Customer care: Looking after existing clients24 April 2006
At the heart of any successful business is one essential element - a good customer base. A new report has highlighted the importance to businesses of any size of managing customers effectively and efficiently and has emphasised the financial benefits this could generate.
Research conducted by Bain & Company and published in the Harvard Business Review found that it is around sic to seven times more costly to companies to seek out new business and attract new clients than it is to maintain a good relationship with existing ones.
The study also revealed that businesses stand to boost their profits by anywhere in the region of 25- to 95 per cent if they manage to increase levels of customer retention by just five per cent.
It's clear from the figures that it can pay dividends for small businesses to ensure that their existing customer base stays happy with the service they receive and there are a number of ways in which this can be facilitated.
CRM
Customer relationship management (CRM) refers to strategies, software and processes designed to assist enterprises of all sizes in the management of clients. Applications such as contact management databases and customer-centric practices and methods are accompanied by employee training and a "culture" of processes based upon client requirements. Adoption of CRM can be of benefit to small businesses because:
- Improved business continuity as client information and action is shared throughout the company.
- Raised profits as customer needs can be tracked and provided for.
- Reduced customer complaints and ultimately raised retention as a good level of customer service is monitored and maintained.
Contact management
Regardless of whether a small business chooses to adopt the CRM "philosophy", it is a good idea to establish a database to keep client details and histories up-to-date. Depending on the scale of database required for the company, there are several packages available to implement this. Goldmine provides an automated way to track and add to customer information, while Microsoft Access is simple and cost effective.
Mobile working
Ensuring that staff members are flexible and productive through the provision of mobile working facilities can also help to retain existing clients. Being able to stay in touch with the office and customer contacts via laptops, mobile phones and PDA devices no matter where employees are means that requests and problems can be dealt with and resolved efficiently. In addition, companies can save money on expenses such as travel costs between locations, extra staff and reducing lost business.
Post a comment
As usual, we would be delighted to hear your comments or questions about this article. Comments may be published on this or any other BT site.
