Strategy for using a CRM system

Implementing a CRM system is a serious stage in the life of a company. Changing business processes, introducing new functionality and analytics, training managers is all just the tip of the iceberg, because it is obvious that changes of this scale require a qualitative analysis and a professional approach. Preparation for implementation begins even before the selection of specific software and the involvement of a programmer. Actually, the success of implementation and the level of effectiveness of subsequent work largely depend on the quality of work at the preparatory stage.

The implementation of a CRM system should also be treated as the implementation of any other information system. Even if you are just going to “fasten” the CRM block to the operational accounting system, it is important to conduct quality training.

Firstly, it will greatly facilitate the choice of software and the subsequent formulation of tasks for revision. Secondly, a CRM system is a tool, and even a very high-quality tool, if it is not used for its intended purpose, will not bring your company any benefit, and possibly cause significant damage to the budget, turning into a “suitcase without a handle”.

So that from the very beginning the work on the implementation project is carried out in the right vector, answer the question: “Why does our company need a client base?”. Of course, the question seems strange, because it is known that the customer base is one of the most valuable assets of the company. However, how often do you use customer base data for analysis? What methods do you use to evaluate clients? Is your company’s loyalty system linked to financial performance?

In order to formulate requirements for the future corporate CRM-system it is necessary to develop a strategy - how and why the company plans to use it. At this stage, it is important to answer the question “What do we want to get from a CRM system?”.

Lack of strategy is a serious mistake in implementing CRM. It seems that the system itself solves many issues related to the client base and it is quite simple to equip the company's employees with “magic” software. However, in this case, CRM does not work, or at least does not live up to the company's expectations.

Customer base management is divided into two types: operational and strategic. Operational management is directly maintaining the customer base: collecting information, organizing interaction with the client. For example, a manager creating a customer card in the database, registering information about contacts and scheduled meetings, provides operational management of customer data.

Strategic management includes an assessment of the client base, its analysis methodology, development strategy and control.

As a rule, in our minds a CRM-system is calls, meetings, birthday greetings, in a word - an electronic diary. Of course, all of the above, as a rule, is part of the functionality. And, of course, “you need to know the client by sight”, but what does this knowledge globally give the company?

The strategy of working with clients is a comprehensive approach to the development of optimal offers for customers, respectively, their belonging to a certain group. A simple example is ABC analysis, with which a company can classify customers by financial indicators, for example, by revenue and calculate the optimal level of service costs for each group.

Another example is the development of a customer loyalty system. As a rule, at the level of operational management of the client base, we are talking about providing additional discounts. With a more complicated arrangement of discount programs - about increasing the level of discounts depending on the number of purchases or money spent by the client. At the same time, if customers receive bonuses “by default”, for example, simply by gaining the right amount of points, you need to understand that this is attractive until the competitor has an even more attractive offer.

Strategic management of the client base must necessarily imply not just the collection of statistics, but also the principles of classifying customers by segments and working with each of them. As a simple example, we conditionally divide customers into 2 groups: group A brings the company 80% of the profit, group B - 20%. If the costs of retaining one customer from group B are equal to the costs of retaining one customer from group A, then it is obvious that in the first case the costs are unprofitable. This does not mean that clients from conditional group B need not be retained. The strategy for working with clients in this case is the optimization of service costs. At the same time, it must be remembered that the assessment of customer satisfaction should also remain optimal for this client group.