|
|
"The absolute fundamental aim is to make money out of satisfying customers" - Sir John Egan
Hi Friends,
CRM Magazine recently asked their subscribers "What is the number one concern that keeps you up at night?".
I found it interesting that none of the responses resembled anything like: "My kid is failing out of school", or "My spouse works too much", or "I can't make the mortgage payment". Oddly enough, all of the responses were CRM related. Go figure.
Nonetheless, the results were as follows:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Today, I'd like to focus on the number one reason that people are not sleeping at night, "Creating and Maintaining Customer Satisfaction". We'll talk about the other number one, ROI, in a few weeks. But, first, I'd like to take a step back and observe some findings from another study.
In a survey conducted by CRMGuru.com, it was discovered that having a Customer-Centric Strategy was the most important driver of success of any CRM implementation. A few weeks ago, we illustrated that Customer Loyalty had significant impacts on both the top and bottom lines.
So how do each of these pieces of the puzzle fit together? What is the relationship between Customer Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty, and implementing a Customer Centric Strategy?
Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty are two golden keys to giving your company competitive advantage. Building and implementing a Customer-Centric Business Strategy is created with the intention of increasing both your customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty.
****************************************************************************************************
The first step in implementing a customer centric business strategy, (or any other initiative) is to take a snapshot of where you currently are. This makes it possible to measure your progress along the way. The two main benchmarks that can help measure the success of your initiative are:
1. WHAT ARE YOUR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION LEVELS?
How many of your customers are satisfied with the products and services you are providing to them?
2. WHAT IS YOUR CUSTOMER ATTRITION RATE?
In other words, how many of your customers are defecting and choosing your competitor's products and services.
The second step is looking at 5 key areas in developing your customer centric strategy. I have listed a few things to consider in each area:
1. Overall Business Strategy
2. Organizational Issues
3. Work Processes
***********************************************************************************************
4. Technology
************************************************************************************************
5. Training and Support
"Being customer centric focuses your business decision-making processes on the impact that those decisions will have on your customers. The real trick is making the "right" decisions that result in a positive impact. In order to do that, the organization needs to understand who its customers are, where they are going and how can the customer's needs be met. That type of understanding requires information, and information comes from data." says Kevin Murtha of Greenbrier & Russel's, in an article in the September, 2002 edition of DM Review. http://www.dmreview.com/
It is essential for your company to be able to have the systems in place to be able to capture, analyze, and share the information about your customers so that you can be more responsive to their needs, provide them with unparalelled service, and keep them as customers for life.
*****************************************************************************************************
Please visit us at http://www.initiumtech.com or call us Toll Free at 1.800.250.5732 to learn more.
Wishing you overwhelming success in 2003,
Brian Vellmure
Copyright 2003 Initium, LLC. All Rights Reserved
MORE ENTERPRISE STRATEGIES
For archived copies of Initium Enterprise Strategies, please visit http://www.initiumtech.com/newsletter.htm
Do you know anyone else that might be interested in gaining competitive advantage through a more customer centric approach to their business?
To subscribe to this newsletter, or sign up a friend, please click on the link below:
Are you interested in learning about a topic that we have not covered yet? Please let us know at newsletter@initiumtech.com !
If you would like to reproduce any of Initium Enterprise Strategy Newsletters, you must include the source of your quote and the following email address: bvellmure@initiumtech.com
Please write to newsletter@initiumtech.com and inform us of any reproductions.
Please include where and when the copy will be reproduced.
Brian Vellmure is CEO and Founder of Initium Technology, a strategic technology consulting firm specializing in CRM, ERP, EAI, and custom Web and Portal Design. Mr. Vellmure has personally helped dozens of companies in a variety of industries properly formulate visionary strategies and strategically implement market leading technology to enable precise execution of the those strategies.
|
This a