Knowing who's who, where, what and when - 10 Tips for Good Customer Relationship Management

I have been serving customers, guests, clients, friends and family for over 23 years. Serving customers has brought me more and more into the realm of technology where I have been blown away by what I can buy to help me "manage" those relationships better, more effectively, faster.

With new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology I can cross reference data until my imagination becomes tired, extract a myriad of reports, know in detail who is saying what to whom and when in my organization. In different organizations I have seen staff spend hours and hours typing up phone calls, meetings and other interactions - I have also seen these system unused, these entries unread. As much as organizations like to believe their CRM software will keep their staff informed in reality people like to talk to people about people. This is why I see a return to human customer relationship management, the return of the Relationship Manager - the point of contact for the customer and the organization.

23 years ago, as a student, I started out working with a famous hotel chain and they taught me something very valuable - good customer relationship management. Now this was never based on needing to know everything about the guest in fact respect for privacy was always a priority, no, good customer relationship management was about the human touch, the relationship between the customer and me.

10 Good Customer Relationship Management Tips

1. Respect your customer and that means respecting their right for you not to know everything about them.
2. Show genuine interest and learn to actively listen, aim to always help.
3. Trust is everything.
4. No surprises. Do not let your customer or client find out about something that impacts on them from another source.
5. Give notice, if something is going to change let your customer know in advance and prepare them for the change.
6. Be professional, never talk about other clients or customers to others,
7. Put the customer first; even if you do not agree actively try and come to a good solution.
8. Stay in touch.
9. Always say hello, if you are at an event or just walking down the street, always acknowledge with a smile.
10. Ah yes, always acknowledge with a smile.

For further tips on maintaining good customer relationships go to www.contactcenter.in

Nic Howard is a website planner and lover of excellent customer service.

5 Minute Guide to Sales Force Automation

 

In today?s technology driven environment, many businesses have decided to use sales force automation to allow faster and more efficient production and better customer satisfaction. This technique is actually the use of software in order to automate the business tasks of sales, which includes processing orders, sharing information, inventory monitoring, order tracking, customer service, and employee performance evaluation. This type of sales automation does raise the productivity of a business but it does have its downsides. These machines are actually taking the jobs that people could otherwise perform. Unemployment could actually rise because of sales force automation, and jobs in the country have actually decreased because of it. But perhaps the up sides to SFA outweigh the down sides.

After applying SFA in a company?s sales division, salespeople actually become more efficient and can get more work done in a day. Because SFA eliminates the need to fill out forms and then transfer them into the computer after printing them out, SFA saves a lot of time and effort for salespeople. The SFA software is also a valuable training tool for employees. Because it holds the information for the products and may even have sales technique training, it will eliminate costly seminars that employees may be reluctant to go to. The bottom line is, SFA will increase the productivity of a company. It will give a company the comparative advantage because it will take fewer expenses to produce the same amount of goods.

But let?s not forget the down side. Many online businesses use automated customer service systems that give auto responses to customers who have issues or problems with their products. This gets rid of the employee who would be responding to these problems. Automated emails may also frustrate the customer and make the whole exchange feel impersonal. Also, SFA requires continuous maintenance that would incur added expenses to a company.

With that said, mobile workforce solutions has made sales force automation easier than ever simply because the software used for this type of technology can now be connected to a company?s private network even on the fly. Because of mobile computing and mobile communications, companies can now relay important sales information to the technology used for sales force automation.

Sales force automation is, all in all, a great idea for many companies. It will most likely increase productivity and will increase efficiency of workers. In economics, this is a great thing and will guarantee long term success. SFA seems to have rooted itself in this country as a solid way to increase profits and with mobile solutions getting stronger and more innovative everyday, it isn?t showing any signs of slowing down.

Natalie Aranda is a freelance writer. With that said, mobile workforce solutions has made sales force automation easier than ever simply because the software used for this type of technology can now be connected to a company's private network even on the fly. Because of mobile computing and mobile communications, companies can now relay important sales information to the technology used for sales force automation.