Needs / objectives of CRM:

1. Enable the company to identify, contact attract and acquire new customers:

CRM allows the company to focus its limited marketing resources on the most promising target markets with the highest potential value. This is typically done using the information generated by CRM application which

a) Automatically generates customer and market profiles

b) Identify and target market with high revenues

c) Generates, leads, tracks marketing campaigns across a variety of media

d) Selects appropriate contact media, plans promotions and incentives

e) Manages the proposal process through negotiations to close.

2. Obtains a better understanding of the customers- their wants and needs:

CRM applications, often used in combination with data warehousing, e-commerce applications and call centers, allow companies to gather and access information about customers buying behavior, wants in terms of products or services provided by the company. The information is used in planning and execution go marketing campaigns. It enables customers to seek products and reveal their preferences in an interactive manner.

3. Defines the appropriate product and service offering and match it to the unique needs of the customer:

CRM provides customization and personalization capabilities that gives customers the power to view the enterprise in a way that they can relate to, there by making it easier for them to do business with it. This includes configuration, pricing, quotation, catalog and personal generation capabilities that harness the power of Internet while ensuring the flexibility to respond quickly to changing technical and business conditions.

4. Manages and optimizes company’s sales cycle:

The productivity of the sale process is increased by accurating the contracting process and improving revenue velocity. This is accompanied to capabilities such as online order entry, credit card processing, tax calculations, auctions, billing, order status and payment processing. CRM solutions also include tools, which provide the ability to communicate important information from supply chain modules to the customer interface in real time. These tools can help in determining feasibility, profitability and delivery dates, while understanding the constraints of the entire supply production and logistics chain across multiple channels and enterprises.

5. Increases retention of existing customers through improved sales, service and support:

CRM applications document all post –close service and support related interaction with customers, record customer requests and collect feedback from variety of communication channels and use the information to anticipate the demand for service and technical assistance and maximize customer satisfaction and retention while maximizing customer service staff. The goal is to ensure greater customer loyalty. CRM provides capabilities for providing online support information, online product registration to an electronic help desk, self service support logging and tracking and integration with call centres.

6. Identifies Cross selling and up selling opportunities:

CRM can help in identifying opportunities for cross selling and up selling of higher value added services to the existing customers, based on their past purchasing behaviour.