Table of contents

Elements Page No.

Abstract ……………..…………………………………………….. 02

Customer Relationship Management………………..…………… 03

Aspects of CRM
Operational CRM………………………….……………………. 05
Collaborative CRM …..………………………………………… 05
Analytical CRM………………………...………………………. 05

Sales Cycle 06

CRM & Sales Cycle 07

Conclusion………………………………………………………….. 09

References…………………………………………………………… 10

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 Abstract

If we look at the commercial world we may find that the significance of the retaining
actual that is the existing customers and expanding the business by acquiring the potential
customer is really very crucial. It would be found that the necessity of the retention of the
existing customers could be very important if we look at the searching costs of the new
customers and attracting them to the products of the business

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) we can say that it is a process of

establishing, developing, maintaining and optimizing the valuable long-term mutually
relationships between consumers and organizations to get success in business and its
sustainability. CRM helps business to know the customer well and retain and acquir them
properly.

The Sales Cycle is the sequence of phases that a typical customer goes through when
deciding to buy something. As a rule, the sales cycle is described from the customer's
perspective. Sales cycle is the core of the business as the main deal of the product is
made by this cycle. So the sales effectiveness is very important for all the firms.

Successful use of the CRM in the sales Cycle will cause the long term relationship with
the customers. The customer needs must be converted to the product choice which will
lead to the actual sale of the product and to do this the CRM is very essential to because
we know that “Customer is the king”.

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Customer Relationship management
The success and competitiveness of a business depends on its magnitude of managing
capacity of its relationships with its customers. So the popularity of the IT system which
specially deals with the problems and needs of the customer are growing gradually.

Customer relationship management (CRM) is one of the strategies of the business to gain
access to the needs and wants of the customer and more deeply to say knowing what they
want to build a concrete strong relationship with them and it is not merely an application
of the technology. Because the CRM is more like as a business philosophy and no just a
problem solving technical solution which deals with the customer effectively and
efficiently. It is also true that the success of a CRM strongly depends on the use of the
high technology.

So if we go for defining the Customer Relationship Management we can say that it is a

process of establishing, developing, maintaining and optimizing the valuable long-term
mutually relationships between consumers and organizations to get success in business
and its sustainability.

Though the term CRM is loftily used in the marketing but unfortunately there is no any
complete and well accepted definition of it. Thus to get a better understanding and
knowledge about the CRM we can see it from three different perspectives:

• Perspective- Information Technology (IT)

• Perspective- The Customer Life Cycle (CLC)
• Perspective- Business Strategy

1) CRM from the Information Technology (IT) Perspective.

If we see the CRM from the technological standpoint we can get that the business
purchases a collection or a bundle of software that will assists the business to attain its
goals. Many businesses treat the CRM as like a software package and think that it is an
IT-based customer management tool and it will support the sales people. IT is the
building block and a crucial part of CRM because it helps the CRM to be strong and
effective.

2) CRM from the Customer Life Cycle Perspective.

The ultimate goal of the Customer Life Cycle (CLC) is to create and delivary the lifetime
value of the customer that the company will take care of the product and services that the
customers need in their entire lives. The CLC is not a product oriented philosophy, it is a
marketing oriented philosophy. So we can say that the CLC is the combination of the key
stages of a customer relationship with a business.

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3) CRM from the Business Strategy Perspective.

Now if we take the CRM as the business strategy viewpoint then it has a very significant
impact on the marketing. There are three key phases in the business perspective of CRM
these are the customer acquisition, customer retention and customer extension and three
contextual factors and these are the marketing orientation, value creation and innovation
IT.

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Aspects of CRM:
There are mainly three aspects of CRM and each can be implemented in isolation from
each other:

1. Operational CRM:

The operational CRM helps the sales, marketing and service process and these are the
‘front office’ business processes. In this part of the CRM each of the interaction with the
customer are recorded in a database and it is used whenever the staffs of the business
need.
Keeping data history in the database has a very important benefit to the business and it
customer that the customer can easily and conveniently interact with the different staff or
channel and they do no need to repeat the history of their previous interactions

2. Collaborative CRM:

Collaborative aspect of the CRM is used to directly interact with the customer to get the
feedback, issue-reporting and so on. This type of interaction is done through the medium
like web page, email, automated phone or SMS.

3. Analytical CRM:

The purpose of the analytical CRM is to screen and examine the data collected by the
operational and collaborative CRM aspects. Using these collected data the Analytical
CRM design and program the marketing campaigns to effectively optimize the marketing.
This aspect of CRM also analyses the behavior of the customer to know about their
further need and wants and devising proper product for those. It also includes the pricing,
new product development and other type of functions.

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Sales cycle:
The sales cycle is the sequence of phases that a typical customer goes through when
deciding to buy something. As a rule, the sales cycle is described from the customer's
perspective. The first phase of the sales cycle may be either the customer's perception of a
product, or a perception of a need that the product might satisfy. The following steps
include research and evaluation; the last step is the customer's decision to purchase the
product.

Figure: The Sales Cycle

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CRM and Sales Cycle:
Sales effectiveness is very essential for the companies’ prosperities. The term sales
effectiveness can be defined as the ability of the sales persons of companies to get a done
the each phases of the sales cycle and by ensuring this completion in the right way and in
a right timeframe. So here for sales effectiveness the CRM can play a major role. The
CRM as its definition implies it is attached with the task to create a long term relationship
with the customer in a way that both the customer and company will get value. So let’s
look at the stages of the sales cycle and see where the CRM can play its role to boost the
effectiveness of the sales cycle:
The sales stages of the sales cycle may vary from company to company, so here the most
important and the universal stages are depicted and described accordingly-

1. Need Recognition.
2. Formulate Solution.
3. Close Sale
4. Deliver and Evaluate
5. Establish Relationship

1. Need Recognition: One thing that is often the salespersons miss is to properly
understand the customers and establishing relationship with them. Without doing
so the sales cycle cannot reach its ultimate goal even the sales cycle cannot be
stressed enough to do so. Here the CRM suggests that the salespersons should take
the time to understand the customers well and build an effective relationship with
the customer with whom they deal.
The term taking time does not mean that spending lots of weeks and months to
win and dine a customer. This means that taking the adequate time to establish a
very long term relationship with the customer by understanding their needs and
objectives and this must be done staying in the competition as well.

2. Formulate Solution: The most fatal error that the salespersons do that they just
play the role of selling the product to the customer. But if they apply CRM here
then to have an effective relationship with the customer, then they have to position
them as the consultant of the customer not simply just as salespersons. Because to
be successful through the sales cycle, the customer must see the salesperson as
someone who can solve their problems. By creating a long term relationship the
salespersons are actually creating the chance of long term repeat customer.
Actually the customer meets the salespersons for a reason such as some problems
or need that they must fill up. So as a problem solver the salespersons must
understand what these problems or needs are. If the salespersons do not
understand these then they will not have success in selling the product. The
salesperson must generate the demand for their product to the customer which
they need as their solution.

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3. Closing Sale: closing is a term that is used in sales which means the actual sale of
the product. The sale mean the transfer of the ownership either physically or any
other means or acquiring a signature of the customer as wanted by the
salespersons. Here the sales persons should play a role of suggestor and should not
create pressure on the customer. The customer must willingly pay for the product
or give the signature. To do so the salespersons should ask the customer some
positive questions like “do I have your authority to proceed with this order?” or
“when would you like delivery?” or they may ask “would you like red or green?”
etc.

4. Delivery and Evaluate: The delivery means to physically moving the product to
the customers’ desired location or providing the means what the customer signed
for. Here the salespersons should emphasize that the delivery must be on time and
with customers’ convenience without any damage of the product and the product
must be as like as what the customer seen at the time of purchase. After the
delivery the salesperson should enquire that the product are useable and is not
doing any malfunction. If does then the malfunction must be rectified as soon as
possible without any delay.

5. Establish Relationship: By accomplishing the above stages successively the

salespersons have made a way of relationship with the customer. To keep this
relationship in long run the salespersons should keep contact with the customer
and take the information about the product whether it is working. They should
provide the latest information to the customer and any needed modification of the
product.

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Conclusion:
Sales cycle is the core of the business as the main deal of the product is made by this
cycle. So the sales effectiveness is very important for all the firms. Sales effectiveness
which means the ability of the firms’ salespersons to be successful at each stage of the
sales cycle in an effective manner staying in the limit of the timeframe. The sales cycle
effectiveness is not only the issue of the sales department but also the company issue
which need a deep concentration in it. So to be successful in the sales process the
company should practice CRM in the sales cycle where CRM implies that the customers
should be treated as vulnerable term and should be continuously researching and judging
them to understand and cope with their need and wants.

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 References

• Business for 21st century, Steven J Skinner and Ivancevich.

• Principles of Marketing, Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong.

• www. Businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action
• www.microsoftencarta.com
• SearchCRM.com Definitions- http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/definition/CRM
• Leadership, Management, Teamwork and Business-
http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/customerservice.html
• IVEY BUSINESS JOURNAL- http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com/article.asp?
intArticle_ID=382
• SAP community network- http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/index?
rid=/library/uuid/0018c790-bd9b-2c10-98a8-9254a675a0ea

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