A Guide to Customer Relationship Management

Mrs. Basu had visited this hotel before for a few nights in relation to a severe dental procedure and ended up visiting the same town where this hotel was located for an official purpose. She checked in a little late in the evening as things didn't go according to her plans along with the jet lag and pasting fake smiles all the while for everyone who met her and called her on and on for some reason. The lady who made the reservation for her wasn't the one she met during her previous stay. Yet, while going through the procedures the lady politely asks Mrs. Basu about her jaw. "Not that great", replies Mrs. Basu, a little confused.
Upon entering the room fully exhausted and subconsciously finding the bed for rest she quickly notices a wide tray next to the centre table - a steel dome. She immediately recalls the complementary chocolate mousse served to her the last time she was there. Still not completely sure, she lifts the lid only to find a perfectly iced full size chocolate birthday cake with the message " Happy Birthday" as she had turned twenty-five, along with a bottle of demi sec champagne which she preferred with the dessert. Impressed by the gesture, she calmly sits down beside the floor-to-ceiling bay window in the elegance of two draycott lamps staring at the dazzling skyscrapers and moving vehicles on the endless pathways gently smiling to herself. As she pours the champagne and puts a slice of cake into her mouth, the freshly made icing melted into her mouth. She savoured it thoroughly as she hadn't enjoyed anything sweet since the tooth infection. Peacefully enjoying the ambience, she hadn't thought someone at an unknown place would make her 25th birthday so memorable. Soon later, she retires with a sweet memory after a long day.

Next day, after attending to her work, Mrs. Basu goes to the front desk to thank the lady. "That was all we could do, is everything fine?" asks the lady politely. "Just a slightly sore jaw, rest all okay", replies Mrs. Basu. In the late evening a lady knocked on her door with some mashed potatoes and milk shake, which Mrs. Basu consumed during the infection. She sat down beside her and accompanied her till the medicine wore off, as instructed by her practitioner. But to Mrs. Basu's surprise she wasn't the same lady who had accompanied her before. Confused but tired, she dozed off to sleep. 

Next evening, Mrs. Basu went to the restaurant for dinner. As she sat down, she was greeted with a lemon drop martini and the menu. She is surprised that the staff knew her taste. The next time the waiter returns, she asks him how he knew what she prefers with dinner, or what she ate during the infection, the birthday cake, etc. The staff politely smiles and takes her to the monitor where Mrs. Basu's picture from check-in pops up along with her customer history, preferences, in-depth information related to her previous stay. "This is a cloud based service which is accessed when you approach any staff in the hotel for your history and preference for a more personalized service" , explains the staff. Mrs. Basu grins jokingly as she couldn't realize. While returning, another staff member asks if her coffee should be delivered at 11:00. "Yes", she replies with a smile. The next day her cab was already waiting on time to drop her to the airport as they knew her flight time and had arranged for the same. After Mrs. Basu checked out, the manager opened the review that read,"Most thorough, incredible and impeccable service I had ever experienced. My bookings for all my future trips to this town are due at your place.” - Mrs. Kavita Basu.

The above review can easily be yours if you know enough about the software used by this hotel. Continue reading to know about all the benefits you can avail through a simple CRM service.

What is CRM?

Customer Relationship Management is a tool that enables a customer-oriented organisation to manage interactions and build customer relationships to increase revenue and improve customer service. It helps the organization analyse and record the relationships with current and potential customers. It helps the organisations store details, history, data and preferences of the customers making the interaction more trustworthy, loyal and personalized. It organises tonnes of traditional data in a single space. Here are some major long-term benefits of using CRM: 

Improved Customer Service

Customer experience is most vital for any customer-oriented organisation. CRM helps in effective management and personalized communication with customers without manual involvement. It helps the customers to be updated and informed about new inventory, upgrades, newsletters, feedback, emails, etc. and can even personalize them for better engagement rate. It eliminates the chances of irregularity in the interaction due to the manual delay. Through feedback, it helps us gain more knowledge about our customer and keeps an in-depth record of their preferences which helps enhance their experience.

Information Management

Retrieving relevant and right information from customers is the main motive of CRM. The secure storage and timely retrieval of the information is the backbone of good customer service. So, CRM provides not only customers history of interactions and preferences but a better management of the data for beneficial usage which can otherwise be difficult to keep, risky and even costly to do manually.

Better Communication

If you don't use CRM for communication, you are missing out on something revolutionary. Improving and managing communication through technology became a lot easier than before and making it personalized through CRM just puts a cherry on the cake. It creates a sense of connection with the customer. For example, which email is likely to catch Mr. Aman's attention? The one addressing "Mr. Aman we recently noticed" or  " Dear customer we recently noticed"? Can you feel the difference of the attention span recorded for the two messages? That's what builds trust and loyalty for your customers. A simple personalized message. Moreover CRM helps you manage and track conversations, photos, videos, updates, complaints, previous experiences, all in a very efficient manner.

Improves Efficiency

CRM improves efficiency due to the software built in an algorithm with subdues common operational problems experienced while working. It helps you access the information much faster with accuracy from anywhere in the world. Also when you are already aware of the problem and inconvenience being faced by your customer, you are likely to resolve them faster. It is also easy to identify the candidate who isn't likely to become the customer thus saving a large amount of time and focusing on the one who's data stands closer to your customers. In this manner it also helps track your sales opportunities, cleanly manage email and newsletter marketing activities, track records, measure the performances, get easy access to the stored data when the employees work remotely, thereby improving productivity of the employees.

Boosts Profit

CRM helps you determine conversion rates and when you have a track of mistakes and issues occurring with your potential customers ,it gives you a better awareness about their experiences and you can easily work on the betterment of the experience to get more sales from the prospects. It helps retain the loyal customer base and form long term relationships. You can even determine the add-on sale suggestion, for example, if someone is buying a laptop, he/she is likely to buy an antivirus. This can only be determined if someone has a record of the customer's laptop purchase determining the additional sales opportunities. It can also help you recognise preference patterns and accordingly provide suggestions and also use them for sales in future marketing. 

Be it a small, medium or large company, communication is the essence of good customer service and a strong analysis of customer needs can put a business 6- 7 years ahead in terms of sales. CRM acts as a foundation in effective management of information in both ways with the organisation and the customers. Moreover, the concept of building strategy for a better customer interaction, their management and proper implementation for the expansion of the business has become a lot easier in recent years and is constantly being modified for improved experiences.