5 Reasons Why CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT is Even More Important During a Recession
In a recession, you need to work smarter, not just harder. With CRM, your business can become more strategic & more profitable by applying its resources more efficiently to serving and developing customers. Here are five ways in which CRM can boost your customer relationships during an economic slump:
1) Get more out of your established customers:
Even when money is tight there are opportunities to sell more to some of your existing customers. The trick is to use effective techniques and offer the right merchandise at the right time. One of CRM's greatest strengths is that it collects and organizes information about your customers and lets you analyze the data for future opportunities. For example, you can use CRM data to do a needs-based segment analysis of your various classes of customers. Needs-based analysis involves taking the customers' perspective and identifying what they need but aren't buying. Using this information, you can develop a sales strategy that will let you offer products in an appealing way even in economically difficult times. Often this involves packaging new goods and services with products your customers are already buying and offering them at an attractive price or with other incentives.
2) Identify and concentrate on your best customers:
While every customer is important when business is slow, some are worth more than others. By allocating your sales efforts accordingly, you can produce more revenue per sales hour and higher average sales. CRM systems contain tools for analyzing your customer base so you can categorize your customers. Sometimes the analysis will turn up surprising, even counterintuitive, results. The customer who gives you an order on every sales call may not be worth as much as the customer who orders infrequently but buys larger quantities of high-value merchandise, for example. You can also use CRM analytical tools to...