Customer Relationship Management
Neither would anyone argue that the successful company is successful in large part because it understands its market. But not all companies know that the best way to achieve success and diminish the risk of failure is by utilizing credible client data to optimize products and marketing and target the right customer. But how does a company collect this information without having to commission costly ongoing studies? This is where the new wave of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions comes into play.
Hiring an effective sales force is a company's first defense against the competition. Sure, companies have been making plenty of investments in their sales forces by implementing strategies that focus on the basics-communications, process automation, and simplification. But a good sales representative must also be able to juggle the "soft" skills when dealing with his or her clients, and this is why modern companies cannot do business successfully without the implementation of a CRM solution that puts all of the basics in place and strengthens the sales and marketing functions.
CRM solutions are geared to maximize the effectiveness of a sales force and manage the related costs, but in the process they decrease other costs and contribute to an increased market share and ROI. According to an IT expert from the International Advisory Search for Trade & Finance, CRM technologies enable companies to go to market with a targeted, multichannel approach and are the best tools for sales representatives, in-house call centers, and websites featuring information because they improve and coordinate the communication processes. As a result, companies do not waste time sending sales reps in every direction, they save costs, and they increase profitability. The numbers, of course, are still one of the most important factors for investment bankers-and no doubt this is why so many top banks such as JP Morgan rely heavily on CRM in their operations.
The best example of the impact of CRM on ROI is the pharmaceutical sector, where the contact between sales representatives and prescribers is face-to-face, and an effective customer relationship based on trust is vital to repeat business. And don't forget that there are so many new drugs constantly being introduced into the marketplace that no physician can possibly spend any length of time listening to any single sales pitch: sales representatives need to be more than accurate-they need to be efficient as well, and respectful of their customers' time. Good pharmaceutical sales reps also need to manage the ups, downs, and plateaus in day-to-day pharma marketing. Especially the ups, that is, whenever the demand for product exceeds supply, as often happens in this category. And for pharmaceutical industry experts involved in research and development, CRM has put an end to the laborious, inefficient process of manual data-entry.
CRM is more than just a handy tool for sales reps who interface with individuals in a niche target; it is also vital for just about any company driven by sales. Sales reps cannot visit everyone in a general market, but when their optimal customers are ID-ed and categorized, they can go straight to utilizing the most profitable channels, aiming to serve the right customers hands-on and on a cost-effective approach. But CRM is not free and every company should take into consideration the dent in its IT budget when making projections about ROI after CRM. Once a company opts for a CRM system, it must select the right one very carefully. It is essential that the plan be customizable-good CRM solutions are not off-the-shelf solutions. Essential is a vendor that offers configurable solutions based on an innovative core technology. CRM implementation expert Chris McCrum, for example, specializes in the pharmaceutical industry and offers as many answers as there are clients willing to ask. In Poland, the vendor Process 4e offers highly flexible CRM products-the boon is that these can be implemented rapidly. Many companies are not aware of the fact that the total cost of a CRM solution includes a lot more than a database and set of procedures-included are also the implementation costs, trainings, licenses, support, as well as system updates scheduled according to the requirements of the changing business conditions.
One of the leading providers of CRM applications, decision support tools, and e-business systems is Peoplesoft, offering a great deal of products that can be rapidly implemented and configured. The big guns like Peoplesoft and Microsoft's solutions not only manage but also integrate all of the components of customer interaction, including customer support apps, marketing, sales, and web. It seems that these are the perfect devices for profit-oriented companies. In fact, most documented CRM cases confirm this.
Because the most important assets in today's business world are the intangible ones, like reliable data on customers, CRM is quickly becoming even more important than machinery and other fixed assets. Pharmaceutical companies report that prior to CRM their information on representatives and managers was virtually untrackable-it had been kept in paper files. Now, in large part because it boosts efficiency, CRM allows for higher corporate profitability and higher ROI. Sales reps can focus on planning, scheduling, and calling the customers, and they reach many more of the right ones than ever before. Although many of the examples used here are from the pharmaceutical sector, CRM adds value in any industry by contributing to increased customer retention rates across the board, especially those highly-coveted "loyals" and frequent users-the cornerstone of almost any company's continued development. With the right customer relationship management system in place, a company gains valuable tools that help it focus its sales efforts on yielding the best possible results and ROI. And let's not leave out the fact that CRM technology not only saves time and money, but also improves tracking performance of the internal sales force itself.
At a time when competition is fierce and so many companies are fighting for higher margins, CRM may be the tool that gives a company an edge over the other players-especially since as many as 40% of the companies with a stake in the Polish market report zero awareness of something called customer relationship management, or CRM, according to research conducted in 2004 by Process 4e.
Investors, of course, love it.
Hiring an effective sales force is a company's first defense against the competition. Sure, companies have been making plenty of investments in their sales forces by implementing strategies that focus on the basics-communications, process automation, and simplification. But a good sales representative must also be able to juggle the "soft" skills when dealing with his or her clients, and this is why modern companies cannot do business successfully without the implementation of a CRM solution that puts all of the basics in place and strengthens the sales and marketing functions.
CRM solutions are geared to maximize the effectiveness of a sales force and manage the related costs, but in the process they decrease other costs and contribute to an increased market share and ROI. According to an IT expert from the International Advisory Search for Trade & Finance, CRM technologies enable companies to go to market with a targeted, multichannel approach and are the best tools for sales representatives, in-house call centers, and websites featuring information because they improve and coordinate the communication processes. As a result, companies do not waste time sending sales reps in every direction, they save costs, and they increase profitability. The numbers, of course, are still one of the most important factors for investment bankers-and no doubt this is why so many top banks such as JP Morgan rely heavily on CRM in their operations.
The best example of the impact of CRM on ROI is the pharmaceutical sector, where the contact between sales representatives and prescribers is face-to-face, and an effective customer relationship based on trust is vital to repeat business. And don't forget that there are so many new drugs constantly being introduced into the marketplace that no physician can possibly spend any length of time listening to any single sales pitch: sales representatives need to be more than accurate-they need to be efficient as well, and respectful of their customers' time. Good pharmaceutical sales reps also need to manage the ups, downs, and plateaus in day-to-day pharma marketing. Especially the ups, that is, whenever the demand for product exceeds supply, as often happens in this category. And for pharmaceutical industry experts involved in research and development, CRM has put an end to the laborious, inefficient process of manual data-entry.
CRM is more than just a handy tool for sales reps who interface with individuals in a niche target; it is also vital for just about any company driven by sales. Sales reps cannot visit everyone in a general market, but when their optimal customers are ID-ed and categorized, they can go straight to utilizing the most profitable channels, aiming to serve the right customers hands-on and on a cost-effective approach. But CRM is not free and every company should take into consideration the dent in its IT budget when making projections about ROI after CRM. Once a company opts for a CRM system, it must select the right one very carefully. It is essential that the plan be customizable-good CRM solutions are not off-the-shelf solutions. Essential is a vendor that offers configurable solutions based on an innovative core technology. CRM implementation expert Chris McCrum, for example, specializes in the pharmaceutical industry and offers as many answers as there are clients willing to ask. In Poland, the vendor Process 4e offers highly flexible CRM products-the boon is that these can be implemented rapidly. Many companies are not aware of the fact that the total cost of a CRM solution includes a lot more than a database and set of procedures-included are also the implementation costs, trainings, licenses, support, as well as system updates scheduled according to the requirements of the changing business conditions.
One of the leading providers of CRM applications, decision support tools, and e-business systems is Peoplesoft, offering a great deal of products that can be rapidly implemented and configured. The big guns like Peoplesoft and Microsoft's solutions not only manage but also integrate all of the components of customer interaction, including customer support apps, marketing, sales, and web. It seems that these are the perfect devices for profit-oriented companies. In fact, most documented CRM cases confirm this.
Because the most important assets in today's business world are the intangible ones, like reliable data on customers, CRM is quickly becoming even more important than machinery and other fixed assets. Pharmaceutical companies report that prior to CRM their information on representatives and managers was virtually untrackable-it had been kept in paper files. Now, in large part because it boosts efficiency, CRM allows for higher corporate profitability and higher ROI. Sales reps can focus on planning, scheduling, and calling the customers, and they reach many more of the right ones than ever before. Although many of the examples used here are from the pharmaceutical sector, CRM adds value in any industry by contributing to increased customer retention rates across the board, especially those highly-coveted "loyals" and frequent users-the cornerstone of almost any company's continued development. With the right customer relationship management system in place, a company gains valuable tools that help it focus its sales efforts on yielding the best possible results and ROI. And let's not leave out the fact that CRM technology not only saves time and money, but also improves tracking performance of the internal sales force itself.
At a time when competition is fierce and so many companies are fighting for higher margins, CRM may be the tool that gives a company an edge over the other players-especially since as many as 40% of the companies with a stake in the Polish market report zero awareness of something called customer relationship management, or CRM, according to research conducted in 2004 by Process 4e.
Investors, of course, love it.
