NGR's Blog

The 21st century economy leaves no room for slowdown. Customers are moving at lightning speed – be it keeping pace with racing technologies, staying informed about everything that’s going on, or constantly demanding that transactions are executed at the speed of an eye blink. Obviously, 'lagging' translates directly to customer churn, which further escalates to bottom line damage. The big question is - how do organisations run in this crazy rat race and successfully retain their customers, when competitors are just a mouse click away?

Customers all over the world are nowadays spoilt for choice. To book a flight, they will be besieged by options, discounts and offers with each airline vying for their attention! Even buying a simple pair of shoes puts them in a dilemma, as every brand not only offers variety in colors and types, but, also offers seasonal discounts. However, loyal customers that have had a good experience with one brand will be more inclined to buy again from the same brand, even if the price is slightly higher. So, what is it that makes customers come back and prove their loyalty over and over when it comes to brands? It’s the fact that they’ve developed a certain trust factor. They trust the brand to be worth the money they spend on it - sometimes waiting a long period of time for a delivery to get their hands on the item they chose. So, what is it that helps build this trust and why, at the end of it all, does this prove to be the deciding factor? Trust building is a long and never ending process, which is why, to stay a step ahead of the competition, one needs to put some conscious measures into place to make this happen.

CRM solutions are available as cloud and enterprise models for organizations of all sizes and specializations. Ensuring you retain customers and convert leads is essential to stay afloat and grow in the long term.

Social CRM which is continually gaining in popularity is an effective way for everyone in your organization to track competitors and their offerings while simultaneously devising counter strategies. With conversation tracking tools which capture social conversations based on specific keywords, there are unlimited possibilities to gain a stronger foothold and understand customer mindsets.

This is an open letter to all brands, products and businesses from an earnest customer who is fed up of being treated like a child. Things may have been different a few years ago, but, the same redundant techniques do not work on me anymore. Now, I am too smart to fall for advertising gimmicks. Today, if you show me an ointment or a brand of tea that will reduce my waistline to half of its current measurement in two weeks, do not expect me to pick up the phone and call you. Similarly, if you do not respond to my repeated grievances, do not call me a month later asking me why I didn’t renew my subscription plan. Since, your marketing gurus seem to having a tough time guiding you in the right direction, let me take this opportunity to show you, as a customer using your product, what I really want.

Robin joined his current organization in the early nineties and was among the first batch of twenty five employees. Back then, the top management decided they needed to focus on customer relationship management more and therefore needed a software to store basic customer information and contact details. They quickly employed a handful of IT professionals to accomplish this task and get a head start on their competitors. The software they developed generated a unique customer ID for every new customer created and had sets of fields for capturing or displaying pertinent details.

Every business, every industry faces attrition. Customers leave for a variety of reasons which are easily recognizable. For example, customers stop purchasing disposable diapers when their children no longer require a diaper, automobile owners may no longer patronize the car dealership when the warranty is no longer in effect. A competitor's new products might cause unforeseen churn. While there are many logical, rational and understood reasons that a customer leaves a company it is the silent attrition which can be the most devastating in this economy.

CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, as a technology solution and application is not simply a product to be purchased with associated benefits enjoyed. CRM, in this light, is a business system that integrates and enhances a customer centric business plan of a given organization. A precursor to gaining a quality CRM application is the complete understanding of HOW the organization operates and interacts with customers. Most businesses have a clear picture of how they are supposed to run, but with a complete process review (the initial stage of any successful CRM implementation) often shows that the “what is” is separated from the “what was intended.” In many instances, this helps companies realign themselves or see better ways of accomplishing goals. Either way, productivity increases and management gets a better view of the actual corporate operations and a 360 degree view of the customer relationship.