Understanding the Employee Customer Relationship to CRM

It is cheaper to keep them! Small businesses may not realize the amount of money that is required to attract new customers. By using CRM to make existing customers satisfied with your business, your business is much likelier to avoid financial ruin.

The days of the water cooler approach to spreading information about a business or service no longer holds as much sway as it did 10 years ago. Today when a customer wants to tell a negative experience he or she goes online. Now their negative experience that could have been told to a few people in person can be seen by hundreds of people through blogs, forums and social media Web sites.

Businesses have to work harder in today's economy to keep customers loyal. Businesses today have more competition as companies offering similar services compete for the clients' money. In times of economic crisis this competition gets even fiercer, competitors may lower their prices in order to attract customers with less cash to spend, if your business plans on remaining successful, cutting prices might be the best option.

Additionally, businesses have to compete with themselves. A business that impresses a company in 2007 with superior customer service, may find that as their business expands, employees spend more time placing phone calls and attempting to reach customer. As the task of the employee increases, their job satisfaction decreases, as does their enthusiasm for the job. A customer who calls in to the same call center today may find herself faced with rude, pushy and impatient employees trying to meet a sales quota and ignoring the customer experience.

Using CRM kills two birds with one stone; it allows a business to automate services so employees save time and spend more time on meeting the needs of the customer. A CRM solution also helps the small business succeed over the competition. For example, a customer may consider switching to a company with a slightly lower price for their product or service. Would they still make that decision if that company has a bad reputation? How about if the competition has received multiple negative reviews in blog post and consumer watch groups? Probably not.

The power of positive press for a company should never be taken for granted, having one unhappy customer today can lead to two tomorrow, especially if several employees are feeling pressurized and not taking the time to ensure customer satisfaction. With a well-organized CRM program, employees can have call numbers assigned to them by a manager and calls can be made through an auto dialer program to save employees time.

Managers should also have the option to verify that employees dial numbers and complete sales calls as well as reassign work if employees are unable to complete by deadline. CRM increase efficiency in the day-to-day operation of a business, allowing managers to track how much work an employee is doing and provide information for writing employee performance reviews and dealing with employees who just are not getting the job done.