SMM Strategic Marketing Montreal
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[Newsletter 3] |
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Why Is Everyone Talking about CRM or "Customer Relationship Management"?
CRM
is sucking in most dollars and getting most ink of any sector of the information
/ communication technology world. CRM is a many-fold expansion of the
concept behind Sales Force Automation Programs, such
as Act, which have been around for a dozen years or more.
Tom Siebel is one of the most aggressive proponents of
CRM. His company has been the fastest growing Silicon Valley technology
company over the last 5 years.
CRM aims to bring together all the information on a company's customers
and all the contacts with those customers. This provides a total detailed
picture for each customer. With this picture, you can work better for
that customer, providing the products and services needed, while increasing
your level of sales with that customer and ensuring you don't lose the
customer. The theory is great and the benefits can be large.
Particularly for large companies, it's proving to be tough. You can't
fail to be ahead by knowing more about your customers. However the data
handling problems are immense. Getting all the data into a "data
warehouse" is the first problem. This must be done in a way that
respects privacy, functions reliably and guarantees security of information.
The more horrendous task is then to analyze this information to identify
your real customers and what makes them tick. As a result, some bigger
companies are now scaling back how they will use CRM. A much better passive
database of customer information is created but the proactive possibilities
of CRM are not implemented.
Small and Mid-sized Businesses (SMB's) are the ones who really gain from
CRM. Successful SMB's are already focused on a particular market niche.
Knowing the ideal target customer, it is easier to design an appropriate
information system that will give the total picture of that customer.
And you don't need to spend a huge amount on one of the many CRM packages.
Almost half of the companies using CRM build their own systems using standard
database packages such as MicroSoft Access.
If you wish to develop your CRM system, SMM will be happy to work with you. Our help can be configured to meet exactly the needs you have. Our strengths, experience, creativity and practical common sense can complement those of your company. So write us a Fast Message today, , on what you're looking for.
Barry Welford