Every business has a primary objective of profit, how? Primarily, by acquiring new customers and by selling more to existing customers. Then they get into other intricacies as how they can do this at less cost, nevertheless, the business owners’ focus is typically on acquiring more customers. However, it is not enough to know how to acquire customers, more importantly, in addition to converting leads to clients, every successful business owner must know how to convert these clients into return long term customers for that business. How are you able to ensure client/customers’ loyalty? The best way is through the execution of an effective Customers Relationship Management (CRM) strategy.
CRM broadly refers to a firm’s activities designed specifically to establish and maintain clients’ relationships, it is an integral part of a business’s journey towards growth. A detailed analysis of the business’ external environment with primal focus on the customer helps a business understand their customers’ behaviour and modify business operations to ensure the customers are served in the best possible way. This continued analysis, operations’ modification and service evaluation defines the delivery of a well thought-out CRM plan.
Like with all business support services, SMEs are faced with the dilemma of cost and often choose activities with short term gains over more strategic and beneficial long term solutions. CRM is one of such longer term strategic solutions that SMEs sacrifice at the altar of immediate cost savings. However, it is one of the most crucial support areas that an SME can benefit from. It is ideal and advisable for SMEs because as their name implied they are growing businesses and often interact with their clients on a personal level.
CRM benefits are not gained from just buying the right product or best software solution, but more so about adapting your business to the needs of the customers; never lose focus of the fact that the business was made for the customer and not the customer for the business. CRM helps in identifying needs more effectively by understanding specific requirements from customer segments on a long run, CRM helps in identifying which of your customers are profitable and which are not, which to devote more time to and which to check-up on periodically.
Ideal CRM packages should be integrated with Sales; customers’ information does not do much without understanding their impact on your business. To further buttress this, a good twist on the Pareto principle will be to design your process to fit the 20% customer base responsible for upwards of 80% or your revenue. Why design a system that satisfies up to 80% of your customers but who are only responsible for 20% of your income – just doesn’t quite add up! But these details remain unclear until you start to pay attention to your customers’ behaviour and their purchase records.
Most system functionalities are based on customer data records. This sub-system will record the customers’ basic details, such as names, address, contact, information, related contact/ people as well as typical customers’ related marketing data, such as preferences, birthdays, scope of interest, numbers of employees, annual income, frequency of communication, and really as much information as determined relevant to ensure your customer gets a personalised experience while working with you. In order to maintain and retain the customers, it is important to understand and measure the customers’ satisfaction with your products and/or services periodically. They need to feel like a member of your network; they need to feel the value of their input and know their feedback is taken seriously.
A properly designed CRM can by itself heighten customer experience and secure customer loyalty, leading to higher returns.
Our Outsourcing Programme, which covers either or a combination of HR, IT, CRM, Secretarial Services, Tax Compliance & Accounting is run under our SME Faculty. For more information on our Outsourcing CRM Support, send an email to smeblock@cr8careers.com.

Every business has a primary objective of profit, how? Primarily, by acquiring new customers and by selling more to existing customers. Then they get into other intricacies as how they can do this at less cost, nevertheless, the business owners’ focus is typically on acquiring more customers.

However, it is not enough to know how to acquire customers, more importantly, in addition to converting leads to clients, every successful business owner must know how to convert these clients into return long term customers for that business.

How are you able to ensure client/customers’ loyalty? The best way is through the execution of an effective Customers Relationship Management (CRM) strategy.

CRM broadly refers to a firm’s activities designed specifically to establish and maintain clients’ relationships, it is an integral part of a business’s journey towards growth.

A detailed analysis of the business’ external environment with primal focus on the customer helps a business understand their customers’ behaviour and modify business operations to ensure the customers are served in the best possible way.

This continued analysis, operations’ modification and service evaluation defines the delivery of a well thought-out CRM plan. Like with all business support services, SMEs are faced with the dilemma of cost and often choose activities with short term gains over more strategic and beneficial long term solutions.

CRM is one of such longer term strategic solutions that SMEs sacrifice at the altar of immediate cost savings. However, it is one of the most crucial support areas that an SME can benefit from. It is ideal and advisable for SMEs because as their name implied they are growing businesses and often interact with their clients on a personal level.

CRM benefits are not gained from just buying the right product or best software solution, but more so about adapting your business to the needs of the customers; never lose focus of the fact that the business was made for the customer and not the customer for the business.

CRM helps in identifying needs more effectively by understanding specific requirements from customer segments on a long run, CRM helps in identifying which of your customers are profitable and which are not, which to devote more time to and which to check-up on periodically.

Ideal CRM packages should be integrated with Sales; customers’ information does not do much without understanding their impact on your business. To further buttress this, a good twist on the Pareto principle will be to design your process to fit the 20% customer base responsible for upwards of 80% or your revenue.

Why design a system that satisfies up to 80% of your customers but who are only responsible for 20% of your income – just doesn’t quite add up! But these details remain unclear until you start to pay attention to your customers’ behaviour and their purchase records.

Most system functionalities are based on customer data records. This sub-system will record the customers’ basic details, such as names, address, contact, information, related contact/ people as well as typical customers’ related marketing data, such as preferences, birthdays, scope of interest, numbers of employees, annual income, frequency of communication, and really as much information as determined relevant to ensure your customer gets a personalised experience while working with you.
In order to maintain and retain the customers, it is important to understand and measure the customers’ satisfaction with your products and/or services periodically. They need to feel like a member of your network; they need to feel the value of their input and know their feedback is taken seriously.

A properly designed CRM can by itself heighten customer experience and secure customer loyalty, leading to higher returns. Our Outsourcing Programme, which covers either or a combination of HR, IT, CRM, Secretarial Services, Tax Compliance & Accounting is run under our SME Faculty. For more information on our Outsourcing CRM Support, send an email to smeblock@cr8careers.com