minds of local customers who will open their doors to the international
market..
CRM AND CUSTOMERS:
Closer Relationship with Customers: CRM provides scope to the company to develop links with the
customers through information, technology, knowledge, and social ties. As the customers explain
themselves to a company, they get reluctant to repeat the process with a rival company.
Improvement in Customer Satisfaction: With the help of communication links between customers and
the company, the company can ensure that customer satisfaction is maintained. They can thus tailor the
products according to the customer's requirements.
Financial Benefits: The company benefits as it has:
More customers.
A longer stay of the customers.
High customer profitability as they can pay even more for better service.
Increased level of sales.
CUSTOMERS BUYING ROLE:
. Consumer behaviour studies how consumers search for, purchase, use, and evaluate products and
services that they expect will satisfy their needs.
. Consumers face trade-offs in their purchase decisions due to various compositions.
Consumer behaviour focuses on how individuals make decisions to spend available resources like time,
money, and efforts services. on consumption related products and Understanding consumers and
"knowing why consumers do what they do" is very complex. Many a time consumers are unaware of
what they exactly need. Thus here the role of marketing managers comes they make them aware of
what they are unaware of.
Within a reference group that influences consumer buying behaviour, several roles have been identified:
(a) The initiator: the person who suggests buying a product or service.
(b) The influences: the person whose point of view or advice will influence the buying decision. It may be
a person outside the group (singer, athlete, actor, etc.) but on which group members rely on.
(c) The decision-maker: the person who will choose which product to buy. In general, it's the consumer
but in some cases, it may be another person. For example, the leader of a soccer supporters group
(membership group) that will define, for the whole group, which supporters scarf buy and bear during
the next game.
(d) The buyer: the person who will buy the product. Generally, this will be the final consumer.
SEVEN C's OF CRM:
Marketing has 4P's, similarly CRM consist of 7C's:
C1: Convenience;
C2: Customer value and benefit;
C3: Cost to the customer;
C4: Computing and category management;
C5: Customer franchise;
C6: Customer care and service;
C7: Communication and customer relationships.
C1: Convenience for the Customer:
(1) It is similar to one of the Ps of Marketing i.e. 'Place'. 'Convenience for the customer', recognizes the
customers' choices for buying in ways convenient to them.
(2) It refers to short travel journeys, easy access, parking, and so on.
(3) The physical location can also be important for the e retailer as many customers prefer to buy from
the virtual location due to the ease of the website. This entails registration with search engines, location
in e malls, and links from associates.
(4) It also takes into consideration the layout of the store that follows the free-flow' or 'grid" type of
layout, or indeed a combination.
C2: Customer Value and Benefits:
(1) It refers to the 'Product' element of the marketing mix, rather than being something that a company
has to sell, can be thought of as a Customer value and benefits' meaning the bundle of service and
satisfactions wanted by customers.
(2) People do not buy products' as such, but rather solutions to problems or good feelings.
(3) The lowest price does not always result in the highest sales, as many shoppers may value aspects
such as style, design, and fashion, for example. When buying online, customers are far less likely to
request help than they are in the store.
(4) Rather, e-shoppers who need help in understanding a product are more likely to abandon the
transaction and find an alternative supplier or even buy through a different channel. E-businesses,
therefore, need to be particularly careful about describing products clearly in Customer value and
benefits terms.
C3: Cost to the Customer:
(1) It is related to 'Price' which may be what companies decide to charge for their products, but 'Cost to
the customer represents the real cost that customers will pay.
(2) Consumers have a perception that prices should be lower online than in store, and this can cause
problems when customers buying via other channels realize that they are paying more than online
customers.
(3) Customers who have looked up what they want online, then telephone to order, can be irritated to
learn that the extra discounts are not available when ordering by phone.
C4: Communication and Customer Relationships:
(1) Coramunication' is equivalent to the final 'P' in the 4Ps 'Promotion'. This suggests ways in companies
persuade people to buy, which whereas communication is a two-way process also involving feedback
from customers to suppliers.
(2) Reflecting an increasing control of elements of the retail mix by retailers rather than manufacturers,
retailers spend more on advertising than manufacturers do.
(3) Retailers are closer to the customer than are manufacturers and have more access to customer
feedback. Communication is not just advertising, though, but all how retailers communicate with their
customers, including, for example, marketing research surveys, public relations (PR), direct mail, e-mail,
Internet, marketing database and loyalty schemes.
(4) Successful e-retailers often use offline advertising such as magazines and click here' sections of
newspapers integrated with online marketing communications Online methods include banner ads and
pop-ups (often incentivized); paid-for listings in search engines and directories; and affiliate programs.
C5: Computing and Category Management Issues:
(1) The success of retailers has been founded on supplying the products that customers want, in the
right sizes and quantities, at the right time and in the right place.
(2) With the growth in consumer choice has come to a proliferation of products, Efficient control of this
degree of complexity needs effective computer and logistics systems. Retail logistics have been changing
rapidly over recent decades. Firstly, the growth of retailer power has involved major retailers taking
more control of their supply chains. The involvement of wholesalers has been reduced, tending to give
way to contract logistics.
(3) At the same time, supply chains have become more efficient with computer network links between
suppliers and retailers many still based on Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Pre-dating the Web, EDI is
based on privately owned third party computer networks.
(4) Stock levels have been reduced using techniques such as Quick Response and Efficient Customer
Response (QR and ECR - the retailers' equivalents of Just-in-Time or JIT).
C6: Customer Franchise:
(1) A customer franchise refers to the cumulative image of a product, held by the consumer, resulting
from long exposure to the product or marketing of the product.
(2) CRM plays an important role in collecting information related to products or services from a large
group of customers thus helping the firm to know its customer franchise.
C7: Customer Care and Service:
(1) Retailers may often offer similar products and prices to those of their competitors. Customer care
and the services offered can be critical in shoppers' choices of stores and their degree of loyalty.
(2) CRM talks about maintaining a strong relationship with the customer which brings the firm closer to
the customers. Call centres, contact management, effectively handling customer complaints, campaign
management, reducing customer waiting time are techniques that relate to customer care and
management.
CRM AS A BUSINESS STRATEGY:
CRM can be defined as the ongoing process of identifying and creating new value with individual
customers and sharing the benefits over a lifetime association.
As a business strategy, "CRM is a customer-focused business strategy that aims to increase customer
satisfaction and customer loyalty by offering more responsive and customized services each customer".
"CRM is the building of a customer-oriented culture by which a strategy is created for acquiring,
enhancing the profitability of, and retaining customers, that is enabled by an IT application; for achieving
mutual benefits for both the organization and the customers".
CRM as a business strategy helps to build a strong relationship between customers and suppliers.
CRM is a business strategy which not only helps customers but also provides several benefits to
employees and Organisation. Customers are benefited with the services they avail, employees are
motivated as they work towards organizational goals. Organization on large scale results in motivated
employecs and satisfies customers thus achieving its objectives.
CRM as a business strategy provides seamless integration of every area of business that touches the
customers namely- sales, marketing, customer service, field support through the integration of people,
process and technology.
CRM PROCESS:
Based on the buyer-seller relationship, a four-stage CRM process framework is been made.
Stages for process framework:
(1) CRM formation process.
(2) Relational parties.
(3) CRM programs.
(4) Performance evaluation.
(1) CRM formation process: In this stage organization identifies a class of customers with whom the
relationship needs to be maintained in the long run. The formation process needs to include the
purpose of maintaining a relationship and programs through which a relationship is to be maintained.
Overall every organization has the objective of increasing the market share and value of the product for
customers. A proper selection of customers should be made to develop a different program that is going
to increase market effectiveness.
(2) Relational parties: This stage involves the selection of parties with whom to engage co-operative of
collaborative relationships. Even though the company may serve all types of customers, few of them
have the necessary resources and commitment to establish CRM programs for all. Therefore in the initial
phase, a company has to decide which customer type should be focused on CRM efforts. Subsequently,
when a company gains experience and achieves superior results in one particular type, it may extend to
the second type of customer or it may make an alteration in programs through which the customer is
been targeted.
(3) CRM programs: There are three types of programs one to-one marketing, continuity marketing, and
partnering programs. These programs are meant for different classes of customers.
(a) One-to-one marketing: This approach is based on the concept of "Customisation" where every
customer is taken separately. Here the product is designed as per specifications of customers. Due to
rapid growth in technology, huge information about the customer is easily available which makes it
feasible for the seller to identify the requirements of the customer. Information on the individual
customer is also used to develop interaction after sales, personal interactions frequently.
(b) Continuity marketing: Continuity Marketing is an intelligent strategy for selling goods or services to
your customers that uses direct marketing tactics to ensure the customers stick with the membership
for months or years. Incorporating this technique into your sales strategy can help to build a long term
relationship with your customers and prospects. The basic premise of continuity marketing program is
to retain customers and increased loyalty through long term special services that have a potential to
increase mutual value through learning about each other.
(c) Partnering programs: Here partnering is done between the relationship of customers and marketers
so that they are in a position to serve end-users' need. In a partnering program there are two types in
which it could be done, co-branding and affinity partnering:
(i) Co-branding: Co-branding is the utilization of two or more brands to name a new product. The
ingredient brands help each other to achieve their aims. The overall synchronization between the brand
pair and the new product has to be kept in mind. Example of co-branding - Citibank co-branded with
MTV to launch a co branded debit card. This card is beneficial to customers who can avail benefits at
specific outlets called MTV Citibank club.
(ii) Affinity partnering: It is the same as co branding, the only difference is rather than creating new
brand strategies are used. name endorsement
(4) Performance evalnation: Periodic assessment of results in CRM is needed to evaluate if programs are
mecting expectations of customers and are sustainable in the long run. Performance evaluation also
helps to measure relationship satisfaction. The purpose of each program is different; performance
evaluation helps to evaluate its applicability.
PEOPLE:
Organizational structure refers to the way that an organization organizes people and jobs so that its
work can be performed and its goals can be met. When a workgroup is very small and face-to-face
communication is regular. formal structure may be pointless, but in larger organization decisions have to
be made about the delegation of various tasks. Thus, procedures are established that assign
responsibilities for various functions. It is these decisions that determine the organizational structure.
Customer-Centric Organization:
A customer-centric business focuses on obtaining a competitive edge over similar businesses by

constructing a unique customer experience. The customer-centric attitude should flow downwards from
management. A customer centric attitude allows a business to become more profitable by concentrating
on customer retention.
According to Ranjay Gulati and James B. Oldroyd, the two most vital elements in forming a customer-
centric organization are an enterprise database and a workforce that can both readily share information
and make a willing commitment to customers, rather than to products or organizational strategies. It is a
long journey to become - and maintain a customer-centric organization, but the result is greater
business success.
In comparison to product-centric, a customer-centric firm must be organized around the customer. This
means going extra than "customer-focused"
initiatives by redesigning companies.
Customer-centric organization requires that:
A customer strategy is well pronounced both internally and externally and is supported by senior
management;
There is an arrangement of resources to effectively deliver the customer promise,
Employees buy into the customer strategy and are themselves fully engaged.
Customer-Centric Organization based on 3 Components
Customer Experience: It includes the sum of all experiences that the company has with its customers.
Customer Value: the total value of customers, direct or indirectly is counted.
Customer lifecycle: evolution that the customer h gone through with one or more aspects to fulfil h
needs.
TECHNOLOGY:
(1) With globalization coming in picture, it has become need of the day to use technology for collecti
information about customers. The most used tools CRM for data collection are as follows:
(a) Electronic point of sales: The electronic gadget at the checkout counter of the retail outlet where
billing happens in a Example: In big Bazaar when a bi'l is asked at the exit point, employees use a
barcode reader simple example of EPOS which will automatically record items picked by you from which
shelf, basically the reason for always replenish stock. technology have significantly aided the scope for
Advances in data analysis. It gives information en sales rate, stock levels, stock turn, price and margin
apart from that it also helps to understand demographics, socio-economic, and lifestyle characteristics
of consumers.
(b) Salesforce automation: It is one of the power modules to complete the CRM package. It is usually
used by salespeople. It helps in automating and optimizing sales processes to shorten the sales cycle and
increase sales productivity. It helps in improving the effectiveness of marketing communication
programs for generating quality as well as greater accuracy in sales forecasting.
(c) Customer service helpdesk: Corporations often provide help desk support to their customers via a
toll-free number, website, and/ or e-mail. A typical help desk has several functions. It provides the users
with a single point of contact, to receive help on various product-related issues.
(d) Call Centres: A call centre is a centralized office used to receive and transmit a large volume of
requests by telephone. A call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product support
or information inquiries from consumers. Outgoing calls for telemarketing, clientele, product services,
and debt collection are also made.
(e) System integration: To offer qualitative and frequent front end services, back end integration is also
required. Along with CRM, ERP package is also required. ERP (enterprise resource planning) helps in
automating business function of production, inventory, finance, order fulfilment and human resource
giving an integrated view of business, whereas CRM automates the relationship with the customer by
sales force automation, sales forecasting, customer order processing. and fulfilment, delivery,
installation, pre-sales, and post-sales services offering, etc.
(f) Kiosks: A kiosk is a standalone, interactive computer, often equipped with a touch-screen, that offers
customers several service options including product information, ability to make a purchase, and review
of a customer's account. Kiosks are now widely used for airline check-in, retail job applications, and
banking,
Thus, CRM gives a 360° view of the people, process and technology that help the company in achieving a
sound market position.
BARRIERS TO CRM:
(1) Wrong implementation: The wrong implementation of technology-led CRM projects could be the
reason for failure. Some of these key projects are initiated purely to implement new technology,
without ensuring that the technology supports a solid business case. If CRM is considered an IT project
and not a business initiative leveraging technology, then the business is not driving the change of its
business practices.
(2) Lack of commitment: Lack of commitment from the executive sponsor usually indicates that key
stakeholders need to be convinced that the initiatives will fulfil their business objectives. The key
stakeholders must understand that the real world value derived from the CRM implementation is worth
the change. Communication has to be successful at all levels with a clear communication process in
place.
(3) Quality of data: The business needs to be ready with quality data to load into the system and to start
capturing new data effectively. The system results will only be as good as the data that is loaded and
collected. The data is gold in the business. The business results are then built around the business rules
which need to be defined clearly, ensuring they create profit which can then be tracked. The greatest
success will come from the closely coordinated efforts of the business and technical staff. Data quality,
availability and integration issues all need addressing.
(4) Resistance to change: Change Management failure is one of the most common reasons for CRM
projects to fail Managing the change associated with people, processes, and systems requires
coordination, communication, and control of the schedule. Without your people prepared and on-
board, the processes and systems will not happen successfully within your timeframe. Different training
for users, technical staff, and support staff is important so that they each know their role and the
rationale for change.
(5) Unclear objectives: Business Objectives being unclear and ill-defined business processes and rules
are another cause of CRM project failure. Two of the common mistakes for project teams are: to simply
automate the current processes and to make them suit the CRM product instead of supporting the
business. A major understanding of the business model is required to ensure the system correctly
reveals the defined business processes, rather than forcing the CRM product onto users.
(6) Work stress: People Risks are difficult to manage Changes to existing work practices can create stress
and uncertainty in the workplace. Implementations of new CRM systems may lead to the replacement of
old systems, processes, and people. This uncertainty can generate fear and lead to resistance or a lack of
morale during key initiatives. It is vital to address people's issues and have a strong steering committee
in place to manage factors that are mainly outside of the project deliverables. In multicultural
organizations, a lack of managing culture can also result in a lack of morale. poor motivation, and high
attrition. Unrealistic client expectations, constant prerequisite changes, long working hours, and
stringent timelines can also lead frustration at all levels.
CRM is used as synonyms to Relationship marketing. which took place back into the pre-industrial era in
the form of interaction between producers of agricultural products and consumers. Slowly it moved to
artisans, who started offering customized products. With the expansion of markets, a large number of
middlemen was involved to facilitate the quick flow of product to the widespread customer. With the
advent of middlemen in the channel, the producer went away from the consumer, which thus realized
the need of maintaining a relationship with the customer, to provide them with the customized product.
Relationship marketing centres are developing an on going relationship with consumers across a family
of related products and services. Its purpose is to build a long-term bond between the company and the
consumer. In this competitive environment, retaining customers works out cheaper than acquiring new
ones, thus forcing companies to work on building strong relationships.
Relationship marketing attempts to involve and integrate customers, suppliers and other infrastructural
partners into a firm's developmental and marketing activities. Such involvement results in close
interactive relationships with suppliers, customers or other value chain partners of the firm.
PURPOSE OF RELATIONSHIP MARKETING:

A customer is the actual or potential buyer of a product. Different roles can be identified in the context
of consumers, namely, buyer, decider, initiator, influencer, user, disposer Today's companies are going
head over heels to retain customers. The fact is that the cost of attracting a new customer is far more
than keeping a current customer happy. The task of creating strong customer loyalty is called
relationship marketing. It is a philosophy of doing business in a highly competitive market with strategic
orientation focusing on improving relations with existing key customers to develop lifetime customers.
Marketers are finding new ways to communicate with their customers and capitalizing on a long-term
relationship. This is made possible as marketers are maintaining a database on consumers to customize
and target their messages more precisely. On the other hand, consumers signal their needs and
preferences and ensure that the products are tailored to those desires.
The main aim of Relationship Marketing is creating, keeping and maximizing the profitability of good
customers. It helps in identifying the most valuable and profitable customers and focusing one's
marketing efforts towards them.
Higher revenues can be generated from the existing set of best customers, at a limited incremental cost.
Identifying the least profitable customer groups helps in developing cost-saving strategies.
Role of Relationship Marketing in Value Creation:
The concept of value in business markets has recently attracted attention from managers of various
organizations. Value could be measured monetarily and non- monetarily. In short, the value can be
regarded as a trade-off between benefits and sacrifices. Customers are becoming a key source of
competitive advantage because, in addition to revenues, suppliers can gain product ideas, technologies,
market access, etc from their customers, Value creation is regarded as the essential purpose for a
customer firm and a supplier firm engaging in a relationship,
The creation of mutual value will become the centre of both the customer and the firm, value is jointly
shared among all the parties involved. Customer value is the overall benefit derived from the product,
however, the customer defines it, at the price the customer is willing to pay. Information about
customer value allows the firm to adapt its offerings to meet customer value expectations. Customer
value influences customer attitudes and correspondingly customer choice behaviour.
FRAMEWORK FOR DEPLOYING VALUE OF CRM IN AN ORGANIZATION: (ORGANIZATION PERVASIVE

APPROACH)
Five S's is a format used by management consultants to relate organizational characteristics and
capability to the CRM implementation strategy.
(1) Strategy: CRM is the most influential customer strategy of the decade. CRM has developed into a full
fledged business strategy involving millions of dollars. Planning is required as to how long actual CRM
implementation take? How long does it take to see some return an investment after employing a CRM
on strategy? A company can expect a fair share of return on investment equivalent to at least ten times
its investment. Companies should comprehend the fact that they are starting up a project that could
take at least 5 years but will lead to a phenomenal increase in market share. Since most organizations
try to get the whole organization involved in a CRM project they face considerable difficulty. This
happens as most organizations are built to resist change. It is important to concentrate on one
department, make evident changes and then get the rest of the organization involved.
(2) Skills: Since the implementation of CRM is a huge task it is important to plan for individual training
within the organization for example classroom training, expert training, etc. can be opted for so that
they are enabled to possess the necessary skills required for the job. This is an important part of CRM
implementation. Employees should be encouraged to provide feedback on how well the CRM training
has gone and whether or not they need additional help.
(3) Structure: Organizations should establish their business goals as per its structure. Next, they need to
establish a CRM project that has a short delivery period so that the project can be delivered in a short
timeframe if the organization is small and has a simple structure. For such kind of organization, it is
better to opt for small individual projects than a mammoth one. This will ensure that there is adequate
return on investment and that there are considerable cost reduction and efficiency.
(4) Staff: CRM executives and top management should be involved. Their participation is critical to the
achievement of CRM goals and objectives. The CRM committee appointed or the CRM manager should
actively participate in all aspects of the CRM implementation from the inception to the deployment.
Responsibility should be given to the appropriate persons and ensured that they carry it through and
thereby avail of all the possible CRM benefits.
(5) Shared Value: Since the CRM implementation will bring with it new changes and new challenges the
resources at hand must be used to deal adquately with possible change. It is important to focus on the
possibility that changes will undoubtedly occur in the future.
IMPLEMENTING TECHNOLOGY BASED CRM SOLUTION:
If an organization has made up its mind for CRM implementation it has to first decide which type of CRM
it needs to install. It can consider a conventional CRM software solution within the office premises using
client server architecture and all related hardware and data. Else, it can opt for web-based CRM
solution. In this age of the global market, with worldwide customers and remote offices, a web-based
software solution can help manage customers without any constraints of location or time.
Web-based CRM software is installed on the service provider's server or partner servers. The data is also
stored in the data storage servers of the CRM solution provider or the servers of partners. The CRM
solution provider staffs do all administration and technical support. One can select the features and any
additional databases and applications if required. Only one need is a web browser and an Internet
connection to log in and access.
Features of Web-based Solution:
A conventional CRM software implementation within an organization involves setting up the hardware
such as servers and data storage devices on the premises.
The CRM software solutions include databases and applications, which are set up and installed in the
server according to the needs of the organization.
The CRM client software is used to communicate with the server and database for various customer-
related functions - tracking prospective customers, customer meetings, requests, orders, etc.
Competent security experts have to be hired for the security of the data which is of utmost importance
to any firm.
Web-based CRM software solution is less expensive, quicker to install and easier to use.
Advantages of a web-based CRM Software Solution: CRM web-based software charges on a subscription
basis are less expensive in the short term.
As the hardware and software are already maintained by the service provider, it is easy and fast to start
interacting with customers through CRM software.
This CRM system can be accessed by the user with a web browser. It gives users friendly web interfaces
and self-service administration tools such as wizards for routine administrative procedures. Remote
users can also access the CRM software easily without the need for special client software.
Web-based CRM software demand service provider offers the services of technical staff for software
administration, troubleshooting, database storage, and data security.
Web-based CRM is also easily suitable to accommodate growing business needs.
MANAGING CUSTOMER EMOTIONS:
Managing customer emotions is the next edge for companies seeking competitive advantage in the
marketplace; its value is derived from the creation of emotional bonds of loyalty between a company
and its customers and the strong effect of emotions on what we recall.
Monitoring customer emotions is very important Anything negative or below expectations can be
damaging to your organization. For instance, you may buy a bread a hundred times from the same
location but it is the one occasion when the bread was undercooked that you will recall easily.
In subsequent years predicting that emotional management will come to the power as companies
realize the value and competitive advantage to be had through suggesting the right and avoiding the
wrong customer emotional responses.
BRAND BUILDING THROUGH RELATIONSHIP MARKETING:
The goal in brand building is to carefully manage a company's name, brands, slogans, and symbols.
otherwise known as brand equity. The main challenge lies in how to quantify this important intangible
asset.
David Aaker (1991) breaks down brand building into the following components:
Brand loyalty - This is a measure of the attachment a customer has to a brand. How likely is customer to
switch to another brand?
Brand loyalty can be measured quantitatively in several techniques. So can brand awareness through
surveys and interviews. Many qualitative techniques are used to generate measures for perceived
quality and brand associations.
Companies can gaze at brand building as if they were managing an asset. It can be calculated by
removing from operating earnings attributed to a brand the cost of capital, taxes, and risk and then
determining the value of the remaining number as a discounted cash flow extending out five or more
years.
By considering brand value as an asset, investments in the brand building can be measured and more
easily compared with other corporate investments, the value of the brand and the performance of the
investments can be tracked and the performance of detailed brand activities can be monitored.
Brand equity as a measurement framework can also incorporate traditional and easier to determine
ineasures such as market share, sales volume, the number of customer inquiries, customer and
customer retention, among others.
SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENTS:
A Service Level Agreement (or SLA) is the part of a contract which defines exactly what services a service
provider will provide and the required level or standard for those services. The SLA is usually part of an
outsourcing or managed services agreement or can be used in facilities management agreements and
other agreements for the provision of services.
Elements of SLA:
(1) Overall objectives: The SLA should set out the overall objectives for the services to be provided. For
example, if the aim of having an external provider is to improve performance, save costs or provide
access to skills and/ or technologies that cannot be provided internally, then the SLA should mention the
same. This will support the customer to craft the service levels to meet these objectives and should
leave the service provider in no doubt as to what is required and why.
(2) Description of the Services: The SLA should comprise a detailed description of the services. Each
service should be defined i.e. there should be a description of what the service is, where it is to be
provided, to whom it is to be provided and when it is required. For example, if one of the services is the
delivery of a specific report, the relevant provision of the SLA should describe the report, state what it
should include, state its format (perhaps referring to a specific template), how it is to be delivered (e.g.
by email), to whom, when and at what frequency (e.g. to the finance team daily by 10 am each weekday
morning).
(3) Performance Standards: The customer should state the expected standards of performance. This will
vary depending on the service. Often a customer will want performance standards at the highest level,
in practice, this might prove to be impossible, unnecessary or very expensive to achieve. On the other
hand, the service provider argues that service levels should be set deliberately low to guarantee that the
service can be provided at a competitive price. The service provider and the customer will also need to
set these performance standards in the context of anticipated workloads and the service levels may
need to vary in the light of any changes to these workloads during the contract. All this can be built into
the SLA so that the cost implications of a change in workload can be factored in.
(4) Compensation/Service Credits: For the SLA failure to achieve the service level, the financial
consequences for the service provider need to be faced. This is most often achieved through the
inclusion of a service credit regime. In essence, where the service provider fails to achieve the agreed
performance standards, the service provider will pay or credit the customer an agreed amount which
should act as an incentive for improved performance. Service credits can be given where there are three
or more failures to meet a service level in any specified period.
(5) Critical Failure: If the SLA only included a service credit regime then, unless the service provided was
so bad as to constitute a material breach of the contrac as a whole, the customer could find itself in the
position of having to pay for unsatisfactory overall performance The solution is to include a right for the
customer to terminate the agreement if service delivery becomes unacceptably bad. So the SLA should
include a level of critical service level failure, below which the service provider has this termination right.
With an online service, availability of that service is crucial so you might expect the right to terminate to
arise earlier than for failu to Service Level Agreements provide routine reports on time.
There are six steps to the SLA process map.
Step 1: Decide the objective of the CRM strategy.
Step 2: Meet with the other party to define requirements and expectations.
Step 3: Defined performance measures.
Step 4: Define rewards and penalties.
Step 5: monitor performance.
Step 6: To review the SLA regularly, at least annually.
RELATIONSHIP CHALLENGES:
Key aspects of such a marketing approach are not only to get customers and create transactions bu
maintaining and enhancing on-going relations- exists exchanges should inevitably occur.
In relationship marketing, the firm cannot predetermine a set of marketing variables. Instead,
depending upon the stage and nature of the relationship with any given existing or potential customer,
it must use all resources and activities that make the desired marketing impact by creating value and
enhancing satisfaction regardless of where an organization is located.
Measuring ROI (Return on Investment) is difficult.
Huge funds are required to maintain a continuous relationship with Customers. The amount of spend is
very large which becomes as difficult for the company to arrange.
To maintain relationship marketing company must use electronic modes of communication for Hassel
free service but for the small organization, it becomes very difficult e.g.: small firm finds it difficult to
maintain its website.
Choosing the right kind of technology to maintain frequent contacts is also a challenge.
The selection of a Proper CRM Manager is also a challenge.
Marketing mainly deals with providing functionalities of long term planning and Short term execution of
marketing related activities within an organization. For long term marketing plans, Quantitative as well
as Qualitative measures (targets) can be set for a defined period and for different product groups which
are then monitored based on the actual performance throughout the defined period.
Short Term execution includes running Marketing campaigns via different communication channels
targeting a pre-defined group of potential buyers with a specific message referring to a product or a
group of products.
One key objective of the Marketing function of the CRM software is to generate sales related leads,
which finally get converted into Sales Revenues for the company.
For larger companies, a marketing initiative can be a theme. For instance, a set of commercials that use
a specific character or funny situation over and over may be considered a marketing initiative. This,
though. would certainly be more common with large businesses.
CROSS SELLING:
Cross-selling is an old and valuable technique used by salespeople to increase order size and to
transform single-product buyers into multi-product ones. More recently, cross-selling has evolved into a
strategy for customer relationship management
Cross-selling is one of the most useful tools in a salesperson's toolbox when it comes to increasing sales
volume per customer.
Within the customer management, cross-selling has become a valuable relationship Context of strategy
for customer development, for several reasons:
(a) There is a belief that it costs five times less to serve an existing customer than to acquire new one.
(b) Response rates from cross-selling efforts are 2 to 5 times greater than cold sales.
(c) Cross-selling leads to a broader scope for the customer relationship, increasing not only share of
wallet but also the firm's "share of mind" with the customer.
(d) By broadening the scope of the relationship, cross selling increases the actual and psychological costs
of switching, improving retention.
(e) As the customer buys more products and services from the firm and broadens the scope of the
relationship, the firm learns more about the customer's needs and preferences, improving its ability to
target marketing efforts and to cross-sell.
BENEFITS OF CROSS SELLING:
It costs five times less to serve an existing customer than to acquire a new one.
Response rates from cross-selling efforts are 2 to 5 times greater than normal sales.
By broadening the scope of the relationship, cross selling increases the actual and psychological costs of
switching, improving retention.
As the customer buys more products and services from the firm and broadens the scope of the
relationship, the firm learns more about the customer's needs and preferences, improving its ability to
target marketing efforts and to cross-sell. This information advantage, added with the higher costs of
switching, produces a virtual local monopoly for the firm, which is then better able to compete for its
customers than other firms that do not have an established relationship or access to the same
information about their needs and preferences.
Costs are lower, as the contact is initiated by the customer, and there is no waste in reaching the
customer however his mind-set is already centered on the firm and its services.
Customer problem will be solved to his satisfaction, the customer is more receptive to the cross-selling
suggestion, particularly when this suggestion meets his needs. For example, if the customer called
because of an overdraft on her account, and the overdraft is explained and resolved, she will be more
open to considering enrolment into an overdraft-protection plan.
PITFALLS OF CROSS SELLING:
Excessive cross-selling may irritate customers and cause switching. It is termed as "over-touching" the
customer. Intuitively, if a customer is turned off by inappropriate cross-sell attempt, that customer
would likely have a negative feeling against another sales pitch, and would probably not accept it. If the
annoyance continues, he/she may avoid contacting the company and even switch.
At the extreme, the customer becomes annoyed, and the cross-selling strategy produces the opposite of
its ultimate goals, leading to customer attrition.
Several times cross-selling is done at the cost of profitability, mostly in case of financial services where
many services are offered under one roof to the customer but it may not add up to the profit margin of
the firm.
EXAMPLES OF CROSS SELLING:
At Citicorp, call center operators ask credit card customers if they are interested in auto insurance;
those who answer positively are transferred to Travelers auto insurance call center.
State Bank of India has been using the technique of cross-selling for the last several years. Through cross
selling, it has been offering a banquet of the best. financial and insurance solution in addition to its vast
array of banking products. The Bank as a corporate agent offers mainly life insurance products of SBI Life
Insurance Company, general insurance products of SBI General Insurance Company, mutual fund
products of SBI Mutual Funds and Credit Cards of SBI Cards.
Syndicate bank now caters to the needs of its customers by offering various ICICI prudential Mutual
Fund schemes and help in strengthening the existing relationship with the Bank's clientele base and
provide an opportunity to cross-sell.
UP SELLING:
Up-selling involves the increase of order volume either by the sales of more units of the same purchased
item, or the upgrading into a more expensive version of the purchased item.
Up-selling is somewhat less need-based in it orientation and typically involves the salesperson building
value in the product being offered.
BENEFITS OF UP-SELLING:
It helps to increase sales, profits and connect the company with more experienced and respected
marketers.
It helps in increasing customer loyalty and trust b providing added value to customers.
It induces "Wow" factor in customer service making th customer feel appreciated, important and
respected.
There are five ways for up-selling:
Offering a greater quantity for a slightly higher price Offering complimentary products.
Offering related products.
Offering a premium product.
Rewarding loyalty.
EXAMPLES OF UP SELLING:
McDonald's has a strategy where a for "Anything else would u like to order with French salesperson will
ask Fries?" and if your answer turns as "No that's it. He I will let you know the monetary benefit of the
meal.
In hotels instead confirming that the booking is in order and congratulating them on their choice
receptionist will mention if you would be interested in an upgrade to get even better value.
CUSTOMER RETENTION:
An important aspect of an organization is to think about what should be the reasons that enhance
repeat purchases. Successful customer retention provides valuable content and education that meets
their customers' needs. It shows how the brand understands the customer.
Customer retention reflects the state of mind that customers have about a company and its products or
services when their expectations have been met or exceeded. This state reflects the lifetime of the
product or service experience."
Customer retention requires attention to customer details. Establishing personal relationships is

difficult, especially as businesses grow. Effective customer retention management can help an
organization to build a business. Customer retention by its very nature is individualized and will vary by
the kind of product or service provided, the kinds of customers served, the number of customers served,
the longevity and frequency of customer/supplier interactions and way organization intend to grow the
business. Thus; Customer Retention provides understanding of customers' expectations and satisfaction.
CUSTOMER RETENTION MANAGEMENT:
Customer retention management is a tactically driven approach based on customer behavior. Customer
retention is considered by both scholars and practitioners to be one of the critical success factors for
retail businesses with its implications for cost savings and profitability. Retained customers enhance
profitability with their lower sensitivity to price changes and their likelihood of referring new customers.
The target of customer retention is to build and maintain a long term relationship with customers. Both
parties - the company and the customers - benefit from each other.
NEED FOR CUSTOMER RETENTION:
Customer attrition is a major business issue for organizations to address. It is crucial to maintain and
grow customer relationships to sustain profitable growth. As companies pursue new customers through
acquisition marketing efforts, existing customer attrition undermines that growth. Unchecked, customer
attrition can create "leaky bucket" scenario, whereby new customers poured into the business are
insufficient to offset the outflow of customers from the business.
High customer satisfaction has a crucial influence various psychological criteria, e.g. the mental attitude
confidence, etc. but also on factors like customer's behavior regarding repurchase, cross-selling, and
recommendations. These factors are known to be a huge influencing factor concerning the economical
success of a company.
Benefits of customer retention are as follows:
(1) Reduce the cost of acquisition: The acquisition of a new customer costs 5 to 10 times more than
maintaining an existing customer. Therefore customer retention has a positive effect on costs.
(2) Increase in client base: Customer retention helps also to decrease the migration rate of customers.
This serves the purpose to maintain the existing clientele and together with instruments for acquiring
new customers to increase the clientele.
(3) Repurchasing: Customer retention and repurchasing are interrelated. Those customers who will
remain with the organization are expected to repurchase.
(4) Increase in turnover: Retained customers bring about positive results for the organization. With
repurchase decisions, turnover increases.
(5) Profitable relation: The "value of a customer" increases with time. The costs for customer liaison and
support decline, whereas the turnover increases. The longer the relationship exists, the more profitable
the relationship becomes.
(6) Mouth publicity: Customers who are satisfied with the service of a company are likely to advertise
positive word-of-mouth recommendations. This is one of the most efficient but also economic activities
to win new customers.
CUSTOMER HANDLING:
In modern times companies advance from product-or campaign-centric to customer-centric marketing,

a set of best practices is emerging that focus on measuring and increasing the lifetime value of the
customer base, one customer at a time. Today, quality customer service may be what distinguishes a
company from its rivals. Retailers with poor customer service risk losing revenues, profits and even
exiting of business. But retailers know some customers make offering high-quality service difficult.
Various difficult customers come in several attributes, including-Angry, impatient, intimidating, talkative,
demanding and Indecisive. The challenge is to handle the situation in a way that leaves a good and
lasting impression on customers.
Following are the few considerations in handling customers:
Get Control of Yourself: Never discuss with customers when they are angry, displeased or complaining. If
you allow a customer to push your controls and lose control of yourself, you may lose control of the
situation. Think of losing a good customer if you express boredom, irritation, disregard or anger.
Listen and Let the Customer Vent: Listen to your customer; don't look for the close exit. The customer
wants to be listened to, acknowledged and understood. Maintain eye contact. Show your consideration
by standing or sitting up straight; lying or drooping makes you seem inattentive and disinterested.
Uncross your arms which indicates you are listening with an open mind. Let the person talk, and pay
close attention. Repeat or summarise some of what you hear.
wShow the Customer You Care: Show concern for the customer's feelings. Maintain a concerned,
sincere and attentive facial expression. Your voice, as well as your body language and expression, links
your attitude. People respond more to how you say something than what you say. When a customer
tries to threaten you, stay calm and ask, "What can we do to help?" This kind of question can also help
you get away faster from a talkative, choosy or confused customer who takes over your time.
Don't Blame the Customer or the Company: When explaining your store's policy or trying to clarify what
went wrong, use either the indirect approach ("There are a few questions before I can give you a
refund.") or "1" statements ("I need additional information.") as much as possible. Don't acknowledge
that you or your company is to blame. That could lead to legal proceedings.
Try to Solve the Problem, or Get Someone Who Can: Even if explaining the customer's problem isn't
among your job duties, never reflect this to the customer. Gather all the information you can, and then
tell the customer how you can help.
Finally, don't make promises you can't keep up to. Get assistance from someone who knows more, is
quieter, or has more power and authority.
REASONS FOR CUSTOMER SWITCHING:
The traditionally monopolistic market situation has changed dramatically for the majority during the
past few years. The scenario is to face keen competition, and the most important strategic issue is to
keep the existing customers happy and prevent them from switching as well as attracting new
customers. The companies have to develop new business strategies based on customer-driven value
creation to improve productivity and profitability in the new service competition.
(1) Price: When customers are completely dissatisfied with the pricing mix they switch to competitors.
Either a customer will feel the price of the product is overvalued or he may find competitors' pricing is
appropriate.
(2) Service failure: A major factor that affects the customer's perception of a service provider is the
number and extent of the problems they encounter and how these problems are handled. A problem a
customer has with a service can be called a "service failure". When customers encounter a service
failure, they can either not complain, or complain and allow the service provider to rectify the problem.
(3) Deteriorating Quality: Quality of product or service offered is the most important aspect which is to
be considered while making repurchase. If a customer is not satisfied with the quality of the product
offered he will forcefully switch to a competitor.
(4) Lack of communication with customers: Few organizations have lost the importance of close
communication loop with customers. They identified customer information through complaints to be
particularly important. However, even more, important is that the providers should give a response to
the feedback given regularly. Also, the provider's response to the complaints is not satisfactory thus
resulting in switching.
CUSTOMER RETENTION STRATEGIES:
Nowadays the challenging question for marketers is not only acquisition but also customer retention.
There are 3 retention strategies:
(1) Customer complaint management strategy.
(2) Service recovery strategies.
(3) Managing customer waiting strategy.
(1) Customer Complaint Management Strategy:
Consumer complaint management as an important part of defensive marketing strategy which aims at
customer retention by pleasing them, in contrast with the offensive marketing strategy that focuses on
generating new customers. Each complaint follows a set procedure which results in the formulation of
an "Action Plan" based upon:
How the complaint occurred.
Why the complaint occurred.
The action required to resolve the problem.
The action required to ensure that a problem of this type does not occur again.
Overall complaint manageraent works on three pillars: Focusing on customers, complaints and Process
improvement.
Customer organization. is the most important pillar of the An organization should respond to the
complaint immediately, complete its communication with the customer properly with them and
improve the relationship.
Focusing on complaint highlight the nature of the complaint being received from the customer.
Based on complaints received from customers, the process is been improved in areas of response time,
cycle time, internal processes related to the complaints, and complaint frequency.
Following are the Principles of Complaint Handling Strategy:
An effective complaint handling system must be modelled on the principles of fairness, accessibility,
responsiveness, efficiency, and integration:
(1) Fairness: A complainant must be treated fairly. It should be recognized that there is often a power
imbalance between them and the agency they are complaining about fairness rests on three qualities -
impartiality, confidentiality, and transparency.
(2) Impartiality: Impartial investigation is vital to the credibility and success of a complaint handling
system. Complaint handling staff should not be defensive about their agency or its staff. Nor should a
complainant be obliged to prove they are right or the agency is wrong. A complaint should be treated on
its merits, with an open mind and without prejudice arising from any previous contact between the
complainant and the agency.
(3) Confidentiality: Clients have a right to expect that their privacy will be respected and their complaint
will be investigated in private. Personal details that need to be disclosed for one purpose might need
protection in other situations. For example, it will often be necessary to identify a complainant to the
staff member whose actions have been complained about, but the same details may not need to be
disclosed in a management report on complaint incidents and trends.
(4) Transparency: A complainant is entitled to know how a complaint will be handled and the outcome
of the investigation. There should be complete transparency in the system. Complaint process and
expected timeliness standards for handling the complaint a contact number is given to each
complainant, preferably with the name of a contact person a report on progress is provided if a
complaint is not resolved promptly, with an explanation for the delay the outcome of an investigation.
(5) Accessibility: A complaint handling system should be accessible to clients. Accessibility rests on two
features public awareness of the system and effective access options.
(6) Awareness: An agency should tell its clients about its complaint system and how to gain access to it.
Information can be provided in numerous ways - for example, on the agency's website, in
correspondence with a client and through pamphlets and posters. Some complaint handling units
conduct outreach activities, have a telephone directory listing or use media coverage. When dealing
with dissatisfied clients, agency staff also have a responsibility to direct them to the complaint process.
(7) Access: Clients should be given a range of contact options, an email address, and a postal address.
Other options that can be considered are face-to-face contact with a staff member and online
lodgement of complaints. The contact options available to clients should be identified and simple to use.
(8) Responsiveness: A complaint handling system must be responsive to the needs of all complainants.
This requires proper training of staff, adequate resources for the complaint unit or function, and
constant review and improvement of the system. Special measures might be needed for clients who
have particular needs, for managing contact with vulnerable people, and for responding to
unreasonable demands or behavior.
(9) Efficiency: A complaint handling system should be efficient. Ways and means of dealing with a
complaint will differ from one complaint to another. Simple complaints should usually be resolved
quickly on the first contact with an agency; often this will not require the participation of specialized
complaint handling staff. More complex or sensitive matters may take longer to resolve and might need
specialist attention. A regulatory standard is that complaints should be handled in a way that is balanced
and appropriate to the matter being complained about.
(10) Integration: Proper integration of a complaint system with the work and structure of an agency
should be achieved in various ways: The complaint system should be recognized as a separate unit or
branch that is shown on the organizational chart.
The complaint unit should be headed by or report directly to a senior manager.
Reports on complaints and complaint trends should be a regular agenda item for executive management
meetings.
How complaints have been handled and finalized should be a performance measure for the agency.
Complaint Management at LIC(Life Insurance Corporation):
In a vast organization like LIC, catering to the various needs and aspirations of millions of policyholders,
grievances of customers do arise occasionally. To redress these grievances LIC has established elaborate
an Grievance Redressal Machinery which comprises of:
(a) Grievance Redressal Officers: Grievance Redressal Officers have been designated at all levels of the
Organisation:
At the branch level, At the divisional level, At the zonal level, At the Central level: and At the Zonal level:
(b) Claims Review Committee: The Corporation settles a large number of Death Claims every year. Only
in case of fraudulent suppression of material information is the liability rejected. This is to safeguard
that claims are not paid to fraudulent persons of the cost of honest policyholders. The number of Death
Claims not accepted are, however, very small. Even in these cases, an opportunity is given to the
applicant to make a demonstration for concern by the Review Committees of the Zonal office and the
Central Office. As an outcome of such review, depending on the merits of each case, appropriate
decisions are taken. The Claims Review Committees of the Central and Zonal Offices have among their
Members, a retired High Court/District Court Judge. This has assisted in providing transparency and
confidence in our operations and has resulted in greater satisfaction among claimants, policyholders,
and the public.
(c) Policyholder Councils And Zonal Advisory Boards: In all the 109 Divisional Centres, Policyholders'
Councils have been established. Three policyholders of the area represent the interest of the
policyholders and interact with the Divisional Management on consumer concerns. Similarly, at all the
seven Zonal Centres Zonal Advisory Boards are functioning.
(d) Citizens' Charter: LIC has adopted a Citizens Charter through which it repeats its commitments to the
customers and the standards for general procedures the standards for policy servicing, the standards
easy access to information for customers and the standards for fairness in dealing with the customers
have been laid down.
(2) Service Recovery Strategy:
Service failure is almost predictable, and organizations must have proper service recovery strategies to
win over upsetting customers. Consumer research has then suggested that service recovery can
generate customer satisfaction and loyalty as well as positive word of mouth advertising. Poor service,
on the other hand, can result in negative customer experience, leading to complaints and have an
impact on customer's decisions on repurchase.
There are various strategies in service recovery:
(a) Track complaints: One strategy is to encourage and track complaints. For companies to have a
chance to recover a customer when a service failure has occurred, the customer must complain.
Therefore one major management challenge is how to elicit complaints. Companies should take the
complaint as positive feedback for better improvement in service delivery.
(b) Act quickly: It is universally proved that customer satisfaction is connected to how fast the company
responds. To enable quick response well-developed systems and procedures are required as well as
empowered employees.
(c) Detailed explanations: If employees explain to the customer why the failure occurred, negative
reactions may be diffused. The explanations must contain relevant information and be delivered
sincerely and creditable. Service recovery also includes treating customers fairly. The customers expect
to be treated fairly in terms of the outcome, the process of the recovery and the interpersonal
treatment from the employees that are attempting the service recovery. The customers often see
apologizing and making a sincere effort to solve the problem as fair treatment.
(d) Develop relationships: Companies should also cultivate relationships with customers. Customers that
have a strong relationship with the company are often more forgiving of service failure and more open
to service recovery efforts.
(e) Learn from recovery experiences: This is valuable information available with the company. The
customers often see apologizing and making a sincere effort to solve the problem as fair treatment.
Companies must learn from lost customers. To find the reasons for why the customers left may help
prevent customer loss and failures in the future.
(3) Managing Customer Waiting Strategy:
One of the most important components of customer retention is waiting for management.
Following are the strategies for managing the waiting time:
A service organization can reduce costs and thus improve profitability by efficient waiting management.
A cost is associated with a customer waiting in line and there is cost associated with adding new
counters to reduce service time.
Waiting time could be reduced by stressing the importance of planning and monitoring the customer's
entire visit, also capturing data and information at each point of contact with a member of staff or self-
service point.
An organization can link all the service points together, helping managers understand the dynamics of
the customer's visit and ultimately their experience.
It can increase sales and productivity by up to 30% and decrease costs by up to 30% by ensuring that the
right customer is at the right place, at the right time and is serviced by the most appropriate staff
member.
It also increases customer and staff satisfaction by reducing the actual as well as the perceived waiting
time and creating a relaxed environment characterized by a controiled and fair waiting process.
Managing to wait can also generate data and insights to drive ongoing business improvements with a
mid to long term perspective.
The use of technology and point of sales could also be used to reduce customers' waiting.
WAYS TO HANDLE WAITING TIME:
(1) Unoccupied Time Feels Longer Than Occupied Time:When an individual sits idle, he gets to become
impatient. Thus many service organizations make provisions for customers, as to, something to do to
distract them while waiting. Doctors, lawyers, dentists, and such professionals stock their waiting rooms
with piles of magazines for people to read while waiting. Servicing and repairing facilities may have a
television for customers to watch. Some of the service providers, like spa, salon services provide their
customers with free popcorn, soft drinks, coffee, and ice cream while they wait for their service. Theme
parks supply moving bands of entertainers to amuse customers waiting in line for the most popular
attractions.
(2) Pre and Post Process Waits Feel Longer Than In Process Waits: There's a superficial difference
between waiting to buy a ticket to enter a theme park and waiting to ride on a roller coaster once you're
in the park. There's also a difference between waiting for Pizza to arrive and waiting for the server to
bring you the check once you're ready to leave. Customers are characteristically more patient during the
core service delivery process than before it starts or after it's completed. pre-process wait; a wait before
service delivery begins. in-process wait: await that occurs during service delivery. post-process wait:
await that occurs after service delivery has been completed.
(3) Anxiety Makes Waits Seem Longer: Can you recall waiting for someone to meet and worrying about
whether you had the time and/ or the location correct?
Anxiety is created in such a situation thinking about the waiting time, the person whom you are
meeting. location shared and his understanding of the location. While waiting in unfamiliar locations,
especially out-of doors and after dark, people are often restless about their safety.
(4) Uncertain Waits Are Longer Than Known Finite Waits: Although any wait may be frustrating, we can
usually adjust mentally to a wait of known length. It's the unknown that keeps us on edge. Maybe
you've had the experience of waiting for a delayed flight when you haven't been told how long the delay
is going to be. This is unsettling because you don't know whether you have time to get up and walk
around the terminal or whether to stay at the gate in case the flight is called any minute. Airlines often
try to calm down their customers by giving them new take-off times for delayed flights (which are
usually prolonged several times before the aircraft leaves the gate).
(5) Unexplained Waits Are Longer Than Explained Waits: Have you ever been in a subway or an elevator
that has stopped for no apparent reason? In such a situation, there is always uncertainty about the
length of the wait, along with worry about what is going to happen next. Has there been an accident on
the line? Will you have to exit the subway in the tunnel? Is the elevator broken? Will you be stuck for
hours in closeness with strangers?
(6) Unfair Waits Are Longer Than Equitable Waits: Expectations about what is fair or unfair sometimes
vary from one culture or country to another. In America, Canada, or Britain, for example, people expect
everybody to wait their turn in line and are likely to get irritated if they see others jumping ahead or
being given priority for no apparent good reason. In some other countries, it is acceptable to push or
shove to the front of a line to receive faster service.
(7) The More Valuable the Service, the Longer People Will Wait: People will queue overnight under
uncomfortable conditions to get good seats at a major concert, movie opening, or sports event that is
expected to sell out. Solo Waits Feel Longer Than Group Waits It's reassuring to wait with one or more
people you know. Conversation with friends can help to pass the time, and some people are
comfortable conversing with strangers while they wait in line.
(8) Uncomfortable Waits Feel Longer Than Comfortable Waits: "My feet are killing me!" is one of the
most frequently heard comments when people are forced to stand in line for a long time. And whether
sitting or standing, a wait seems. more burdensome if the temperature is too hot or too cold, if it is
drifty or windy, or if there is no protection from rain or snow.
(9) Unfamiliar Waits Seem Longer Than Familiar Ones: Frequent users of a service know what to expect
and are less likely to worry while waiting. But new or occasional users of a service are often nervous,
wondering about the probable length of the wait and what happens next. They may also be more
concerned about such issues as personal safety.
LEVELS OF RETENTION STRATEGY:
To understand customer retention strategies in detail, Berry and Parasuraman developed 4 levels of
retention strategies in the year 1991:
(1) Financial bonds.
(2) Social bonds..
(3) Customization bonds.
(4) Structural bonds.
(1) Financial Bonds: At this level, the customer is related to the financial incentive. Here, the customer is
waiting for a low price to make huge purchases. At least customers who are with the firm for a long time
expect such financial incentives.
(2) Social Bonds: Strategies at this level tries to both financial and social incentives. Here customers are
bonded through various channels so that the firm understands their needs and wants. Here services
provided by the firm are customized and marketers find their way to stay in touch with their customers,
hence developing social bonds between them. Nowadays technology helps an organization to develop
social bonds. Personalized customer information systems and CRM software are updated regularly. It is
not sure that social bonds will not bring about customer attrition. The only advantage is competitors can
inhibit financial incentives into their strategy but they can't use this strategy as customers will stay back
with the company and not shift to competitors because of social bonds.
(3) Customization Bonds: This bond deals with Mass customization and customer intimacy. Mass
customization deals with the use of flexible processes and structures to provide varied and individually
customized products or services. Customer intimacy involves gathering every information about
customer to anticipate his needs and to supply them the product accordingly.
(4) Structural Bonds: Strategies employed at this level are the most difficult. These are more
complicated as compare to financial incentives and social relationships. here in this strategy; bonds are
created by providing highly customized and frequently designed services with a strong delivery system
for the client. By following this system an organization can save time and keep a better record of its
customers. This is advantageous for an organization but dangerous for the customer as customer tie-up
with one organization can miss their better prospects and opportunities.
Retention campaign by METLIFE Insurance:
MetLife was facing a decline in sales as they observed that customers are getting attracted to new
entrants in the sector because of lower prices. So the Marketing manager decided to go for a retention
management campaign. A key part of this outreach effort was segmentation. The market was
segmented by the length of the customer relationship, the channel through which they bought their
policies, the products they had and their profitability. MetLife started parsing out its national customer
base into different groups, starting with tenure: customers of less than one year, those with 2-6 years
with MetLife, and loyal customers of more than 6 years. Other segmentation areas include profitability -
how many and what type of policy - and, most recently added, life stage, separating mature customers
from younger families.
Retention campaign includes sending postcards, a custom publication and letters to existing customers.
The strategy used so successfully was the product of MetLife's recent national CRM-boosting efforts.
The insurer has only had an active CRM strategy, based on an Equifax-managed database. MetLife
started analyzing calls to identify when traditionally loyal customers come in and note when they
indicate they may change insurers. If the policy looks like it's in trouble, the company will go in with a
proactive retention program of mailings and phone calls. Preferred customers are even offered policy
reviews with service representatives.
Best customers also receive a custom magazine, MetLife, Your Life. The magazine was tailored for
different customer segments. Younger customers, for example, may receive an issue with features on
rental insurance and the importance of covering their electronics, while older customers will be shown
articles on protecting their insurance. assets or travel
After the year-long campaign, MetLife saw a lift in the retention of about 87% among those customers
who had received the letters.
Behavior PREDICTION:
Behavior predictions help marketing departments determine how customers will react in the future.
Benefits of behavior prediction are marketers can target specific customers with the specific marketing
actions likely to have the most desirable impact, every marketing campaign and retention action will be
more successful.
The ROI of upselling, cross-sell and retention campaigns will be greater. For example, imagine being able
to predict which customers will churn and the particular marketing actions which will cause them to
remain long-term customers.
Additionally, customers will feel the greater relevance of the company's communication with them,
resulting greater satisfaction, brand loyalty, and word-of-mouth referrals.
Predicting customer behavior is important only to the extent that effective action can be taken based on
the predictions. Usually, past data is been used to predict future foresee.
The company could decide on various marketing strategies such as offering discounts, smaller segments
creation, cross-selling or packaging in larger quantities for benefit of the customer.
CUSTOMER PROFITABILITY AND VALUE MODELLING:
Customer profitability as a measurable component of marketing started to evolve for three main
reasons. First, the technology that enables us to store millions of data points. Second, in the last ten
years, the sophistication in analytics and modelling has increased many folds. The third catalyst is the
push for marketing to be more accountable. These models allow us to turn customer data into
knowledge. The emphasis on marketing metrics has greatly increased.
To turn CRM data into a customer profitability model, a company must switch from activity-based cost
accounting to customer-based cost accounting. This means allocating costs by customers. The second
component is to move away from a brand management focus to a customer management focus.
In marketing, we say the customer is the king - which we have to provide value to the customer. In
finance, cash is king - how much value do I get from this particular customer? Customer profitability
brings together these two dimensions? Revenue is easier to track because it looks at how much a
customer gives a company.
Customer cost is a harder measure to track because most companies' accounting systems were not
designed to track customer-by-customer costs. Unfortunately, this means that acquisition and
marketing costs are grouped and averaged. Slowly, companies are beginning to allocate costs by
customers because they can see how many times a customer uses products or services.
CHANNEL OPTIMIZATION:
Channel optimization is an application for campaign optimization and execution.
Channel optimization uses advanced techniques to increase the profitability of campaigns. The
application helps marketers determine to whom to send offers, which offers to send, when to send
them and which channels to use.
The objective is to enhance customer targeting across multiple campaigns.Unlike traditional

marketingcampaign approaches, which focus on choosing the best customers for each campaign,
optimization optimizes across the entire Channel set of campaigns and selects the best one for each
customer. This customer-focused approach can result in 25 to 50 percent increases in campaign
revenue.
Predictive analytics carries a significant potential for mainstream business processes, such as marketing
sales. The most important factor that will determine the and success of predictive analytics is the ability
for business users to deploy these analytics in their day-to-day activities and incorporate the results
directly into the actions they are taking. Companies can use multiple direct channels- direct mail, call
center and the Web - to market their products.
PERSONALIZATION:
Personalization and customer relationship management (CRM) are complementary to each other. CRM
is viewed as a strategy to attract, grow and retain customers. Personalization is an approach that can aid
in bringing, staying and returning visitors/customers. They both have the capability of providing the right
information or content (e.g. products, services, and data) to the end user/customer at the right time and
right place. Both provide a customized outcome for customers that can lead to competitive advantage
for firms using either personalization or CRM. The challenge is to incorporate personalization with CRM
to maximize the benefits. The concept of personalization and CRM has expanded in scope to emphasize
a much broader notion of benefits to a company.
Personalization ensures that the users get and receive the information in the format most suitable for
them.
There are three ways to define personalization:
Personalization at the administrator level: Administrators can define personalization for each user by
setting the design of the portal structure for different users. An administrator can define roles, work
sets, portal layout, and access methods for different users. Personalization at the user level: Users can
personalize their content within the control limits set by the administrator.
Automatic personalization through predictive technology: Predictive technology allows for automatic
personalization based on user type, browser type, device type, user location (whether inside or outside
the firewall), connection bandwidth, and the type of event being handled.
EVENT BASED MARKETING:
Event-based marketing is also known as trigger-based marketing, time-sensitive marketing or customer

specific event or driven marketing.
The main goal of event-based marketing is to be able to react to customer events in a short time after
an event occurs.
Dynamic event-based marketing means reacting to a customer event in the optimal frame which would
differ from one event to another.
It requires solid process automation and workflow to be effective. Typically, sales or service actions are
initiated by a company in response to some action by the customer. The customer action triggers the
compan response.
If a business customer emails in a request for information, this might initiate a sales process that
commences with a courtesy call to thank the custom for the request.
Companies can trawl ti.eir transactional histories, and sales and service records, to identify exploitable
connections between events and outcomes.
INTRODUCTION TO DATA:
Data refers to the collection of raw facts and figures. CRM data usually consists of personally identifiable
information. Fundamentally, this means any data that can be used to specifically identify an individual
(such as name, address, email, phone number).
At the centre of a business' CRM is their customer database, which is a truly helpful tool enabling them
to identify customer trends, create customer loyalty and increase their customer communication.
Establishing and maintaining good relationships with customers provided few problems in the past when
businesses were small and customers were identifiable by sight but now the scenario has changed
where large enterprises know their customers with Unique Id code allotted to them.
TYPES OF DATA:
(1) Transactional Data:
Transactional data refers to the data that is generated and updated within the operational systems.
Examples of transactional data included the time, place, price. discount, payment methods, etc. used at
the point o sale. These are the business documents that you create using the master data like purchase
orders, sale orders etc.
Transactional Data can change very often and are n endless. And this data is created/modified out of a
application transaction.
A company's operations are sustained by applications that automate key business processes. These
include areas such as sales, service, order management, manufacturing, purchasing, billing, accounts
receivable and accounts payable. These applications require substantial amounts of data to function
correctly.
This comprises data about the objects that are involved in transactions, as well as the transaction date
itself For example, when a customer buys a product, the transaction is achieved by a sales application.
The objects of the transaction are the Customer and the Product.
Transaction data is data which is regularly updated like sales quantity. It is changed within a short
period.
(2) Reference Data:
Reference data is the data without which you cannot do any transactions and is mandatory for
organization. It describes the things that interact when a transaction occurs. For instance, Reference
data that represent product and customer must be present before the transaction is fired to sell a
product to a customer.
Reference data are distributed throughout the company, they are often not standardized and often
redundant. As a result, it is very costly to offer efficient customer service, keep track of supply chains
and make strategic decisions.
Irrespective of the industry, companies often work with different ERP and Legacy systems. The result:
the business processes are based on information about customers, partners and products which is
exhibited in different ways in the systems. If the data are recorded manually, there are more
discrepancies; some data sets are entered several times, others cannot be regained by all divisions of
the company.
As corporate applications are becoming progressively complex and produce ever greater amounts of
data, the problem is deepened further. Nevertheless, employees must work with inconsistent data and
make decisions on this basis. The lack of standardized reference data easily leads to wrong decisions,
which restrict efficiency and threaten customer satisfaction and profitability.
To save costs and ensure your company's success it is necessary to consolidate reference data about
customers, partners and products, make them available to all employees beyond system boundaries and
use attributes valid company-wide for description.
Reference Data is the data which will describe the type of object, like name, description, cost, length
and dimensions of the object. It is a one-time data. For example if there is material X. The description of
X attributes like what type of material, is it a finished good, prices etc.
Reference data is data which is frequently read but rarely updated like Name, Address. It remains
unchanged for some time like client handling banking application. In the process, the address, account
number of banking customers is reference data.
(3) Data Warehouse:
A data warehouse is a subject-oriented, integrated. time-variant and non-volatile collection of data in

the maintenance of the management decision-making process.
Data warehousing implements the process to access heterogeneous data sources; clean, filter, and
transform the data, and store the data in a structure that is easy to access, understand, and use. The
data is formerly used for the query, reporting, and data analysis.
The volume of data in data warehousing can be very high, mainly when allowing for the requirements.
Data warehousing is a phenomenon that developed from the huge amount of electronic data stored in
recent years and from the crucial need to use that data to accomplish goals that go beyond the routine
tasks linked to daily processing.
A data warehouse is a collection of data that supports decision-making processes.
Features of Data warehouse:
(a) It is subject-oriented: Data warehouses are subject oriented because they hinge on enterprise-
specific concepts, such as customers, products, sales, and orders. On the contrary, operational
databases hinge on many different enterprise-specific applications.
(b) It is integrated and consistent: Data warehouses take advantage of multiple data sources, such as
data extracted from production and then stored to enterprise databases, or even data from a third
party's information systems. A data warehouse should provide a unified view of all the data. Generally
speaking, we can state that creating a data warehouse system does not require that new information be
added; rather, existing information needs rearranging.
(c) It shows its evolution over time: Operational data usually covers short period, because most
transactions involve the latest data. A data warehouse should enable analyses that instead cover a few
years, For this reason, data warehouses are regularly updated from operational data and keep on
growing,
Fundamentally, data is never deleted from data warehouses and updates are normally carried out when
data warehouses are offline. This warehouses can means that data be essentially viewed as databases.
This satisfies the users' need for a short read-only analysi query response time and has another
important effect.
(4) Business View Data:
Business View Data is generated from the data warehouse. Business views are summaries compared
over some time. calculations c
This data focus on a particular business area such a answering business questions like: How many
complaints have been received from customers in the last three years?
Analysis tools run more efficiently against consolidated business view than any other da included in the
data warehouse.
DATA MANAGEMENT:
In an organization, Data management plays a significant role to generate revenus, control costs and
mitigate risks. .
Data Management can bring about competitive advantage as a business environment will be able to
share, store, protect and retrieve the ever-increasing amount of data within a short period.
Management of data commonly focuses on the definition of the data element, how it is structured,
stored and moved.
Management of information is more apprehensive with the security, accuracy, completeness and
timeliness of multiple pieces of data.
Most organizations today are flooded with data, the volume of which is increasing at an alarming rate. It
is vital, thus, to determine which data are most relevant and essential from an enterprise-wide
perspective.
Documentation and classification of the enterprise's critical data should be performed by a team of
senior level representatives from each line of business or department. These team members must know
about the relevant contributing business systems and processes, and the requirements of their
respective stakeholders, systems and processes, and the requirements of their respective stakeholders.
IDENTIFYING DATA QUALITY ISSUES:
Data accuracy is a troublesome issue. In an ideal world, it would be wonderful to have 100 per cent
accurate data. But data accuracy carries a high cost. Data are captured, entered, integrated and
analysed at various moments. Any or all of these processes may be the source of inaccuracy.
Dangerous mistakes can cause errors at the point of data entry. Inappropriate analytical processes can
lead to illogical conclusions. In CRM, data inaccuracy can lead to unnecessary waste in marketing
campaigns, inappropriate prospecting by salespeople and general suboptimal customer experience. It
also fluctuates trust in the CRM system, thus reducing usage. This leads to further degrading of data
quality.
Features of Qualitative Data:
Accuracy: Stored values should be compliant with real world ones.
Freshness: Data should not be old.
Completeness: There should be no lack of information.
Consistency: Data representation should be uniform.
Availability: Users should have easy access to data.
Traceability: Data can easily be traced data back to its sources.
Clearness: Data can be easily understood.
Issues Related with Data Quality are as follows:
(1) Data Deterioration
(2) Lack of customer trust
(3) Improper sources of data collection
Explanation:
(2) Data Deterioration:
75 per cent of the customer information held by most enterprises is inaccurate, out-of-date or
ineffective for marketing purposes.
Many customers address, contact details get changed which they hardly bothered to update it
everywhere.. More than 50% of the database gets deteriorated by such inaccurate data, thus affecting
the quality of data.
A fully-functional relational database management system allows users to enter new information,
update current records and delete outdated data. As an example, when a salesperson sells 1,000 units,
that person will enter the transaction information into the relational database management system.
The data can contain the salesperson's name, the customer information, the product sold and the
quantity sold. The relational database management system enters a new record in the customer table,
updates the salesperson's record and subtracts 1,000 units from the inventory record.
2) Lack of Customer Trust:
• Relevant data for CRM is captured both by employees and customers. Recently the use of self-service
applications has become of growing importance. If customers are suspicious about the use of their data,
the willingness to provide information about themselves is often limited. This can lead to inconsistent or
missing data if faulty data is captured deliberately because of security or privacy requirements.
If the employees are not aware of the relevance of the customer information captured, the quality of
this data is likely to be inadequate for further usage. An employee may fill an attribute, e.g. the age of
the customer, with default data only to fulfil integrity checks, if he is not aware of the relevance of
specific information captured. This can often be hardly detected and corrected during data analysis
causing wrong analytical results.
(3) Improper Sources of Data Collection:
Data from different internal and external sources are integrated into a customer data warehouse to
realize a holistic view of the customer and its needs and behaviour. The influence on the quality of
external data supply and the information about the processes behind are limited. Finally, the design of
the data exchange processes and the data quality assurance while integrating external data, influence
perceived by the data user. the quality
Within a company, the management sets guidelines, like the availability of financial and human
resources and incentive schemes. These guidelines limit resources available for data quality-assuring
activities, for designing business processes, for IT systems and later during the execution processes: e.g.
the time, a call centre agent can spend on assuring data during customer contact, is restricted, the
possibility to check and refresh data is restrained.
(4) Internationalization and untrained staff:
The organization has to face internationalization when they have to maintain a global customer
relationship Here the organization may have to deal with foreign customers and would have to maintain
customer information in other languages and another character set.
There can also be a difference in the format in maintaining data when the department varies. As data
quality is a new concept in IT automation, the problem comes when there is very less number of trained
and skilled staffs to handle the application system.
PLANNING AND GETTING INFORMATION QUALITY:
Accurate information and reports are the lifeblood of an effective sales force. Without it, management
doesn't have the data to make good decisions, sales force don't have the tools to turn leads into
customers, and the company will find it difficult to reconcile CRM data with data in other systems.
To ensure consistently high data quality, the company need to train its users, create and implement a
data quality process, and use available technologies to automate the process whenever possible.
Following are six stages which help to plan and get qualitative information:
(1) Data Profiling: This is all about understanding your data. The company should be well aware of the
source of data which could be spreadsheets, backend systems, or sticky notes all over the manager's
desks. It includes listing all data sources and the names of the fields in which data is stored. To identify
potential problems with current data. To check the automated quality before a new record could be
saved. To avoid duplicate information between objects (such as Accounts, Opportunities, and Contacts)
and fields (such as State, City, and so on).
(2) Data Control: This is all about achieving data accuracy and ensuring the right users have access to the
right information, which also means blocking access, as needed. To control the data, you first need to
"clean" it by removing duplicates and errors, and then set up processes and use technologies to keep it
clean. Automated routines or tools should be used to clean data. Fix data that are highly visible and
frequently used, such as addresses and emails. Fix business specific information next, such as
Opportunity types and stages.
(3) Data Integration: Most organizations have data in more than one system. Whenever there's
duplicated data in several systems, it's easy for information to get out of synch. One way to avoid this
problem is to integrate your systems so that updates in one system automatically update the others,
resulting in a single source of "truth" and making it easier for end-users to access information.
(4) Data Augmentation: To make the CRM rystem even more valuable, augment your data with
information that will give salespeople and managers an edge. For example, several third-party
organizations such as Dun & Bradstreet and Hoover's provide valuable information to sales
representatives can use to prepare for sales calls. Also make the most of internal market intelligence,
such as purchasing patterns or competitive analyses. To understand what data is valuable, sales and
marketing users frequent used information should be surveyed. Internal information about your
customers' behaviour and buying patterns should be noted to evaluate whether this information would
be helpful to sales representatives or not. Data augmentation adds value to base data by adding
information derived from internal and external sources within an enterprise. Data augmentation can
help reduce the manual intervention required to developed meaningful information and insight into
business data, as well as significantly enhance data quality.
(5) Monitor Data: Monitoring ensures data conforms to rules that define good data quality in the
business. Data monitoring checks important performance indicators in the database system, such as the
database size, quality of the database buffer, and the database indexes. Data monitor uses statistics that
are provided by the database system with which companies are working.
(6) Assign Ownership, Train Users, and Commit to a Data-Quality Process: Users need to know the
importance of data integrity and how to do their part in any data-quality initiative. Training should be
provided to users to show them how data quality directly affects their work. It's also a good idea to
assign ultimate responsibility for each region's data to a superuser, geographic lead, or another business
owner.
TOOLS TO MANAGE DATA:
CRM tools should be integrated into your systems as seamlessly as possible, making them a natural part
of the customer service interaction.
CRM tools will help the company team to identify precious members of customer mix and prompt team
members to notice and value the extended relationship with them.
CRM tool will help to track each transaction, spot new trends as customer expectation change, and
identify opportunities to expand the service relationship.
The most commonly used tools in data mining are:
(a) Artificial neural networks: Non-linear predictive models that learn through training and resemble
biological neural networks in structure.
(b) Genetic algorithms: Optimization techniques that Use processes such as genetic combination,
mutation, and natural selection in a design based on the concepts of natural evolution.
(c) Decision trees: Tree-shaped structures that represent sets of decisions. These decisions create rules
for the classification of a dataset. Specific decision tree methods comprise Classification and Regression
Trees (CART) and Chi-Square Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID). CART and CHAID are decision
tree techniques used for classification of a dataset. They provide a set of rules that you can apply to a
new (unclassified) dataset to predict which records will have a given outcome, CART segments a dataset
by creating 2-way splits while CHAID segments using chi-square tests to create multi-way splits. CART
typically requires less data preparation than CHAID.
(d) Nearest neighbour method: A technique that categorizes each record in a dataset based on a
combination of the classes of the k record(s) most similar to it in a historical dataset (where k 1).
Sometimes technique. called the k-nearest neighbour
(e) Rule induction: The extraction of useful if-then rules from data based on statistical significance.
(f) Dat visualization: The visual interpretation of complex relationships in multidimensional data.
Graphics tools relationships. are used to illustrate data
DATA ANALYSIS:
There are many ways in analysing the data. Here are few of them are explained below:
Data Mining:
Data mining can be used to recognize the relationship from the gathered data, model and rules. It can
produce information about the model without knowing about that model. So, it is a great tool for
obtaining knowledge from it. Data mining can be classified into three types.
(a) Predicting analysis: It can analyse the prospects of the product using historical data.
(b) Sequence analysis: It recognizes the combination of actions that are placed in a particular order.
From this, it can analyse whether the consumers are doing something in a certain order.
(e) Association analysis: It recognizes the items which can combine similar items. This analysis is
regularly used for some profits to the organization by giving discounts to some products which are the
combination of two items.
Online Analytical Processing (OLAP):
Online analytical processing (OLAP) OLAP is an advanced data reporting tool. It is not strictly a data
mining tool because it provides summary data rather than identifying patterns in data.
. OLAP tools are powerful and quite easy to use. They can make a significant contribution to extracting
value from customer databases, adding to the value of data mining applications, rather than replacing
them.
OLAP tools have advanced graphical interfaces that make it possible for users with little statistical
knowledge to explore large volumes of data. Underlying this interface is a new database containing data
from the data repository that has been stored using a special structure to make the 'slicing and dicing' of
data quicker and easier.
Whereas conventional reporting tools can hours to gather data, OLAP tools can provide reports in only a
few seconds. However, achieving this fast response comes at the expense of losing some precision in the
storage of certain types of data.
Analytical tools are instrumental in sorting data and extracting meaning from it to guide the
development of management strategies. In identifying customer and market trends, techniques such as
data mining can help to clarify budget inefficiencies and the most useful allocation of resources.
On-line analytical processing (OLAP) tools provide the ability to rapidly manipulate data containing a
large number of table look-ups or dimensions and are particularly useful for performing trend analyses
and forecasting. Where a very large number of variables are present and the goal is to determine an
appropriate mathematical algorithm to determine likely outcomes, data mining tools can be leveraged.
The use of OLAP tools to create performance indicators is usually sufficient and is supported by many
dedicated churn management packages. These tools enable churn rates to be correlated with
geographic areas, dealers, service plans and SO on. High correlations will indicate, for example, that
some dealers have much higher churn rates than others. These tools also support the identification of
customer segments that have both high churn rates and high potential value. These segments can then
be targeted with customer retention campaigns.
Clickstream Analysis:
Clickstream analysis (sometimes called clickstream analytics) is the process of collecting, analysing, and
reporting aggregate data about which pages visitors visit, in what order and which are the results of the
succession of mouse clicks each visitor makes.
Clickstream analysis is considered to be most effective when used in conjunction with other, more
market evaluation resources. traditional,
Clickstream analysis can provide valuable insights to help enterprises know more about the parties with
which they do business and thus act more proactively toward meeting their objectives. There are two
levels of click stream analysis,
(a) Traffic analysis.
(b) E-commerce analysis.
(a) Traffic analysis: Traffic analysis operates at the server level by collecting clickstream data related to
the path the user takes when navigating through the site. Traffic analysis tracks how many pages are
served to the user, how long it takes pages to load, how often the user hits. the browser's back or stop
button, and how much data is transmitted before a user moves on.
(b) E-commerce analysis: E-commerce- based analysis uses clickstream data to determine the
effectiveness of the site as a channel- to-market by quantifying the user's behaviour while on the Web
site. It is used to keep track of what pages the user lingers on, what the user puts in or takes out of their
shopping cart, and what items the user purchases.
Personalization:
Personalization and customer relationship management (CRM) are complementary to each other. CRM
is viewed as a strategy to attract, grow and retain customers. Personalization is an approach that can aid
in bringing staying and returning visitors/customers. They both have the capability of providing the right
information or content (e.g. products, services and data) to the end user/customer at the right time and
right place. Both provide a customized outcome for customers that can lead to competitive advantage
for firms using either personalization or CRM. The challenge is to incorporate personalization with CRM
to maximize the benefits. The concept of personalization and CRM has expanded in scope to emphasize
a much broader notion of benefits to a company.
Personalization ensures that the users get and receive the information in the format most suitable for
them.
There are three ways to define personalization:
Personalization at the administrator level: Administrators can define personalization for each user by
setting the design of the portal structure for different users. An administrator can define roles, work
sets, portal layout, and access methods for different users.
• Personalization at the user level: Users can personalize their content within the control limits set by
the administrator.
• Automatic personalization through predictive technology: Predictive technology allows for automatic
personalization based on user type, browser type, device type, user location (whether inside or outside
the firewall), connection bandwidth, and the type of event being handled.
Collaborative Filtering:
Collaborative CRM covers aspects of a company's communications with customers that are handled by
various departments within a company, such as sales, technical support and marketing. Staff members
from across the departments can share information collected when interacting with customers.
Collaborative filtering (CF) is the method of building automatic predictions (filtering) about the interests
of a user by collecting taste information from many users (collaborating).
The underlying assumption of the CF approach is that those who agreed in the past tend will agree again
in the future also. For example, a collaborative filtering or recommendation system for cooking oil could
make predictions about which oil should like given a partial list of that user's likes or dislikes.
DATA REPORTING:
Data reporting measures performance, and analyses other key elements that can then be shared within
the organization or with the public.
Reporting translates raw data into information.
Reporting aids companies to monitor their online business and be alerted to when data falls outside of
expected ranges.
Good reporting should raise questions about the business from its end users.
Through the process of performing analysis one may raise additional questions, but the goal is to
identify answers or at least possible answers that can be tested.
In short, reporting shows you what is happening while analysis focuses on explaining why it is happening
and what you can do about it. If the maximum of the team's time is spent on activities such as building,
configuring, consolidating, organizing, formatting and summarizing that's reporting. Reporting follows a
push approach, where reports are pushed to users who are then expected to extract meaningful insights
and take appropriate actions for themselves (i.e., self-serve). Identification of three main types of
reporting is done: canned reports, dashboards, and alerts.
(1) Canned reports: These are the out-of-the-box and custom reports that you can access within the
analytics. tool or which can also be delivered regularly to a group of end-users. Canned reports are
impartially stagnant with fixed metrics and dimensions. In common, some canned reports are more
valuable than others, and a report's value may depend on how significant it is to an individual's role
(e.g., SEO specialist vs. web producer).
(2) Dashboards: These custom-made reports syndicate different KPIs and reports to provide a
comprehensive, high-level view of business performance for specific audiences. Dashboards may include
data from various data sources and are also usually legitimately static.
(3) Alerts: These conditional reports are triggered when data falls outside of expected ranges or some
other pre defined criteria is met. Once people are informed of what happened, they can take
appropriate action as necessary.Reporting provides no or limited context about what's happening in the
data. In certain cases, the end-users already possess the necessary context to understand and interpret
the data correctly.
INTRODUCTION TO CRM IN SERVICES:
"Customer is the main decider of business" - this concept is getting ultimate importance from this
century. The motive of any business was profit maximization through the volume of business according
to Selling Concept, but in the future years of the 20th century, the motive of business has been shifted
toward customer satisfaction. The developing economies now analyze on service industries. There is an
alteration to the service economy from an industrial economy. In this labour intensive sector,
relationship plays an important role. The major service organizations like banks, hospitals, hotels, IT and
telecoms requires regular interaction of marketers and customers so that the bond and understanding
between both will become strong.
According to market Line Associates, the top 20% of typical bank customers produce as much as 150% of
overall profit, while the bottom 20% drain about 50% from the bank's bottom line and the revenues
from the respite just meeting their expenses.
Berry (1993) recommended the following five strategies for practicing relationship marketing:
(1) Developing a core service around which to build a customer relationship.
(2) Customizing relationship to the individual customer.
(3) Augmenting the core service with extra benefits.
(4) Pricing service to encourage customer loyalty.

(5) Marketing to employees so that they will perform well for customers.
The development of relationship marketing has brought both producers and consumers in close contact
with each other. Development in information technology, data warehousing, data mining has made it
possible for firms to maintain a one to one relationship with their customers.
Service firms are always been relationship-oriented. The nature of the service business is relationship-
based. A a service is a processor performance where the customer is involved, sometimes for a long
time, sometimes only for short time, and sometimes regularly. There is always a direct contact between
a customer and the service firms. This contact makes it possible to create a relationship between service
provider and customer. In growing service businesses, the customer was turned from a relationship
partner into market share statistics.
CONCEPT OF CUSTOMER SERVICE:
Customer service means providing a quality product or service that satisfies the needs/wants of a
customer and keeps them coming back. Good customer service is elaborated more focusing on the
continued success increased profits, higher job satisfaction, improved company or organization morale,
better teamwork; and market expansion of services/products.
Good customer service results in consumer satisfaction and returns customers and growth in business.
Po customer service, except for monopolistic strongholds generally results in consumer dissatisfaction,
lack returning customers and dwindling business. Custome Service Qualities includes:
Customer Service = Accountability + Delivery.
THREE KEY ELEMENTS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE:
There are three key elements of customer service:
(1) Expand Definition of Service: How you define service shapes every interaction you have with your
customers. Limited definitions of service based on an exchange of monies for goods or service misses
the overall point of customer service. "Service" should provide the customer with more than a product
or action taken on his/her behalf. It should deliver satisfaction. In core, the customer should pleasantly
move outpost not just happy but at the same time contended also. A happy customer will continue to
be a buying customer and a frequent customer.
(2) Who are Your Customers: Customers, buyers, and clients want to pay a fair price for quality service
or products, and feel content they have paid for a service/product and received what they have paid for
in return. They also lookout for someone to take care of them. They want someone to understand their
needs and help answer them. They need somebody to hold their hands and walk them through a
process. Customer service starts with the skill to listen to the customer and find out through polite
questioning what he/she needs or wants. Customer service and contact with a client mean that the
customer will be heard and his/her problems will not go unanswered or ignored. It also means getting to
know your client, his/her likes dislikes, ideas, background, etc.
The other most important feature to do is to listen to what the customer is saying. If people do not
understand what is motivating the customer, they will not be effective in handling them. Perform
research on customers, their habits, and what they want and expect. Most customer service is defined
by how a company or organization treats "external customers. but there is "internal customer service"
as well. While this manual mainly addresses "external customers," expanding your definition of
customer service to include co-workers will lead toward even greater success. The internal customer
chain is fair like the external, we are all customers both inside and outside the company or organization.
(3) Develop Customer Friendly Approach: One a uniformity among all companies or organizations that
provide good service is the development of a system and attitude promoting customer-friendly service.
By "customer-friendly" we mean observing the customer as the most important part of your job. The
line, "The customer is always right" is derived from this customer friendly environment. Two critical
qualities to the "Customer Friendly Approach":
Communications.
Relationships.
The two main jobs of successful customer relations are to communicate and develop relationships. They
don't take a huge effort but don't happen suddenly either. Positive dialogue/communication with your
customers and developing ongoing relationships with your customers are perhaps the two most
significant qualities to attempt for in customer service.
CRM IN CUSTOMER SERVICE:
Customer Service is the interface between a customer and the company, usually via traditional channels
like phone or email. Usually, the customer will have an issue or some sort of request that needs
undertaking. The person could be a prospective or current customer.
CRM is the strategic process executed to maintain and retain the customer long term. This relationship
development process is designed to improve customer retention rates, thus reducing the imbalance,
increasing profitability and reducing the need to focus so heavily on new business for revenue growth.
Customer Relationship Management distresses the relationship between the organization and its
customers. Customers want to have their needs satisfied. Customers' needs are distinctly specifically
different to and far broader than a product or service, and the features and benefits encompassed.
Customers' needs usually extend to issues far beyond the suppliers' proposition, and will often include
the buying-selling process (before providing anything), the way that communications are handled, and
the nature of the customer-supplier relationship.
Modern CRM theory refers to the knowledge of integrating the customer'. This new way of observing at
the business involves integrating the customer into all aspects of the supplier's business. This suggests a
relationship that is deeper and wider than the traditional arms-length' supplier-customer relationship.
The traditional approach to customer relationships was based on a simple transaction or trade, and a
little further. Possibly there would be only a single point of contact between one person on each side. All
communication and dealings would be between these two people, even if the customers' organization
contained many staff, departinents, and functional requirements (distribution, sales, quality, finance,
etc.).
The modern approach. to customer relationship management is based on sufficient all of the needs -
people. systems, processes, etc. across the customer's organization, such as might be affected and
promoted by the particular supply.
ROLE OF CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE IN AN ORGANIZATION:
A customer service representative is a professional who works either directly with or directly for the
customers and prospective customers of a particular company. At times they are problem solvers, and
other times they are trying to initiate sales; they may also basically help clients find information. They
may work in many different kinds of companies, and their job descriptions can be quite diverse. All have
one thing in common, though, which is helping connect outside people with inside information. Many
customer service representatives work in customer contact centres. Others work in insurance agencies,
banks, stores. or other places that have contact with customers. Most work full time, although part-time
and variable schedules are also common. They may also be called on to handle differences or settle
arguments between customers and the parent company. Representatives don't make the rules and are
usually limited by their company in terms of what they can do.
TECHNIQUES OF IMPROVING CUSTOMER SERVICE
(A) CUSTOMER CARE SOFTWARE:
Customer care is an activity of looking after customers and helping them with any complaints or
problems.
Nowadays technology plays an important role in the fields of sales, marketing, and customer service.
Customer care software is used very often by almost all organizations. This software helps to increase
customer support and lower support costs.
Benefits of using Customer Care Software:
It dramatically increases customer service response time and customer satisfaction.
The Internet is available to your customers 7 days a week, 24 hours a day and is utilized throughout the
world to locate information in an instant. The majority of companies can make use this to recognize
their needs.
Customers can quickly locate a customer support representative that will assist them with any questions
and information regarding products and services offered by a company. This enables companies to
increase their product and services revenue.
There are various kinds of customer care software available with different companies. But their
implications and benefits-driven out of them are same. It helps to increase customer loyalty and
conversion rate of visitors to customers.
(B) ELECTRONIC POINT OF SALES:
With globalization coming in picture, it has become the need of the day to use technology for collecting
information about customers. The most important tools in CRM for data collection are EPOS. It is an
electronic system whereby at checkout point data is been collected customers will get served quicker.
The electronic gadget at the checkout counter of the retail outlet where billing happens is a simple
example of EPOS. Example: In big Bazaar when the bill is asked at the exit point, employees use a
barcode reader which will automatically record items picked by you from which shelf, basically the
reason for always replenish stock. Advances in technology have significantly aided the scope for data
analysis. It gives information on sales rate, stock levels, stock turn, price and margin apart from that it
also helps to understand demographics, socio-economic and lifestyle characteristics of consumers.
Following are advantages of using EPOS:
It helps to increase transaction speed and quality of service.
It helps to improve business efficiency and productivity.
It helps in better cash control.
It also helps with stock management.
It enables building intelligence to grow profits.
It improves customer loyalty and retention.
It enables us to collect customers' contact details and get to know them better.
How Does EPOS Work?
An EPOS system consists of computer hardware, peripherals and EPOS software preferably suited to the
point of sales environment. An EPOS system can support data entry through many different devices such
as computer keyboards, touch screen monitors and barcode scanners. EPOS systems allow a remarkable
amount of flexibility to choose hardware and peripherals suited to the environment. For example, in
environments with very high demands like in a supermarket - EPOS can be organized to work with multi-
line barcode scanners, ensuring pricing accuracy and allowing cashiers to provide fast, efficient service
for customers. In other environments such as restaurants, the use of touch screen monitors provides the
best solution.
The other feature of EPOS systems is the EPOS software that they use. This can also be severely
customized to a variety of different environments. This allows businesses to buy EPOS systems that are
suited to their business. This software can constantly be recording sales, updating stock levels, providing
accurate pricing information while also helping to provide fast and efficient service to customers. The
ability to keep track of sales, taxes, stock, and CRM automatically, ensures that cashiers can focus on
providing the best possible customer experience.
CONTACT CENTER SALES SUPPORT:
Multimedia contact centre allows the organization to contact its customers in the medium of their
choice - voice, e-mail, web chat, fax, SMS (short message service), voicemail and walk-in. It allows
efficiently integrating and maintaining service levels across all contact types, and monitor and report on
them.
(C) MULTIMEDIA CONTACT CENTER DELIVERS:
Automated routing of email, web chat, fax, SMS and walk-in media to the longest idle agent.
Real-time monitoring of all multimedia agents and queues.
Historical reporting of all media types.
Agent forecasting for all media types.
Benefits offered:
Multimedia Contact Centre transforms an organization's operation into a fully multimedia-enabled

contact centre that can:
Efficiently deliver service to customers in the media of their choice.
Maintain service levels across all contacts, ensuring all customer inquiries are addressed promptly.
Capture more detailed customer information than is possible during voice communications.
Assist customers in completing online transactions, information queries, or other web-based

experiences with web chat.
Protect against liability and customer claims with accurate tracking and reporting on all contact types.
(D) CALL CENTERS:
Providing a high quality of service to all customers is simply not economically logical, Customer
Relationship Management, is a worthwhile endeavour to ensure good returns on investment. In a CRM
with help of call centre. customers communicate in multiple ways that include phone, e-mail, Web chat,
personal sales representative, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and a host of others.
Call centres do not exist for the customer to physically interact with, apart from via the telephone, and
are in effect virtual organizations. The nature of the service encounter between the call centre and
customer is predominantly undertaken using enabling technology; the conventional speech telephone.
Few organizations today know who among their customers are the ones focus on Customers are not
created equal, yet the systems and services provided by many organizations seem to make exactly this
assumption, several businesses are now acquiring call centre facilities to a.d their firm in the customer
service arena.
There are two basic classifications for a call centre's function: inbound calls and outbound calls:
(1) Inbound Calls: Call centre agents that receive inquiries from the company's customers are under the
inbound category while operators that call the organization's clients themselves are under the outbound
tier. These two have further subdivisions depending on the type of industry they are in. Businesses with
an active inbound call centre usually provide customer assistance and product or service support. Call
centre agents can assist their customers through many different means. Room and ticket reservations
are among the most popular services. The high number of people travelling naturally means there are
more who need professional assistance when making travel arrangements to unfamiliar locales.
An inbound call centre can also provide technical support for its customers. This usually applies for the
whole tech industry; phone manufacturers, internet providers, computer companies and software
publishers all fall under this umbrella. Technical support agents are available to help their customers
deal with any complicated problems and issues regarding a specific product or service.
(2) Outbound calls: On the other hand, a set of call lists are usually provided for outbound call centre
agents. This customer information is needed to contact the clients through their phones. Mostly,
operators either sell their company's business or ask for additional information relevant to their
organization. Some companies also choose to utilize these services for lead purposes. Their agents are
tasked to follow up on any unfinished business transactions between the company and the customer.
Other than selling and verifying client information, outbound call centre agents may also collect
payments and debts that their customers currently have.
COMPONENTS OF CALL CENTERS:
There are 6 key components which should be integrated into the call centre operation:
(1) Location, building, and facilities.
(2) Customer.
(3) Technology.
4) Process.
(5) People.
(6) Finance and business management.
(1) Location, building, and facilities: The location of the call centre is critical in terms of the cost of the
building and also the ability to recruit and retain employees to work in the centre. The facilities and
working environment are more crit al than for functional line departments because of the intensity with
which the Agents have to sit at their desks and the need to manage resource patterns.
(2) Customer: Customers can be corporate clients, retail clients or NRIs, its agent who needs to have the
skills to be able to adapt his style and vocabulary to suit different customer types. The Agent talks to
more customers in any one day than any other person in the organization.
(3) Technology:
There are significant amounts of technology available and it is very easy to inculcate all. The choice of
technology depends on the size and nature of business. The basic equipment to handle calls. is the
Automated Call Distributor. Many centres do not fully utilize the technology that they have. Also, there
is usually a disjoint between what the technology can do and what it is used for.
(4) Process: Every centre has a multitude of processes, but the biggest challenge that it faces is to
understand the end to end process from the customer perspective. The customer journey is what
happens from the point in time when a customer decides to contact through to the completion of that
request or transaction.
(5) People: People are the most critical asse; in a call centre as it is they who really deliver the business
performance. The people (Agents) often have to deal with difficult situations when things have goes
wrong in an organization and deal with a large volumes of calls. However, the teams in centres can be
very resilient and are often very social, making the centre a great place to work. There are many diverse
roles on offer and so they can a good environment to start and develop a career.
(6) Finance and business management: There will be more management information statistics in a call
centre than in any other part of the organization. One of the most exciting roles in the planning,
measuring and reviewing of performance because so many centres are under pressure from calls and
other expectations, that being able to step back and take an impartial view may be difficult. Most
centres are run to very tight budgets so factors such as turnover of staff will have a huge impact.
TECHNOLOGIES USED IN CALL CENTERS:
Call Interaction Centre is a complex technology that will allow the customers to interact with the call
centre representatives and help them to get the proper solutions. It involves telephone and other
communication channels like Email, Internet, etc. The access points for the customers are varying
widely. So the accumulation of data in a single point becomes a difficult task for the call centres.
But the latest advanced technology and the software also manage the same. The technology involves
usage of either telephone or Internet connection. It is designed to create a collaborative environment
for the customers and their representatives (CCR Customer Communication Representative).
Following are different technologies system used by callcentres:
Automatic Call Distributor: An Automatic Call Distributor is regularly the first point of contact when
calling many larger businesses. An ACD uses digital storage devices to play greetings or announcements
but typically routes a caller without encouraging input. It has the feature of automatic call transfer or
routing. This technology is based on defining the features of the call.
IVR: Interactive Voice Response can be used to front end a call centre operation by identifying the needs
of the caller. Information can be acquired from the caller such as account numbers. Answers to the
simple questions such as account balances or pre-recorded information can be provided without
operator intervention. Account numbers from the IVR are often associated with caller ID data for
security reasons and additional IVR responses are required if the caller ID data does not match the
account record.
CTI: Computer telephony integration (CTI) is
a technology that allows connections on a telephone and a computer to be integrated or coordinated.

As contact channels have extended from voice to include email, web, and fax, the definition of CTI has
expanded to include the integration of all customer contact channels (voice, email, web, fax, etc.) with
computer systems. CTI merges telephone and computer technology to provide faster access to more
information and a smooth transition between the telephone conversation and access to caller
information. It allows companies to provide better customer service by giving service agents an accurate
customer profile when customers call. It also reduces your cost per call because it requires a small
number of agents to support it.
Automated intelligent caller routing: Intelligent Call Routing (ICR) software is flexible. As conditions
change, it can be optimized to route data channel call to the optimum answering resource anywhere in
the enterprise at any given moment. It enables caller segmentation. which improves call routing and
handling effectiveness. Automatic caller identification matches each incoming caller to the most
appropriate answering resource, then supports that resource with relevant customer information.
Besides, many ICR software systems include integrated IVR and CTI (computer-telephony integration)
capabilities. IVR often acts as an additional answering resource. Handling routine transactions without
agent intervention and enabling call centre staff to focus on more complex, revenue-generating calls.
(E) CALL ROUTING:
Call routing is the ability to move callers from the phone queue to the next available agent.
Routing enables accurate and effective matching of customer requirements to agent skills and
availability. By implementing Routing, companies are taking the first and most essential step in evolving
the contact centre to meet individual customer service requirements and enterprise revenue generation
goals.
TYPES OF ROUTING:
A key component of Routing is its unique approach to maximizing agent capabilities and skills. The
various type of routing is as follow.
Queue based routing.
Service Level Routing..
Workforce Routing.
Skill Based Routing.
Geographical Routing.
Load-Balancing Routing.
Queue based routing: It is the traditional Automatic Call Distributor routing, where calls are delivered to
the next available agent in that queue on a first-come, first served basis.
Service level routing: It is common routing strategies. Many companies today segment their customers
based on value to the enterprise, offering greater levels of service to those customers perceived as a
higher value. For example, gold and silver tier customers might be routed to a live agent, whereas
bronze customers are routed first to the IVR. Similarly, a rule can be established that will transfer gold or
silver customers waiting in the queue for a minute to an alternate pool of agents.
Workforce Routing: It is a unique capability that combines the power of routing with a Workforce
Management solution. Through this combination, call centres can control agent schedule information
when making a routing decision. For example, interactions will be sent to an agent only if this agent is
scheduled to work in this activity in a period or if the interaction won't negatively affect the agents'
schedule such as a planned break or training activity.
Skill-based routing: It is the advancement of simple queue-based routing. In a skill-based routing system,
agents are no longer assigned to queues; they are assigned to answer calls according to their abilities or
skill set. Skill sets are defined by a business based upon who their callers are and the reasons for their
calls. Agents can be assigned to answer calls for up to 50 different skill sets or call types. Each agent can
be assigned a priority within each skill set, and all these assignments can be easily changed whenever
needed. In the skill-based routing, the customer or caller is delivered to the agent who has specialization
in the field for which the customer had made a call. For example, all agents will be specialized in some
field or the other. Some agents will be specialized in credit cards, some on billing problems and some on
call. So when a customer makes a call like he has bill problem so this customer will be routed to the
agent specialization in billing problem and not credit card agent.
Geographical Routing: Geographical routing is meant for larger enterprises that span across various
countries. For example, there are four call centres spread across the country, one in each corner of the
map. If the call centre in the southwest goes down due to a power outage, all callers to that centre
would be re routed to another call centre. This form of routing is effective because all calls are
answered, no matter the circumstances.
> Load-Balancing Routing: Load-balancing routing is meant to accommodate call centres when they are
inundated with call requests. Rather than have the caller wait to be assisted, calls will be routed to
another call centre with available agents at that time. This form of routing reduces wait-times, call
duration, and ultimately results in improved customer satisfaction. It's really a win-win situation for the
agent and the end caller: overflowing calls won't overwhelm the agent and the caller's needs are met in
a timely manner.
(F) WEB-BASED SELF SERVICE:
Web-based self-service systems allow customers to use the Web to find answers to their questions or
solutions to their problems.
When the support is specific to online employee interactions, the practice is known as employee self
service (ESS). When it is specific to customers on the Internet, it is called customer self-service (CSS).
It is a web-based portal that allows clients to interact with an organization for resolving their
product/service related queries. It gives a clear advantage over traditional ways like Call Centres or
Emails. With Self Service, query management is more rationalized and hence, efficient.
(G) CUSTOMER SATISFACTION:
Customer satisfaction is the customer's fullest response to customer experience, or some part thereof.
Customer satisfaction is pleasurable a fullest response. Dissatisfaction is an unpleasant fullest response.
The 'experience, or some part thereof component of the dentition suggests that the satisfaction
evaluation can be directed at any or all elements of the customer's experience.
Satisfaction can include product, service, process and any other components of the customer
experience. The most common way of quantifying satisfaction is to compare the customer's perception
of an experience, or some part of it, with their expectations. This is known as the Expectations-
Disconfirmation model customer satisfaction. Of Expectations-Disconfirmation model suggests that if
customers perceive their expectations to be met, they are satisfied. If their expectations are failed, this
is negative disconfirmation and they will be dissatisfied.
Positive disconfirmation Occurs when perception exceeds expectations. The customer might be
pleasantly surprised or even delighted.
This model assumes that customers have expectations and that they can judge performance. The
customer satisfaction paradox has been identified by expectations disconfirmation researchers. At times
customers' expectations may be met but the customer is still not satisfied. This happens when the
customer's expectations are low.
Many companies research customer requirements and expectations to find out what is important for
customers and then measure customers' perceptions their performance compared to the performance
of competitors.
CONTACT MANAGEMENT:
To maintain a healthy relationship with a customer it is better to maintain contact regularly. The success
of any business to a great extent depends on well-organized contact information, making the data
available for ready reference. Contact management, therefore, enhances the relationship between
customer and sales life-cycle for business growth.
Contact management means well-organized contact data, viz. communication with clients, meetings,
calls, email, as well as interactions through websites. Contact manager modules can help you in the
process of acquiring customers as well as procuring products from various vendors. In this sense,
contacts can be associated with accounts as well as vendors for the business.
ORGANIZATIONAL BENEFITS FROM CONTACT MANAGEMENT: BENEFITS
(1) Gather Customer Information: One of the greatest advantages of using contract management is that
it effectively allows gathering customer information. Every employee who has access to the contact
management database can input information that they gather while talking to customers. This
information can prove to be invaluable when it comes to improving customer relations and customer
service, which is an essential component of retaining current customers as well as winning over new
ones.
(2) Streamline Communication: Another advantage of implementing a contact management system is

that it helps to streamline the communication process. As soon as one employee gathers information
from a potential or current customer, that information is available to all others who have access to the
company's contact management database. As a result, the sales team can follow up on sales leads
almost instantly, which will significantly improve their chances of being able to close on a deal.
(3) Improve Communication: In addition to allowing employees to communicate more quickly, contact
management technology also makes it possible to communicate more accurately as well. With the help
of contact management technology, the information doesn't have to get passed on from one person to
the next, which can result in information getting mixed up and becoming unreliable. By allowing
employees to communicate accurate information, they can further improve their customer service skills
while also having a greater chance of winning over new customers.
(4) Track Customer Purchases: The contact management system is also capable of tracking customer
purchases, which can help your company identify purchasing trends for individual customers as well as
for the target group as a whole. This information can help the marketing team develop well-targeted
marketing campaigns while also helping the sales team develop the most effective sales strategies.
(5) Maintain Correspondence Logs: Another benefit of using contact management is that it allows
maintaining accurate customer correspondence logs. By maintaining accurate correspondence logs,
each employee can quickly and easily see what the customer was told during previous conversations,
which helps guarantee that all of the employees will be on the same page while also offering the most
professional and courteous customer service possible. This will help save time while also helping to
improve customer relations, which will ultimately help to increase sales and profits.
CHARACTERISTICS OF GOODCUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY:
Customer satisfaction surveys are important vehicles for enterprises, as they measure customer
satisfaction, and therefore help to determine customer loyalty. However, with the advent of
globalization and the Internet, today's customers expect more from the enterprise. In an era of high
competition and expectations, customer satisfaction surveys are essential tools for listening to
customers about their satisfaction levels, and for developing strategies for improvement. In an era of
high competition and expectations, customer satisfaction surveys are essential tools for listening to
customers about their satisfaction levels, and for developing strategies for improvement.
It is imperative for the enterprise to conduct surveys proactively, and not merely in reaction to a
problem. More often than not, a company assesses customer satisfaction after it has already
experienced a negative event, such as a decrease in market share, or an increasing number of
complaints. Once the objectives have been determined. survey developers need to decide whether or
not they will use an existing customer satisfaction survey, or develop a new one.
There are various phases in which good customer survey could be designed:
(1) Determining objectives: There are various objectives of conducting a customer survey, it could be
performance evaluation, capturing customer data, designing marketing strategies, etc. The objective
should be determined before moving to a customer survey as the whole survey would be designed
based on objectives.
(2) Designing questions: Customer satisfaction surveys should be conducted at a minimum of twice a
year and a maximum of four times a year. Such surveys should be conducted periodically (monthly,
quarterly, etc.) to help track seasonality issues, and measure trends relative to timing. Regardless of how
often a survey is conducted, the enterprise should allow sufficient time between surveys to analyze
results, make any needed changes to the survey, and measure progress.
When designing customer satisfaction survey questions, survey developers should use a "drill-down"
technique, so the questions flow back up to the objectives. This can be done by "mapping" objectives to
questions, or vice versa, to determine that every question adds value and that every objective is
covered.
If the questions do not refer back to the objectives, then the survey will be valueless. Survey developers
should try to incorporate a shortlist of several types of questions, including closed-ended and open-
ended, multiple and single choice, ranking, and rating.
(3) Decide on population, sampling, methodology, and frequency: The next phase of customer
satisfaction survey development is to decide on the target population, sampling, methodology, and
frequency. To find the target population, survey developers should ask themselves who has the
information they need - this could be either customers or non-customers. Oftentimes, the organization
will gather data from one or more sub-groups of the target population. It is necessary to make sure the
sample sizes for each sub group are compared. the same number, so results can be
As for the methodology, there are several types from which to choose. For customer satisfaction
surveys, the choice of method depends on a few issues, including:
Customer characteristics;
Time availability;
The costs the enterprise is willing to incur; and
The information that the company wishes to maintain.
(4) Pretesting: Once the survey design issues have been determined, the survey should be pre-tested,
ideally on the same kinds of people that will be interviewed in the main survey. This ensures the survey
layout is attractive, the instructions and questions are understandable, and the length is not too long.
Moreover, it allows survey developers to catch any flaws before the survey goes into "production."
Customer satisfaction surveys are essential continuous improvement of products, services, and/ or
support, as well as enterprise competitiveness and survival. It also helps to verify that the company is
well-positioned amongst prospective clients and that clients are complete, not merely, satisfied. for
(H) CALL-SCRIPTING:
A call script, a written script entailing correct wording and logic aids, assists an agent in handling a
contact. It also assists in the maintenance of focusing on the content of the contact.
Call scripts guarantee consistency across the call centre and allow agents to act more naturally and listen
to customers as they know they don't have to worry about remembering what to say next. Call scripts
can be easily integrated with telephony and IVR systems to provide the agent with useful information
about the customer and tailor each interaction accordingly.
Call scripting systems access organizational databases that track similar issues or questions and
automatically generate the details for the CSR who can then relay them to the customer.
The system can even provide a list of questions that the CSR can ask the customer to determine the
potential problem and resolution. This feature helps CSRs answer difficult questions quickly while also
presenting a uniform image so two different customers do not receive two different answers.
Because of the increased customer intelligence, the capability to provide CSRs with situational scripts is
emerging as a must-have for many contact centres. Such scripts eliminate agent guesswork by providing
the CSR with a logical series of talking points and guiding her through a dialog with the customer based
on such factors as a reason for the contact, customer's value, cross-selling opportunities and propensity-
to-buy data, current product promotions or discounts, past due bills or accounts payable issues.
(I) CYBERAGENTS: Cyber agents attempt to pull together the best of both personalization and advanced
technology. On the one hand, the cyber agent is given a personality-complete with voice and facial
expressions-often communicating with the Web visitor by her first name.
The key characteristic of a cyber agent is that the person's statistics, performance, and real-time status
be completely transparent to the supervisors at the main centre. The fact that they are stationed
remotely should be completely irrelevant from the supervisory point of view, which includes the ability
to monitor and record calls and screen activity.
The cyber agent can draw from a wealth of detailed information to answer basic FAQs as well as guide a
customer to the appropriate screen for making a purchase or checking order.
The vision for the cyber agent is to go from providing information to making decisions based
combination of the customer's request, heterogeneous and detailed information about the customer,
and complex rules-based logic to guide the cyber agent in making recommendations.
(J) WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT:
The process of forecasting contact centre workloads and then scheduling agents to handle the workload
is known as workforce management. Although it may seem simple at first glance, properly scheduling
agents to handle the workload efficiently and effectively is no easy task.
The process becomes increasingly difficult as you add internal and external variables, many of which are
beyond your control.
Workforce management tools specialize in staff planning and optimization, and several products are
specific to contact centre staffing. Optimizing staff around high call volumes, different communication
channels, and customer types is the surest means of guaranteeing that the right customers receive the
appropriate levels of support. Such products can combine operational contact centre tasks, such as call
routing, with planning functions including forecasting contact volumes to predict busy periods,
recommendations for the optimal number of CSRs for certain peak periods, performance tracking by
customer value, customer satisfaction, priority level, or other metrics, employee scheduling based on
skills, tenure, or preferred work hours. Workforce management is principally concerned with forecasting
the workload and creating a set of schedules for agents. The objective is to handle the workload at the
service-level targets while using the fewest number of paid agent labour hours. Overstaff the centre will
affect to budget..
UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMER VALUE AND CVM: Customer value is based on the quality of the customer
relationship, as experienced from both sides that of the customer and the marketer. The value is created
by products and services when they benefit the customers by satisfying their needs. It is a function of
cash flow, profitability and customer service.
Given below is a five-step model for creating and managing customer value:
Step 1 Discover: Understand the needs and behaviour of the customers.
Step 2 Commit: Commit to delivering value to the customers.
Step 3 - Create: Create customer value.
Step 4 Assess: Obtain customer feedback and analyze the same.
Step 5 - Improve: Measure and improve customer value.
The CVM model aims to create value for the customers and also for the suppliers. Value for customers is
generated through superior products and services delivering benefits, which is recognized through the
payment of an agreed-upon price. Value accrues to the supplier by way of the price received.
Customer value management is a tool through which one an conveniently and progressively manage
business markets. The two basic goals of CVM are:
To deliver superior customer value to identified customer segments.
To get an equitable return on the offered value.
CVM begins with obtaining an insight into customer requirements, expectations, and preferences. Then,
one has to estimate the cost that it takes to fulfil these needs and expectations of customers, and also
the returns that this would provide. While it might be comparatively easy for the firms to estimate the
cost, it would not be possible to estimate the returns without an understanding of customer value.
Hence, while providing fair value to customers, firms must also realize that they need to get a fair and
equitable return of their offer.
Value Judgement is the customers' assessment of the value that has been created for them by a supplier
given the trade-offs between all relevant benefits and sacrifices in specific use situation.
- Flint, Woodruff and Gardial 1997
CUSTOMER VALUE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY:
While working towards the creation of customer value, there arises a need to go through a well-planned
framework of CVM, which includes customer analysis, customer acquisition, customer retention, and
expansion. Further, it also comprises customer lifetime value. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is the
result of cumulative net returns receives over the lifetime of customers.
The focus of CVM is on the analysis of data of prospective customers. The information so gained helps in
the acquisition of customers and shaping their behaviour. Further, knowledge is also utilized in framing
marketing strategies in a manner that the value of all current and future customers is optimized.
The CVM framework needs to be in line with the five-step CVM process described earlier. For instance,
discovering and committing to the customers, we need to while strategically work on customer analysis
and acquisition strategies. While creating value and assessing customer feedback we work on customer
retention and expansion. Measurement and improving the commitment enhances Customer Lifetime
Value (CLV). customer value
The concept of value in business markets has recently attracted attention from managers of various
organizations. Value could be measured monetarily and non- monetarily. In short, the value can be
regarded as a trade-off between benefits and sacrifices. Customers are becoming a key source of
competitive advantage because, in addition to revenues, suppliers can gain product ideas, technologies,
market access, etc. from their customers. Value creation is regarded as the essential purpose for a
customer firm and a supplier firm engaging in a relationship.
The creation of mutual value will become the focus of both the customer and the firm, value is jointly
shared among all the parties involved. Customer value is the customer defines it, at the price the
customer is willing to overall benefit derived from the product, however, the pay. Information about
customer value allows the firm to adapt its offerings to meet customer value expectations. Customer
value influences customer attitudes and Correspondingly customer choice behaviour.
CVM FRAMEWORK:
Customer Analysis:
This focuses on the assessment of the customer segments that the company serves. It involves
identification of the target customers, understanding their needs and showing how its products and
services can satisfy these needs. Market surveys, test marketing, feedback of the sales team and channel
partners, and such other tools help to collect the data regarding customers needs and behaviour. the
Customer Acquisition:
There are a variety of marketing techniques to generate customer prospects and inquiries. Customer
acquisition involves methods and strategies to deal with these inquiries. It may also be said that
customer acquisition management acts as a bridge between advertising and CRM.
Though customer acquisition management appears to be similar to lead management, its reporting
system gives us the option of quantifying the effectiveness of results of various promotional activities,
unlike in lead management.
Customer acquisition also includes a response to a prospective customer immediately after the inquiry
without any delay. The response may be in the form of an email or telephone The main objective behind
this kind of response is to further the prospect's interest in the offering
Customer Retention:
It is a well-established fact that the cost of acquiring a customer is five times the cost of retaining an
existing customer. This is the major reason why companies focus on customer retention strategies, not
to mention the benefits o word-of-mouth promotion that the loyal customers bring along. In an attempt
to retain customers, a selling organization focuses on reducing customer defections. The first step of
contacting a prospective customer forms the stepping stone for creating CLV, and this is reinforced
through customer retention strategies. A company's ability to attract prospects and retain them as loyal
customers is not just dependent on the market offer, but also draws its strength from is more than just
delivering to customers what they want. We need to exceed the expectations of customers, which will,
in turn, make them loyal to the brand.
Customer Expansion:
Customer expansion can be practiced by:
Selling more products or services to existing customers.
Up-gradation of customers to higher levels of service.
Increasing the usage of products and services by customers, and
Adoption of new products and services.
Cross-selling is a fairly established strategy for customer expansion, whereby one sells other products
and services existing customers. Companies should take the utmost care while cross-selling to
customers, as in case the customers get annoyed by the marketing pitch, it may lead to loss of existing
customers as well as prospects through the lost customers' references.
Customer Lifetime Value:
Customer lifetime value represents. how customer is worth in terms of monetary value, and by the
marketing therefore, how much money should be spent on acquisition and retention of that customer
department of the company. While it may be difficult to calculate the exact value, customer lifetime
value is defined as the net present value of all future cash flows attributable to the relationship with a
customer. much
A SHIFT FROM CRM TO CVM:
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a set of methods, strategies, and applications that
facilitate a company manage customer relationships. The CRM system has a contact module that helps
the firm to control investments in sales, marketing, call centres, billing, credit and collection, and to
capture interactions between the company and its customers. CRM software collects and accesses
information about customer orders, grievances, preferences and their participation in marketing
campaigns. This information when refined takes the shape of customer knowledge and is applied to
provide better response to customer needs, automate operations and customer feedback for improving
the offerings. capture
Though, as discussed above, CRM systems can be of great help to businesses, they have a limited ability
to meet the ever-growing challenges of today's environment. The need of the hour is to have a system
that dynamic integrates the information from various value-creating activities and gives ideas to cater to
the unmet needs in the market. Further, this information should also help in modification and
customization. This is where CVM plays a role.
Implementing CVM:
There has been lot of research on CRM implementation. CVM implementation also deals with the use of
customer data for optimizing customer profitability. This kind of use of customer data management is
taking a central position in almost every competitive organization today. Research on CVM
implementation has carried out, mostly in the form of case studies in applied management journals.
There needs to be more scientific research on the implementation of CVM in practice. Further, there
also exists a scope for the determination of relationships between customer intelligence and marketing.
While analysts working with customer intelligence focus on the analysis of customer data, marketing
analysts are more inclined towards the qualitative study of market factors. Better cooperation. between
these two fronts will be beneficial for the successful implementation of CVM.
Focus on the following issues would be imperative for the successful implementation of CVM:
Deciding the factors that lead to the successful application of CVM in practice.
Understanding the advantages of CVM implementation.
Role of analytics, quality of data and work culture.
Skill gaps to be covered in customer intelligence and market analysis departments.
Working towards cooperation between customer intelligence and marketers.
Amount of effort to put in the implementation of CVM.
Negative effects of too much focus on customer data.
Customer Value Management Cycle:
These aims are spread throughout the 3 phases of the customer life cycle which are:
Right Customers:
The customer value management cycle starts with acquiring the customers who will be most valuable to
your business. Who are these customers? Most often those who will do repeat business with your
company for a long time. In The Loyalty Effect, Reich held cites examples of how long a customer must
stay to pay for the cost of acquisition. In many industries, the break-even period is a year or more and
rising. Companies can no. longer afford to indiscriminately recruit customers without examining their
long-term value.
All customers are not equal. Even a customer that is high-value to a competitor might well be
unprofitable for you. For example, there are profitable insurance companies that specialize in safe
drivers, as well as those who focus on drivers with higher risk. A "good driver" company would be
acquiring the wrong customers by placing ads in racing car magazines. Because customer acquisition is
so costly, effective customer value company to develop the analytical capabilities to identify
management requires your customers who will be loyal and profitable, not just for your industry, but for
your specific company.
Right Relationship:
Managers must develop a relationship with every customer in a unique way. Customers who don't
receive the right touch or get too many conflicting offers to lose rather than gain value. Just because
Jack and Frank live in the same zip code does not mean they are both in the market for home office
furniture at the same time. Ideally, marketers would be able to spot these differences, targeting Jack
with the right offer at the right time, without annoying Frank with another promotion for something he
does not want. For any business, the right relationship is one that maximizes that customer's lifetime
value. So the business's goal of customer relationship management is to increase the size and frequency
of purchases and extend how long the customer continues to buy. Since marketers can't know the
duration of a relationship until it is over, they use loyalty measures to estimate how long customers will
stay.
Customers do repeat business with vendors that understand and respond to their individual needs and
respond when those needs change. To improve customer value, marketers must understand differences
between their customers, and track how each individual evolves. The specific actions managers should
take depend on the value of the customer. For high-value customers, managers should work with
loyalty, extending the length of an already profitable relationship.
Right Retention:
Effective retention means retaining the right customers, not every customer. Managers need to focus
their retention actions on customers with the highest lifetime value. Spending precious resources to
retain marginally profitable or unprofitable customers hurts the overall value of the customer base,
especially if these retention efforts succeed. Right retention is therefore rooted in knowing which
individuals are most valuable, and why.
Accurately analyzing lifetime value helps managers take the long view, giving equal weight to customers
who are already doing a high volume of business and those who purchase are modest, but whose
actions indicate loyalty and profitability over time. Having identified the customers worth keeping,
managers must ensure that their retention strategies maintain value, not erode it. According to Reich
held, one reason loyal customers are more profitable is that they are less price-sensitive. Therefore
managers should retain these loyal customers through incentives other than prices, such as special
recognition and premium levels of service. Even if heavy discounting does retain high-value customers,
they train customers to become more price sensitive and therefore less valuable.
Customer Care:
Customer care means, Caring for the Customers. Its focuses on providing proper product or service
support to the consumers. So that they can take advantage of a particular product or service in the best
possible manner".
Existing customers are also equally important as compare to prospective one's In fact, the company
needs to take care of the existing product users or consumers too as it is the only action which fulfil the
word "Customer Care".
It is a post-sale work that is to be done from the company end. In this process, the customer care
department of the company deals with the problems of the existing clients and the consumers. People
share their difficulties, problems, technical issues, product relate inquiries, etc. to the support
representative.
In short, we can say, it is the responsibility of the customer care department to help the client to get rid
of his product-related problems. If the company lacks in giving the best consumer support to their
existing or new clients then it will put a very negative impact on the customers and goodwill would also
be damaged.
SATISFACTION:: LOYALTY/RETENTION: PROFIT CHAIN
This chain is designed in the 1990s to show the exact relationship and interconnectivity between
Satisfaction -- Loyalty-Retention and Profits, whereby it directly links to CRM.
It talks about focusing on core products or services because that would lead to customer satisfaction.
Increased customer satisfaction would lead to customer loyalty which would ultimately retain the
customer with the organization. Customer Retention would result in greater profitability.
A company should have a clear understanding of the Satisfaction-Loyalty-Profit chain to manage

customers efficiently.
Increased customer satisfaction will lead to greater customer retention, which is often used as a proxy
for customer loyalty, which then is expected to lead to greater profitability.
The link between Satisfaction and Retention is unequal:
Dissatisfaction has a greater impact on retention than satisfaction. Only a satisfied customer could be
retained successfully.
Even if the level of satisfaction is high, retention is not guaranteed. Because there may be many
competitors ready with similar kinds of product fulfilling customer requirements.
If customers are dissatisfied, other products become more appealing to them. The link is nonlinear in
that the impact of satisfaction on retention is greater at the extremes, which means when we become
regular customers we get some benefits on additional purchases made.
The flat part of the curve in the middle has also been called the "zone of indifference". The zone of
indifference is the area around the value equivalence line at which small changes in price or benefits are
associated with no substantial change in quantity sold or have an inconsequential impact on the
perceived relative value of the offerings.
Factors like the aggressiveness of competition, degree of switching cost, and the level of perceived risk
influence the shape of the curve and the position of the elbows.
Link Between Customer Satisfaction and Profit:
The direct link suggests, that as customers experience increases the satisfaction of a customer with a
firm's offering goes on increasing which ultimately leads to an increase in profits.
There is always a positive correlation between customer satisfaction and Return on Assets.
Improving customer satisfaction comes at a cost and once the cost of enhancing satisfaction is factored
in, offering "excessive satisfaction" doesn't pay.
Marginal gains in satisfaction decrease, while the marginal expenses to achieve the growth in
satisfaction increases.
There is an optimum satisfaction level for any firm, beyond which increasing satisfaction does not pay..
CRM STRATEGY:
OBJECTIVES OF CRM STRATEGY:
CRM in an organization emphasizes customer retention and acquisition strategies as it costs five times
more to acquire new customers. Retaining a customer is highly competitive, capturing the volatile
market is a tough task. Segregation of customers in every organization is a must to achieve customer
satisfaction objectives.
Following are the objectives of CRM strategy:
(1) CRM strategy contributes to the larger organizational business goals and objectives.
(2) Employees should be well aware of corporate strategy as they will help in creating, maintaining and
sustaining relationships with the customer.
(3) The strategy should be developed in such a way whereby better customer service is provided.
(4) CRM strategy development helps to design the product as per the specifications of the customers
that can be obtained through feedback from them.
(5) It also aims at sustaining old customers along with attracting the new one.
Customer Acquisition:
There are a variety of marketing techniques to generate customer prospects and inquiries. Customer
acquisition involves methods and strategies to deal with these. inquiries. It may also be said that
customer acquisition management acts as a bridge between advertising and CRM.
Though customer acquisition management appears to be similar to lead management, its reporting
system gives us the option of quantifying the effectiveness of results of various promotional activities,
unlike in lead management.
Customer acquisition also includes a response to a prospective customer immediately after the inquiry
without any delay. The response may be in the form of an email or telephone call. The main objective
behind this kind of response is to further the prospect's interest in the offering.
Customer Retention:
It is a well-established fact that the cost of acquiring a customer is five times the cost of retaining an
existing customer. This is the major reason why companies focus on customer retention strategies, not
to mention the benefits of word-of-mouth promotion that the loyal customers bring along. In an
attempt to retain customers, a selling organization focuses on reducing customer defections. The first
step of contacting a prospective customer forms the stepping stone for creating CLV, and this is
reinforced through customer retention strategies. A company's ability to attract prospects and retain
them as loyal customers is not just dependant on the market offer but also draws its strength from is
more than just delivering to customers what they want. We need to exceed the expectations of
customers, which will, in turn, make them loyal to the brand.
Win-Back Stage:
Customer win-back is a key element to CRM strategy. Indeed, regaining lost customers is related to
enhanced rates of repeat-selling and a higher return on investment compared to brand new selling, as
customers in the acquisition phase are essentially unprofitable and become increasingly profitable the
continues. longer the relationship
Benefits of Win-Back:
ability to identify service improvement opportunities by tracking the defected customers' reasons for
leaving,
increased capability to detect at-risk customers by learning from defected customers, and
the ability to limit negative word of mouth from switchers and increase positive word of mouth through
those that are reacquired.
As a result of all these expected benefits, customer reacquisition initiatives are becoming more and
more popular, as firms recognize that customer reacquisition may be a critical element in a firm's ability
to manage an entire customer portfolio over time.
COMPLEXITIES OF CRM STRATEGY:
Information barriers.
Poor marketing practices.
Inability to access and understand customer needs.
◆ Ineffective segmentation of customers.
Lack of marketing tools to manage the customer relationship.
PLANNING OF CRM
BUSINESS TO BUSINESS (B2B) CRM:
Customer loyalty can be maintained only if changes in business-to-business commerce are properly
faced. B2B commerce landscape is rapidly changing due to evolving customer needs. To bring about a
satisfied customer, vendors are providing quality, variety, and convenience. Proper products and
services can be supplied at the proper time, proper place and a proper price only with co-ordination of
Vendor. Thus CRM and ERP (Enterprise resource planning) should go hand in hand. A close relationship
between customer and vendor has been established due to the high technologies used all over the
market.
The end customer can be supplied with better quality product and service only if its vendor is supplying
an integrated value-added services which can be added to the final product and can be transferred to
the customer.
Building Customer Loyalty in B2B Commerce:

To sustain in a competitive environment, building customer loyalty is the only way available with the
company. Building loyalty with the key customers has become a core marketing objective shared by key
players in all industries catering to business customers.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) came out with a concept of Market intelligent enterprise which
anticipates the fut needs of key customers and fulfilling them before they move to the competitor.
PWC defines MIE (Market intelligence enterprise) as:
"An enterprise that institutionalizes the capacity to acquire and apply market information quickly across
and effectively manages customer relationships with best customers and best prospects."
Process of Developing MIE:
(1) Collecting customer information as a strategic asset: Customer information serves as the foundation
as of the strategy and processes of MIE. MIE collects a strategic information on its current and prospects
customers. Information is been collected from all touch points i.e. channels that are salesforce, e-
marketing, relationship managers, etc. In the B2B relationship, this process is easy as the interacting
with end-users like number of business customers is very few. What information needs to be collected,
how many times and in what format it needs to be analyzed is described much before in advance by MIE
to its channels which are responsible for data collection. In this stage, data is been collected in a planned
manner aligning with the objectives of business customers.
(2) Identify Customer expectations: A business customer has different expectations as compared to the
end customer. A firm first analyzes its own customer's expectations and then, in turn, associates its
expectation with its supplier expectation. For example, a customer will expect better qualitative product
at cheap price, in context with end-user expectation, the firm will expect from its vendor supply of
qualitative raw material in proper quantity at the proper time and appropriate price to produce at a low
rate and finished products could be supplied to the customer as per their demand frequencies. The
vendor evaluation methodology is used for selecting an appropriate vendor by keeping in mind key
drivers of customer expectation.
(3) Aligning strategies and processes with customer expectations: After identifying business customer
expectations, it is time for the vendor to align its strategies and processes as per the requirements of its
customers to maintain a strong relationship. It has to redesign its procurement, manufacturing and
delivery time cycle as per its customer requirements, MIE should align its business processes closely
with customer expectations by identifying key processes of the customer. Customer target should be
kept in mind to decide on the vendor's supply target along with lead time calculation which says time
required for the supply of raw material to the customer's destination.
(4) Manage customer experience: After alignment of processes, it's time for order fulfilme and
measuring level of customer satisfaction. which benchmarked on areas can be of Marketing and sales,
customer support, billing and payment, dispute resolution and product development and testing. Based
on business customer satisfaction, there are various levels like:
(a) Terrorist - Extremely unsatisfied customers.
(b) Rejecters Customers who always reject

(c) Detectors - Unsatisfied customers.
(d) Vulnerable - Switchers.
(e) Supporters - Satisfied customers.
(f) Advocates - Delighted customers.
Successful MIE has to result in converting terrorists to advocates. One of the key objectives of managing
customer experience for a firm is to convert key customers to advocates and to address the grievances
of terrorists.
(5) Managing customer relationship based on ongoing customer value: Customer relationship is being
identified on two basis:
(a) Customer lifetime value; and
(b) The strategic importance of the customer.
(a) Customer lifetime value: A firm can't maintain a lifetime relationship with all customers during its
lifetime. A firm needs to identify only those customers who have brought lifetime value to it. Lifetime
value is the total amount of value the customer has brought to the firm directly or indirectly during its
lifetime.
(b) The strategic importance of customer: Superior customer can also be identified by answering the
following two parameters:
What is the contribution of this customer to the achievement of the mission of the enterprise? What is
an impact on the revenue of the firm if it loses this customer?
Answering these two parameters will help a business firm to decide as to which class of customer's long
term relationship needs to be maintained through ongoing. MIE strategies.
(6) Embracing Market Intelligent Technology: MIE can be successful only if it is embraced by technology.
Capturing customer information, analysis and compilation is possible only with the help of web-based
technology like E-Commerce, CRM packages. Firms have increased their investment in technology so
that they can collaborate more easily with their customers.
Cross Border B2B Relationship with Intermediaries:
The word intermediaries in B2B refer to electronic middlemen who are necessary to facilitate online
trades between buyers and sellers which are both businesses. The intermediaries stand in between the
two parties involved in the transaction ensuring that a double coincidence of want occurs. Such
coincidence of wants can either be "many-to one" or "one-to-many" i.e. the buyer side and the seller
side respectively.
Intermediaries in B2B transactions play an important role in various ways:
Business firms will concentrate their resources on their core activities instead of uncoordinated and
multiple searches for other businesses to transact with.
Intermediaries help to shorten the supply chain by reducing the number of weeks and months involved
to conclude a transaction.
Huge reduction in cost in procurement and sales.
The use of intermediaries improves the online experience of all the parties to a transaction through
regularly updated means of collaboration.
The use of intermediaries helps in organizing suppliers and purchasers for the easy and timely
occurrence of transactions.
In international transactions there are two intermediaries involved one from the supply-side and other
from the buying side. Thus they play an important role to carry out an international transaction.
Relationship Marketing for Creating Value in the Business Market:
Relationship marketing plays an important role in B2B market because of various reasons:
(1) B2B buyers are rational: In the case of consumers, we are often less well-informed, less accountable
to others and far more susceptible. But in the case of business to-business buyers, the fact is they are
relatively rational. They make our job easier as we need to design and manufacture only those products
as demanded by them, and deliver them on time and at a good price.
(2) B2B products are complex: The key for the B2B marketer is to be fully informed concerning the
product or service being sold. This understanding must cover not only the technical' details of the
offering but also the extended offer including after-sales service, problem resolution, client
management team, etc. As a result, the B2B sale is often a technical sale', meaning that salespeople in
business-to-business markets are often extremely experienced and originate from a technical discipline
within their organization. The success or otherwise of an entire business-to-business product line can be
largely dependent on the abilities of a small team of salespeople.
(3) B2B markets have few segments: The fact is business-to-business markets have relatively few
segments that make the job of the B2B marketer easier than it might otherwise be. Given the limited
size of business-to-business target audiences, many marketers find the most simple approach is to tier
the target audience by size and split it by geography, with accounts receiving the attention they deserve
according to their strategic value to the supplier.
(4) Personal relationships are more important in B2B: An important distinguishing feature of business-to
business markets is the importance of the personal relationship. A small customer base that buys
regularly from the business-to-business supplier is relatively easy to talk to. Sales and technical
representatives visit the customers. People are on first-name terms. Personal relationships and trust
develop. It is not unusual for a business-to-business supplier to have customers that have been loyal and
committed for many years.
(5) B2B buyers are long term buyers: Long-term purchases - or at least purchases which are expected to
be repeated over a long period are more common in business-to-business markets, where capital
machinery, components, and continually used consumables are prevalent.
Furthermore, the long-term products and services required by businesses are more likely to require
service back-up from the supplier than is the case in consumer markets. A computer network, a new
item of machinery, a photocopier or a fleet of vehicles usually require far more extensive after-sales
service than a house or the single-vehicle purchased by a consumer. Businesses' repeat purchases
(machine parts, office consumables, for example) will also require ongoing expertise and services in
terms of delivery, implementation/installation advice, etc, that are less likely to be demanded by
consumers.
Finally, business customers tend to be regarded as long-term customers more than consumers do for
the simple reason that there are fewer business customers about, and the ones that do exist are more
valuable! The benefits of retaining a B2B customer are often enormous, and the consequences of losing
them very seriously.
Managing Relationship in Supply Chain of the 21st Century:
Global markets are expanding beyond borders and re-defining the way demand and supplies are
managed. Global companies are driven by markets across continents. To keep the cost of manufacturing
down, they are forced to keep looking to set up production centres where the cost of raw materials and
labour is cheap. Sourcing of raw materials and vendors to supply the right quality, quantity and at right
price calls for dynamic procurement strategy spanning across countries.
With the above scenario, you will find companies procuring materials globally from various vendors to
supply raw materials to their factories situated in different continents. The finished goods out of these
different factory locations then pass through different chains of distribution networks involving
warehouses, exports to different countries or local markets, distributors, retailers and finally to the end
customer.
In simple language, managing all of the above activities in the cycle to manage demand and supply on a
global scale is Supply Chain Management.
Importance of maintaining a relationship in the supply chain:
Maintaining long term relationships in the supply chain will help to deliver long term value to both the
parties.
If a strong relationship is being maintained it will help key suppliers in increasing value and will help to
reduce supply chain spend.
The strong relationship also helps to build trust and value throughout the supply chain.
Relationship management affects all areas of the supply chain and has a dramatic impact on
performance.
Performance review meetings could be held out at regular intervals for maintaining a relationship.
In discussing the importance of relationships in supply.
chain management, trust-building is emphasized as an ongoing process that must be continually

managed.
SALES AND CRM:
Improve the speed of communication and sales process.

Increase sales efficiency through wireless and internet based order entry.
Improve entire sales force by capturing, distributing the success and expertise of highest performers.
Increase revenue per visit by focusing on growing best accounts.
Repetitive sales to existing customers due to customer satisfaction.
SALESFORCE AUTOMATION:
Salesforce Automation (SFA) was an inventive form of CRM.
It applies technology to the management of a company's selling activities. The selling disintegrated into
several process stages such can as be lead generation, lead qualification, needs identification,
development of specifications, proposal generation, proposal presentation, handling objections and
closing the sale.
Sales-Force Automation software allows companies automatically to record leads and track
opportunities as they progress through the sales pipeline towards the finish. Intelligent applications of
SFA are based on complete customer data made available in a timely fashion to salespeople through
various media such as desktops, laptops and handheld computers, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and
cell-phones.
SFA is the use of technology to manage selling activities. It regulates a sales cycle and common
terminology for sales issues among all the sales employees of a business. It includes the following
modules:
(a) Product Configuration: It enables salespersons or customers themselves to automatically design the
product and decide the price for a customized product. It is based on the if-then-else structure.
(b) Quotation and Proposal Management: The salesperson can generate a quotation of the product
prices and proposal for the customer by entering details ) such as customer name, delivery
requirements, product code, number of pieces, etc.
(c) Accounts Management: It manages inward entries, credit and debit amounts for various transactions,
and stores transaction details as records.
(d) Lead management: It lets the users qualify leads and assigns them to appropriate salespersons.
(e) Contact Management: It is enabled with features such as customers' contact details, salespersons'
calendar, and automatic dialling numbers. These all are stored in the form of computerized records.
Using this application, a user can communicate effectively with the customers.
(f) Opportunity Management: It lets the users identify and follow leads from lead status to closure and
beyond closure.
EXAMPLE OF SALESFORCE AUTOMATION:
TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION:
Since 1996, Toyota has firmly believed that cars are more than just products; they should connect with
Toyota customers. This was visionary but it was more than just a dream.
Toyota is already building connections with customers into the 8 million cars it manufactures each year.
TOYOTA FRIEND:
Toyota Friend is a private social network for Toyota customers and cars and gets friendly, tweet-like
reminders for maintenance checks and other notices.
"Toyota Friend," owners will be able to "chat" with their Toyotas like they would with a friend on Twitter
or Facebook.
The car would have its own "profile" and send a message to the driver's phone, for instance, reminding
him to recharge its depleted battery. The owner would be able to carry out a simple, two-way
conversation with the car.
TOYOTA CHATTER:
Toyota uses Salesforce.com enterprise social network Chatter that enables hundreds of thousands of
staff across the world to interact with each other at any hour of the day-revolutionizing the way they
work.
Employees can post questions and get advice and answers from co-workers based in 170 countries
around the world. Rather than each office working on their own documentation. to solve problems and
develop
Employees have to log in to access the intranet join groups to participate in discussions and can also
post updates comments opinions feedbacks.
There is an interconnection between departments which led to a better decision. Chatter contains lots
of other facilities like Senior management communication with employees becomes easy, quick decision
making, customization, translation service for Japanese and non-Japanese employees.
ACTIVITY MANAGEMENT:
Activity management is an integral part of customer your relationship management (CRM) and
administers all activities undertaken by the employees of company. Any data saved in an activity is an
important source of information that needs to be accessed by all relevant employees.
It answers day-to-day questions, such as:
(a) What appointments do I have next week?
(b) When can I arrange a visit to Ms. Shilpa?
(c) Who can cover for a sick colleague in external sales?
A sales representative can view the outcome of a telephone call made after an initial customer visit. A
sales manager can quickly get an overview of all the activities that have taken place in the department
during a certain period.
It enables the service staff to track workload, assign priorities to the service according to urgency, set
appointment alerts, set alarms on attended but unresolved services, etc.
Advantages of Activity Management:
(i) It helps to create list views to easily prioritize tasks and events.
(ii) It helps to improve individual and overall task progress.
(iii) It helps to create powerful reports for effective team management.
SALES TERRITORY MANAGEMENT: Territory management is an account sharing system that grants on
the access to characteristics of the accounts. accounts company to structure the company's salesforce
data and users the same way to territories. based It enables your structure its sales
Key benefits of territory management include:
The ability to use account criteria to expand a private sharing model.
Support for complex and frequently changed sales organization structures.
• Support for transferring users between territories, with the option to retain opportunities. . Multiple
forecasts per user, based on territory membership.
Territory-based sales reports.
CONTACT MANAGEMENT:
To maintain a healthy relationship with the customer it is better to maintain contact regularly. The
success of any business to a great extent depends on a piece of well organized contact information,
making the data available for ready reference. Contact management, therefore, enhances the
relationship between customer and sales life - cycle for business growth.
Contact management means well-organized contact data, viz. communication with clients, meetings,
calls, email, as well as through websites. Contact manager modules can help you in the process of
acquiring customers as well as procuring products from various vendors. In this sense, contacts can be
associated with accounts as well as vendors for the business.
Organizational Benefits from Contact Management:
1) Gather Customer Information: One of the greatest
advantages of using contact management is that it effectively allows gathering customer information.
Every employee who has access to the contact management database can input information that they
gather while talking to customers. This information can prove to be invaluable when it comes to
improving customer relations and customer service, which is an essential component of retaining
current customers as well as winning over new ones.
Streamline Communication: Another advantage of implementing a contact management system is that

it helps to streamline the communication process. As soon as one employee gathers information from a
potential or current customer, that information is available to all others who have access to the
company's contact management database. As a result, the sales team can follow up on sales leads
almost instantly, which will significantly improve their chances of being able to close on a deal.
(3) Improve Communication: In addition to allowing employees to communicate more quickly, contact
management technology also makes it possible to communicate more accurately as well. With the help
of contact management technology, the information doesn't have to get passed on from one person to
the next, which can result in information getting mixed up and becoming unreliable. By allowing
employees to communicate accurate information, they can further. improve their customer service skills
while also having a greater chance of winning over new customers.
(4) Track Customer Purchases: The contact management system is also capable of tracking customer
purchases, which can help your company identify purchasing trends for individual customers as well as
for the target group as a whole. This information can help the marketing team develop well-targeted
marketing campaigns while also helping the sales team develop the most effective sales strategies.
(5) Maintain Correspondence Logs: Another benefit of using contact management is that it allows
maintaining accurate customer correspondence logs. By maintainin accurate correspondence logs, each
employee can quickly and easily see what the customer was told during previous conversations, which
helps guarantee that all of the employees will be on the same page while also offering the most
professional and courteous customer service possible. This will help save time while also helping to
improve customer relations, which will ultimately help to increase sales and profits.
LEAD MANAGEMENT:
Lead management (also known as "opportunity management" and "pipeline management") aims to
provide full proof sales strategies so no sales task, document, or communication falls through the cracks.
Thus salespeople can follow a defined approach to turning opportunities into deals.
Many lead management products not only track customer account history but also monitor leads,
generate the next steps, and refine selling efforts online.
Some sales force automation products enable a company's marketing or sales. management
organization to automatically distribute client leads to a field or telemarketing rep based on the rep's
product knowledge or territory. Because the organization has presumably already qualified these leads
through marketing campaigns or client referrals or via an internal customer support rep, this type of
lead distribution can result in faster deals and higher close rates.
Besides, SFA tools can track other prospect attributes such as known product interests, discretionary
budget amounts, and likely competitors, providing a real-world view of each lead and its likelihood of
becoming a full fledged scale.
This information can feed sales forecasting software and result in more accurate predictions than relying
on traditional spreadsheets of past performance.
Lead management analysis is only as good as the data that feeds it, and different products provide
different levels of sophistication.
Advanced lead management tools even calculate the probability of the sale based on the success factor
information stored in the prospect's profile, and others can alert the salesperson when a problem arises
that thwarted a similar opportunity with another prospect.
CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT:
• Configuration management (CM) is the detailed recording and updating of information that describes
an enterprise's hardware and software.
Such information typically includes the versions and updates that have been applied to installed
software packages and the locations and network addresses of hardware devices.
When a system needs a hardware or software upgrade, a computer technician can access the
configuration support and database to see what is currently installed.
The technician can then make a more informed decision about the upgrade needed.
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT:
CRM starts with comprehensive knowledge of customers, their habits, desires, and needs, by analyzing
their cognitive, effective behaviour and attributes. CRM applies this knowledge to develop and design
marketing strategies, to develop and cultivate long-lasting mutually beneficial interaction and
relationship with the customer. Customer knowledge and customer interaction based on this knowledge
are two pillars on which any CRM design and its successful implementation rest.
To effectively implement a CRM solution it is very important to identify real knowledge about different
types of customers. A straightway technique is to create a data warehouse, thereafter information that
is required to effectively implement principles of CRM could be mined out of this data warehouse.
It is essential to build knowledge architecture instead of just accumulating it. Knowledge management
has the potential to give an organization a strategic advantage in the design and implementation of a
CRM solution. An organization should look for differentiating knowledge from data and information for
CRM. Knowledge management provides a standard for how documents, databases, websites are
labelled, organized and populated.
The knowledge architecture for CRM will reduce the risk element involved in taking strategic decisions
to retain stomer loyalty. The strategic decisions of the marketer will be more judicious, based on past
knowledge, which was earlier hidden and unorganized. Thus, decision making will be more effective.
The core of any knowledge management implementation is to abstract vital and meaningful knowledge
from a voluminous amount of data available from a variety of internal and external sources and ensure
its practical use.
The rapid advances in the field of Information Technology the enhanced knowledge creation and
knowledge management process and played a key role in collecting, transforming and communicating
data, information, and knowledge. Knowledge management helps an organization. to gain insight and
understanding from its own experience. Knowledge management implementation also protects
intellectual assets from decay, adds to firm intelligence and provides increased flexibility.
Knowledge Management Implementation Phases:
A phased approach adopted in knowledge management implementation is having four phases:
(1) Evaluation.
(2) System Analysis, Design, and Development.

(3) Deployment.
(4) System Evaluation.
(1) Evaluation: It involves leveraging and building Knowledge Management architecture upon existing
databases, data mining and data warehousing systems, project management and decision support
system tools. Evaluation should always try to align knowledge management and business strategy. It
involves a delicate mix of rising of Knowledge Management system design to the level of business
strategy and bringing strategy down to the level of system design.
(2) System Analysis, Design, and Development: It involves the design of knowledge architecture in which
we identify what internal and external sources to be integrated, identification of data storage and
retrieval system, platforms, clients, servers, and gateways. What components could be used for
searching, indexing, and retrieval? Any knowledge management project always begins with what the
organization already knows for this knowledge audit and analysis. A well-structured knowledge
management implementation team prepares a blueprint of the Knowledge Management organization.
(3) Deployment: This phase could be pilot one which is also known as result-driven incremental
technique. The availability of client knowledge officers is vital for Knowledge Management success.
(4) System Evaluation: This phase tries to evaluate actual benefits acquired by an organization as a result
of Knowledge Management implementation.
CRM IMPLEMENTATION
STEPS IN CRM IMPLEMENTATION:
Business Planning:
Business planning starts with the most critical of defining CRM's overall objectives which can be at the
department or enterprise level. At the enterprise level, CRM business planning can involve the
documentation of a corporate CRM strategy and the definition of the corresponding programs within it.
At the department level, it can be establishing the boundaries of a new CRM application.
This phase should include documentation of high-level CRM business goals in the form of a strategy
document or business plan. This document will be forced at CRM's inception to gain executive
consensus and sponsorship. It will be useful as a focal point for requirements-driven development and
after the CRM project has deployed an application as a way to measure its results.
A business plan includes the identification of a core process where redesigning is required. More often
than not, companies planning their CRM projects realize that rather than simply automating existing
business processes, they are defining those processes for the first time.
CRM business planning should also include ROI estimation or cost-savings projections.
Architecture and Design:
In this age of information, knowledge is the most important factor in the long-term success of both an
individual and an organization. The only source of competitive advantage in the future will be the
knowledge that an organization contains and an organization's ability to learn faster than the
competition.
With knowledge taking on increased importance, it makes sense that there is an opportunity to create a
competitive advantage by effectively managing its storage and use. Effective CRM architecture creates a
competitive advantage by bringing appropriate knowledge to the point of action during the moment of
need.
Employee turnover is also reduced because a large portion of the knowledge and expertise acquired by
the employee is captured in the database.
The word Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing, and construction.
Knowledge management architecture utilizes three primary resources:
(i) Warehousing of precise data;
(ii) Refineries for accumulating, refining, managing, and distributing the information; (iii) Organization
roles to execute and manage the refining process; and
(i) Warehousing of Precise Knowledge:
The design of a CRM warehouse reflects the two basic components as an object: structure and content.
Structures provide the context for understanding accumulated content. If the warehouse is visualized as
a "knowledge platform", and then many different views of the content may be derived from a particular
repository structure. A high degree of viewing flexibility enables users to alter and combine views
dynamically and interactively and to more easily apply the knowledge to circumstances. new contexts
and
Data content should be such that it can be labelled, indexed, stored, retrieved and manipulated. The
format, size, and content of knowledge units may vary depending on the type of knowledge being
stored and the context of their use.
The warehouse should be visible according to those concepts and categories, providing access paths
that are meaningful to the organization. It should accommodate changes or additions to that
knowledge.
(ii) Refineries for Accumulating, Refining, Managing and Distributing that Knowledge:
The refinery represents the process for creating and distributing the knowledge contained in the
repository. This process includes five stages:
(a) Acquisition: Information and knowledge are either created within the organization or can be
acquired from many different internal and external sources.
(b) Refining: Captured knowledge, before being added to the warehouse, is subjected to value-adding
processes such as cleansing, labelling, indexing, sorting, abstracting. standardizing, integrating, and
categorizing. re
(c) Storage and Retrieval: This stage bridges upstream warehouse creation to downstream knowledge
distribution.
(d) Distribution: This stage represents the mechanisins used to make warehouse content accessible.
(e) Presentation: The value of knowledge is persistently influenced by the context of its use. Capabilities
should be provided for openly arranging, selecting, and integrating the knowledge content.
(iii) Organization Roles to Execute and Manage the Refining Process:
The architecture presented here proposes a set of organizational roles that should be clearly defined.
Primarily, knowledge management, as a cross organizational process, should be widely "owned" and
architecture. managed, and full-time responsibility assigned for an organization's knowledge
management Organizations are forming a Chief Knowledge Officer role to handle this responsibility.
Many organizations also cluster those responsible for knowledge management into knowledge or
expertise centres, each being responsible for a particular body of knowledge. Their duties typically
include championing knowledge management, educating the organization, knowledge mapping, and
integrating the organizational and technological resources comprising the knowledge management
architecture. Moreover, obvious responsibility should be assigned for each stage of the refinery and the
interfaces between them. Assigning responsibility for the seamless movement of knowledge from
acquisition through use, as well as the interfaces between these stages, will help ensure that knowledge
repositories will be meaningfully created and effectively used.
Technology Selection:
The information technology infrastructure should provide a seamless "pipeline" for the flow of explicit
knowledge through the 5 stages of the refining process to enable.
◆ capturing knowledge,
◆ defining, storing, categorizing, indexing and linking digital objects corresponding to knowledge units,
searching for ("pulling") and subscribing to ("pushing") relevant content, Offering content with sufficient
flexibility to render it meaningful and applicable across multiple contexts of use.
Effective use of information technology to communicate knowledge requires an organization to share an

informative background. The more that communicators share similar knowledge, background, and
experience, effectively knowledge can the more be communicated via electronically reconciled
channels. When the context is not well shared and knowledge communication and narrated is mainly
unspoken, experience are best maintained with the richest and most interactive modes such as video
conferencing or face-to-face conversation.
Development:
• Development involves the Construction and customization of the CRM product, using specific product
features. But CRM development is more than programmers assuming centre stage and writing code; it
involves the integration of business processes with the chosen CRM product.
Process integration means that CRM technology selected integrates into these business processes.
Process integration involves ensuring that identified business processes are tested with users to ensure
not only that the business processes work, but also that technology structures can be leveraged to
upgrade them. In other words, technological competences should improve, not compromise, customer-
focused business processes.
Delivery:
The delivery step is ahead of development whereby it means to control the corporation's IT
infrastructure to dispatch the resulting CRM software to the business users who need it.
In the case of a new Web-based sales-force automation tool, the application force is announced via an
e-mail message that contains a link to the new CRM Web site. If the CRM system is client-server based, it
will need to be connected to individual workstations.
CRM delivery can also comprise user guides, job aids, and other documentation, as well as online or
Web based help to inspire users to make the most of the new CRM functionality.
Measurement:
The measurement stage brings the CRM roadmap full circle as it evaluates CRM usage to refine CRM
requirements. Many companies waive ongoing CRM measurements, such companies are confident they
won't have to answer for their CRM expenditures.
In most cases, management expects regular updates on programs in which they've invested heavily, and
CRM is expensive. Savvy business sponsors define CRM success metrics as a result of the initial
reasoning of CRM and measure the successes after CRM has been deployed.
CRM's success could be evaluated as to how well it has solved existing business problems and also with
various indicators of 3E, increase in profits, Customer Loyalty etc.
BASIC MEASURES:
The final phase of the CRM project involves an evaluation of its performance. How well has it
performed? Two sets of variables can be measured: project outcomes and business outcomes. Project
outcomes focus on whether the project has been delivered on time and to budget. Evaluation of the
business outcomes compares with the project objectives, definition of CRM success and the business
case, and asks whether the desired results have been achieved.
If the goal was to enhance customer retention rates, with a measurable lift from 70 to 80 percent, and
this is accomplished then the CRM project has been successful.
However, most projects have multiple objectives and it is common for some objectives to be achieved
while others are not. Lead conversion by the sales team might rise, but lead generation by campaign
managers might fall with permission.
SERVICE QUALITY IN ACHIEVING SATISFACTION: CUSTOMER
The business main purpose is to create a customer because it is the consumer who essentially
determines what a business is. Although it is significant to provide time and effort on how you are going
to improve your products and services, it is still the customers who establish the future success of a
business. Therefore, consumer service enhancement is very important if you would want your business
to prosper. Customer service is a key factor in realizing business success. It can whichever make or break
your business. This is for the reason that the entire business plan, marketing strategies, sales, and profits
will solely depend on its impression on the customers.
Quality itself has been defined as basically relational: Quality is the constant process of building and
sustaining relationships by measuring, anticipating, and fulfilling stated and implied needs.
Quality means different things to different people, therefore it is difficult to reach an ultimate definition
that can be applied to all situations.
The most general definition concerning providing a quality service is about the meeting and/ or
exceeding customer expectations. Most definitions of service quality use the term "perceived service
quality to highlight that it is service quality from the customer's perspective. The measurement of
service quality is often a comparison between what customers feel the service should offer and their
evaluation and/ or perception of the service's actual performance.
Quality - Customer's perception - Customer's expectations
Service quality relates to the customer and organisations need to be customer-focused in all of their
activities. Many organizations find that how customers are treated is of equal importance (if not greater)
in their memory than the product/service itself. Quality service has been described as that which helps a
company to maximize benefits. It is evident that if the organization provides a quality service to
customers, and continue meet and exceed their expectations, they will return and continue to use
services.
SERVICE QUALITY GAPS:
The service quality gap indicates the difference between the service expected by customers and the
service they receive. For example, customers may expect to wait only 20 minutes to see their doctor but
have to wait more than thirty minutes.
The gap model is also known as the "5 gaps model of service quality. It provides an important customer
satisfaction framework.
The five gaps that organizations should measure manage and minimize: .
Gap 1 is the distance between what customers expect and what service providers think they expect.
Gap 2 is between management perception and the actual specification of the customer experience -
service providers need to make sure the organization is defining the level of service they believe is
needed.
Gap 3 is from the experience specification to the delivery of the experience audit the customer
experience that their organization - service providers need to currently delivers to make certain it lives
up to the specification.
Gap 4 is the gap amongst the delivery of the customer experience and what is communicated to
customers - All too often organizations overstate what will be provided to customers, or discuss the best
case rather than the likely case, raising customer expectations and damaging customer perceptions.
Finally, Gap 5 is the gap between a customer's perception of the experience and the customer's
expectation of the service Customers' expectations have been formed by word of mouth, their personal
needs and their own past experiences. Routine transactional surveys after delivering the customer
experience are important for an organization to measure customer perceptions of service.
IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH FOR IMPROVING SERVICE QUALITY:
Service quality is a key factor in consumer satisfaction in the service industry. Quality can give the
business a competitive edge and can help to gain more customers. Providing the highest level of
customer service and quality goods is imperative to compete for business against companies promoting
similar products or services.
Research is an essential part of any business that wants to offer products or services that are focussed
and well targeted. Business decisions that are based on good intelligence and good market research can
minimize risk and pay dividends and by making market research part and parcel of the business process
and conducting market research throughout the lifecycle of a product or service market research will
bring the following benefits:
(1) The research will help an organization to communicate better. Experiences of current are valuable
information source, they will help to find out to what extent customers' expectations are met their
expectations, where things are right and more importantly where things are getting wrong.
(2) The research will help to find out customer services offered by our organization and those offered by
the market and other competitors
(3) The research will also help in identifying opportunities. Example: If an organization is planning to
operate a new service and want to know the preconceived attitudes people have then market research
can help. not only in evaluating the potential for a new idea but also by identifying the areas where a
marketing message needs to polish.
(4) The research will minimize risk. It will help to shape a new product or a service, identifying what is
needed and ensures that the development of a product is highly focused on demand.
(5) Research creates benchmarks and helps in measuring progress. It helps in finding how well the
business is performing. Early research may highlight glaring holes in service offered but slowly research
will show areas where improvements need to be made.
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION:
Customer satisfaction is the customer's fulfilment response to customer experience, or some part
thereof. Customer satisfaction is a pleasurable fulfilment response. Dissatisfaction is an unpleasant
fulfilment response.
CUSTOMER LOYALTY:
Customer loyalty is all about attracting the right customer, getting them to buy, buy often, buy in higher
quantities and bring more customers to the firm.
Customer loyalty is built by:
(a) keeping in touch with customers using email marketing, thank you cards and more;
(b) treating the team well so they treat customers well;
(c) showing that firm care and remembering what they like and don't like;
(d) customers should be rewarded for choosing the firm over its competitors:
(e) a firm build it by truly giving a damn about them and figuring out how to make them more
successful, happy and joyful;
In short, build customer loyalty by treating people how they want to be treated.
WALKER CUSTOMER LOYALTY MATRIX:
Since the mid-80s, Walker has been a pioneer in the area of customer satisfaction and loyalty. Walker's
work with clients and independent research has been focused on developing measurements to help
organizations make better business decisions. Customer loyalty has emerged as one of the most reliable
metrics because of its forward-looking nature. Using a customer loyalty metric to complement historical
metrics, such as sales, profitability, operational metrics, and others, helps an organization make better
decisions based on customer insights.
The Walker Loyalty Matrix takes a scientifically validated approach to the theory of customer loyalty to
create a pragmatic solution to understanding the two dimensions of true loyalty - customer behaviour
and the attitudes that support these behaviours.
The Walker Loyalty Matrix is structured so the two axes represent the two aspects of loyalty attitude
and behaviour. This forms four quadrants that can be defined as follows:
Truly Loyal: These customers have all the goals of continuing to do business with the company and they
have a positive attitude towards this company. They like working with this company and are more
possible to increase their spending and recommend your company to others.
Accessible: These customers have a good attitude about working with this company, but do not plan to
continue their relationship. Since this is a rather odd combination, it's not surprising that it is often a
very small percentage of customers. What it typically means. is that something has changed in their
business and they do not need your product or service any longer. However, they are often good
advocates and will typically speak highly of your company.
Trapped: These customers show every sign of continuing business with you, but they're not very happy
about it. They feel stuck in the relationship. This is common among organizations locked into long-term
contracts, lacking a suitable substitute, or finding that it is too hard to switch. Ultimately, trapped
customers will find a better option and are not likely to continue or increase business with the company.
High Risk: As the name implies, these customers do not intend to return and do not have a healthy
attitude about their relationship with the company. Typically, they are halfway out the door and not
only will they no longer be a customer, but will also talk poorly about the company in the marketplace.
This breakdown provides a very practical and flexible way of segmenting customers.
3E'S MEASURES OF CRM: (EFFICIENCY, EFFECTIVENESS AND EMPLOYEE CHANGE)
1E: MEASUREMENTS FOR CRM EFFICIENCY:
A few domains to consider for measuring efficiency include:
Training:
Is the person making the CRM choices an expert about the effects it will have on the employees using it?
Has this individual tested the CRM system themselves? Have they spoken with the employees who will
be using it to identify their needs, rather than focusing only on the needs of upper management? Has
this individual done everything they can to minimize the lack of adoption among a sales team by
ensuring that training material is easy to understand, available, and proactively supported? A sales team
just isn't going to adopt a CRM program that requires so much training that it adversely impacts their
ability to sell during a prolonged ramp-up period. Also, new training schedules need to be combined into
the future onboarding, so they affect hiring as well,
Data Transparency:
Departments that don't share product data are destined to make avoidable mistakes. Is there a plan in
place to measure the effects of more efficient data capture between departments? For example, does
an engineering team improve its ability to add features to a product more quickly when it has more
active communication from the sales team about what customers need? Does the CRM system make it
easier for this communication to happen on the fly, leading to smoother product releases?
Increasing Complexity of the Sales Process:
CRM systems that are well thought out and carefully researched should reduce the complexity of the
sales process, right? Not necessarily. A company may find that layering a technological CRM solution
onto a sales process creates new protocols that change the way a sales team operates. In some cases,
this change might increase the complexity of the sales process to make better use of new customer
data. Always watch the overall sales pipeline. An increase in complication is not necessarily bad, and in
fact, may lead to transformative product alterations that over time generate more money.
Reduction of Meeting Time:
Meetings consume a lot of time among company employees, How much time do people spend in
meetings after the CRM is implemented? If there is a significant reduction due to more efficient
reporting, where is that saved time going?
Customer Satisfaction:
Are your customers more pleased as a result of the implementation of CRM software? Why? Does this
increase in customer satisfaction demand nurture that ultimately costs company money?
2E: MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS OF CRM:
Customer relationships can be measured by obtaining customer inputs:
(1) The planned approach: The planned approach entails corporate initiatives to seek out both internal
and external customer inputs on a proactive basis. This includes customer surveys etc.
(2) The event-driven approach: The event-driven approach entails being ready to accept customer
inputs when the customers reach out to the company. This might include having a toll free number
available when a customer is in trouble with your product, specifically monitoring and managing
complaints, gathering information when there is a warranty claim, etc.
3E: EMPLOYEE CHANGE:

Employees form an integral part of an organization. It becomes very important to identify the change in
their behaviour after the implementation of CRM tools and techniques. Many employees resist change
but successful implementation results in the following outcomes:
(1) Increased employee motivation and satisfaction. (2) Better trained and more skilful sales, marketing
and customer service personnel.
(3) Improved responsiveness to customer and prospect requests.
IMPLEMENTING TECHNOLOGY BASED CRM SOLUTION:
If an organization has made up its mind for CRM implementation it has to first decide which type of CRM
it needs to install. It can consider a conventional CRM software solution within the office premises using
client server architecture and all related hardware and data. Else, it can opt for a web-based CRM
solution. In this age of the global market, with worldwide customers and remote offices, a web-based
software solution can help manage customers without any constraints of location or time.
Web-based CRM software is installed on the service provider's server or partner servers. The data is also
stored in the data storage servers of the CRM solution provider or the servers of partners. The CRM
solution provider staffs do all administration and technical support. One can select the features and any
additional databases and applications if required. Only one need is a web browser and an Internet
connection to log in and access.
Features of Web-based Solution:
A conventional CRM software implementation within an organization involves setting up the hardware
such as servers and data storage devices on the premises.
The CRM software solutions include databases and applications, which are set up and installed in the
server according to the needs of the organization.
The CRM client software is used to communicate with the server and database for various customer-
related functions - tracking prospective customers, customer meetings, requests, orders, etc.
Competent security experts have to be hired for the security of the data which is of utmost importance
to any firm.
Web-based CRM software solution is less expensive, quicker to install and casier to use.
Advantages of a web-based CRM Software Solution:
CRM web-based software charges on a subscription basis are less expensive in the short term.
As the hardware and software are already maintained by the service provider, it is easy and fast to start
interacting with customers through CRM software.
This CRM system can be accessed by the user with a web browser. It gives users friendly web interfaces
and self-service administration tools such as wizards for routine administrative procedures. Remote
users can also access the CRM software easily without the need for special client software.
Web-based CRM software demand service provider offers the services of technical staff for software
administration, troubleshooting, database storage, and data security.
Web-based CRM is also easily suitable to accommodate growing business needs.
E-CRM:
E-CRM, or electronic customer Relationship. Management, is an integrated online sales, marketing and
service strategy that is used to identify, attract and retain organization's customers. It describes
improved and increased communication between an organization and its clients by creating and
enhancing customer interaction through innovative technology.
E-CRM software provides profiles and histories of each interaction the organization has with its
customers, making it an important tool for all small and medium businesses. E-CRM software systems
may contain a selection of the following features:
(a) Customer management: Provides access to all customer information including inquiry status and
correspondence.
(b) Knowledge management: A centralized knowledge base that handles and shares customer
information.
(c) Account management: Access to customer information and history, allowing sales teams and
customer service teams to function efficiently.
(d) Case management: Captures inquiries, escalates priority cases and notifies management of
unresolved issues.
(e) Back-end integration: Blends with other systems such as billing, inventory, and logistics through
relevant customer contact points such as websites and call centres.
(f) Reporting and analysis: Report generation on customer behaviour and business criteria.
BENEFITS OF E-CRM IN ORGANIZATION:
Implementation of an eCRM system facilitates an organization to streamline processes and provide

sales, marketing, and service personnel with better, more complete customer information. The result is
that eCRM allows organizations to form more profitable customer relationships and decrease operating
costs.
Direct Benefits of an eCRM System include:
Service level improvements: Using an integrated database to deliver reliable and improved customer
responses.
Revenue growth: Decreasing costs by focusing on retaining customers and using collaborating service
tools to sell additional products.
Productivity: Consistent sales and service measures to create efficient work processes.
Customer satisfaction: Automatic customer tracking and detection will ensure reviews are met and
issues are managed. This will develop the customer's overall experience in dealing with the organization.
Automation: eCRM software helps automate campaigns including:
Telemarketing.
Telesales.
Direct mail.
Lead tracking and response.
Opportunity management.
Quotes and order configuration.
Across every sector and industry, effective CRM is a strategic vital for corporate growth and survival.
DISADVANTAGES OF E-CRM:
While advantages usually outweigh disadvantages for most organizations implementing a CRM system,
here are some limitations of using E-CRM:
(1) Record Loss: Technology cannot rely on all the time. Breakup in technology can lead to permanent
loss of records.
(2) Training: To work on automated systems, continuous training needs to be provided to the staff and
other related parties which become a time consuming and costly process for an organization.
(3) Require additional work inputting data: An additional factor is being required for recording all the
data in the system.
(4) Difficult to integrate with other management information systems: Automatic customer tracking and
detection will ensure inquiries are met and issues are managed. This will improve the customer's overall
experience in dealing with the organization, but it is possible only when various MIS operating in an
organization are integrated.
DIFFERENT LEVELS OF E-CRM:
There are three levels of E-CRM:
(1) Foundational Services: These services focus on basic services that focus on the smooth functioning of
the website and web-based services.
(2) Customer-centred Services: These services work towards tracking of order, the configuration of a
product, customization of various products and personalization of services.
(3) Value-added Services: These are extra services that are inculcated along with the above two services
to sustain customers. These set of services differentiate customers between the organizations and bring
about the competitiveness among them.
SIX E'S OF E-CRM:

Electronic channels: New electronic channels such as the web and personalized e-Messaging have
become the medium for fast, interactive and economic communication, challenging companies to keep
pace with this increased velocity. e-CRM thrives on these electronic channels.
Enterprise: Through e-CRM, a company gains the means to touch and shape a customer's experience
through sales, services and corner offices-whose occupants need to understand and assess customer
behaviour.
Empowerment: e-CRM strategies must be structured to accommodate consumers who now have the
power to decide when and how to communicate with the company. Through, which channel, at what
frequency. An e-CRM solution must be structured to deliver timely pertinent, valuable information that
a consumer accepts in exchange for his or her attention.
Economics: An e-CRM strategy ideally should concentrate on customer economics, which drives smart
asset-allocation decisions, directing efforts at individuals likely to provide the greatest return on
customercommunication initiatives.
Evaluation: Understanding customer economics relies on a company's ability to attribute customer

behaviour to market programs, evaluate customer interactions along various customer touchpoint
channel, etc.
External information: The e-CRM solution should be able to gain and leverage information from such
sources as third party information networks and web page profiler application.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONS IMPLEMENTING E-CRM:
Sales organizations can shorten the sales cycle and increase key sales-performance metrics such as
revenue per sales representative, average order size and revenue per customer.
Marketing organizations can increase campaign response rates and marketing-driven revenue while
simultaneously decreasing lead generation and customer acquisition costs.
Customer service organizations can increase service agent productivity and customer retention while
decreasing service costs, response times and request resolution times.
PROCESS OF E-CRM:
In today's world, customers interact with an organization via multiple communication channels-the
World Wide Web, call centres, field salespeople, dealers and partner networks. Many organizations also
have multiple lines of business that interact with the same customers.
CRM systems enable customers to do business with the organization the way the customer wants any
time, via any channel, in any language or currency-and to make customers feel that they are dealing
with a single, unified organization that recognizes them every step of the way.
The CCRM system does this by creating a central repository for customer records and providing a portal
on each employee's computer system allowing access to customer information by any member of the
organization at any time.
Through this system, eCRM gives the ability to know more about customers, products and performance
results using real-time information across the business.
Four steps to e-CRM success:
e-CRM is a business strategy that should guide the organization to increased profitability by creating
customer loyalty. To implement true a e-CRM strategy, organization must have a vision and look at CRM
as one holistic project through a whether implemented all at once, or a phased approach.
First, an organization must commit to focus on the customer and create a complete vision that fosters a
truly customer centric organization. Once a clear vision is in place, developing a strategy and
establishing goals are the next steps toward effectively deploying e-CRM. The entire plan must align the
organization's strategy, goals, and technology to achieve the objectives of the e-CRM project.
An organization that makes strategic e-CRM investments and align processes, strategies, and technology
around customers are in a better position to deliver a seamless, high-quality customer experience across
all channels.
(1) An organization should have a clear overall strategy to achieve enterprise-wide acceptance of a
customer focused culture. Without clear direction, resources are likely to be misdirected and return on
investment sacrificed. Underpinning. this must. be senior management sponsorship of the complete
culture, process and business change needed to successfully re-focus a business on its customers rather
than its products.
(2) The organization should have maximized value from their investment in technology to achieve the
sought after 'single view' of each customer. Being customer centric is not just about technology,
however, any airline considering using on-line channels to reach its customers knows it needs a clear
vision of what it wants the technology to do. It is essential to have a coherent strategy for unifying
multiple customer contact channels but ultimately, success lies in ensuring that the online customer
experience is relevant, personalized, and supported with excellent customer service, support, and
fulfilment. Done badly, e business provides an open door for mass customer
(3) An organization should have united people and technology for outstanding performance. It is
essential to have staff able to proactively connect with the data and create and sustain an appropriate
relationship with the customer. Achieving this empathy requires defining new customer-focused,
technology-enabled behaviours and delivering these through teamwork and aligning reward recognition
with customer delivery. Without proper staff training and motivation, companies will fall at the last
hurdle..
(4) An organization should use an accepted method of measuring success to justify initial and ongoing
investment in customer-focused initiatives. They need to develop appraisal systems for enterprise
customer management, which identify all likely costs (including people, technology and process change)
and benefits before any investment is made. The creation of robust measurement methods will be key
to achieving board level support.
ROLE OF WEB-BASED SOLUTIONS IN E-CRM:
As customers become more sophisticated, expecting faster, more reliable service around-the-clock, it's
no secret that giving them the power to help themselves is key in providing the availability and
personalized service they demand. The Web is the perfect medium to find information quickly and
securely-anytime. Example: Customers use the bank's website as a way to find out account information,
find answers by putting frequently asked questions (FAQs) online, enquires about new services, etc.
Besides, chat rooms and personalized Sites on the Internet provide banks better customer service;
attract new customers and increases customers' loyalty.
When the bank gives their customers self-service solutions, not only banks are managing relationships
with them, but are giving customers the tools to manage their relationships with staff. As banks offer
this ability to their customers, the Web provides the bank with a cost-effective way to get valuable
insight about them-allowing banks to target individual customers with specific, relevant marketing
information. There are three basic steps involved in establishing effective customer relationship
management using the web:
(1) Capture customer information,
(2) Build a customer database, and
(3) Create personalized communication.
Customers like to be recognized by name, and customized marketing increases the likelihood they will
transact with the bank again. Capturing services purchases and related demographics helps banks build
accurate and timely profiles about their customers.
Building database. a from existing systems information bank capture is key in its efforts to focus and
marketing resources on customers who are ready to buy. When customers look for a specific item, they
don't want to wade through a mountain of irrelevant data-they want it now. Getting the right
information quickly and easily is a reason for them to do business with an online portal.
The essence of customer relationship management is to make every interaction with customer count.
Using the Web to communicate through methods like e-mail and customized views of the web site is an
inexpensive way to build targeted campaigns with a limited amount of esources.
PROBLEMS WITH E-CRM IMPLEMENTATION:
E-CRM suites fulfil an important need to provide a consistent experience in an electronic channel the
customer uses, and to track and understand customer preferences to drive better business decisions.
Limited information: The problem is that e-CRM suites alone can't provide a complete view of the
customer. A common error is underestimating the degree to which every facet of the enterprise needs
to be involved in the process and integrated into the customer relationship.
Dependent on Front end and back end: CRM involves front and back-office business processes that
require accurate and easily accessible data. Access to poorly integrated front and back-office processes
and a lack of quality in the underlying data within foundation applications will lead to ineffective
customer service and the resulting erosion of customer loyalty.
Integration of the company's systems: CRM applications in sales, marketing, and technique support play
a key role in supporting the entire cycle, as do back office systems and data warehouses. However, if
such systems exist in isolation, cross-functional information sharing, integration and business
intelligence to optimize the customer experience cannot occur.
Ignorance of Complaints: Major online customer complaints and dissatisfaction have been generated
from the problems with Web customer service centres. This result provides implications for how e-
businesses' customer service centres should manage customer complaints effectively. The lack of
research on online customer complaint management is also an eCRM issue.
E-CRM TECHNIQUES USED BY BANKS IN INDIA:
Following are the e-CRM techniques used by banks in offering new products and services to its
customers:
(1) Internet Banking: Internet is being used by banks to disseminate information to customers about
bank's products and services through their websites. The banking services are provided through the Net
with the convenience of ease and accessibility. The new private sector banks - ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank,
UTI Bank, and the Global Trust Bank have taken the lead in Net Banking. The state-run public sector
banks are lagging in Net banking, although modest beginning has been made by the State Bank of India.
(2) Data Warehousing and Data Mining: This technique is used to develop and use customer data to
check their profile, retention and loyalty patterns. They provide valuable inputs for retaining customers
and developing products and services for the future.
(3) ATMs: The growth in ATMs has been fuelled by a race among banks to expand their customer base
by going in for more value-added services (bill payments and ticketing services) on these machines.
(4) Tele Banking or Mobile Banking: These services empower the customer with instant access to routine
queries and transactions or check bank balances.
(5) Computerized Decision Support System: This helps the banks in applying optimization techniques in
functional areas such as asset-liability management, optimization of investment portfolios and asset
portfolios through linear programming. This is a practical tool that helps the bank managers and
customers in optimizing investment decisions.
(6) E-mail: Banks can retain the list of its best customers and inform these members through e-mail the
various services and schemes offered by the bank. Nowadays, this method is considered as one of the
cheapest and effective means of communication.
(7) Computer Networking: Networking between the branches of divisional, regional, zonal and head
office of banks provide access to customer database from the executive desk. This will merge the front-
office applications with back-office requirements, consequently generating MIS for branch managers
and executives at the different controlling offices including Head office for accurate, speedy and cost-
effective customer services.
(8) Customer Smart Cards: These cards are issued to key customers which transmits all the relevant
information, details of previous and repeat purchases, to make it Vipul's Customer Relationship
Management (BMS) convenient for the customers to recall and for the banks to keep a track of the
behavioural and purchase trends, Utilities like BEST in Mumbai are already using smart cards for
ticketing in its luxury buses.
PRIVACY ISSUES IN E-CRM:

It is reasonable for customers to have concerns. Many facts prove that customers' normal life is
interrupted because private information is known by others. Before the advent of the Web, people still
can control this situation by refusing to provide personal information.
However, nowadays customers must provide some of their information if they want to use the easy and
fast purchasing channel--the Internet. Once information is given out, it will be recorded.
After that, customers will be disturbed by endless e-mail or promotion magazines, even phone calls.
When people register on a website for regular subscribe books, he usually has to provide one e-mail
address and charge card number. Later, his e-mail box will be filled with spam.
With the rapid development of e-commerce, business companies have more dependence on customer
information. With the collected information, companies can analyze customer behaviours and
preferences. Then they can design characterized services for different customers. Only when they meet
customers requirements best and make customers happy, can they get more repeat customers. And in
the e-commerce era, some websites make profits by providing products
with collected customer related information. However, with privacy concerns, these websites can't be in
normal operation at all because of the lack of abundant information. Facing these threats, companies
should develop solutions for privacy concerns immediately.
SOLUTIONS FOR PRIVACY ISSUES:
(1) Privacy policies: Many companies regulate privacy policies that ensure customer information can be
protected without abusing. On the website, all kinds of privacy statements are also published to get
customer trust.
(2) Intimation to customers: When companies want to collect information from customers, they should
inform customers in advance and want them to know their information may be shared. Then customers
can decide whether they want to give out personal information. Even if customers have provided
information, companies also need to let them know what the information is collected and how it will be
used and who will share the information.
(3) Customers Confidence: After privacy policies are regulated, the company should let customers
understand and believe them. It is a valuable opportunity to build trust with customers. Companies
should communicate through websites, e-mail or sales calls. The message must be simple and let
customers know companies' understanding of privacy concerns.
(4) Developing customer trust: Increasing customer trust about the third party usually a business
company has interaction with third party and information may be shared between them. And less
confidence of customers with the third party also affects their trust with the company correspondingly.
So the company has the responsibility to provide enough confidence for customers and let them believe
the third party is also obligated to protect privacy.
(5) Using information technology: To improve privacy protection, some technologies should be adopted.
Especially in the web era, there are more risks of abusing information during online transactions.
Companies should adopt a security system to prevent competitors from invading their customer
database. And when the customer types their personal information over the Internet, some
technologies also should be used to allow customers to choose whether they want information shared
or whether they need these services.
(6) Government interference: Privacy isn't only a business but also a policy issue. So the government
should regulate legal policies to constrain privacy.
SOCIAL NETWORKING AND CRM:
Unlike other communication mediums, social networking sites not only offer the ability for users to
communicate with each other but also allow users to find like-minded individuals. Once they realize
each other, members can form ad hoc communities based on their mutual interests.
As social networking sites continue to grow in popularity, firms can no longer exclusively rely on
traditional mediums (print, radio, TV, etc.) to implement public perception of their product. Equally,
these new communication channels also provide organizations with a way to ascertain and maintain a
determined connection with elements. By harnessing this their most uttered social networking
information organizations can use it to help identify their most influential consumers, drive participation
in product development, and improve brand sentiment.
At the core of any business are customers, and social networking characterizes an opportunity to build
even more mutually rewarding and sincere relationships with those customers. But for organizations to
realize tangible business benefits, they need to better plan, manage, and measure their social
networking efforts. This is exactly where CRM interconnects with social networking.
Adam Sarner, Gartner analyst, contends that in social networking, "CRM is where you are going to see
the ROI in the business model as opposed to anywhere else. It's all about connecting and engaging in
new ways with customers.
Customers using social networks want significant engagement with companies. And businesses want a
way to manage and measure their imperfections in social networking. When social networks and CRM
work together well, businesses gain the ability to better listen to customer conversations and engage
social customers on their terms while managing and measuring their efforts to do so.
Social networks, by getting in then untapped and help unmanaged online organizations get closer to a
true 360-degree view of the conversations, customer so they can further optimize their marketing sales,
and customer service efforts.
The combination of social networking and CRM provides at vast opportunity to enhance customer
interactions and give businesses a way to manage and measure how they use social networking while
positively engaging social customers.
STRATEGIES RELATED WITH USE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING FOR MAINTAINING RELATIONSHIP:
(a) Treat social networking as a new channel within CRM: Many companies already use CRM solutions to
manage customers, contacts, interactions, and communications, so it makes sense to endure to use.
customer management tools when these activities move into social networking channels.
(b) Enhance and extend CRM through social networking: Although social networking activities can be
measured as an additional channel in CRM, they also spread and enhance the capabilities of CRM with
ne ways of engaging customers and managing conversations.
(c) Play to the strengths of both CRM and social networks: Use CRM and social networking sites
organized to better attend to customers, analyze information and respond to customers in a way that's
meaningful to them.
MOBILE CRM:
Mobile Customer Relationship Management (MCRM) system is one of the recent advancements in CRM
systems. In recent years, customers using mobile phones have presented a very fast growing on value-
added services, SMS and information services. Advances in technology have changed how the retail
sector conducts business and is increasingly providing convenience. the customer with greater
ADVANTAGES OF MCRM (MOBILE CRM):
Mobile-CRM services play a key role in a new trend that aims at creating and managing personalized
customer relationships.
Strategies adopted and improvements MCRM work effectively. Mobile CRM encourages satisfaction to
customers through the mobile medium communication. on
Mobile customer relationship management is an efficient tool that will make great adjustments, savings,
and benefits Mobile-CRM system very low costs and a great effect on customer satisfaction for
organized retail outlets.
Mobile CRM, the customer are many retail outlets loyalty programs can participate through individual
mobile phones. It also brings about better-quality information transparency and data quality at a low
cost.
Mobile CRM permits organizations to add, edit and manage their interaction and relationships with
current or prospective customers through mobile applications on handheld mobile devices and tablet
PCs.
Mobile CRM related mobile services can provide more timely and relevant information customers, to
increasing customer loyalty and retention.
Fast Communications are significant for building and maintaining customer relationships between
retailers and their customers,
Thus Mobile CRM as the adoption of CRM in the context of mobile communication by the use of mobile
technologies and offering mobile services to the customer. A mobile based loyalty program is a fantastic
way to generate extra business and work well as a simple low-cost marketing tool to spread the word
about retail outlets.
SERVICE AUTOMATION IN CRM:

Service automation is the practice that works as a supporting system for the service staff and managers
to achieve their work-related objectives. Infrastructure, Data, Devices, and Software are the key
components of service automation.
There are five major domains of service automation:
Contact centres: They are the main basis of the customer relationship. They address customer queries
via telephone, instant messaging, SMS, or fax.
They devise databases, Automatic Call Diversion (ACD) systems, and voice recording systems. The staff
reacts to Emails and chats with customers concerning problems and solutions.
Call centres: They are a part of contact centres that majorly handle inbound and outbound calls. They
perform typically more generic duties, deal with people and calls which are outside the business, and at
times can make outgoing calls. The staff requires to have excellent patience, and reading and listening
skills.
Help desks: They are internal to the business. They are concerned with supporting the business staff.
Helpdesks generally offers diagnostic and troubleshooting help.
Field service: The service engineers or technicians visit the customer's workplace or home to install,
repair, or maintain the products. They visit factories, workshops, warehouses, and offices to provide
service. They also support the customer to specify the product, test and demonstrate it after
installation. They need to contact and update the data from their computing devices. Technology
businesses such as Aesta, Corrigo, Oracle, Ventyx, etc. deliver powerful software applications to cater to
the need of service force.
Web-based Self Service: Some businesses provide a solution to the customers' problems on the web
itself. The customers can buy products online, track installation and service issues, and conduct online
diagnostics.
BENEFITS OF SERVICE AUTOMATION:
The benefits of implementing service automation are: Enhanced service processes: Service requests are
taken care of quickly and routed to appropriate service staff.
Enhanced productivity: Since an optimal number of customers are scheduled, the service time take is
used at its best thus increasing productivity.
Increased customer experience: Since service staff has full access to the service history, they ensure that
the right service is delivered to the customer at appropriate service status. This improves customer
satisfaction.
SERVICE AUTOMATION SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE:
There is large number of service automation software applications available in the market. Some
important ones are as follows:
Activity Management.
Agent Management.
Case Assignment.
Case Management.
Contract Management.
Customer Self Service.
Email Response Management.
Escalation.
Inbound communication Management.
• Invoicing.
Outbound Communication Management.
‫ ܀‬Queuing and Routing.
Scheduling.
(1) ACTIVITY MANAGEMENT:
This enables service staff to review their workload, to-do list, and priorities as directed by their manager
or scheduler, and to report back on progress and issue resolution.
Some applications allow activities to be updated in real time by dispatchers and routed to the technician
so that work can be reprioritized.
Alerts can be set so that appointments are not missed or to notify agents and their managers that issues
are unresolved or service levels are about to be or have been, violated.
The despatch process typically uses wireless messaging. requiring the technician to carry an 'always-on'
PDA or cell-phone, and a laptop with service manuals and diagnostic tools.
(2) AGENT MANAGEMENT:
It permits businesses to manage globally dispersed, employed or outsourced, operating in different time
zones service agents.
Agent management is highly significant for call and contact centre managers.
Managers want to employ the lowest number of staff compatible with the desired level of customer
service.
Too few agents and customers will be dissatisfied with wait-times; too many agents and payroll costs
will be unnecessarily high. Customers and managers both want issues to be resolved quickly by agents.
Agent managers are faced with the challenge of managing globally dispersed service agents, employed
both in-house and outsourced, operating in different times zones, languages and currencies
Dashboards provide managers with visibility into the performance of both contact centres and individual
agents. Performance data include volumes received (e.g. calls, e-mails), average queuing time,
percentage handled, an average speed of answer (measured in seconds and/ or rings), average handle
time and abandon rates.
(3) CASE ASSIGNMENT:
Case assignment applications ensure that each inquiry or issue gets routed to the right agent or
technician for resolution.
Customer service agents might be organized according to language skills. Field technicians might be
organized according to a product category. When a service request is received to fix a printer, it is
assigned to a technician who is knowledgeable about that product class, not to a more expensive
photocopier expert.
(4) CASE MANAGEMENT:
It ensures each customer inquiry or issue is routed to an appropriate agent or technician according to
the agent's competencies and skills.
When the customer raises a double ticket by email or otherwise for an issue, the software automatically
communicates with the customer at various stages of resolving the issue. It enables the technicians to
diagnose and close the case quickly.
Case management is also known management and issue as incident management. Case management
processes are typically designed using workflow applications within SA software. Workflow depicts the
activities that must be performed, the sequence in which they occur and sometimes includes the
standards to which the activities must comply.
Cases, incidents or issues are initiated by the creation of a trouble ticket. Customers may be allowed to
do this by webform or by e-mailing or calling a service or contact centre. The ticket is assigned to a
service engineer.
The software automatically communicates with the customer at different trigger events, such as
scheduling of appointments, or follow-up after the case is closed.
Case management software is often associated with a service knowledge base that enables technicians
to diagnose and fix problems quickly.
(5) CONTRACT MANAGEMENT:
Contract management functionality enables service engineers and managers to create, track, progress,
accelerate, monitor and control service contracts with customers.
Many companies now sell extended service contracts to customers when warranty periods have
expired. Some industries, such as office photocopier suppliers, rely on extended service contracts as the
primary profit stream, selling machines at a loss and recouping the cost over several years of service.
(6) CUSTOMER SELF SERVICE:

It allows the customers to track the packages they sent or expecting to receive from courier service. The
customers can transact online, track their shipments, and pay for the service, all by themselves.
Customer self-service is attractive option for an companies because it transfers the responsibility and
cost of service to the customer.
Customers who self-serve are much less likely to place demands on the contact centre, call centre,
helpdesk or field service staff. Customers are typically more capable at self-serving when transactions
are involved (e.g. online banking or music downloads). Though, they are less competent when problem
resolution is concerned.
In some sectors, it is routine to be able to place orders online and track the progress of the order. For
example, customers can track and trace the location of packages they have sent or are expecting to
receive.
Customers can transact online, place orders, pay accounts and check order and shipment progress on
any day and at any time. Companies that place their knowledge base, or parts thereof, online also
facilitate problem resolution by customers.
Customers can look through for answers to their queries or solutions to their problems. If this is
unsuccessful, companies can permit customers to use an online web form to create a case or an issue
for the company to follow-up and decide or offer web collaboration.
(7) EMAIL RESPONSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (ERMS):
E-mail is widely used for both interpersonal and intercompany communications. ERMS is not only useful
for handling inbound e-mails, but also for delivering outbound e-mails and SMS messages. Company
collateral, packaging, and websites often list e-mail addresses for individuals and departments. As many
as 90 percents of companies, websites list e-mail contacts for customer support.
It provides automated and customized Email responding to a large volume of customers. It also provides
multilingual spellchecker, and Email analytics and templates.
Customers increasingly expect companies to offer an e-mail communication channel, not just for general
communications but specifically for service-related issues. They also expect companies to respond
promptly to incoming e-mails.
ERMS is designed up to manage the reception, interpretation, routing, response and storage of incoming
e-mail securely and effectively. Rather than using generic e-mail boxes, many companies have opted to
receive customer service requests using preconfigured web forms. These require customers to select
responses to several predetermined questions using dropdown menus, checkboxes and radio buttons.
Where companies choose to receive customer e-mails into generic e-mail boxes, there needs to be a
manual or automated system for reading and responding to them, rout them to responsible individuals
where necessary. First-generation automated readers typically are trained to recognize keywords and
respond accordingly. Second generation readers recognize patterns across the entire e-mail text rather
than simply recognizing keywords.
ERMS also have specialized spam recognition and filtering features and antivirus tools. It is estimated
that about 40 percent of e-mails are spam.
(8) ESCALATION:
Escalation ensures that issues get escalated according to internally determined rules. Higher levels of
authority typically have greater discretion to resolve issues.
For example, a frontline customer service agent might be required to escalate issues that have a
potentially high cost or reputational consequence to higher levels of management.
Workflow rules can be applied to determine escalation levels and actions appropriate to any given
circumstances.
(9) INBOUND COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT:
Inbound communications Management (ICM) applications are widely deployed in contact centre
contexts.
The technology allows companies to receive, route, queue and distribute incoming communications
from any channel (voice telephony, e-mail, fax, instant message, SMS, fax or web form) to agents in any
location including a contact centre, in the field or at home. A unified queue, issue/content recognition,
intelligent routing, and knowledge-base integration allow agents to deliver a consistent customer
experience and to respond effectively to service requests, whatever the communication channel.
Additional technologies that support service delivery in this multichannel environment include computer
telephony integration (CTI), interactive voice response (IVR), scripting, call recording, problem
diagnostics, and service analytics.
ICM is available on-demand or on-premise (installed on the user's hardware).
(10) INVOICING:
Invoicing is a useful application for service technicians who are called to site to provide out of warranty
service.
Having completed the job to the customer's satisfaction and captured the customer's signature
electronically, the invoice can be raised on the spot covering fixed charges, labour, and parts, improving
cash-flow and reducing customer service issues relating to invoicing errors.
(11) OUTBOUND COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT:
It enables service staff to acknowledge service requests, invoicing for out of warranty services, advising
on preserving tasks to the customer, track the service tasks, and post-service communication with the
customer,
Outbound contact sends messages using a variety of methods including automated voice messages,
emails, and text messages.
Outbound communication can become more operative with reliable data, but this information can be
expensive to obtain and may not be spread virally, via social media or other forms of online
communication.
(12) QUEUING AND ROUTING:
Queuing and routing applications allow issues to be routed to agents with particular expertise and
placed in that agent's queue according to some criterion.
Routing is usually determined by case assignment rules (explained above) and position in the queue is
determined by customer value or some other metric.
The objective of queuing and routing is to ensure that every service issue is accessible to the most
appropriate agent for handling and resolution.
(13) SCHEDULING:
Scheduling involves planning and organizing a service technician's activity plan for a day, a week or any
other period. A technician's schedule comprises details on the customer, location, time, product and
issue.
Some scheduling applications take into account a range of concerns to ensure that the right technician is
sent to service the customer.
These include travel time and distance, technician availability, technician skills, customer access hours,
service level agreement, availability of spare parts and the technician's hourly rates of pay. Optimization.
engines allow schedules to be changed as new service tickets are created, priorities change and
technicians or parts become inaccessible.
Optimization reduces service costs while maintaining service performance levels. Scheduled tasks can be
released in batches for days or weeks or drip-fed to technicians for the coming few hours.
RECENT TRENDS IN CRM:
Integrating Data from Multiple Channels: The CRM solution providers are working on moving social
media data to a more secure communication channel. They are also exploring how they can integrate
unstructured data coming from multiple channels such as Email and inobile smartphones.
Handling Big Data: As the data is probing from multiple channels with high volume, velocity, and variety,
the CRM solution providers are exploring how this big data can be managed well to be able to use
effectively.
Shifting to Cloud-based CRM: The businesses are preferring cloud-based CRM software to overcome the
problems with on-premise CRM software (in which every new feature development requires an
expensive upgrade). The cloud-based CRM also diminishes the burden of business for investing in
infrastructure.
Social CRM: The customers are into the practice of reading reviews, recommendations, and judging the
product or service before deciding to purchase. The businesses are keen to employ social CRM tools in
their CRM software as social media can bring insight into customer preferences and behavior.
Mobile CRM: It is expected to be Powerful. Today's CRM solution providers are investing a handsome
amount to bring more rigor in the mobile platforms of CRM applications. The historical and current data
of the customers are so huge that the CRM users spend more time entering the same in the systern than
using it effectively for a beneficial purpose. CRM solution providers are also working on providing
simpler and easier ways of handling customer data using mobile devices.
CRM Software Systems with Wearables: It is the next big revolution in the development of CRM
software systems. Wearable are the devices worn by the consumers to track their health and fitness
information. If CRM applications are integrated with wearable computing devices, then the businesses
can get benefited by having real-time information of customers and access. to their account data. The
businesses can then engage with their customers effectively and discover opportunities for selling and
enhancing customer relationships.
Creating Best Customer Experiences: Though life is not all segregated between black and white:
moments; for the customers and businesses, it is. Customers remember business products and services
by associating with the best and worst experiences. The businesses using CRM are placing the activities
related to making their customers feel good in their list of top priorities.
CRM to XRM: XRM is evolved CRM. There is a little limitation in the word CRM which depicts Customer
Relationship Management. XRM is extreme Relationship Management. The scope of XRM is different
and larger than the scope of CRM. For example, a business is managing contracts, grievances, policies,
building assets, parking violations, property taxes, etc. The list is near to endless. This all management is
catered by XRM, a business can manage the relationship of anything within itself.
CHALLENGES FACED BY CRM:
Smart User: The success of a CRM project depends first and foremost on the people who implement it
and on how they use the system. A working CRM system that is not being used is useless. A smart CRM
system requires a smart user. Therefore the successful deployment of a CRM system depends on
upgrading the entire sales and service organization, including the personnel and the supporting tools.
Customer focus: Ironically, a CRM system is supposed to be based on the customer, but after
implementing a CRM system the company may lose customer focus. The problem comes from the fact
that although the system is based on the customer, the employees need to be too. The company needs
to put to focus its employees. This can also be very expensive.
Slow returns: The large investment that was originally spent may not show returns for years. This tests
the patience of the company and can lead to employees and management slacking in their efforts to
improve the implementation. Many of these problems can be resolved and kept under control as long as
the company is determined to follow through with the entire process.
Lack of consistency: Clean-up records (i.e. information) and starting with a clean and constant system
are essential because data entry has some problems that reduce the data, the value of data warehouse
resulting in diminishing the value of future models. Missing data and inadequately entered data are two
chief reasons causing data inadequacy. Initially, consider missing or example, generating a erroneous
information. For record that contains the profession of the clients is difficult, when there are only a few
visitors' databases restraining the data.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR CRM:
Change from internal focused to External focused: CRM software must changeover from an internally
focused, sales are driven, customer data management application designed for monologue
communication, process efficiency and cost reductions, to an externally focused, conversation-driven,
customer engagement application designed to engage customers in dialogues across channels, deliver
consistent and rewarding customer experiences, and build customer relationships based in part on goals
important to customers.
Customers Engagement: Since customers now initiate the conversations in their preferred online and
social channels, CRM software should alert the right business practitioners to these conversations so
they can act and engage. The challenge here is to better separate signals from noise and significantly
improve sentiment analysis. The web has a lot of noise. CRM software should prioritize, categorize and
route the social content to sales, service or other queues so it can be acted upon quickly by the right
people. The technology should be able to tell when there's a selling opportunity, a customer problem
that needs to be addressed, a potentially viral situation. gives me a business development opportunity
or a market movement that niay trigger a shift to business strategy. a competitor scenario that
Improved Customer Experiences: CRM software should help improve the customer experience (CX) at
every customer-facing interaction. VOC tools should be installed so that customers can tell what they
want. There should also be some journey mapping design tools integrated into existing CRM marketing,
sales and service processes.
Customer intelligence: Better business intelligence should start with more intelligent customer profiles.
Consumers are prolific in social channels, permitting businesses to understand sociological attributes.
Knowing what each customer 'Likes', forwards, retweets or comments on creates a highly specific
customer social graph. Collation of online data from social networks, web browsing patterns, forums,
communities, and other social media and append social attributes to the customer profile in the CRM
system can help to improve customer segmentation, deliver more relevant messaging, offer higher fit
products and provide services that influence loyalty.
ETHICS AND CRM:
Knowledge about customers and clients has become one of the most critical driving forces for business
success, and intelligent organizations believe that knowing as much about the customer as possible is an
asset.
Ethics relates to codes of conduct regarded as right and good, based on morality or values, faith or some
higher authority.
Ethical issues lie at the core of relationship marketing, as the building of long-term human relationships
cannot be sustained without a genuine concern for ethics (Murphy et al., 2007). At the same time, as
many recent ethical scandals show, ethical problems in marketing practice remain, and a genuine need
to consider the ethical issues involved in business and marketing explicitly appears obvious. Although
relationship marketing highlights fostering long-term relationships, it does not automatically follow that
ethical considerations are incorporated into relationship marketing theory and practice. Ethical
considerations must be explicit.
Business ethics is a form of applied ethics that examines ethical rules and principles within a commercial
context, the various moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business setting and any special duties
or obligations that apply to persons who are engaged in Business. Companies can maintain consumers'
trust, and their business, by safeguarding personal data.
Customer privacy measures those taken by are commercial organizations to ensure that confidential
customer data is n stolen or abused. Since most such organizations have a strong competitive incentive
to retain exclusive access to this data, and since customer trust is usually a high priority, most
companies take some security engineering measures to protect customer privacy.
Key ethical issues in the information age, including the increased ubiquity of computerized databases,
are often popularly summarized under the four headings "privacy, accuracy, property, access" (labeled
with the acronym P-A-P-A).
(a) Privacy: the ability of people to keep personal information about themselves private and
confidential; how the widespread holding of personal information about people impacts on
interpersonal relations of trust, autonomy, and dignity;
(b) Accuracy: the quality and accuracy of data/ information held in databases, and on which
organizations act, assu.ning the data/ information to be correct;
(c) Property: information ownership and control-who owns personal information about an individual,
and who has the right to use it, or control its use; and
(d) Accessibility: access of members of society to the social store of information.
ETHICAL ISSUES IN CRM:
Concerns while data collection: Ethical issues inventing with the collection of customer data for CRM are
related to secure collection methods and to the authentication of the information. Ethical companies
ensure that sensitive information such as credit card numbers or medical histories is collected in a
secure environment and conveyed back to the databases securely. During data collection, it is also
critical to verify the identity of the customer and the accuracy of the information being submitted. High
security for these functions is costly but ethically necessary.
Data storage: Data is only stored with the agreement of the customer. Customers must be able to view
their data and either change their data or ask for it to be changed. Customers can withdraw from the
program. and such a withdrawal causes their data to be erased. The ethics behind these principles are
that the data belongs to the customer and the customer must be able to control his data. Many times
data is been stored by the company for a longer period without any agreement.
Usage of Data: Customer data for CRM is sensitive, ethical companies ensure the data is kept private to
the maximum extent possible. To achieve this, the company must store the data in a form or a location
not generally accessible. The data must only be consulted when necessary for the fulfillment of a CRM
task, and only. those employees who handle the data to complete the task can access the data.
Disposing of CRM Data: Since customers must be able to withdraw from the CRM program and since
their data is then deleted, the company needs a procedure in place for safely destroying customer data
when it is no longer needed. An ethical company has detailed policies and procedures for tracking and
destroying data and keep accurate records of such activities.
Personalization technology: Personalization is a new strategy adopted these days to maintain a

relationship with the customers. But many times it can get too personal.
Customer Focus: CRM relates to maintaining a relationship with the customer by frequent contacts to
obtain their maximum data. Growing customer concerns lead companies to the collection of huge data
related to them making customer concern about its secrecy.
With the appearance of the web, the online transaction becomes more popular. The Internet provides a
rich means for businesses to obtain customer information, customers have more worries about
maintaining their privacy after giving information over the Internet. It is reasonable for customers to
have concerns. Many facts prove that customers' normal life is interrupted because private information
is known by others. Before the advent of the Web, people still can control this situation by refusing to
provide personal information.

CRM S1 Merged

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

You might also like

CRM S1 Merged

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

CRM S1 Merged

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

(1) Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs):

(a) Long term CRM involvesoperational cost. (Nov. 19)

(i) Customers (ii) Employees (iii) Organizations (iv) Business enterprises

chain is designed in the 1990s to show the exact

(e) ERP stands for (Oct. 18) is a business statement

Scanned with CamScanner

(b) Customer lifetime value represents how much a customer is

Scanned with CamScanner

[Ans.: (a —iii), (b — iv), (c —i), (d ii)l

Scanned with CamScanner

(a)measure customer satisfaction, and therefore help to determine

(2) Fill in the blanks:

(d)is the customer's fulfilment response to

Scanned with CamScanner

Scanned with CamScanner

The gap between the delivery of the customer

(a) Provides access to all customer information including

management (iv) Back end integration

(b) access to customer information and history, allowing

(c) also includes a response to a prospective customer

(d) Itis ä well-established fact that the cost of acquiring a

(i) Customer acquisition (ii) Customer win-back (iii) Customer

Scanned with CamScanner

(c) takes marketing techniques and concepts, and applies

Scanned with CamScanner

Scanned with CamScanner

(a) Interruption (b) Advertising (c) Transactional (d) Relationship

(a) Influencer (b) Buyer (c) Initiator (d) Decision Maker

(a) Influencer (b) Buyer (c) Initiator (d) Decision Maker

(a) Price (b) Inflation (c) Stock (d) Customer

Scanned with CamScanner

(13) Unoccupied time feels than occupied time.

(a) Detectors (b) Rejecters (c) Vulnerable (d) Terrorists

Scanned with CamScanner

(a) Customer Category (b) Dissatisfaction (c) Communication (d)

(a) Selling (b) Retention (c) Expansion (d) Win-back

(a) Privacy-Authencity-Property-Accessibility (b) Privacy-

(28) Quality = Cus!omer's perception

Scanned with CamScanner

(30) Expectations—Disconfirmation model suggests that if perceive

their expectations to be met, they are satisfied.

Scanned with CamScanner

(a) Amount of data it generates (b) Marketing information system it follows

techniques often lead to marketing opportunities.

Scanned with CamScanner

(d) Customer Smart card

(a) Cross-Selling (b) Up-selling (c) Sales (d) Customer Satisfaction

(a) Cross-Selling (b) Up-selling (c) Sales (d) Customer Satisfaction

Scanned with CamScanner

Scanned with CamScanner

Prof. Shalini Chauhan

Prof. Shalini Chauhan

Prof. Shalini Chauhan

Prof. Shalini Chauhan

Prof. Shalini Chauhan

Prof. Shalini Chauhan

Prof. Shalini Chauhan

Prof. Shalini Chauhan