Levels of Customer Development Profile

Honestly while going through the various levels of Customer Development profile, I thought it is so very similar to the Human Relationship Development Levels.

Level 1 - Suspect
Remote possibility that a person / company may or may not become our Potential Customer

Level 2 - Prospect
A potential customer who may become your customer and chances of gaining them is much more than the suspects.

Level 3 - Customer
When a prospect actually purchases and an initial exchange of money and product/services has been made, they become Customers.

Level 4 - Client
a customer becomes a client when they starts purchasing regularly from the same organization.

Level 5 - Supporter
This is the levels when a customer identifies closely with the product and creates a very positive 'Word-of-Mouth'

Level 6 - Advocate
The is the highest level where the buyer-seller relationship is at peak. The organization has a strong propenent here. The mutuality of the relationship is two-sided now and both customer and the organisation value, respects, and appreciates each other.

@ the end CRM professionals are entrusted with a responsibility that all their Prospects eventually advances up to the Advocates levels for the Organisation and the brand.

__________________________

Customer Segmentation

A Segment is a group of exisiting potential customers that share commom characteristics that make them different from the other group of customers.

e.g., A Car Market may consist of:
1. Luxury Car Segment
2. Family Car
3. Sports Car

Segmentation for B2B and B2C markets is done on the following basis:

B2C:
1. Geographic - Nation, City, Region, Urban, Semi-Urban, Rural, Climate Base
2. Demographic - Family size, Age, Gender, Occupation, Education, Income, Religion
3. Psychographic - Lifestyle, Personality, Social Class
4. Behaviour: Rate of use, Occassion of use, Loyalty, Product Experience, Benefit Sought
B2B:
Demographic, Operating Variable, Purchase Approaches, Situational Factors, Personal Factors.

Customer Relationships & Retention

Fundamental of CRM speak about SELECTION & RETENTION as two important aspects of CRM.

SELECTION: is the process of selecting the RIGHT customers suitable and profitable to our business.

RETENTION: Mutuality is most essential in a relationship and RETENTION is the benefit of having long terms relationship with the SELECTED customers.

The most crucial elements of CRM are PEOPLE & HUMAN.

CUSTOMER BONDING & CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) are the tools used by CRM technologies while engaging in the process of Customer Selection & Retention.

Why Selection Customers is Important?
There are 7 Basic Elements of CRM:
1. Relationship
2. Selection
3. Retention
4. Long Term Partnering
5. Interactive Communication
6. Technology
7. People

Selection is the Key Principle of CRM as its very tough to meet and satisfy all the needs os all the customers all the time. Its then important to select and prioritize the customers.

The real business sense is to meet the most important needs of the most important customers & its very important for the survival. For that we require to create a competitive advantage by meeting the requirements of the customers in such a way that:
a. they are not able to meet this need
b. You are better at identifying & satisfying their needs
c. both you and the customers see potential in the long term mutually beneficial relationship & retention.

There are 6 important benefits of Selection:
1. COST Reduction
2. Increase in PROFIT
3. Your COST BENEFIT RATIO looks upwards
4. It helps create GOODWILL for your organization
5. It gets you good WORD OF MOUTH PUBLICITY
6. It helps you generate greater CUSTOMER SATISFACTION & LOYALTY (Retention)

Soft Skills & Implications for CRM

Soft Skills is the backbone of commincation to and from the organisation and right/positive communication is the key to maintaining & building relations.

The list of SOFT SKILLS that needs to be inculcated amongst all employees especially those who are in direct connect with the customers:

1. Talking
2. Listening
3. Positive Attitude
4. Service Attitude
5. Assertiveness
6. Enthusiastic
7. Confident

All employees working in an organisation should have the minimum knowledge of PRODUCTS, SERVICES, PROCESS, DELIVER and AFTER SALES SERVICE.

It looks strange if an employee is not able to explain the basic functions of an organisation.

Customer Delight is a MUST... Customer Satisfaction is not enough !!!

Satisfaction is a question of perceived Performance & Expectations.

Customer is dissatisfied if -
Performance is less than Expectation

Customer is satisfied if -
Performance matched Expectations

Customer are delighted if -
Performance exceeds the Expectations

'Customer Satisfaction' is meeting the Customer needs. 'Customer Delight' is exceeding the Customer needs...

Customer Satisfaction Measurement:In order to execute ultimate customer care and generate customer delight, its very important to measure customer satisfaction.
4 Methods to Measure Customer Satisfaction are:
1. Complaint & Suggestion system
2. Survey - Customer Satisfaction survey
3. Ghost Shopping
4. Lost Customer Analysis

Organisations should not only monitor their performance in customer satisfaction but also their competitor's performance.

Customer Satisfaction & Loyalty

The importance of customers & understanding customer needs is an aspect of CRM (Customer relationship management). that needs to be understood well and embedded deep into the culture of an organisation and its Business Philosophy.

Studying customer complaints & feedback helps understanding the customer better.

There are two types of customers:
Industrial Market, i.e. B2B
Consumer Market, i.e. B2C

Below are the Characteristics of B2B Market:
1. Fewer Buyer
2. Larger Buyer
3. Geographically Concentrated
4. Derived demand
5. Long Negotaition Period
6. Relatively High Value
7. Multiple Buying Influences
8. After Sales Service

Below are the Characteristics of B2C Market:
1. Friendly Buyer
2. Negative Pessimist Buyer
3. The Procrastinator
4. Mr. 'Know it all'
5. The Dealer.