Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a philosophy, not just a technology. By understanding our customers' needs we build better relationships and increase revenue and profit. CRM is more than just software. It puts the customer at the heart of the organisation. "That's nothing new!" I hear you cry. Good 'business people' have always understood that whilst you need new customers to grow and you need to keep existing customers and keep them happy for long-term profitability.

But just think of how many organisations don't seem to understand that. The ones that use touch-tone phone menus and the ones that just don't answer EMails for example.

So, although a sound customer understanding and effective processes have to come first, they can be supported by technology that covers all the business processes that touch the customer. With CRM software, you build a database about customers [and suppliers who are really just upstream customers] that describes relationships in sufficient detail so that management, staff and even the customer can access information, match customers needs with products and offers, deal with service, check payment histories and so on.

Many think of the local shop owner of old who knew every one of his customer's and knew their names, birthdays and was able to treat them personally. Now technology can 'mimic' this customer-centricity on a much larger scale. An effective CRM implementation will allow anyone in your organization to have a holistic view of each and everyone of your customers. This will enable them to make quick, informed decisions, create cross selling and up selling opportunities, measure marketing effectiveness and deliver personalized customer care.

However successful CRM always starts with business strategy and work processes that are good for the customer and not just the producer. These are then enabled by technology. The reverse just does not work. Everyone must live and breathe Customer Focus for this to work. Excellent customer service is about being aware of customer needs and reacting to them effectively. CRM is about the process of customer flow so that you have positive customer flow. CRM helps you to understand, anticipate and respond to your customers' needs in a consistent way, right across your organisation. Organisations can benefit from the organisational discipline CRM imposes, as well as from the technology itself. CRM will help you if you view it as a set of tools that let you to do more for and get more from, your customers.

It is estimated that the global market for CRM services and solutions is worth over $150 billion. That means a lot of choice when selecting your technology - from web-based solutions aimed at small businesses with less than 10 employees to solutions suitable for multi-national enterprises with millions of customers.

CRM has already made a big impact in the world of Customer Service and will continue to do so and it is likely that those that fail to implement CRM solutions will lose competitive advantage. As technology increases to develop at a startling rate the challenge will be how to deploy it quickly and profitably.

BUT. Customer Relationship Management is about people first and technology second. The real value of CRM lies in harnessing the potential of people to create a better customer experience.

MAKING SALES A BREEZE

Neil Donovan, Managing Director, Spinnaker

Since it was launched just 18 months ago, Spinnaker has generated revenues of £500,000 and picked up two prestigious regional awards.

The company deals with everything from door-to-door distribution services and IT solutions to selling advertising space in glossy magazines.

"Our core business is delivering sales for our clients" says Spinnaker's managing director Neil Donovan. "We can provide companies with a completely outsourced sales solution, which keeps overheads down and improves profitability. We can do many things from setting up "hot" appointments, to market testing, sales force regeneration and inbound call campaigns. With many years of telesales and field sales experience our staff really can help to make sales a breeze".

Future Publishing, one of the biggest names in specialist magazines globally has already tapped into Spinnaker's resources by using them to provide cover for its 90 strong sales department.

Spinnaker have also worked with Worcester based Grey Technology. Their brief was to take a cordless, electronic domestic sweeper and increase sales within three months. Spinnaker were ahead of the game in terms of sales and margins within 4 weeks.

To help potential clients to recognize when their help may be appropriate Neil has suggested the following guidelines and questions. If any apply to you why not have a look at the Spinnaker website and give him a call on 0870 225 0061?

GUIDELINES

— We have a great product/service but do not appear to be maximizing its potential.

— If I were to outsource the sales of my products/services where else could I invest my time?

— The only thing that seems to be limiting our success is a functional sales team?

— We have great leads, but fail to close the sale?

— The existing sales manager/team is not delivering the revenue and I am not sure why. Who can I ask to review the current situation and deliver positive solutions to remedy this?

— I am interested in doing a mail shot to all my customers, but do not have time to follow this up?

— I would really like to improve or initiate exhibition sales, but don’t have the resources or time to do so cost effectively.

— I want to launch a new product or service and wish to test the market initially before recruiting.

SMEs 'ignore online sales'

Three-quarters of small businesses do not sell their goods or services online.

The report from online payment service PayPal (Europe) reveals that for 25% of UK small businesses with ECommerce enabled websites, approximately one-fifth of annual sales revenue is achieved through

On average, this equates to £69,540 a year.

While many businesses have taken the first step of developing a company website, 33% reported that they hadn't installed online payment services because they believed their customers would not want to buy via the internet. Another 17% said they felt the cost is prohibitive.

However, the average amount spent on decveloping ECommerce sites is £2,000, the report found, which most online merchants said they were able

One quarter of respondents with retail premises admitted that their web site is a more cost-effective sales channel than their high street shop.

"This is a clear indication that small businesses have a lot to gain by introducing ECommerce," said Geoff Iddison, chief executive of Paypal (Europe).

"Small businesses that have ECommerce sites report that the web is directly responsible for 22% of their businesses' growth in the past year."

"The web is becoming too powerful a sales channel for ambitious small businesses to ignore," he added.

SEPOS

Advertisers spent $4 billion dollars (guess everything has to be in $ for reports about the Internet these days) on search engine marketing according to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO).

According to the Direct Marketing Association, 66% of web site visits are driven by search engines. Search engine positioning, optimisation and submission [SEPOS] is, therefore, vital. The most cost effective way to market your web site online is to obtain as many top 10-search engine rankings in the major search engines for your keywords as

Surveys report that 78% of web users abandon their search if the first 3 pages don't provide an answer to their question, and 28% don't scroll past the 2nd page of results. Combine those facts with the Internet's explosive growth rate of 1.8 Million people worldwide going online every week for the very first time, you can soon appreciate what a top 10 ranking can mean to you.

Google receives approximately 39.4% of all search engine traffic. Yahoo receives approximately 30.4% and ringing up the rear is MSN at 29.6%. How much traffic is that? Google and its partner sites were reporting 250 million searches a day in 2004. Yahoo Overture and its partners were reporting over 167 million searches per day. Inktomi reported 80 million followed by LookSmart with 45 million per day. FindWhat reported 33 million while Ask Jeeves reported 20 million, Alta Vista reported 18 million and finally Fast reported 12 Million searches per day.

With all said, you can easily see how your search engine rankings are directly proportional to the traffic your web site receives, and your site traffic is directly related to your potential to profit online.

With these facts in mind you can clearly see what a top 10 search engine ranking can mean for your bottom line.