Business Strategy Series Creating competitive edge through improved customer relationship management Tajinder Pal Singh Toor, Article information: To cite this document: Tajinder Pal Singh Toor, (2008) "Creating competitive edge through improved customer relationship management", Business Strategy Series, Vol. 10 Issue: 1, pp.55-60, https://doi.org/10.1108/17515630910937797 Permanent link to this document: https://doi.org/10.1108/17515630910937797 Downloaded on: 01 November 2018, At: 23:35 (PT) References: this document contains references to 0 other documents. To copy this document: permissions@ emeraldinsight.com The fulltext of this document has been downloaded 3712 times since 2008* Users who downloaded this article also downloaded: Downloaded by Northumbria University Library At 23:35 01 November 2018 (PT) (2003),"Understanding customer relationship management (CRM): People, process and technology", Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 9 Iss 5 pp. 672-688 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/14637150310496758">https://doi.org/10.1108/14637150310496758</a> (2003),"Knowledge-enabled customer relationship management: integrating customer relationship management and knowledge management concepts[1]", Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 7 Iss 5 pp. 107-123 <a href="https:// doi.org/10.1108/13673270310505421">https://doi.org/10.1108/13673270310505421</a> Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by emerald-srm:462515 [] For Authors If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/ authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com Emerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 j ournals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. *Related content and download information correct at time of download.
Creating competitive edge through improved customer relationship management Tajinder Pal Singh Toor Introduction Tajinder Pal Singh Toor is a Project Management This article describes some of the Best Practices for Improved Customer Relationship Professional Consultant/ Downloaded by Northumbria University Library At 23:35 01 November 2018 (PT) Management in order to gain competitive edge and market dominance. According to the Advisory System Analyst 2008 Executive Survey by Gartner and Forbes.com, retaining and enhancing relationships based at IBM, Merrillville, with current customers is the number one business issue, followed by attracting new Indiana, USA. customers. There is an increased need to constantly reengineer business strategies that improve the customer experience and increase profitability for the company. Decision makers should investigate the attractiveness and suitability of sales solutions targeted towards improved customer relationship in order to advance revenue growth and margin expansion. This paper lists some key factors/practices for Improved Customer Relationship Management. The factors/practices are listed below: (1) Reach more Customers and Markets. (2) Keep Scores and Feedbacks. (3) Building Partnerships. (4) The Importance of Customer Profitability. (5) Manage Customer Experience. (6) Make Customers Insiders. Reach more customers and markets Success story: Chicago Spa – an absolute hit with the men folk When Tiffani Kim noticed female customers of Tiffani Kim Institute Medical Spa bringing in husbands and boyfriends, she started reaching out to the male market. After renaming men’s manicure/pedicure treatments ‘‘sports buffs,’’ instituting couples’ nights to encourage women to introduce men to the Chicago spa and otherwise exploring the new demographic, Kim, 47, reports that a significant portion of the 80-person company’s revenue now comes from men. ‘‘It will never be like the women’s spa business,’’ Kim says. ‘‘But it has gotten to be a good 30 percent of the business.’’ Some key points: B Do no harm. ‘‘Don’t expand in such a way that it’s going to get you hurt,’’ says Clarkson University marketing professor Larry Compeau. Appealing to a new demography requires changing something about your offering. Before doing it, make sure the changes VOL. 10 NO. 1 2009, pp. 55-60, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1751-5637 j BUSINESS STRATEGY SERIES j PAGE 55 DOI 10.1108/17515630910937797
will not alienate the customers who got you where you are. Retail businesses should be especially aware of how a new group of patrons can change the experience for existing customers. Kim clearly had to make sure that having increasing numbers of men in her spa did not turn it into a boys’ club. B Look before you leap. ‘‘Do your homework first,’’ Compeau urges. ‘‘Make sure the new demographic market values your product.’’ Your market research could consist of hiring a research company, talking to potential customers in the demographic group or, as Kim did, just paying attention to what goes on at the front desk. B Go slowly. Kim modified her offerings incrementally over a period of years to make sure the effort and risk were worth doing more. That’s the way to go, according to Compeau. ‘‘I’d advise changing as little as possible at the outset to see how the market responds.’’ The last things to change should be the hardest to undo. And you do not want the experiment to be irreversible. B Consider Multi-branding. Its what Toyota does with Lexus and what countless other corporations do with their own brands. Entrepreneurs can reach new demographics without alienating old ones by giving new offerings different identities. It can be as simple as a restaurant using the same kitchen to serve two dining rooms, each with its own entrance, signage, pricing and demographic market. Downloaded by Northumbria University Library At 23:35 01 November 2018 (PT) B Look at everything connected with your business and its value proposition to see how it might be modified to enhance its appeal to a different demography. While it’s easy and sensible to do as Kim did and change little more than the label affixed to new offerings, you might need to do more. Look at your: pricing; associated services; promotional techniques; and distribution methods. For example: Everyone knows Toyota makes Lexus, but you cannot go into a Toyota dealer and buy a Lexus. The products have completely separate distribution systems, which helps keep them separate in the minds of completely different demographics. For example: Wal-Mart has seriously embarked on a series of initiatives to drive two key ideas – sustainability and relevance. ‘‘Not only is Wal-Mart going upscale, but Wal-Mart is going green‘‘. Keep scores and feedbacks Key fact: ‘‘Feedback’’ is the essence of an organization’s success Organizations are increasingly dependent on accurate feedback in all areas of operation, from marketing and CRM to employee management and training. Feedback management has become a vital part of every company’s efforts to increase efficiency, achieve continual and ongoing improvement and ensure customer satisfaction leading ultimately to a more successful business. Traditional methods no longer meet the requirements of collecting, analyzing and managing feedback from all relevant players. A new approach is required, with a new range of sophisticated yet user-friendly tools. Advanced feedback solutions help companies Some key points: B Prioritize action through real-time analytics. B Increase enterprise knowledge and focus through push reports. B Increase response rates through multi-channel delivery (web, phone, paper). B Optimize channel selection to minimize feedback process expense. B Optimize the number of survey responses. B Save at-risk customers before they are lost. B Save time through easy-to-use survey creation, deployment and management features. B Reduce survey deployment time through easy-to-use hosted solutions. PAGE 56 j BUSINESS STRATEGY SERIES j VOL. 10 NO. 1 2009
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