Customer relationship management: More than data CRM technology helps both sales, retention

Anne Schwartz

Leveraging what you know about your customers is becoming more sophisticated, and sharing that information with others in the company opens the door for more sales and more satisfied customers, say specialists in customer relationship management products.

The idea of having a readily accessible database of information about a company's customers has been around since the late 1980s, and has been used primarily by sales staffs to track customer contact and improve sales efforts.

A new feature in CRM applications now allows sales and customer service departments to store a new type of data — digitally recorded telephone conversations and voice messages.

CRM applications are also now accessible via the Internet, allowing customers to look up their account information or product warranty information. In addition, sales representatives in the field can connect to customers' account data as easily as when they're back in the office, downloading records they need or updating sales information.

CRM systems enable a company to:

• Sign up to receive free daily business updates by email every weekday afternoon.

• Use Search Watch to watch for related topics, companies.

• Receive free Industry News via email. Choose from 46 different industries.

•Store basic facts about customers and prospects;

• Record each interaction with a customer to create a complete history of the relationship;

• Schedule future tasks and let the system remind the user when to complete them;

• Send e-mail messages and faxes, automatically storing copies in the client file;

• Work in a team environment with multiple members on an account;

• Assign sales territories;

• And forecast revenue.

Before the advent of computer telephony integration and CRM, for example, a customer might call a customer service department to complain that an order had not been filled in a timely fashion. The customer service department, checking its records and perhaps talking with the salesperson, might have seen only that the order was indeed placed.

But with CRM and the telephony tie-in, the customer service department, before the representative even picks up the phone, will get a pop-up screen on the computer that shows which customer is calling, the number of open orders and any unpaid invoices. Records of past interactions with that customer could even be a telephone recording on file of someone in collections asking them to pay and their response.

Today, customer interactions of all types are captured and stored, and this data can be made available to all pertinent departments, instantly improving internal communications.

The telephony application came on the technology scene in the early 1990s, and its use was most popular with call centers. It enables a sort of high-tech "caller I.D." so customer service representatives know — even before they answer a call — the name of the caller and their full account history.

The new technology allows a company to record conversations and store them as digital files along with other records about each customer. It's particularly useful for the financial industry, which mandates the recording of securities transactions done by phone. Previously, companies had to purchase separate equipment to record phone calls or store voice-mail messages, and they weren't integrally tied to customers' main records. The new technology enables this with a keystroke.

Most companies are using CRM technology in some form, says George Kofman, president of Oncontact Software in Cedarburg, which specializes in CRM applications for mid-market companies, including voice storage. Kofman defines "mid-market" as those companies doing $2 million to $500 million in sales, with 10 to 2,000 employees.

"Most people may have some capability for CRM, but they aren't taking full advantage," says Kofman. "Departments within a company don't have to be islands."

Laser Pros, a Rhinelander-based supplier of laser parts, discovered that when it bought the system. The company has been able to document and store a history of all its contacts with individual customers, which has helped it if a collections issue develops, says Sam Soper, director of information technology at Laser Pros. The company began using the telephone call storage component of the system this month.

"It's helped us move to the next level," Soper says.

Integrating telephony with CRM is also valuable for companies whose sales force is spread out across the state or country, as well as for those whose employees work from home, says Donna Vecchiarelli, director of information services for Prudential Financial in Roseland, N.J., a division of Prudential Insurance.

Customer retention
In this sagging economy, customer retention is more important than ever, notes Bill Mann, Jr., president of Corporate Technology Solutions in Milwaukee, and so is finding the right CRM system that helps achieve that.

Mann sees the value of a strong CRM system as "making customers better customers." The key, he adds, is being able to more quickly retrieve detailed information on those customers when you have them on the phone. Customers continue to do business with a company that pays attention to their account, and it's essential that company representatives don't waste valuable time on the phone fumbling for client records and information, he says.

Not every company needs to have every new CRM feature, Mann concedes, but he believes it's important to have at least a basic system to log basic customer data, to build a history of interactions and transactions, to track and forecast sales, and to schedule followup calls.

"A lot of businesses thinking about changing the way they do business don't always think about technology first," he acknowledges. Many companies are wary of technology, he says, "when they really should look at it as a part of doing business."

Because the telephony tie-in is so new, some companies are indeed watching and waiting.

"I don't like business solutions where the results aren't clear," says Mark Czarnecki, president of the Customer Relationship Management Benchmarking Association in Houston.

But Czarnecki emphasizes that whatever type of CRM applications a company chooses, it won't prove successful without all departments that interact with customers constantly updating the database.

David Rice, a manager with Sycamore Group, a Milwaukee management consulting firm that helps clients with technology choices, says he's glad to see that CRM has moved toward the customer care area, rather than being solely for the sales force.

"(For) any entity in the company that touches the client, the system holds that information — contact from our Web site, e-mails, phone contact," Rice says. "CRM is a valuable tool, but you have to be sure you don't get sold on features you don't need."