A CUSTOMER RETENTION STRATEGY Ruchi*1 1Asst. Prof
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ISSN: 2249-7196 IJMRR/ May 2014/ Volume 4/Issue 5/Article No-9/624-631 Ruchi / International Journal of Management Research & Review CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: A CUSTOMER RETENTION STRATEGY Ruchi* 1 1Asst. Prof, Satyawati College (Eve.), University of Delhi, Delhi, India. ABSTRACT Customer relationship management solutions provide you with the customer business data to help you provide services or products that your customers want, provide better customer service, cross-sell and up sell more effectively, close deals, retain current customers and better understand who your customer are. This paper explores the advantage of the model of CRM in getting, keeping & growing strategy. However, there is a tremendous amount of confusion regarding its domain and meaning. This paper also explains the conceptual foundations of CRM by examining the literature on relationship marketing and other disciplines that contribute to the knowledge of CRM. Keywords: CRM Model, Game changer& key strategies with CRM. INTRODUCTION CRM is the short form for Customer Relationship Management . It entails all characteristic of communication that a corporation has with its client, whether it is sales or service-related. While the term customer relationship management is most frequently used to explain a business-customer relationship, CRM system is used in the same way to handle business links, clients, contract wins and sales leads. *Corresponding Author www.ijmrr.com 624 Ruchi / International Journal of Management Research & Review Customer Relationship Management is often consideration of as a business policy that enables businesses to: know the customer Retain customers through better customer experience Magnetize new customer Win new clients and contracts Boost profitably Reduce customer management costs Business frequently looking for ways to personalize online experience through tools such as help-desk software, email organizers and dissimilar types of enterprise applications. Well-designed CRM includes the following characteristics: 1. Customer Relationship Management is a customer-oriented aspect with service response based on client input, one-to-one solutions to customers’ necessities, direct online interactions with buyer and customer service centers that facilitate customers solve their query. 2. Sales force automation - This job can apply sales promotion analysis, automate tracking of a client’s account history for frequent sales or prospect sales, and also coordinate sales, marketing, call centers, and retail outlets in order to understand the sales force automation. Copyright © 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 625 Ruchi / International Journal of Management Research & Review 3. Use of technology - This feature is about following the technology trend and skills of value delivering using technology to make “up-to-the-second” customer data available. It applies data warehouse technology in order to aggregate transaction information, to merge the information with CRM solutions, and to provide Key Performance Indicators. 4. Opportunity management - This feature helps the company to manage impulsive growth and demand and implement a good forecasting model to integrate sales history with sales projections. LITERATURE REVIEW CRM is one of those magnificent concepts that swept the business world in the 1990's with the promise of forever changing the way businesses small and large interacted with their customer bases. In the short term, however, it proved to be an unwieldy process that was better in theory than in practice for a variety of reasons. First among these was that it was simply so difficult and expensive to track and keep the high volume of records needed accurately and constantly update them. In the last several years, however, newer software systems and advanced tracking features have vastly improved CRM capabilities and the real promise of CRM is becoming a reality. As the price of newer, more customizable Internet solutions have hit the marketplace; competition has driven the prices down so that even relatively small businesses are reaping the benefits of some custom CRM programs. In the beginning… The 1980's saw the emergence of database marketing, which was simply a catch phrase to define the practice of setting up customer service groups to speak individually to all of a company's customers. In the case of larger, key clients it was a valuable tool for keeping the lines of communication open and tailoring service to the client’s needs. In the case of smaller clients, however, it tended to provide repetitive, survey-like information that cluttered databases and didn't provide much insight. As companies began tracking database information, they realized that the bare bones were all that was needed in most cases: what they buy regularly, what they spend, what they do. Advances in the 1990's In the 1990's companies began to improve on Customer Relationship Management by making it more of a two-way street. Instead of simply gathering data for their own use, they began giving back to their customers not only in terms of the obvious goal of improved customer service, but in incentives, gifts and other perks for customer loyalty. This was the beginning of the now familiar frequent flier programs, bonus points on credit cards and a host of other resources that are based on CRM tracking of customer activity and spending patterns. CRM was now being used as a way to increase sales passively as well as through active improvement of customer service. Copyright © 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 626 Ruchi / International Journal of Management Research & Review The last few years… In 2002, Oracle released their Global CRM in 90 Days package that promised quick implementation of CRM throughout company offices. Offered with the package was a set fee service for set-up and training for core business needs. Also in 2002 (a stellar year for CRM), SAP America's meySAP began using a “middleware” hub that was capable of connecting SAP systems to externals and front and back office systems for a unified operation that links partners, employees, process and technologies in a closed-loop function. Siebel consistently based its business primarily on enterprise size businesses willing to invest millions in CRM systems, which worked for them to the tune of $2.1 billion in 2001. However, in 2002 and 2003 revenues slipped as several smaller CRM firms joined the fray as ASP's (Application Service Providers). These companies, including UpShot, NetSuite and SalesNet, offered businesses CRM-style tracking and data management without the high cost of traditional CRM start-up in October of 2003, Siebel launched CRM on demand in collaboration with IBM. Their entry into the hosted, monthly CRM solution niche hit the marketplace with gale force. To some of the monthly ASP's it was a call to arms, to others it was a sign of Siebel's increasing confusion over brand identity and increasing loss of market share. In a stroke of genius, Siebel acquired UpShot a few months later to get them started and smooth their transition into the ASP market. It was a successful move. With Microsoft now in the game, it's too soon to tell what the results will be, but it seems likely that they may get some share of small businesses that tend to buy based on familiarity and usability. ASP's will continue to grow in popularity as well, especially with mid-sized businesses, so companies like NetSuite, SalesNet and Siebel's On Demand will thrive. CRM on the web has come of age! Marketing scholars are studying the nature and scope of CRM and are developing conceptualizations regarding the value and process of cooperative and collaborative relationships between buyers and sellers. Many scholars with interests in several sub- disciplines of marketing, such as channels, services marketing, business-to-business marketing, advertising, and so forth, are actively engaged in studying and exploring the conceptual foundations of managing relationships with customers. They are interested in strategies and processes for customer classification and selectivity; one-tone relationships with individual customers; key account management and customer business development processes; frequency marketing, loyalty programs, cross-selling and up-selling opportunities; and various forms of partnering with customers including co-branding, joint-marketing, co development, and other forms of strategic alliances (Parvatiyar & Sheth, 2000). Scholars from other academic disciplines, particularly those interested in the area of information systems and decision technologies, are also exploring new methodologies and techniques that create efficient frontline information systems (FIS) to effectively manage relationships with customers. Several software tools and technologies claiming solutions for various aspects of CRM have recently been introduced for commercial application. The majority of these tools promise to individualize and personalize relationships with customers by providing vital Copyright © 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 627 Ruchi / International Journal of Management Research & Review information at every point in the interface with the customer. Techniques such as collaborative filtering, rule-based expert systems, artificial intelligence, and relational databases are increasingly being applied to develop enterprise level solutions for managing information on customer interactions. The purpose of this paper is not to evaluate these application tools and technologies.