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What does the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) process cover?
It covers everything from marketing onwards, turning leads into customers and further sales, and helping
business thrive through strong lines of communication and service. It includes a knowledge base and help
desk service module that allows scheduling and time recording of staff and resources.
What are the principal parts of CRM?
There are three main entities: Leads, Contacts and Accounts.
And one, er, ‘leads’ to the other?
Precisely. All aspects of your business are set out in a series of carefully constructed actions and
steps that must be followed.
Such as a potential customer sending their details through a website form, and then marketing personnel having to follow that up and contact them?
That’s right, and everything that follows from that point. All of this is automated and tracked through
the CRM workflow management tool.
Is that a piece of software?
Yes. The work flow management tool is included in as part of Microsoft CRM and is perhaps the most
powerful component for automating business processes.
So how does it do this?
It follows a predefined set of procedures – for example, if a customer requests information from the
companyweb site an automated workflow can set in train a whole series of actions. To start with it can
automatically send an email response to the customer and immediately set an activity for a sales rep to
call the customer.
If that’s not done within a specified time, it can automatically reassign the activity to another representative.
On completion of the call activity, the system automatically creates a follow up call back activity.
So when that customer has been contacted, it helps you make the next step to generate business?
That’s right, and it will remind you and work colleagues when to contact them. All emails, telephone calls,
correspondence, and appointments are recorded.
So if we build up some history with a customer, and they have recently made a purchase or query, but the member of staff they dealt with is on holiday, how do I know what has happened?
All that information is accessible through your CRM tool. By using customer identity or case numbers,
anyone who speaks to that customer can see the history, and will know what to do next.
That’s great. So with one set of customer information, there’s no confusion, and problems and actions are sorted easily?
Correct, and your efficiency will impress the customer.
And it stops any of my staff from passing the buck and pretending that they thought something was done, when it hasn’t?
That is also a great management advantage.
What other benefits are there?
There are many, from security measures to displaying all information on one screen, but one particularly
useful one is the knowledge base.
How does that work?
If some information is needed to answer a customer query, but the particular member of your staff who
would normally deal with it is not available, then any other person can access that information in the
knowledge base.
That’s extremely useful. I need to get my CRM set up asap.
Psychosis can offer help and advice in helping your business grow though a specially tailored CRM system. Click here to contact us for more information.
Also in this issue: Disaster Recovery and IP Telephony
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