Concepts of Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Concepts of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Happy customers tell 4 to 5 others of their positive experience. Dissatisfied customers tell 9 to 12 how bad it was Quotes Mark Steven. This quote clearly states how important it is to satisfy and delight a customer in order to grow in business. Its a well known fact that business cant exist without customers. In the business, its important to work closely with your customers to make sure your business is for them and meet their requirements. Because its critical that you form a close working relationship with your client, customer service is of vital importance. Make your customers feel valued, wanted and loved. Customer Relationship Management is combination of people, processes and technology that seeks to understand a companys customer Apple Company is one of the unique companies in todays market. I am taking this company organization to evaluate the opportunities to maintain and increase revenue in their earlier stage. The Apple company was started in 1981and it went through several critical stages to become a unique company now a day. The company faced severe problems due to lack of customer relations and didnt meet the customers expectations as they advertised. The companys first introduced Lisa and Macintosh during 1981 to 1985, but failed to reach the people due to lack of customer relations. They didnt have clear idea what people were expecting and how much they can afford to buy a PC. During this period they introduced their pc with a high price and they didnt have a clue about the people expectations so their product became a failure and they were failing in other tasks due to inner battle with in the company. After learning the lesson they started to learn from the peoples expectations and started to work towards it like introducing Portable versions with networking capabilities and their master piece was SYSTEM 7. but again after this they started to fail in customer relations like failure of proper service centres and even though they introduced several other products like cameras , CD players and other stuffs they failed to involve with the customers when their expectation was to get a Pc with a camera and CD function . But other companies like Microsoft evolved in customer relations and upgraded their products to the customers expectations as possible as they could. So there on apple started to reinvent them what went wrong and they rectified it and moved to a unique company with profit from 1998 by keeping an alliance with other companies and even their rivals and started to evolve. They introduced apple store to have better customer relations, after this the company went on hike by evolving with the customer relations management. OBJECTIVE CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It is a process or methodology used to learn more about customers needs and behaviors in order to develop stronger relationships with them. There are many technological components to CRM, but thinking about CRM in primarily technological terms is a mistake. The more useful way to think about CRM is as a process that will help bring together lots of pieces of information about customers, sales, marketing effectiveness, responsiveness and market trends. CRM helps businesses use technology and human resources to gain insight into the behavior of customers and the value of those customers. KEY POINTS IN CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: CUSTOMER SATISFACTION Business term is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. It is seen as a key performance indicator within business and is part of the four perspectives of a Balanced Scorecard. If the apple had better knowledge of customer expectations and good knowledge in customer relations they could have become a successful company from the start. They thought that if they introduced a good product they can become successful but that resulted in vain. The CEO should have focused on the customer relation management also to gain knowledge from customers what people were expecting from them CUSTOMER DELIGHT Customers will be back for more and new customers will be introduced by them if your service is good and satisfactory. This will help to distinguish you as unique from the rest. It allows you to sell your product or service for more money than the competition. It allows you to make more return on your investment. It allows you to reward your employees. The apple failed to introduce their product in cheaper price this resulted to loose customer from the start of the introduction of their product .even if the customers bought the product they faced problems in how to handle it and lack of parts for repairs they have to wait for a long time. Normally when a company is introducing a product the people wont expect to spend a huge amount in unknown product if the apple introduced their product in cheaper price with initial discounts and had better service centers they would have done well. CUSTOMER LOYALTY Customer loyalty is viewed as the strength of the relationship between an individuals relative attitude and repeat patronage. The relationship is seen as mediated by social norms and situational factors. Cognitive, affective, and co native antecedents of relative attitude are identified as contributing to loyalty, along with motivational, perceptual, and behavioral consequences. Implications for research and for the management of loyalty are derived. The key to a successful business is a steady customer base. After all, successful businesses typically see 80 percent of their business come from 20 percent of their customers. Too many businesses neglect this loyal customer base in pursuit of new customers. However, since the cost to attract new customers is significantly more than to maintain your relationship with existing ones, your efforts toward building customer loyalty will certainly payoff. If the company is having a regular customer they should give some sort of discount in the new products for them .the apple failed to do so. If the company had looked after their regular customers by giving free Operating system upgrade or discount in their New Operating systems they could have got new customers from the regular customers and retained their market in well shape. Some steps to get customers whether they are regular or new are listed below. 10 WAYS TO BUILD CUSTOMER LOYALTY Communicate. Whether it is an email newsletter, monthly flier, a reminder card for a tune up, or a holiday greeting card, reach out to your steady customers. Customer Service. Go the extra distance and meet customer needs. Train the staff to do the same. Customers remember being treated well. Employee Loyalty. Loyalty works from the top down. If you are loyal to your employees, they will feel positively about their jobs and pass that loyalty along to your customers. Employee Training. Train employees in the manner that you want them to interact with customers. Empower employees to make decisions that benefit the customer. Customer Incentives. Give customers a reason to return to your business. For instance, because children outgrow dress quickly, the owner of a childrens dress store might offer a card that makes the tenth dress half price. Likewise, a dentist may give a free cleaning to anyone who has seen him regularly for five years. Product Awareness. Know what your steady patrons purchase and keep these items in stock. Add other products and/or services that accompany or compliment the products that your regular customers buy regularly. And make sure that your staff understands everything they can about your products. Reliability. If you say a purchase will arrive on Wednesday, deliver it on Wednesday. Be reliable. If something goes wrong, let customers know immediately and compensate them for their inconvenience. Be Flexible. Try to solve customer problems or complaints to the best of your ability. Excuses such as Thats our policy will lose more customers then setting the store on fire. People over Technology. The harder it is for a customer to speak to a human being when he or she has a problem, the less likely it is that you will see that customer again. Know Their Names. Remember the theme song to the television show Cheers? Get to know the names of regular customers or at least recognize their faces. LOYALTY PERCENTAGE A mere 5 % increase in customer retention can result in a 75% increase in customer value according to Fred Reichheld, author of Loyalty Rules. A great reason to pay attention to loyalty. Here are more benefits: grab more sales from existing customer base help spread word of mouth marketing identify product/service problems earlier improve profitability provide a competitive advantage Defining Customer Loyalty Customer loyalty is the practice of finding, attracting, and retaining your customers who regularly purchase from you. Customer loyalty is not customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is the basic entry point of good business practices. Your small business should provide satisfaction to all your customers. CRM, despite all the talk about it being one of the most profitable customer strategies of the decade, still allows room for failure. Top 10 Features to Look for in a CRM System: Sales-cycle analysis Integration to your back-office accounting system Open, industry-standard technology Seamless flow of information between corporate systems and remote employees Real-time reporting and analysis Automated workflow Contact and campaign management Multiple language and multicurrency capabilities to support global business Ability to easily customize your solution to fit your business needs Scalability to accommodate future business growth What are the Problems occur within CRM? Exorbitant Costs One of the problems with CRM is the huge investment needed to maintain a customer database. The additional expense comes because of the money needed for computer hardware, software, personnel etc. The costs involved are enormous and most often than not the resultant ROI from the CRM implementation fail to cover the costs involved. This leads to a negative feeling within the company about CRM and its successes and ultimately results in CRM collapse. Inadequate Focus on Objectives Secondly when starting off on a CRM strategy the objectives are clearly established and followed. Management and employees know fully well what is needed to work towards organizational goals. The goals themselves are clearly laid out after meticulous planning. However midway during the CRM implementation, when hard times hit, the organization loses sight of its goals and ultimately steers away from it. At times goals get interchanged and lose their importance. Companies find themselves work at home directory towards goals that are less important and forgetting the ones that really are. This is one of the fundamental and mostly felt problems in CRM. Insufficient Resources Sometimes in phased implementation of CRM, if conditions worsen within the company or without, organizations start lessening their budgets for the current phase. When funds are less, budgets strained, the necessary costs required for CRM success are not employed. As a result CRM starts failing midway. The most important aspect- that of maintaining consistency is lost. Organizations fail to utilize the necessary resources for success and thus result in failure. Inappropriate Metrics Organizations have basically failed to use the right metrics. Failure to choose the right method of measurement and implement it is one of the chief reasons why CRM fails. Different metrics have to be employed for the calculation of different goals. Companies seldom pause to analyze which metric is needed for which element and ultimately use the wrong one. This results in faulty measurement and CRM disappointments. Complex Systems CRM simple? The hype says so, the experts agree. Is this really the case? Organizations that have employed it though have a different opinion. They are witness to the fact that CRM packages can be highly complex, with vast amounts of intricacies. If this is the case then how do simple employees cope? The answer lies in sufficient training being given in order that they are able to comprehend and deal with the difficulties easily. Business Needs Most Important One of the chief mistakes companies make is letting the technology drive their CRM functionality. Whats happening is that companies are endeavoring to go to the industry leaders, gain the technology needed and then apply it to the business problems only to find that it isnt solving any of them. Instead they need to analyze their business problems first and then find the appropriate CRM solution for it. This backwards step is responsible for CRM failure. No Customer Focus Customer oriented strategy? Yes, CRM does play the part. Customer oriented employees? Now that requires an effort on the part of the organization. It needs to motivate employees to be absolutely customer centric. This involves tremendous effort on the part of the company but is highly essential. CRM problems arise because of employee reluctance to be more customers focused. The result is a highly expensive customer strategy being adopted by the company in an effort to retain customers, with reluctant, unfocussed employees implementing it. Slow Returns Another failure of CRM is its inability to provide quick returns on investment. Organizations find themselves waiting for years before they are able to see actual returns on their investment. Most experts view the low ROI (Return of Investment) as a major problem with CRM but fail to see that the long wait is just as difficult. Waiting for years to see their investments show results, tests patience and leads to both employees and management slackening their efforts in the implementation. The apple started to listen to customers expectations and kept on looking what they can do to improve their customer relations. So they introduced several ways and walk in centres and done what ever they could to satisfy the customer expectation like introducing Ipads Iphone, Mac book and etc if they done these things from the start of the company they could have been a very successful company Once the apple rectified and reinvented by following the above key points by having direct relation ship with the customers the company will grow into a unique company CONCLUSION Most CRM problems can be mitigated, resolved and ultimately obliterated. What is highly required is the ability to focus on the business needs, choose a CRM package that works towards it, employ the right resources and assume the right metrics. Adopting these measures would go a long way in alleviating CRM problems. The world is ready for the business minded people to move further with high aim and warm refreshing ideas to make the world bloom to a lovely spotlight that feels happy to glitter with most obvious and LOVELY Customers. The apple gained their knowledge after several critical stages and gained lot of customers and when they started to look after them the company began to become a challenger and better name in the industry and with in the people

Capital Punishment :: essays research papers

Capital Punishment I recently read an article from the ACLU, written by Adam Bedau. It explained, quite eloquently, that for society to execute a murderer made society no better than the murderer himself. He said, â€Å"The executioner is no better than the criminal.† I was impressed by this moral stance, but I was surprised to read that he failed to apply this logic consistently. For example, the he went on to argue that life imprisonment would be a more appropriate penalty for murder than death. Using this ACLU logic, it appears that for our society to lock someone in a room against his will and not free him for a considerable length of time makes our society no better than the everyday kidnapper. But if an individual locked another up against his will, wouldn’t the ACLU view this as kidnapping. Being from the Methodist faith I found this argument somewhat difficult. For in the Bible there is a scripture that states, â€Å"an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.† I presume the ACLU would agree that beatings or torture are also unacceptable forms of punishment for crimes. They seem to be inhumane. Yet in Eastern cultures, if one steals something, they lose a finger or two and sometimes an entire hand depending on the severity of the crime. This seems to be reason enough not to steal, as in these cultures there is a very low theft rate. Maybe the ACLU would find a monetary fine a more appropriate punishment? For society to take money away from someone against his will without giving him any tangible goods in return would make society a thief. Of course, the Bedau also explains that capital punishment brutalizes society, leading to even more murders. If we, as a society, adopt this no-punishment position, it logically follows that there would be less crime. Once criminals realized that no matter what they did, no fellow citizen would lift a finger to stop them, why, they’d just be so overcome with the generosity of their neighbors tha t they’d naturally be inclined to become upstanding, productive citizens.

The Grade Inflation Epidemic Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Topics

The Grade Inflation Epidemic      Ã‚  Ã‚   It's June, and another graduating class is hoping, among other things, to achieve high grades. Of course, "high" is a subjective target. Originally a "C" meant average; today however, the expectations and pressures to give and receive "A's" and "B's" takes its toll on teachers and students alike. This nullifies the value of the traditional grading scale and creates a host of entirely new problems. The widespread occurrence of grade inflation seriously affects the credibility of secondary and post-secondary education in America.    The definition of an acceptable grade has changed significantly over the years. Grade inflation seemed to begin in earnest in the late 1960s after the bombing of Cambodia. Male college students who failed their classes would lose their deferments for the draft. Some professors gave higher grades so their students wouldn't have to go to war. The cause of the problem wasn't the compassionate professors, but the national policy of linking the deferments to academic success (Hambert).    Unfortunately, along with the astounding cost of college education, comes a pressure for students to compete for scholarship dollars. Faced with losing the means of paying for their schooling, students will go to just about any length to assure good grades. Often clear ethics and morals take a back seat when it comes to doing whatever it takes to pass a course with a good grade. Any teacher with a heart would reconsider a poor grade that would cost a student the funding to complete their education. While some students might earn terrible grades in History, they may make terrific doctors someday. It seems absurd for a grade to have the power to sabot... ...set up to serve - the student.    Works Cited    Dwyer, Victor. "Are We Cheating Our Kids?" Mc'Clean's Magazine 14 Mar. 1994: 44-54 Franey, Lynn. "Inflation Pumping Up Students GPA's." Spokesman Review 20 May 2001: A4+. Hambert, Craid. "Desperately Seeking Summa." Harvard Magazine May 1993: 36-40 Mattern, Elizabeth. "Officials Debate Grade Inflation." Daily Camera 25 May 2001 http://www.thedailycamera.com/buffzone/news/131grad.html Moore, Patrick. "Grade Inflation at Public Universities: Who Profits, Who Pays?" UALR I. May 2001. http://www.ualr.edu/~epmoore/inflation.html II. Pitsch, Mark. "States Seek Goals 2000 Aid for Existing Efforts." Education Week Vol. XIV (1994): 17+. Srinivasan, Kalpana. "Forum to Address Grade Inflation." Yale 25May 2001 http://www.yale.edu/ydn/paper/3.27/3.27.95storyno.FE.html

Jamaican Sugar Plantations Essay -- Jamaica Sugar Essays History

Jamaican Sugar Plantations When beginning to discuss sugar plantations in Jamaica, the word slavery comes to mind. This thought occurs because of the crucial role that the slaves played in attempting to make these plantations successful. During the 18th century, "the so-called sugar colonies were the most valuable possessions of overseas empires" (Floyd, 38). Sugar plantations produced money for not only the economy of Jamaica, but for their motherland England as well. Essentially these plantations were created because the aristocrats in Europe needed something to sweeten all of their drinks. However, with lack of space in Europe, the wealthy decided that plantations would flourish in Jamaica. Despite the success of these plantations, they were tools used to discriminate and exploit African-Americans. When the abolition of slavery occurred in Jamaica, the role of the sugar plantation significantly declined. One can say that sugar plantations in Jamaica were mass industries that were designed to belittle the Af ricans and give them little chance at success. The island of Jamaica is roughly 4400 square miles and its size rivals that of Connecticut. "Most of the island comprises a rugged and highly dissected topography, with steeply sloping hills and sharply twisting valleys" (Floyd, vii). With this rugged terrain, it seems to be quite ironic that nearly half of the population lives off the land. The Jamaicans rely on exceptional soil, a good irrigation system and fertilizer to ensure that their most prosperous crops will flourish. Sugar is among these resources that has helped create a stable economy in Jamaica. Jamaica established itself as a leading sugar producer in the 18th century after they decided that they had ... ...ound to become broken down. With the harsh realities slaves faced everyday, it was inevitable that its collapse would come. Nonetheless, sugar cane production was able to produce a stable economy in Jamaica for several years and ultimately led to the success of an entire nation. Bibliography Beckles, Hilary. Caribbean Slave Society and Economy. The New Press: New York, 1993. Cliff, Michele. Abeng. Penguin Books: New York, 1984. Floyd, Barry. Jamaica An Island Microcosm. St. Martin’s Press: New York, 1979. Hall, Douglas. In Miserable Slavery. MacMillan Publishers:London, 1989. Holt, Thomas. The Problem of Freedom. Hopkins Press:London, 1992. Knight, Franklin. The Caribbean: Second Edition. Oxford University Press: New York, 1990. Tomich, Dale. Slavery in The Curcuit of Sugar. Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, 1990.

Pierre de Fermat

Pierre De Fermat was born in France in August of 1601. His father was a leather merchant and his mother’s family was in the legal profession. children, and practiced law. Math was simply just a hobby for Pierre. Pierre De Fermat was a busy lawyer, and didn’t leave much time for his love of math. Since math was just his hobby, he never wanted any of his work to be published. When he did publish his work, it was always anonymously. Fermat would state theorems, but always neglected the proofs. For example, his most famous work, ‘Fermat’s Last Theorem,’ didn’t include a proof until when Andrew J. Wiles provided the first in 1993. He made many contributions in the field of mathematics. For example, he is considered as one of the ‘fathers’ of analytic geometry, along with Rene’ Descartes. He developed a method for determining maxima, minima, and tangents to various curves that was equivalent to differentiation. He obtained a technique for finding the centers of gravity for various plane and solid figures. Also, he is considered to be one of the founders of the probability theory along with Blaise Pascal. Fermat was the first person known to have evaluated the integral of general power functions. He made contributions in the field of optics and provided a law on light and travel. He wrote a few papers about calculus, before Issac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz were even born. Fermat’s most important work was done in the development of the modern number theory, which was one of his favorite areas of math. Pierre de Fermat died in the year 1665. . These annotations are unsupported by proof. During his lifetime, Pierre De Fermat received very little recognition as a mathematician, and if others didn’t save his papers and letters he may not be the legend he is today.

Speech Analysis

The speech was a very fascinating one. A very innovative one, that actually brings up a desire to do something, be something, and give this world something that we have never thought of. The initial part of the speech actually makes the students realize how important each one of them is, not only as a person but also emphasizes on the fact that the ideas each student possess actually mean something. The later part then deals with how to carry the ideas forward rather than ignoring them. How to help this world change just with the help of your ideas?The talent, the skills that each student carries, need not be wasted rather polished in a way so as to bring up something productive for the enhancement of the nation/world. Architecture is not only about keeping the dreams; rather it is to think over the practical implementation of the dreams. The practical implementation undoubtedly cannot be done as an individualist. Hence, to see our dreams having a physical existence, it is necessary to share the ideas, which would certainly make them better and powerful.But unfortunately what we lack in this present era, is the communication, the way of spreading the ideas is simply awful and not understandable to the audience. Therefore, what is important is not only to have the ideas rather to have a powerful skill to make people understand and interpret your ideas in order to generate something productive out of it. Hence it is very important to learn how to share ideas/dreams in a way that truly reveals excitement and passion and possibility behind them.Today, the advancement has made things so much better and easier, than how they were a few years back. The technology today has made it easier to develop something very innovative and new in the construction field. Point is, we need to set up our targets. We need to set up our goals and we need to determine our own definition of success. Success for us shall not be the matter of being the owner of two cars or something, rath er aim high of giving something to this world that they are going to remember forever.Perceive things in a new direction. Develop things in a new way. Change the living environments, bring up something more challenging. Design the cities that are more interactive than ever. Make the lives easier, by introducing concepts never introduced before. In a nut shell, Learning shall never ever stop. Pursue discipline, generosity, and knowledge. For these three things might sound outdated, but even today, they mean everything in the formation of one’s personality. Develop a personality that people would actually want to listen to.And if you pursue these three, then no doubt, you will not have to run after your dreams, rather your dreams will run after you. And that is how you are going to help shape a better future for the mankind. It was no doubt a highly motivating speech, that would definitely rise an urge to do something productive and memorable, in order to be remembered. Your ta lent is what you call imagination, invention or innovation. Therefore, there is a dire need to look out for the ways to establish your personality in such a way that would help you see the physical existence of all that you have in your mind.

3m Case: Business Strategies over Its History Essay

1. Describe the organizational structures and devices 3M uses to encourage entrepreneurial activity. Why do they work? 3M heavily based its business on innovation and while doing this it always supported its employees in terms of being innovative. 3M also always followed the alternative ways in order to increase their profit and market share, and they found that one of the best ways is through organizational innovation. Therefore, in order to improve their business 3M developed 6 different strategies over its history. These strategies helped 3M to promote entrepreneurship and increase customer satisfaction within the market. First strategy of 3M’s was getting close to customers and understanding their needs.3M started their businesses by selling sandpaper and the only way they could generate sales was by getting close to the customers and demonstrating their products for them. This helped them to understand customer’s needs better based on the feedbacks they get from demonstrating their products to this selected group of customers. Afterwards, as a second strategy they tried to seek out niche markets no matter how small they are. Following the success of the first strategy, 3M found that if they offered customers what they wanted, these customers will be loyal to their company. Thus they developed the second strategy to seek niche markets no matter how small, as this will allow them for charge premium prices for their products. Then they included product diversification as the third strategy. By being close to the customers, 3M identified problems that they can solve for their customers through technical expertise. This was efficient as it ensure that they continued to diversify their product offerings by developing new products to solve new or unattended customer needs. Once 3M found a new product to offer in their niche market they would move on to develop related products and thus occupy leadership positions in these markets. As the fourth strategy, they gave importance to the product development and innovation through research. This strategy was developed in line with the third strategy which was encouraging diversification. If 3M where to constantly diversify their product and service offering, the company understood that a support to its system is needed along with improved innovation and new product development to ensure that the company continues in line with their business model. As it is very important in any kind of developing business and as by time 3M gained a good place in market, they decided to get knowledge sharing strategy as the fifth one. This became official with the establishment of the technical forum in 1950s, with the aim of sharing knowledge within the company. This forum comprised of technical council and directors that held annual shows to encourage knowledge sharing in 3M. And lastly, as the sixth strategy they decided to adopt encourage achievement through a rewarding system. This strategy was adopting an employee appraisal scheme that was encouraging achievement by rewarding employees who generated successful business ideas. Employees that successful innovate new products are promoted to be the managers of that product division, this ensured that other staff members are motivated to work harder and discover new product innovation as they seek to one day become managers of their developed product lines. 2. How does 3M distinguish between incremental and fundamental innovations? 3M established a new product development central research laboratory in 1940 in other to distinguish between fundamental and incremental innovation. This approach helped the company to explore the feasibility of new products or technologies that were not related to existing ones. Incremental innovation means innovation made based on existing products and technologies while fundamental innovations are those that are not related to existing products or technologies. In the 1980s, two separate laboratories were developed in order to identify the long term and the short term researches. Short term researches were more of incremental innovation that were designed to respond to industrial and consumer needs, life science, electronics and information technologies and graphic technologies with a life span of 1-5 years. However the corporate lab was designed for fundamental innovations with researches of over 10 years. 3. Describe, as best you can from the case, the culture of the organisation. What does this depend upon? 3M based its success on entrepreneurship fundamentals and innovation. Innovation was encouraged originally in an informal way by the founders, but was later formalized over a century into an organizational culture. The organizational culture is one which encourages innovation, and it has helped 3M to realize success over the years as it was perpetuating itself. Actually this specific culture of 3M’s evolved from the place of origin which was called ‘Minnesota Nice’. It is described as a non-political, low ego, egalitarian and non-hierarchical, hardworking and self-critical. 4. Why has 3M been such a successful innovator for so long? 3M’s success in innovation can be traced back to their employee appraisal. This is because; the organization has found the missing link which numerous organizations tend to overlook when it comes to showing appreciation towards employee’s efforts. 3M is achievement oriented and achievement particularly through research was rewarded through promotion. For instance, successful new product teams were spun off to form a new division in the organization. The leader of the team is often the general manager of the new division and this w as seen as a great motivator. Lesser achievements were also rewarded and failure is not punishable. This increase in 3M employees’ motivation level has been the key to their long term success as their staffs continually give out their best for the organizational success. 5. Can other companies just copy 3M’s structures and culture and become successful innovators also? It is very popular among firms to copy the other firms’ ideas if these other firms are especially profitable. It can be said that if properly copied, organizations that copy 3M’s strategies and culture can be successful innovators as because, 3M’s culture generally employee appraisal and in business psychology. It can be said that the appraisal has been rated high as increasing employee’s motivation level and enhancing organizational success.