Individual Assignment: Question Two

Customer Relationship Management

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) helps an enterprise organize and manage customer relationships. CRM concentrates on the retention of customers by collecting all data from every interaction. This data can be used for specific business purposes, Marketing, Sales, Services and Support whilst concentrating on a customer centric approach rather than a product centric. CRM implies that everyone in the enterprise is focused on the customers.

Based on the recruitment from JobsDB, the main responsibilities of a CRM manager includes many aspects which relate directly to one another:

1) Front office operations — Direct interaction with customers, e.g. face to face meetings, phone calls, e-mail, online services etc.

2) Back office operations — Operations that ultimately affect the activities of the front office (e.g., billing, maintenance, planning, marketing, advertising, finance, manufacturing, etc.)

3) Business relationships — Interaction with other companies and partners, such as suppliers/vendors and retail outlets/distributors, industry networks (lobbying groups, trade associations). This external network supports front and back office activities.

4) Analysis — Key CRM data can be analyzed in order to plan target-marketing campaigns, conceive business strategies, and judge the success of CRM activities (e.g., market share, number and types of customers, revenue, profitability).

features to enhance marketing professional, sales force empowerment and proficient customer care:

Marketing Professional
- Customer Segmentation Analysis
- Marketing Mix Management
- Marketing Plan and Budgeting
- Marketing Campaign Management and Executions
- Marketing Analysis to the Result of the Campaign
- Marketing and Sales Database Collaboration

Sales Force Empowerment
- Sales Team and Territory Management
- Lead and Opportunity Management
- Accounts and Contact Management
- Sales Forecasting and analysis Tools
- Sales and Product Mix Database Collaboration

Proficient Customer Service
- Accounts and Contact Management
- Case and Scheduling Management
- Proactive sales, Up-selling and Cross-selling Management
- Complaint Management
- Customer Service Analysis Report
- Knowledge Management
- Customer Service and Product Mix Database Collaboration

These responsibilities involve in-depth or hands-on knowledge of information technology, eg. Data Analysis/Research, although it's not a traditional marketing discipline, this is a critical activity where market research and data analysis specialists provide CRM with a detailed customer knowledge framework so that CRM can effectively target their marketing programmes. As well as undertaking market research studies, in Hong Kong and regionally, CRM follow up with the businesses to ensure that the knowledge gained is used to their commercial advantage. In addition the analysis of their existing customer database plays a vital role in effective customer segmentation and targeting. In this area statistical analysis and research specialists with strong business sense can follow challenging careers that offer regional exposure.

Customer relationship management is important for your company and it is important that you learn as much as possible about a customer relationship management strategy and how to choose one for your company. You see, when you pick a strategy for your company, it needs to be one that will help your entire company to work on better serving your customers. A good strategy will help to move your company to gear everything towards your customers. You see, having a great customer relationship management strategy is important, both for dealing with business to customers situations as well as dealing with business to business situations as well. The right strategy will help you to figure out how you can keep relationships with customers in a cost effective way that will help you get the loyalty of those customers as well.