The article describes the most important considerations for the implementation of a CRM tool framed in the comprehensive approach of considering changes in business strategy and processes. It narrates the importance of this type of projects, as well as shows the reference for the implementation of a free CRM tool.
Introduction
The current world scenario allows companies in a country to offer products and / or services to a wider geographical area thanks to new telecommunications tools, information systems, as well as greater commercial, economic and political integration in some Latin American countries..
This will allow the small Bolivian company to offer a more competitive price and a better service to win some clients to Chilean companies if they do not offer any value differentiator to their clients. This story happens every day in Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Peru and the other countries in the region.
Achieving good customer relationship management should be an important pillar in the strategy of many companies, since a good customer relationship can become the most valuable asset of your company, above the economic value of its machinery., from your advertising campaigns or any other asset you have.
The Balanced Scorecard methodology proposed by Kaplan and Norton (2004), describe that it is necessary to align intangible assets with business strategy, since they only acquire value in the context of the strategy, in what He hopes they will help the company. In this methodology there is a perspective called learning and growth, which contains the objectives and indicators of three essential asset components to implement any strategy:
Human capital: includes the availability of skills, talent and knowledge to carry out the activities required by the strategy.
Information capital: Includes the availability of information systems, applications and knowledge management infrastructure that are needed to support the strategy.
Organizational capital: it comprises a set of topics such as culture, leadership, alignment and teamwork.
The main theme of this reading is to sensitize entrepreneurs and managers of why the implementation of a CRM tool is necessary, for this reason we want to explain as a theoretical framework that a CRM project is a multidisciplinary project in which one of the topics less important is that of technology. Because no matter how good CRM software is available, if the culture, skills and strategy do not support the use of the software, that is, if the customer service processes, personnel training programs and the strategy are not aligned, the system can accomplish very little.
When planning these types of projects do not forget to consider these elements in an integral way, which is why I recommend that you read a book or material on the Web regarding the Balanced Scorecard methodology, since through the strategic maps You will be able to lean a lot to see the cause and effect relationships between the different perspectives proposed, such as financial, customer, process and learning and growth perspectives.
“The strategic role of intangible assets cannot be treated in isolation. An integrated program is required to support the improvement of all of the organization's intangible assets. ”
Kaplan & Norton (2004)
Surely now you will wonder what you need to be able to coordinate all the activities and processes in which you have a relationship with customers, since it will require analyzing your processes, seeing if you have metrics, if you have timely information and if there is a true alignment between the strategy and offering a good relationship with the client.
The first thing you will need to check is the quality of the information stored in your customer database. You may find that customer information is broken up into various systems, spreadsheets, paper forms, agendas, and other places.
When carrying out an analysis, you will be able to identify that you will find the information of your most important clients in several of those sources of information and that it is most likely that not all the information of the contact name, telephone numbers and tracking of your products and / or services is integrated consistently.
What's more, you will probably find that in some sources of information regarding your clients' data, you will notice that the client's information was invented by some capturista, mainly this happens when the client's forms do not have all the information.
Now we begin to clearly see the problem of giving a good service if we cannot centrally identify customer information, what will happen is that if you call your company to the collection department, customer service and sales will surely give you different information, which will generate a great frustration and bad image for your client.
Ensuring the quality of customer information requires the support of senior management, since only with a true vision of the value of having a good database of its customers will the integrity of that information be protected.
Note: If you pay your capturers for the number of records entered, without having a parameter of the quality of the information, you must realign your compensation scheme.
The objective of this reading is not to explain in depth what CRM is, but rather to convincingly introduce its challenges, advantages and complications to be implemented. This is particularly important for Latin American countries, since we work in an environment of low competitiveness in the environment, which is why the resources must be used efficiently.
Some definitions related to the different CRM concepts will be presented below and their importance will be briefly explained. At the end of the document you will find a section of questions and answers that will be very useful to start your own CRM project.
Customer life cycle management
As in any personal relationship, the level of understanding and intimacy between people increases over time, as long as the parties are willing to make the relationship work. The same applies in the relationship of people with companies in the business world. The economic opening of Latin American countries has made it easier for consumers to have new options for products and services and if a company mistreats a customer, the customer can quickly change companies. The CRM comprises 3 phases according to Kalakota and Robinson (2000):
Acquisition of new clients: New clients are attracted by promoting the company's products and services. It is shown that there is some differentiating aspect by which customers should buy these products or services.
The value proposition should be backed by excellent service and after-sales support.
Increase the profitability of existing customers: By improving the existing relationship, the cross-sale of products is promoted, or by increasing the products and services previously purchased by the customer, thus broadening and deepening the relationship. The value proposition resides is an offer of convenience and lower cost.
Profitable Lifetime Customer Retention: Retention focuses on the adaptability of products or services, not by offering what the market wants, but what customers already have. The value proposition consists of offering through a proactive relationship a service or product in the best interest of the client. Today, leading companies focus more on retention than attracting new customers.
Free CRM tool
There is a tool called vTiger developed by the Open Source community, which is why it has no licensing cost. This tool is quite functional and will be very useful for small and medium businesses that want to start developing, implementing and maturing their CRM processes and do not yet have the financial resources to implement a commercial tool.
There is enough information online for your company's technical staff to implement it in a couple of days at most. Remember that the most important thing is the definition of the CRM methodology in your company. The tool by itself cannot improve the relationship that your company has with its customers.
This tool is quite friendly, it allows you to store information on prospects, it has a good database of clients, prospects, it allows you to follow up on calls through its help desk, among other aspects necessary to mature your service processes and relationship with your clients. customers. Below is the link to the page as well as a picture of the website.
www.vtiger.com/
conclusion
The implementation of a system to manage customer relationships is an important first step, however, if this decision is not supported, training people, redesigning processes, creating rules and policies that favor the integrity of the information of stored customers, this will not be successful.
The implementation of a CRM system is a company-wide commitment and must be backed by the company's management group. If you want to know more information about it, go to www.softwarepyme.com and there you will find links and other useful information.
Bibliography
Kaplan, Robert & Norton, David. Strategic Maps: Converting intangible assets into tangible results. Ed. Gestión 2000. Year 2004. Barcelona, Spain.
Kalakota, Ravi & Robinson, Marcia. E-Business 2.0: Roadmap for Success. Ed. Addison Wesley. Year 2000. New Jersey, USA.
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