Customer Relationship Management, CRM, is all about harnessing people and technology to develop and nurture profitable, business relationships.

Have we heard it all before - specialists extolling the virtues of new ways of working with your clients? CRM technologies are hailed as being vital for winning new customers, achieving repeat customers, improving customer care, and communicating smartly, efficiently and to the right people at the right time. CRM is with us for the long term. It's not a passing trendy phase. It's made headlines over the last few years - both good and bad. All our businesses need to look after customers, suppliers, stakeholders, partners and staff. In all these areas CRM scores highly.

The Measurable Business Benefits of CRM

What are some of the common business problems we face? Do any of the following sound familiar?

• You turn up to a client meeting anticipating a sale, only to discover existing issues that you weren't aware of therefore you don't fully understand the needs of the client
  
• "I'll proceed with the transaction now if you can tell me you have the capacity to complete my order by next Thursday". But you can't because you have no real-time access to the diary and work schedule when you're face to face with the client
  
• You call a client who tells you that a colleague had called them in the last fortnight. (They also tell you that they think your right hand doesn't know what the left is doing)
  
• Staff within your organisation can't find documents relating to the client
  
• You want to contact a client but don't know the correct details as duplicate records exist or you're not sure which of your organisation's many databases might contain the correct data
  
• No common or shared calendar is available to your organisation to track events relating to client communication.

Consider the following example - a company supplying specialised machinery. A CRM solution was required with the objectives of achieving repeat sales, managing the long selling cycle, winning new customers, keeping the data accurate and secure, and automating reports from which management could control and grow the business. The company implemented a CRM solution seamlessly by integrating the back office administration with the remote offices via their website.

Measurable benefits were:

• New business was directly attributable to the new system within the first 6 months
  
• They had a return on their investment within less than 6 months
  
• The CRM solution was made secure and centralised via a 'web client'
  
• Sales reps can now print comprehensive information on the client - their locations, contacts, existing products and the latest activities (telephone, letter, enquiries, orders etc)
  
• They increased their profits by 100% by retaining 5% more of their customers
  
• Management now have reporting systems to provide them with business information and productivity reports. Other reports are available to measure sales, activities and operational figures using live data.

So, how do you do it?

How can you also reap the benefits of CRM? There are many different options available to businesses ranging from 'free' products like Outlook (yes, some people do actually use it as a business CRM tool), through to low cost solutions such as ACT! However the best solution is a fully customised and comprehensive solution, (including web integration), designed to suit the needs of your business and provide a more efficient and robust solution.

Acquiring new customers typically costs 7 times the cost of customer retention. If you have not yet started with CRM, then start now. However try and avoid starting with just anything, or something that's simply cheap. Pick a winning, future proofed solution and start building those relationships which are vital to the future of your business.