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384 Part Three Key System Applications for the Digital Age

FIGURE 9.7 HOW CRM SYSTEMS SUPPORT MARKETING

Customer relationship management software provides a single point for users to manage and evaluate
marketing campaigns across multiple channels, including e-mail, direct mail, telephone, the Web, and
wireless messages.

Cross-selling is the marketing of complementary products to customers. (For
example, in financial services, a customer with a checking account might be sold
a money market account or a home improvement loan.) CRM tools also help
firms manage and execute marketing campaigns at all stages, from planning to
determining the rate of success for each campaign.
Figure 9.8 illustrates the most important capabilities for sales, service, and
marketing processes that would be found in major CRM software products.
Like enterprise software, this software is business-process driven, incorporating
hundreds of business processes thought to represent best practices in each of
these areas. To achieve maximum benefit, companies need to revise and model
their business processes to conform to the best-practice business processes in the
CRM software.
Figure 9.9 illustrates how a best practice for increasing customer loy-
alty through customer service might be modeled by CRM software. Directly
servicing customers provides firms with opportunities to increase customer
retention by singling out profitable long-term customers for preferential
treatment. CRM software can assign each customer a score based on that
person’s value and loyalty to the company and provide that information to
help call centers route each customer’s service request to agents who can best
handle that customer’s needs. The system would automatically provide the
service agent with a detailed profile of that customer that includes his or her
score for value and loyalty. The service agent would use this information to
present special offers or additional service to the customer to encourage the
customer to keep transacting business with the company. You will find more
information on other best-practice business processes in CRM systems in our
Learning Tracks.

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