We currently live in an overly competitive world in which customers are the ones who are setting the standard in commerce and are demanding better products and services every day that can satisfy their growing needs.
As time goes by, more and more businesses, companies and companies are realizing the importance of focusing their processes on the customer, since in the end, every company revolves around the same customer.
That is why Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is no longer a luxury in organizations, but rather a necessity that will allow companies to remain competitive and thus extend their horizons in the market in which they operate.
Knowing how, when and why to keep a record of customers to follow is one of the most common strategic level questions that companies are asking today, and the answer to this question can be found through the help of a CRM.
Undoubtedly, in recent years the popularity and use of CRM solutions has grown. There are countless articles and books that dedicate each and every one of its pages exclusively to talking about CRM; They call it a tool, strategy, technology, culture, philosophy… but always highlighting from different points of view the value and importance, disadvantages and advantages it offers to companies.
However, there is little talk about what steps exactly must be followed to implement a CRM. Little is mentioned about the actual implementation of it and that is precisely the approach that I will give to this work.
The fact that there is no standard methodology to implement a CRM in an organization is largely due to the fact that not all companies are the same, as well as not all businesses turn to CRM in search of the same objectives. I make it clear that with a CRM every company may seek the same goal: to have a better knowledge of its customers to increase its income and profits; but the objectives to be sought will be very different from one company to another. While one business will aim to reduce losses from potential customers, another business will choose to increase the level of customer loyalty.
The purpose of this work will be to develop a generic methodology in which the necessary steps to follow to successfully implement a CRM in any company or business are shown and defined.
But before starting with the development of my methodology, it is important to clarify what a CRM is and what it consists of in order to know if it is what our company really needs or not.
Defining a CRM
According to Chen and Popovich (2003), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a combination of people, processes and technology that tries to understand a company's customers. It is an integrated approach to managing customer relationships focusing on customer retention and relationship development. CRM has been developed in information technology advances and changes in the organization focused on customer processes.
We can also define a CRM as a corporate philosophy that seeks to understand and anticipate the needs of existing and potential customers, which is currently supported by technological solutions that facilitate its application, development and use. In short, it is a business strategy focused on the customer and their needs.
Any CRM strategy must be based on a radical change in the strategic direction of the company. It is very important to clarify that CRM itself is not directly related to technology, and it is not about implementing a new technology or certain analytical tools, or even creating a company department specifically dedicated to it.
CRM must go far beyond technology, it must involve all company workers, and they must be aware that the most important asset of the company is precisely its customer base and the information about them and their needs is able to collect.
An effective implementation of CRM allows improving relationships with customers, knowing them better and reducing costs when getting new customers, as well as increasing the loyalty of existing ones, which, in both cases, means higher sales and more profitability for business.
However, there are also benefits related to better results in the launch of new products or brands and in the development of more effective marketing.
Defining a CRM methodology
Once we understand what CRM is, we proceed to the implementation, where first of all, it is essential to have the support of managers and workers from all departments to achieve the necessary integration and carry out a successful implementation of CRM.
In order to implement a CRM development methodology in a company, it must be necessary to follow a series of fundamental steps, in which all the main concepts that revolve around CRM can be applied. It is important to clarify once again that there is no universal methodology to implement CRM, and each implementation may vary depending on the type of company in question.
That is why, after extensive research, I have taken on the task of defining a series of general steps, which from my point of view should be followed in order to develop and formalize a CRM in any company. Below is a diagram in which each and every one of the stages that my own generic methodology comprises is displayed, and later on what each stage consists of will be detailed.
1. Definition of objectives and vision of the CRM project
The first step for the implementation of a CRM in a company will be to define a vision. This is in order to visualize how the organization will be after a successful implementation of the CRM project. Likewise, it is important to define global objectives so that later we can deepen and base our strategies on these objectives and be able to monitor them.
In this first stage, it is also essential that the company has a notion of its current situation. The most important thing is that the company knows itself and what its primary needs are. Based on this, it will be necessary to define the degree of importance for the company to implement a CRM and why you want to do it.
For this, it is convenient to develop an initial analysis to know both the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, and in relation to this, focus our CRM.
The objectives to be defined at this stage must be quite concrete. In other words, the objectives would be for example "to reduce the rate of customer churn by 25%." Objectives such as "improving customer relations" are quite general and ambiguous, being of very little use, so we should omit objectives of this type.
2. Definition of indicators to evaluate results
In this stage we will define the way in which the results will be evaluated, which must be measurable through indicators such as: customer retention, recency, the RFM model, the conversion rate, among others.
These indicators will be very important for the monitoring and control stage, as they will help us to know if we are meeting our objectives or not.
3. Definition of the person responsible for the project and the work team
This stage is crucial because the final results will depend on the performance of the project leader and the disposition of the work team. The members of the entire team must have the commitment and the appropriate skills to function properly during the project process. As well as they must also be aware of what are the objectives to follow and what are their roles and duties in this project.
Let's remember that it will almost always require the collaboration of several departments, or even all the departments that make up the company. That is why the defined work team should cover all the departments involved.
4. Tools and necessary technological infrastructure
This stage consists of the resources that the company has, as well as the search for the correct tools for an effective implementation. As well, managers must be open to the implementation of technology necessary to get CRM up and running.
Here you should consider whether or not the purchase of CRM software solutions is feasible. As well as analyzing the requirements for the creation of a new historical database, and all the technological infrastructure necessary to achieve a successful CRM.
5. Carrying out pilot tests and necessary adjustments
At this stage, a test of the CRM implementation should be done, how it will work, what tasks it will perform within the company, the correct use, and give the employees proper training to perform their work properly.
Once the pilot test is done, it will be necessary to analyze what adjustments are necessary to make to ensure the success of the CRM.
6. Realization of a prototype with real information
Once the results obtained from the pilot test have been seen, the same procedure must be implemented but with the real information of the clients, that is, to create and shape the company's database.
7. Launch the system
Once the prototype of the CRM with real information has been previously made, we will be ready to implement it in the company, and continue with the work of training employees to do their jobs correctly.
At this point it is important that the database that will store the customer information is already ready, since in the next stage the interaction with them will begin and we must be prepared to record all this in a database independent from the base. company data.
8. Application of CRM Components
In this next stage of the Application of CRM Components it will be necessary in most cases to modify the organizational structure and processes to achieve a customer-centric company. The processes should be redefined to improve their effectiveness and efficiency, and as we mentioned earlier, the highest priority will be given to those that have the greatest impact on customer satisfaction.
But for this CRM application to be successful in the company, it must be strictly necessary to generate and introduce customer-oriented organizational values into the corporate culture. In other words, generate an internal culture in which the client is the main figure and on which everything revolves in their environment. This is one of the critical elements in the success of a CRM project: the "passion for the customer" embedded in the culture of the organization.
Once this is understood, we will explain each of the 4 components of the CRM that must be applied. The 4 components are: Identify, Differentiate, Interact and Personalize.
a) Identify
The objective of this first component is that the company can identify its customers. It will be a question of going from a set of anonymous clients, or of whom almost nothing is known, to a set of identified clients about which many of their elements are already known.
The methods that we will use in this identification part should facilitate interaction with customers. We will require systems that make the value proposition that the company offers to the client sufficient for the client to be interested in identifying himself voluntarily.
Some examples of tools that will help us to identify clients are:
- Communication scripts.
- Call centers.
- Contact centers.
- Help Desk.
- Service Desk.
b) Differentiate
In this second phase, the aim is to guide the behavior of the company to the attention of customers. From the database we will process information on each of the customers identified in the first phase. This is in order to generate a profile that allows us to estimate and calculate the value that each client has for the company. For this, the use of metrics is essential.
Once the value of our clients has been established, we will proceed to classify them, either by their value or by the objective that they intend to manage their relationship, and then begin to differentiate them by what they require from the company.
c) Interact
This third phase aims for the company to interact with those best customers identified and differentiated above, to propose a series of possible ways of acting to interact with them.
The important thing here is to consider what relationships the client will allow us to maintain with him, and which of these relationships are perceived by the client as having added value.
d) Customize
This last phase will try to grant those key clients with whom we have already interacted, those benefits that they want. In this phase it is important to exploit the accumulated information of the client to later personalize the services.
Additionally, you have to take advantage of and learn from all past experiences.
Here we can make use of other systems such as Supply Chain Management, modularization, flexible manufacturing, among others; which will allow the company to adapt to what its customers ask for.
These 4 components that we have just analyzed have the main objective of knowing more about customers, a crucial step for the success of a CRM strategy based on knowledge of customers and the development of products and services tailored to them.
9. Monitoring and control
Finally, the last step in this methodology will be Monitoring and Control. Here we will use the indicators defined in stage 2 to keep track of the results, and based on them, be able to make decisions that support the fulfillment of our objectives.
It is important to note that although we have a global project development plan, it is very important to take short and safe steps, and in this way continue to motivate the company towards the long path of being a customer-centered organization.
conclusion
The implementation of a CRM is not the task of the Systems department, or of any other specific department. It is a task of the entire company, and this almost always involves all departments, as well as the highest managers and stakeholders of the company.
For the implementation of CRM to be successful, it is necessary to change the organizational culture of the company and start working focused on the customer and not on the product. In addition to this, it is essential to restructure the business departments, as well as redefine existing processes and / or create new processes.
Without any of these 3 things (culture, structure and processes) are modified when implementing a CRM, rest assured that said implementation will be a failure.
Customer relationship management, more than a strategy, is a growth opportunity, an advantage that makes a difference and accentuates organizations that truly care about their customers.
We do not need to be geniuses to distinguish between a company that orients its processes towards customer relationship management, and another company that does not.
CRM is changing the way of doing business, it is defining which companies will remain standing and which will fall, but for a CRM strategy to work properly, it is necessary to study both the needs of the company and also the needs of the customers.
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