FRAMEWORK OF CRM

 1. Vision - creating a picture of what the customer-centric enterprise will look like, in order
to build a competitive market position based on value propositions that are defined,
communicated and personified by the enterprise brand.
 2. Strategy - developing a strategy to turn the customer base into an asset by delivering
customer value propositions. This includes setting objectives and determining how
resources will be used to interact with customers.
 3. Valued Customer Experience - ensuring that the enterprise's offerings and interactions
deliver ongoing value to customers, are delivered consistently and achieve the desired
market position.
 4. Organizational Collaboration - changing cultures, organizational structures and behaviors
to ensure that employees, partners and suppliers work together to deliver customer value.
 5. Processes - effectively managing not only customer life cycle processes (for example,
welcoming new customers, handling inquiries and complaints, and winning back lost
customers), but also analytical and planning processes that build knowledge of the
customer.
 6. Information - collecting the right data and routing it to the right place.
 7. Technology - managing data and information, customer-facing applications, IT
infrastructure and architecture.
 8. Metrics- measuring internal and external indications of CRM success and failure

 Goals of CRM

4 CRM goals you can set today.

 1. Increase customer retention. The goal: To keep customers coming back for
more. Focus on the R in CRM: relationships. Building relationships helps ...
 2. Shorten the sales cycle.
 3. Sell more.
 4. Decrease your customer acquisition cost.

CRM CYCLE & CUSTOMER LIFE CYCLE

 CRM CYCLE
It is a known fact that every software application is intended to accomplish certain business
goals. Customer Relationship Management or CRM is no different. Business owners
expect that through CRM application they will be able to discern:

•Who are their customers?

•What kind of marketing campaign is suitable for customers?
•How to efficiently maintain the Account and Contact database?
•How to track leads, and convert them into Opportunity?
•How to effectively resolve customer issues?
•How to provide better customer service?

Customer Relationship Management accomplishes the complete set of activities ranging

from customer acquisition and retention to service. This cycle of customer-related activities is
termed as CRM cycle, and Deskera CRM comprehensively covers the entire set of it.

The CRM cycle basically consists of four stages – Marketing, Sales, Product, and Support.

•Marketing Stage – In this stage of CRM cycle, the basic focus is to identify customers by
running various marketing campaigns (such as emails, blogs, advertisements, and more),
create the database for Account (pertaining to Organization) and Contacts (pertaining to
individuals), and finally generate leads by analyzing the gathered customer data.

•Sales Stage –In the Sales stage, basic focus remains on leads. They are the individuals who
have expressed some kind of interest in your product offering. ‘Leads’ are further categorized
into Open, Contacted, Qualified and Un-qualified. Deskera CRM offers a functionality to
convert ‘leads’ into ‘opportunity’ for carrying out further sales activities.

•Product Stage – In this stage of CRM cycle, the basic focus is on delivery of product.
Deskera CRM offers Product Management functionality that captures details about the
product price, vendor, and description, among others.

•Support Stage – During Support Stage, the primary focus remains on resolving customer
issues and providing customer support. In CRM terminology, this function is known
as Case Management. (To visit our previous blog on Case Management, please click here).

To conclude, CRM cycle provides insight into various stages of Customer Relationship
Management from customer acquisition to retention and service. CRM cycle lays down
the roadmap for how the business can connect with their customers efficiently and serve
them more effectively.
  What is a Customer Life Cycle?

Right from the first interaction to getting converted into a final transaction customer for business, a
visitor/ consumer goes through several conversion stages and the action taken during this process
defines the customer life cycle value. Have you ever imagined that may be a simple chatbot could be
the first point of interaction and that could lead to building and nurturing relations through the final
point of sale?

For example, a visitor is attracted to your website by seeing an ad or organic search query. After that,
he is further engaged by a chatbot on your website to help ease his navigation experience and find/
educate about things he is looking for. The chatbot will collect contact details and through re-
marketing/ emails the visitor ill further be nurtured to move further in the funnel. After a couple of
actions which are defined as MQLs like filling forms, subscribing to blogs, downloading marketing
materials, or clicking specific likes, or following on social media, etc. this prospect will now be
treated as a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL). The marketing department will then decide certain
parameters to further promote the MQL as an SQL (Sales Qualified Lead). The SQL will pass
through the maximum set parameters in a buyer’s persona and would have raised interest in product
demo or quote. Further, with a couple of more conversations, the SQL is promoted as an opportunity
and close as a deal. This entire process is called as the Customer Life Cycle.

Implementing customer relationship management (CRM) software requires understanding of

customers and their purchasing behaviors, as it will create a base to steer the planning in the right
direction. These behaviors vary within the customer life cycle and it is important to identify the
stages. Also, it is imperative to understand the needs of customers at each stage.

Let us have a look at five main stages of customer life cycle.

1. Reach

This is the initial stage of customer life cycle. Primarily, this stage requires performing marketing
activities to promote your brand or services. This will invite the customers or audience to know and
learn more about your product. It helps in generating more leads. Marketing activities can be
performed through various sources such as social media, banner advertising or content writing. It is
important to identify the effectiveness of each event at this stage. It also helps in adjusting the
marketing activities if required.

2. Acquisition

At this stage, you start receiving prospect’s information such as email address, contact number and
other details. This initiates relationship building with prospect customers and take it forward.
Engaging prospective customers with email marketing, sales calls or sending personalized
messages work well at this stage of the customer’s life cycle.
3. Conversion

This is the stage where your prospective customers will turn into an actual paying customer i.e. you
can start expecting revenue from them. At this point, it becomes obvious that you are able to
convince the customer that they need goods or services and are ready to give you a deal. An
important thing to focus at this stage is to make sure your customer has a pleasant and satisfied
buying experience. This also is the time to analyse the effectiveness of your marketing techniques up
to this point. It also helps in determining what strategies are working best to bring revenue.

4. Retention

Converting prospects into customers does not end the customer life cycle. From this stage, building
customer relationships with regular engagement helps to keep your brand fresh in their mind. This
will also help you to get repeat business or references or cross sell.

5. Advocacy

Having advocates for your company will help you in the long run. They not only give repeat business
to you, but also are also willing to promote your goods or services to more prospective customers.
This will be done by developing strong relationships through entire customer life cycle. They will
refer your products or services to their friends and family members.

ADVANTAGES OF CRM IN HOSPITALITY

1. Aligns with organizational objectives

The hospitality industry is a broad category that includes transportation, tourism,

lodging and any other business that features customer satisfaction and enjoyment as
part of the service they are providing. It encompasses a large range of different
businesses with unique customer data needs.

CRM software is adaptable. It can be set up and installed based on your company's
specific goals. It is important that an organization is aware of what they are trying to
achieve and improve from their customer interactions before they install CRM for
hospitality solutions. A company should find a CRM partner willing to be hands-on in
the implementation phase and that can set up the software according to the company's
objectives.
2. Easily restructure based on data

Change in a company can be difficult. Restructuring customer benefits and interaction is

quite an investment for an organization to undergo. Data from CRM software means an
organization isn't changing blindly, it can be a slow process that adapts to the feedback
provided by customers' experiences and hospitality successes.

Tnooz, an information site for the hospitality industry, detailed how airlines have
been using CRM data to restructure how they promote and utilize frequent flyer
programs. The tnooz story explained how some airlines examined their customer data
and changed their FFPs to award miles for purchases made outside of the airlines.
Allowing companies to buy frequent flyer miles from the airlines have turned FFPs into a
cash-generating source for the airlines and it provides the customers with more
freedom.

Adapting reward programs so customers actually see them as rewards and not just
attempts to force them to continue frequenting a company is the kind of benefit the
hospitality industry needs to stay competitive. Changes such as this may seem dramatic
but as long as there is the data to support their creation, an organization can limit the
risk involved.

3. Promotes customer loyalty

Loyalty 360, the loyalty marketers association, featured a similar story of a hospitality
company that amended practices based on CRM data. The Red Lion hotel chain
changed its points-based loyalty program to a recognition-based model. The change
came after the hotel combined its property management system with their CRM
software.

The data found that customers saw the old points-based system as impersonal.
Additionally, it wasn't retaining customers as well as they hoped. The data indicated
guests' preferred personalization, quality service over speedy service and continued
communication about the program.

The automated messaging services provided by CRM can help with continued
information and data collected from previous stays can ensure those messages are
tailored to a specific guest's needs. A rewards system based on specific client behavior
has been very successful for Red Lion and has helped them stand out from the many
other hotel rewards programs available. The Loyalty 360 article indicated that programs
that encourage repeat business are essential because retaining old customers is more
profitable than attracting new ones and word of mouth can be the best advertising.

4. Gives employees tools to succeed

Employees are at the forefront of hospitality. An organization can have all the systems
and guidelines in place, but it is up to the people who are actually interacting with the
customers to make sure those strategies are being properly utilized.

Companies need to prepare their workforce for CRM for hospitality implementation. As
stated above, a change in company policy could be jarring. Make sure your workforce is
aware of how the CRM software will be beneficial and provide opportunities for them to
contribute and ask questions. An employee from each branch of your hospitality
ventures should be part of the initial implementation team, so they can suggest what
info would be best suited for their needs.

Employees should be made aware that the data provided by a CRM solution will be to
their advantage. CRM data should give employees day-to-day practices they can
implement to reward, manage and assist guests. It will be available to help them
determine which strategies will lead to satisfied guests and fewer concerns they would
need to deal with.

TYPES OF CRM
  SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPORTANCE OF CRM IN HOSPITALITY
INDUSTRY
For any business may it be big or small, Customer is their first priority. Because it is only for the
customers the product is made and only they can be the final users. If a business produces a
variety of products with great quality but does not get customer base, they will be running in
losses in no time and they will have to shut down. Thus, Customers are actually the King..! If a
customer is happy, the business can prosper, but if they are not there is no possibility for the
business to survive. Thus, to differentiate or stand out in the market, Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) is the main area which demands attention.

The following points prove the need to invest in CRM:

1. Increased Sales
With the introduction of CRM, the business develops healthy relations with the customers. As
they receive advice based on their preferences, they are easily convinced to buy the product or
use the service which ultimately leads to increase in sales for the business as a whole.
2. Elevated Customer Satisfaction
Great marketing techniques prove to the customer that they are our prime focus and as they get
personal attention and all their issues are addressed directly they feel satisfied and thus they do
not think of switching over in any scenario. CRM can be useful in such scenario. It helps your
support team to track the customer queries. Also, it is helpful for customers as well to generate
and track the status of their query.
This situation is noteworthy for a business as it is obvious that if customers are happy, business
is also going well..! You can implement such marketing techniques easily with the help of your
CRM.

3. CRM for Enhanced Communication

In the absence of CRM, there used to be issues where a specific employee used to handle a
customer and in case of this employee’s unavailability, the customer had to explain all the matter
to someone new. A Fresh start was to be done. But now, with the presence of CRM, the whole
Customer Data is on Cloud and there can never be any pauses or gaps due to the absence of an
employee. Thus, the communication becomes very simple and effective and the process hassle-
free.

4. Cost Effective
Implementing CRM strategies is not an easy task. A lot of resources are utilized such as money,
time and employees. Various techniques would have been considered and then analyzing the
cost-benefits for CRM. The initial investment for CRM would be considered as too high but the
benefits are even higher in which makes it cost effective in the long run.

5. Automation of Daily Tasks

Achieving the sales targets is not an easy task. Numerous activities form part of a single sale.
Once a sale is done it’s not just that a product is gone and money comes in. Various documents,
invoice, etc. are to be generated and then a single transaction is completed. We can imagine the
level of these routine activities as there are too many sales in a single day. With the integration of
CRM, all these things can be done automatically. The sales team can focus on bringing in more
customers instead of worrying about the daily tasks.To keep the customers happy, you should
have a better understanding of their needs and that is what CRM does. It provides easy
communication, quality customer service and organized data. Also, with the help of the dynamic
reports generated from the CRM, you can boost your sales. Thus, in order to have a business that
can have an ongoing concern, it is a must to have CRM to hold the customers and keep them tied
up to the products and services the business has to offer.

 TRANSITION OF DATABASE MARKETTING TO CRM

 Web-based system: By using SharePoint and Dynamics CRM for company-
specific applications; users have a web-based front-end platform that eliminates
 the need to install the solution at individual workstations. A web-based front-end
provides better cross-platform and multi-device application access allowing; more
concurrent users to work on the application without disrupting application
performance or affecting staff productivity.
 Mobile friendly (Android, iOS native apps exist for CRM): The current digitised
world calls for mobile friendly applications; the same applies to Access-
applications. Entering or editing records in Access-based mobile applications is
frustrating in addition to not having access to real-time data. Android and iOS
native apps exist for Dynamics CRM offering offline access to mobile data out-of-
the-box; making it a better choice for businesses where staff need to use mobile
devices.
 Flexible data hierarchies: Businesses that have multiple units and/or deal with
multiple projects need to maintain separate Access database for each business
entity. Maintaining and managing multiple Access database is cumbersome and
time-consuming. Both CRM and SharePoint have a flexible hierarchy structure
that allows you to run these multiple business units simultaneously while
maintaining data security.
 Enhanced data security: By building the application on CRM and SharePoint
platform; configuring user level restrictions and permissions for safeguarding
company information is simple and straightforward. Security can be applied on a
document, a field, a record or an entire form.
 Out of the box auditing: Dynamics CRM and SharePoint both maintain user
change logs making it easy to track back changes and revert if required. It is
almost impossible to delete company data without being discovered. Automated
backups also make it easier to recover lost data.
 Performance: Access database’s performance is inversely proportional to the
number of concurrent users. As the number of users increases, the performance
gets affected. SharePoint and Dynamics CRM are known for their ability to
handle large number of users with no effect on performance or data security.
 No more database corruption: As we have stated earlier, Access database is
prone to corruption caused due to an interrupted power supply, hardware failure,
virus/malware attack or incorrect usage. These factors do not affect the normal
functioning of Dynamics CRM; saving time and money required to repair/rebuild
the corrupted Access database.
 Powerful workflow engines:  CRM and SharePoint has a powerful workflow
engine that allows administrators to use wizard to build event and time based
workflows for easy automation and increased staff productivity.
 User configurable dashboards: Access developer generates custom reports.
With Dynamics CRM and SharePoint however, report generation is easy and
straightforward with users able to create their own custom dashboards and report
based on individual requirements.
 Integration with key business solutions: Dynamics CRM and SharePoint offer
out-of-box integration with a large number of commonly user business solutions
such as accounting and ERP packages. This in turn enhances efficiency of
operational processes by eliminating the need to manually import and export
data from one system to another. Additionally, CRM Online and Office 365
support out-of-the-box integration with Microsoft Power BI allowing you to start
building reports.