Customer Relationship Management And Sales Force Automation

Every business depends on customers for sustenance, the question is how to create and maintain customer satisfaction. Companies communicate with their clients in many different ways, especially in our rich in technology and information based society. How we treat all this information is where CRM plays a key role. CRM acts as a central repository of information about your clients and potential clients.

CRM/SFA also helps you understand your customers' needs and helps you recognize the processes in place to achieve your business goals. Customer loyalty has a significant impact on company position on the market. To maintain loyalty you need a maximum information about each customer. You need a system to collect, store. process and analyse the information flow to and from each customer. You need a CRM.

Just think of CRM as a tool which allows you to - whenever you open a customer’s account - see all the consolidated data about that account: contact information, account history, sales, cases, files, e-mails, faxes, letters, notes and any other pertinent information. All this information is readily available online, anywhere the Internet is available.

There are three parts of the application architecture of CRM:

operational - automation to the basic business processes (marketing, sales, service)
analytical - supports analysis of customer behaviour, implements business intelligence alike technology
co-operational - ensures the contact with customers (phone, email, fax, web...)

The operational part of CRM typically involves three general areas of business. They are (according to Gartner Group): Enterprise marketing automation (EMA), Sales force automation (SFA) and Customer service and support (CSS). The marketing information part provides information about the business environment, including competitors, industry trends, and macroenviromental variables. The sales force management part automates some of the company's sales and sales force management functions. It keeps track of customer preferences, buying habits, and demographics, and also sales staff performance. The customer service part automates some service requests, complaints, product returns, and information requests.

Many call centers use CRM software to store all their customers' details. When a customer calls, the system can be used to retrieve and store information relevant to the customer. By serving the customer quickly and efficiently, and also keeping all the information about a customer in one place, a company aims to make cost savings, and also to encourage new customers.