CustomerCustomer RelationshipRelationship ManagementManagement HowHow toto turnturn aa goodgood businessbusiness intointo aa greatgreat one!one! GrahamGraham Roberts-PhelpsRoberts-Phelps Blank page Customer Relationship Management How to turn a good business into a great one! Graham Roberts-Phelps Reprinted by Thorogood 2003 10-12 Rivington Street, London EC2A 3DU Telephone: 020 7749 4748 Fax: 020 7729 6110 Email: [email protected] Web: www.thorogood.ws © Graham Roberts-Phelps 2001 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. 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About the author Graham Roberts-Phelps is an experienced and professional business trainer and consultant, sharing his ideas and insights with thousands of people and organisations every year. With an extensive background in management and business development, he works with organi- sations of many different types and sizes. Graham is the author of Companies Don’t Succeed – People Do!, Working Smarter and Telephone Tactics, all published by Thorogood. Blank page Contents 1 chapter one Customer relationship management demystified .....................................1 What is customer relationship management? .........................................................................2 The four steps to relationship management............................................................................4 What this looks like in an organisation ...................................................................................9 Not just another marketing trick...........................................................................................10 The business case .............................................................................................................12 2 chapter two Why do customers defect?..............................................................................15 Introduction ........................................................................................................................16 Why are customers lost?.....................................................................................................17 Complacency, not competition, kills customers ....................................................................20 The service economy .........................................................................................................21 3 chapter three The economics of customer care...............................................................23 Introduction .......................................................................................................................24 Know what your customers are worth ..................................................................................24 Customer value calculation..................................................................................................25 Building a loyal relationship .................................................................................................27 Exercise: Customer dynamics ..............................................................................................31 Customer attrition and retention...........................................................................................32 Exit questionnaires..............................................................................................................36 Customer service surveys....................................................................................................36 How to keep a customer for life ...........................................................................................37 4 chapter four Defining customer service excellence .......................................................39 Nothing impresses like competence.....................................................................................40 A customer service model ...................................................................................................41 contents 5 chapter five Achieving service excellence .........................................................................55 Introduction ........................................................................................................................56 Exercise: The customer experience ......................................................................................57 The customer interaction cycle ............................................................................................57 Receiving............................................................................................................................58 Understanding ....................................................................................................................62 Helping...............................................................................................................................65 Sample worksheet – options and expectations .....................................................................69 Keeping..............................................................................................................................70 Partner exercise – process mapping ....................................................................................72 Handling challenging situations............................................................................................73 6 chapter six Managing for customer satisfaction.............................................................79 Introduction ........................................................................................................................80 The differences between a traditional manager and a customer-focused manager .................81 Checklist ............................................................................................................................84 7 chapter seven Customer-focused selling and marketing skills .................................87 Introduction ........................................................................................................................88 The three principles of customer-focused selling ..................................................................90 The customer’s buying steps ..............................................................................................91 Customer-focused prospecting ............................................................................................95 Making a good first impression on first time sales calls.......................................................100 Progressing the call .........................................................................................................102 Customer-focused selling skills..........................................................................................103 Handling objections, queries and concerns ........................................................................110 The objection handling process .........................................................................................111 Exploring needs ...............................................................................................................115 High-impact questions ......................................................................................................116 Listening ..........................................................................................................................119 Understanding the buying criteria and the customer’s buying process .................................121 Exploring and developing options .......................................................................................123 Proposing and closing ......................................................................................................130 contents 8 chapter eight Connecting with customers in the digital age....................................139 Interactive media marketing...............................................................................................140 How are companies striving to win customers over to this new medium?.............................141 Identifying the right data ...................................................................................................144 Finding the true worth of a customer..................................................................................149 What is segmentation? .....................................................................................................152