Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Small Businesses And Web-Based CRM
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Piyush_Bakshi]Piyush Bakshi

Web-based or hosted Customer Relationship Management applications have come as a major boon for small businesses that till now were loath to even consider CRM for their businesses. This was because the cost of on-premise CRM was simply too much for SMBs.

The advent of web-based CRM has enabled SMBs to enjoy the benefits of CRM at a fraction of the cost of on-premise CRM. Businesses, big or small essentially have the same requirements from a CRM system. SMBs now have an application suite at their disposal which enables them to take on the big players in their business.

Earlier, small businesses were forced to run their businesses based on thumb rules and play by the ear as far as marketing strategies for customers were concerned. SMBs had to make do with spreadsheets and discrete software loaded on different machines which made it very difficult to extract information out of data.

Benefits of web-based CRM software for an SMB include

1) Low cost of installation and low TCO - The most attractive proposition for an SMB. Low entry costs since costs depend upon number of users and modules selected. Also, the costs get defrayed across a number of users who use the hosted software.

2) Ease of implementation - Far easier to implement as compared to on-premise CRM. You can select the modules best suited for your business. There are vendors that offer pre-customized hosted CRM for different verticals. Businesses get more time to secure user buy-in.

3) Accessibility - A huge plus with hosted CRM is that you can conduct business on the move so long as you have internet connectivity. Salespersons have the right data at the right time. Lead conversion can be streamlined. Telemarketing is facilitated.

4) Minimum or no server requirements - Web-based CRM does not make any infrastructure demands of an SMB. This frees space which can be used for other purposes. IT staff requirement is minimized, which is an additional cost saving.

5) Data security - An SMB may not be best equipped to handle the security of sensitive business information and customer data. But a hosted CRM provider has the capabilities to encrypt data and ensure data security through prevention of hack attacks of any kind.

SMBs now have the means to conduct business on the move with the help of online CRM. So, whether you are a high-growth or a mid-market company, an e-tailer or a service provider you have access to a CRM that will empower your business. Look around before you decide on the CRM best suited for your business. Many online CRM solutions, especially the open source ones are offered free. Some vendors offer a single-user solution for free.

Piyush Bakshi is a full-time content provider and linkbuilder. His blog [http://www.crmchump.org]http://www.crmchump.org, now owned by Gate58, is one of the leading sources of information and insight on all things CRM.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Piyush_Bakshi http://EzineArticles.com/?Small-Businesses-And-Web-Based-CRM&id=820182


Posted By: Illusion Technologies
http://www.illusiontechnologies.com

Customer Relationship Management - You Can Take Advantage Of Automatic Managing Of Your Sales?
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Gary_J_Jezorski]Gary J Jezorski

With the profits clearly leaning in favor of the customer-centric method, it is only natural that your customer relationship management system should follow suit. In implementing such a system effectively, you would easily be on your road to maximizing sales. Once you implement this system, small companies can look forward to using its various advanced attractions such as gathering of logically chunked data about each customer and connectivity from any location world-wide 24/7. Moreover, you can take advantage of automatic managing of your sales and profits in a well-recorded methodological manner.

Based on the cost-effectiveness and flexibility with which you install it, your buyers can use your CRM program to watch inventory and rates and place orders correspondingly equipped with up-to-date data. Using this system, you can predict market response of your solutions and services using a more well-equipped and reliable method. Your customer interactions, their order data, and messages get monitored in the auto-pilot mode. Different applications however provide different CRM methods and you have to be alert for the pitfalls while selecting a CRM application for your small online business.

While arranging the most suitable customer relationship management system for your small organization, you need to ensure that firstly, the software is easy to tailor to your requirements. After that what you should test it for is global connectivity. A perfect system should allow connectivity any time internationally along with effective handling of information. Moreover, check whether the system has a versatile interface that facilitates effective interaction amongst supervisors, clients, technicians, and partners. To facilitate simple and open communication, the interface should be user-friendly, let connection to pages in a few clicks and be simple to use and traverse.

Consumers are getting more at home with the idea of self-service and even prefer it over service guided by operators. You can launch self-service portals for communication with your consumers using customer management programs like NetSuite. Using different styles, portals provide a channel for customers to post service requests or problems, track stock and fees, place orders based on real-time information and view status and history of existing orders. You can now be open for business round the clock.

Using the service component of the customer relationship management system, your customers can submit trouble tickets after accessing your site. The system's sales function may help the sales representatives of your company to conduct the sales process in a systematic manner. The software supports analytical CRM by providing sufficient information that enable managers to optimize marketing strategies, target customers for cross-selling and retention campaigns, make decisions on pricing and research, and predict the behavior of customers. The service functions that it supports include management of warranties, service requests, maintenance contracts, inventory, task schedules of service staff, knowledge base, guides and manuals, and other resources.

If you need a powerful solution for your support make sure you check out the [http://www.premiumresponse.com]Premium Response Customer Relationship Management for more info.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_J_Jezorski http://EzineArticles.com/?Customer-Relationship-Management---You-Can-Take-Advantage-Of-Automatic-Managing-Of-Your-Sales?&id=795321



Posted By: Illusion Technologies
http://www.illusiontechnologies.com

How to Keep Customers Happy Through Customer Relationship Management
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Elisha_Burberry]Elisha Burberry

In any business, customer care and management is essential to ensure that you keep your customers happy. After all, finding new customers may be a long and time consuming process, but making sure your existing patrons are happy doesn't have to be. That's why employing a range of customer relationship management tools is so important for a business to progress. But what exactly is customer relationship management (CRM) and what does it entail?

Essentially, CRM is a catch-all term that incorporates a number of concepts used by companies to manage their relationships with their customers. This can include the capture, storage and analysis of data gleaned from the customer, vendor, partner or any internal research process. In a theoretical sense, CRM is divided into three key functionalities: marketing, sales and services. Marketing primarily relates to the long-term planning and short-term execution of marketing-related activities within a company. Sales functionalities, on the other hand, are essentially focused on helping an organisation execute and manage the presales process in a more structured manner.

In contrast, services concentrate on effectively managing the customer service aspects of a business, in order to provide first and second level support to customers. These service functionalities could include service order management, resource planning and scheduling, warranty management and knowledge management. Currently, however, one of the most popular forms of service functions for customers is call centre support. [http://www.arvato.co.uk]Call centre management is now a crucial component of the customer relationship management activities in a business. Fundamentally, call centres cover the need to add value to a company's consumer support and help deliver real benefits in the forms of more loyal customer relationships, a rise in sales and indispensable information.

Nevertheless, running a call centre can be tricky. Call centre management requires the effective balancing of efficiency and service; customers will be keen to avoid long queues, so there must be sufficient staff and capacity to handle inbound calls effectively to maintain a high quality of service. Conversely, it is estimated that maintaining staff can form up to 70 per cent of the cost of running a call centre. So a successful call centre management strategy must undertake to minimise the number of staff present without compromising on the level of service offered.

Thankfully, the high demand for call centre management services today means that it's possible to choose from an array of leading call centre management outsourcers. Leading call centre management outsourcing partners will provide a range of services, including outbound and inbound call support, as well as expertise in customer enquiries, order and payment processing, sale acquisition and retention and basic technical support. As a result, it's now easier for you to provide your customers with many levels of customer support - and happy customers are sure to generate better business prospects!

Elisha Burberry is an online, freelance journalist and keen traveller and watersports enthusiast. Originally from Scotland, she now resides in London.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Elisha_Burberry http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Keep-Customers-Happy-Through-Customer-Relationship-Management&id=762158

Posted By: Illusion Techologies
http://www.illusiontechnologies.com

How to Keep Customers Happy Through Customer Relationship Management
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Elisha_Burberry]Elisha Burberry

In any business, customer care and management is essential to ensure that you keep your customers happy. After all, finding new customers may be a long and time consuming process, but making sure your existing patrons are happy doesn't have to be. That's why employing a range of customer relationship management tools is so important for a business to progress. But what exactly is customer relationship management (CRM) and what does it entail?

Essentially, CRM is a catch-all term that incorporates a number of concepts used by companies to manage their relationships with their customers. This can include the capture, storage and analysis of data gleaned from the customer, vendor, partner or any internal research process. In a theoretical sense, CRM is divided into three key functionalities: marketing, sales and services. Marketing primarily relates to the long-term planning and short-term execution of marketing-related activities within a company. Sales functionalities, on the other hand, are essentially focused on helping an organisation execute and manage the presales process in a more structured manner.

In contrast, services concentrate on effectively managing the customer service aspects of a business, in order to provide first and second level support to customers. These service functionalities could include service order management, resource planning and scheduling, warranty management and knowledge management. Currently, however, one of the most popular forms of service functions for customers is call centre support. [http://www.arvato.co.uk]Call centre management is now a crucial component of the customer relationship management activities in a business. Fundamentally, call centres cover the need to add value to a company's consumer support and help deliver real benefits in the forms of more loyal customer relationships, a rise in sales and indispensable information.

Nevertheless, running a call centre can be tricky. Call centre management requires the effective balancing of efficiency and service; customers will be keen to avoid long queues, so there must be sufficient staff and capacity to handle inbound calls effectively to maintain a high quality of service. Conversely, it is estimated that maintaining staff can form up to 70 per cent of the cost of running a call centre. So a successful call centre management strategy must undertake to minimise the number of staff present without compromising on the level of service offered.

Thankfully, the high demand for call centre management services today means that it's possible to choose from an array of leading call centre management outsourcers. Leading call centre management outsourcing partners will provide a range of services, including outbound and inbound call support, as well as expertise in customer enquiries, order and payment processing, sale acquisition and retention and basic technical support. As a result, it's now easier for you to provide your customers with many levels of customer support - and happy customers are sure to generate better business prospects!

Elisha Burberry is an online, freelance journalist and keen traveller and watersports enthusiast. Originally from Scotland, she now resides in London.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Elisha_Burberry http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Keep-Customers-Happy-Through-Customer-Relationship-Management&id=762158


Posted By: Illusion Technologies
http://www.illusiontechnologies.com

Customer Relationship Management - You Can Take Advantage Of Automatic Managing Of Your Sales?
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Gary_J_Jezorski]Gary J Jezorski

With the profits clearly leaning in favor of the customer-centric method, it is only natural that your customer relationship management system should follow suit. In implementing such a system effectively, you would easily be on your road to maximizing sales. Once you implement this system, small companies can look forward to using its various advanced attractions such as gathering of logically chunked data about each customer and connectivity from any location world-wide 24/7. Moreover, you can take advantage of automatic managing of your sales and profits in a well-recorded methodological manner.

Based on the cost-effectiveness and flexibility with which you install it, your buyers can use your CRM program to watch inventory and rates and place orders correspondingly equipped with up-to-date data. Using this system, you can predict market response of your solutions and services using a more well-equipped and reliable method. Your customer interactions, their order data, and messages get monitored in the auto-pilot mode. Different applications however provide different CRM methods and you have to be alert for the pitfalls while selecting a CRM application for your small online business.

While arranging the most suitable customer relationship management system for your small organization, you need to ensure that firstly, the software is easy to tailor to your requirements. After that what you should test it for is global connectivity. A perfect system should allow connectivity any time internationally along with effective handling of information. Moreover, check whether the system has a versatile interface that facilitates effective interaction amongst supervisors, clients, technicians, and partners. To facilitate simple and open communication, the interface should be user-friendly, let connection to pages in a few clicks and be simple to use and traverse.

Consumers are getting more at home with the idea of self-service and even prefer it over service guided by operators. You can launch self-service portals for communication with your consumers using customer management programs like NetSuite. Using different styles, portals provide a channel for customers to post service requests or problems, track stock and fees, place orders based on real-time information and view status and history of existing orders. You can now be open for business round the clock.

Using the service component of the customer relationship management system, your customers can submit trouble tickets after accessing your site. The system's sales function may help the sales representatives of your company to conduct the sales process in a systematic manner. The software supports analytical CRM by providing sufficient information that enable managers to optimize marketing strategies, target customers for cross-selling and retention campaigns, make decisions on pricing and research, and predict the behavior of customers. The service functions that it supports include management of warranties, service requests, maintenance contracts, inventory, task schedules of service staff, knowledge base, guides and manuals, and other resources.

If you need a powerful solution for your support make sure you check out the [http://www.premiumresponse.com]Premium Response Customer Relationship Management for more info.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_J_Jezorski http://EzineArticles.com/?Customer-Relationship-Management---You-Can-Take-Advantage-Of-Automatic-Managing-Of-Your-Sales?&id=795321

Try an Auto Responder to Increase Sales Instead of a Customer Relationship Management System
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Leanne_Hoagland-Smith]Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Customer service research suggests that you must connect with your customers and prospects at least 13 times for them to remember your name. If your goal is to be the first company that they think of or what is called Top of Mind Awareness, you must touch your customers and prospects 33 times each year. That number will only go up as information continues to flow as an ever increasing rate of speed.

To overcome this information overload, we have used technology to create numerous programs that allow businesses to continually touch their customers as well as monitor the results from all those marketing messages. Yet technology does come with some hefty price tags especially if you want the program customized.

However, the newer technology of auto-responders provides an affordable substitute. These types of program can:


Collect names from your website
Collect names from your email
Broadcast email messages to your entire list or smaller sub-lists within your list
Report the number of open messages
Send multiple messages spaced at specific internals of your choosing to both prospects and clients
Work with your landing page, squeeze page or what I can opportunity page
Operate 24/7 on automatic pilot once the messages are inputted by a real live person

Each auto-responder program is different and has different fee schedules. However, most cost around $20 a month and some will even allow up to 10,000 names in your database.

What is so cool is that you can integrate:


Direct mail to the auto-responder
Email to the auto-responder
Web site traffic to the auto-responder

These integrations when aligned to your strategic plan will allow you to work smarter and not harder. The goal to increase sales will happen because you are now actively building a relationship with new prospects and maintaining relationships with existing customers.

Do you want to increase your sales? Then, you might be interested "Simply Speaking, Increase Sales by..." a truly quality e-book combination workbook that focuses on helping you within the 3 key areas of Marketing, Selling and Planning. Learn more at http://www.processspecialist.com/sales-training-book.htm

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. is a speaker and national business coach who has written hundreds of articles with a focus on leveraging human capital for transformational change by developing results driven leadership in people, teams and organizations.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Leanne_Hoagland-Smith http://EzineArticles.com/?Try-an-Auto-Responder-to-Increase-Sales-Instead-of-a-Customer-Relationship-Management-System&id=659357

Customer Relationship Management - You Can Take Advantage Of Automatic Managing Of Your Sales?
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Gary_J_Jezorski]Gary J Jezorski

With the profits clearly leaning in favor of the customer-centric method, it is only natural that your customer relationship management system should follow suit. In implementing such a system effectively, you would easily be on your road to maximizing sales. Once you implement this system, small companies can look forward to using its various advanced attractions such as gathering of logically chunked data about each customer and connectivity from any location world-wide 24/7. Moreover, you can take advantage of automatic managing of your sales and profits in a well-recorded methodological manner.

Based on the cost-effectiveness and flexibility with which you install it, your buyers can use your CRM program to watch inventory and rates and place orders correspondingly equipped with up-to-date data. Using this system, you can predict market response of your solutions and services using a more well-equipped and reliable method. Your customer interactions, their order data, and messages get monitored in the auto-pilot mode. Different applications however provide different CRM methods and you have to be alert for the pitfalls while selecting a CRM application for your small online business.

While arranging the most suitable customer relationship management system for your small organization, you need to ensure that firstly, the software is easy to tailor to your requirements. After that what you should test it for is global connectivity. A perfect system should allow connectivity any time internationally along with effective handling of information. Moreover, check whether the system has a versatile interface that facilitates effective interaction amongst supervisors, clients, technicians, and partners. To facilitate simple and open communication, the interface should be user-friendly, let connection to pages in a few clicks and be simple to use and traverse.

Consumers are getting more at home with the idea of self-service and even prefer it over service guided by operators. You can launch self-service portals for communication with your consumers using customer management programs like NetSuite. Using different styles, portals provide a channel for customers to post service requests or problems, track stock and fees, place orders based on real-time information and view status and history of existing orders. You can now be open for business round the clock.

Using the service component of the customer relationship management system, your customers can submit trouble tickets after accessing your site. The system's sales function may help the sales representatives of your company to conduct the sales process in a systematic manner. The software supports analytical CRM by providing sufficient information that enable managers to optimize marketing strategies, target customers for cross-selling and retention campaigns, make decisions on pricing and research, and predict the behavior of customers. The service functions that it supports include management of warranties, service requests, maintenance contracts, inventory, task schedules of service staff, knowledge base, guides and manuals, and other resources.

If you need a powerful solution for your support make sure you check out the [http://www.premiumresponse.com]Premium Response Customer Relationship Management for more info.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_J_Jezorski http://EzineArticles.com/?Customer-Relationship-Management---You-Can-Take-Advantage-Of-Automatic-Managing-Of-Your-Sales?&id=795321