CRM: Customer Relationship Management

09 December 2021

3681 Okunma

47 dakika 26 saniye

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a business strategy on the selection and management of the most valuable customers and customer relationships.

Ali Nail

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a business strategy on the selection and management of the most valuable customers and customer relationships.

The Concept of CRM

Along with the new economy, globalization and the Internet require that competition be conducted not only with the immediate environment, but also with the whole world. Nowadays, the power is not in the manufacturer, but in the customers. The customer also has the right to choose the one that suits him best from the alternatives. CRM is a method that allows manufacturers to establish a successful and long-term relationship with their customers, controls the continuity of these relationships and aims to increase the profitability added by these relationships. It is a continuous process in which it monitors the behavior of its customers and monitors and processes this information in an orderly manner. CRM software has been developed to analyze the acquired information correctly. In this software; customers, interests of customers, shopping information they make are stored and this information is examined and evaluated by the department employees related to the analysis. The purpose of CRM is to improve the services provided to classified and target group customers and to monitor the results of these developments in a measurable environment. Due to the misconception that CRM is just a computer software, some CRM studies have not been successful. Customer relationship management should be viewed from a holistic perspective. It is also necessary to inform and educate employees about how they can evaluate this information. A mistake made in CRM studies is to expect that investments made immediately will return to sales. CRM provides long-term customer relationships when successfully implemented. Therefore, its success in sales is also related to this.

CRM is an approach that optimizes the way business is done with customers in the long term.

CRM is the general methodology and products used to manage customer relationships. CRM is to get to know the customer, understand customer needs, develop services and products that are suitable for him.

CRM is to connect all kinds of customer-related information in the organization to a single information system and focus it on the customer contact point.

Definitions can be further increased. Again, the CRM definitions made by famous CRM consultants and practitioners are also presented below:

CRM consists of the sum of all the strategies developed related to managing the customer and customer relations (ERNST&YOUNG definition).

All existing integrated capabilities of the company for identifying, attracting and storing the most valuable customers form the infrastructure of CRM (ACCENTURE definition).

A sales and service strategy. In this way, companies are entangled around the customer. Therefore, the messages given at the point of each interaction are the message that is appropriate for that customer. Here is the sales and service strategy of this transaction of recent times CRM (TOWER GROUP definition).

A management approach that allows the company to build long-term relationships with potential and existing customers (McKinsey & CO. definition).

CRM will be able to support these strategies with customer-centric strategies; along with sales and marketing, customer service, accounting, and all business processes for everyone who will be affected by these new functions from the beginning

it is a management strategy that includes its regulation and uses technology in carrying them out.

CRM is first of all a strategy As a concept that everyone says something about CRM, which is growing in popularity, is appearing in every field today. Everywhere there are companies that say that they implement CRM in their business.

However, it would be a bit of an underestimate to see CRM as just sending a birthday message, just sending a holiday greeting. It would not be wrong to say that many companies that say that they implement CRM have a misconception that CRM is a combination of other concepts.

That is why it is appropriate to briefly mention what CRM is not. CRM should not be kept frustrated with a certain software company's “campaign management" or “customer tracking” product, a giant data warehouse project, customer satisfaction, and similar phrases. On the contrary, it uses it mainly as an umbrella covering everything related to "Customer relationship Management". CRM is also not a statistical model. CRM uses statistical models. CRM is also not a database application. Database applications allow CRM to be managed more effectively, but it still cannot turn these database applications into CRM on its own. CRM is also not a sales automation technique. CRM is not just a technology-based application at all. Although there are some specific processes defined, it cannot be said that they are standard and stereotyped. It is also obvious that there is no application that can be imitated. CRM is a repetitive process that has continuity, is constantly being developed and is created to achieve results that are compatible with each other.

CRM is an integrated marketing, sales and service strategy that prevents any part of the business from standing out alone and is implemented in a coordinated manner (Kallkota and Robinson, 1999).

According to Jill Dyche, CRM is an infrastructure that makes it possible to use the right tools that increase customer value and enable valuable customers to stay loyal for life and turn to buying again. (Dyche, Jill, 2002).

CRM is combined horizontally with each other, called "Front Office" sales (contact management, product configuration), marketing (campaign marketing, telemarketing) and customer service (call center, etc.). it is the automation of business processes involving points of contact with the client, such as ).

CRM is a process that maximizes customer information for the purpose of customer loyalty and keeping the customer in its hands for life (Suresh, 2002).

CRM, customer centric strategies to support these strategies, together with sales and marketing, customer service, accounting, production and logistics functions such as, covering all of these functions that will be affected also the reconfiguration of business processes and performing them for everyone to benefit from this new technology is a management strategy involving (Al, 2002).

According to Ovum, CRM is when an organization focuses its resources on its relationship with the customer. The purpose of CRM is to make the needs of customers and customers the guide of organizational behavior. Even if the organizations that implement CRM are very good at their business processes, they realize that the line between success and failure is dec winning the customer and keeping him/her in hand.

According to Peppers and Rogers Group, CRM is the same as one-to-one marketing. This customer-oriented model has similarities with many concepts such as relationship marketing, real-time marketing, customer happiness. But the main idea is the same, and accordingly; different customers are treated differently by collecting information from customers who are individually related. A dec relationship is established between the enterprise and the customer, which can be defined as the customer receiving special services in exchange for providing information.

CRM is a business strategy. It is not just an efficiency-enhancing technique or a method that concerns only customer-related issues, but also a management strategy that should be adopted and implemented throughout the enterprise. Customer-centered business philosophy and culture are necessary for CRM. CRM enables the organization to have the right leadership structure, strategy and culture by making customer relations effective. The CRM philosophy means that the way of management becomes customer-centric. It requires a redesign of organizational activities. The aim is to maintain and develop relationships with customers that add value to the growing company, thereby increasing its profit margin.

Traditional marketing strategies have focused on 4P (Product, Price, Promotion, Placement) to increase sunday share. The main goal is to increase the number of relationships between the seller and the buyer with each other. The volume of these relations between the seller and the buyer is a good criterion for deciphering the performance of marketing tactics and strategies. CRM is a business strategy aimed at increasing the volume of this relationship, as well as profitability, revenue and customer satisfaction.

CRM includes 3 components in itself. Customer (Customer), Relationship (Relationship), Management (Management).

Customer: The customer is the only source for the current profitability of enterprises and their future development. A customer who provides more profit with a smaller budget is seen as a customer who can always leave in an increasingly competitive environment. It is quite difficult to distinguish who is always the profitable customer. The decision to purchase is made under many factors. Information technologies provide the opportunity to manage and differentiate customers. CRM can be considered as a marketing and approach based on customer knowledge.

Relationship: The relationship between the enterprise and the customer involves a two-dec communication and interaction. The relationship can be long-term or short-term, continuous or intermittent, recurrent or one-time. The relationship can develop depending on the circumstances or behaviorally. Although customers have a positive attitude towards the business and its products, their purchasing behavior is usually dependent on the conditions. As all these explanations reveal, CRM is the management of the relationship with the client in order to make the described relationship more profitable.

Management: CRM should not be considered as an activity related to marketing alone. Because it involves the change of the culture and processes of the enterprise. The customer information collected is transferred to the business database as information that will guide actions that allow it to take advantage of sunday opportunities and information. Customer Relationship Management for CRM requires a comprehensive change in the organization and the individuals who make up the organization.

The Emergence of the Concept of CRM

In order to better understand the phenomenon of CRM and the line along which CRM comes today, it is necessary to know how and how this concept has developed. In the business world, a number of existing products, services, solutions and concepts are brought to us again and again, sometimes changing shape, sometimes without any changes. Articles published in various publications This is a fact that people who look at the business world from a slightly different angle from time to time apply, especially in the early 2000s, the concept of CRM, which was mentioned a lot in the name, is experienced. From the point of view of manufacturers and sellers, it can be said that until the 1970s, in advanced economies of the world, as well as in developing countries, there were not many problems with the sale of many mass-produced products. During this period, the idea of selling what it produces in general prevailed, so it would not be wrong to say that managers focused on the issues of mass and rapid production. In those years, companies that have started to go public by creating great expectations in the eyes of shareholders should increase their turnover continuously, as well as increase their sunday value by achieving profitability and similar financial goals, increase their market value in the market environment, provide income and value growth to their investors. However, in these years, thanks to the developing technology, production costs have decreased, production has become abundant, goods and services have become easily imitated and cheapened, and the issue of competition has gradually begun to emerge. After a certain point, the current sunday has become unable to consume increased production as easily as before. As a natural result of this process, customers have started to become more demanding and less loyal by taking advantage of this situation. In this case, non-working money, the ability to pay non-sector of the sale of goods and services possible at the lack of courage to take the risk, it requires the search for new markets, new markets by opening an easy to make a profit in the short term due to the lack of existing consumption is put on the need of the market, so to speak, "create a need" the competition began to be felt in an environment that is gaining importance in the teachings of traditional marketing. Dec sundays, market research, corporate image, corporate communication, pricing, promotion such as advertising, which are among them, have become popular during this period, as a result of which those who manage the marketing departments of enterprises have had to be paid very large sums of money. The competition slowly began to show itself in this new business environment, the marketing mindset from the traditional teachings of the managers that have been shaped by one after the other to provide better products, and lower the price or raise, reduce costs, more advertising, promotion and these ideas began to emerge for a while oyalamis companies like brilliant ideas do it. However, this traditional approach, which meets the initial requirements and has a positive effect on the sales of companies, has started to become clogged and inadequate at some point. During this period, the customer has been rediscovered and new experiences such as personalized marketing, orientation to distinguished customers, customer focus have emerged. Companies moving in this direction received some benefit at first, although they actually had no creative side, marketing strategies based on demographic information analysis, which had not yet been done until those years, also worked somewhat. During this period,;

Sending a card to a client on his birthday,
Who distributes villa brochures in Sunday's newspaper to residents of expensive neighborhoods,
Offering educational loans to those with children,
Group A / group B /... Organizations that make classifications such as / Z group consumer group, which make these classifications based on criteria such as whether the customer lives in a luxury neighborhood, has an expensive car, whether his son has to study at a university abroad, works as a manager in a company operating in granite-covered plazas, etc., have reached an era at that time. However, it would not be wrong to say that the most basic concepts of CRM have not been implemented during this period, when customer profitability and efficiency are perceived so simply, and competition is still not seen enough.
The foundations of modern CRM began to be laid after the competition began to manifest itself clearly. During this period, despite the fact that the geographical market of each country is different, there are sundays that have a large number of customers or offer a large number of products/services, but the most important of them are,

Giant organizations operating in the United States, most of which live and feel the competition at every moment, where the free market economy is applied as much as possible, first entered into this issue at the end of the 1970s. At first, in CRM projects launched by giant organizations of US origin, marketing departments realized that they were on a whole new journey. Apart from traditional marketing teachings, they also felt the need to question completely different topics. During this period, they also tried to understand the real behavior of customers in order to act from a different point of view and help create their strategies. As mentioned above, some of the companies were able to recognize the customer to some extent by using basic demographic information such as the neighborhood where he lives, income status, family structure, the brand of the car he uses. However, there were also a number of transactions that customers made, as well as their fixed, demographic information. In order to fully recognize the customer, it was undoubtedly necessary to analyze the actual behavior of the customers in detail.

Customers were giving a hint of 100% accuracy to the hands of companies in every transaction they made, including purchases of all kinds of goods and services. This tip clearly revealed the lifestyle of people, their buying tendencies, consumption habits, the status of using/ not using the service channels offered. In order for companies to collect this tip, they did not need to interfere in the private life of customers, ask annoying questions and conduct surveys. This valuable information, which has not been used up to that day, has been uploaded back to the systems to be considered the number one source for marketing, product development and sales strategies. All of the giant companies that have chosen this path mentioned in the detailed analysis of customer transactions have directed their most valuable human resources to these projects, invested in technology, and entered into long-term and high expectations in order to achieve these goals. The first to start work gradually began to bear fruit and gained a competitive advantage. Realizing that CRM is different from a building or bridge project, that it is a living project and that it is actually a way of life in a sense, they updated their organization and all kinds of strategies accordingly. It aims to find products and/or services. Instead of constantly finding new customers and increasing sunday market share with it, it is the main goal of CRM to increase the amount of money that can be taken from their pocket by taking care of what may be available and potential customers one-on-one.

Objectives of CRM

As mentioned in the definition, customer relationship management is a strategy. In order for an enterprise to be different from its competitors, it is necessary to have methods that it should apply. If the product produced is similar to other products, prices will decline to the point of meeting basic costs, and profitability will approach zero. What needs to be done at this point is to differentiate the product. With today's technologies, differentiation has become easier. Therefore, any innovation implemented in the product is very quickly imitated by competitors. It is necessary to look at this differentiation business from a different point of view. In addition to differentiating efforts from improving the product, "What does the customer want?" starting with the question " from a strategic point of view, it will bring businesses to be ahead of the competition. Within the framework of the explanations carried out so far, the objectives of customer relationship management can be listed under the following headings:

To make customer relations profitable: To enable marketing and sales departments to establish and maintain long-term and profitable relationships with customers.
To achieve differentiation: It is possible to catch the difference in an environment where the products are similar to each other, to get to know the customers one-on-one and to do one-on-one production and one-on-one marketing for them.
Ensuring cost minimization: It is possible to get back the budget allocated for a well-designed and thought-out customer relationship management project with a system approach in a short time. If additional sales from existing customers, customer retention gains, savings in sales costs and reductions in in-house communication costs are taken into account, the allocated budget can be restored in a short time.
To increase the efficiency of the enterprise: Enterprises have designed the GER activity according to their needs. However, the designs that need to be made are realized from the outside to the inside, that is, around the needs of the customer.
Providing compatible activities: It combines CRM, sales, marketing, customer service activities with internet opportunities and ensures that all these activities work in harmony. By synthesizing the information provided from both traditional sales channels and other alternative channels, a high level of customer knowledge and relationship opportunity is provided.
Meeting customer demands: With the help of CRM, it is possible for the entire organization to recognize customers. Thanks to the feedback received from customers, it becomes possible to do the work the way they want.
As a result, today customers have more options, they have more alternatives and they don't hesitate to change their institution at all. In order for customers to do business with the enterprise, it is necessary to do the work as they want. This can be achieved by giving importance to customers, getting to know them better, establishing strategies on the information gained and making all customers part of the business process.

Stages of CRM

Managing customer relations entails a certain process. These stages are described in detail below.

Customer Selection

The first stage of CRM is the "Customer Selection" stage. The main purpose of CRM at this stage is "who is the most profitable customer?" is to answer the question. Product descriptions, marketing studies, and market research are all centered around this axis. In addition, the following studies are carried out at this stage:

Determination of the Target Audience
Segmentation (Segmentation)
Positioning
Campaign plans
Brand and customer planning
New product launches
Identification and segmentation of the target audience is a very important marketing activity. For marketing managers, customers are difficult to understand, their buying behavior is complex elements. With the selection of the target audience, it will be possible to appeal to customers with similar characteristics, similar likes and exhibiting similar buying behavior. In this way, campaign plans, brand and customer plans and new product launches can be carried out within the framework of customer relationship management. The work carried out at this stage focuses especially on the customers who may be the most profitable for the business. For example, his monthly income

The social environment of the customers who are over 5000 TL, the cars they use, the house they live in will be different according to the customers in the lower income group. In this case, the company will develop, price, distribute and hold appropriate products within the framework of customer relationship management.

Customer Acquisition

The second stage of CRM is the "Customer Acquisition" stage. All the work done to win the selected customer, especially the sales efforts, are placed on this axis. The main purpose of this universe is to realize the sale. "How to make a sale to a particular customer in the most effective way?" the answer to the question is the purpose of this universe. The studies carried out at this stage are as follows:

Need Analysis
Creating An Offer
Closing Steps
The most important step to ensure customer satisfaction in marketing activities is to determine the needs and create marketing mix elements (which can be called offers) that are appropriate for these needs. The effectiveness of these activities will bring the enterprise closer to the sale. Based on the previous example, the level of quality that the same group of customers expect in the products they will prefer, the image of the brand will be different. In this case, the enterprise will be able to turn its efforts into sales when it can create offers that meet these expectations.

In companies that implement CRM, sales campaigns, brochure mailing, direct marketing such as sales campaigns to increase sales can also be performed more result-oriented than before, and the success rate is much higher. The success rate of direct mailing can be up to 30-40%. With the effective use of the customer database that has been created together with CRM, a very high accuracy customer segmentation rate can be performed and the sales campaigns offered through different channels are directed according to the actual customer behavior. It is possible to characterize campaigns made in this way as a "Goal-Oriented Campaign". These campaigns are as shown in the figure below.

Customer Protection

The third stage of CRM is the "Customer Protection" stage. Customer loyalty and customer satisfaction concepts are also included in this axis. The aim here is to keep the customer for as long as possible, to connect him to the business, to keep him in the business and to ensure the continuity of the relationship. Keeping good customers, making them permanent and making them loyal customers is as natural and indispensable for businesses as people's breathing. Today's enterprises may have to revise their activities aimed at turning to customers and keeping them satisfied with the pressures of sunday conditions.

The studies carried out at this stage are as follows:

Order Management
Delivery
Organization of Claims
Problem Management, Reflex system
In order for CRM to create benefits for the business, it is necessary to ensure that the customer who has purchased it once buys it again and again. For these purposes, the customer's expectations during and after the purchase should be best met. Long-term retention of customers obliges the implementation of interrelated management activities. Thus, while creating and improving organizational effectiveness, relationships with customers are also established and enriched. The conducted researches reveal some important results in front of us as follows:

A 5% shot at customer retention has the same profit impact as a 10% increase in overhead.

In order to replace a lost customer with a similar one, it is necessary to spend at least 5 times more time, energy and money. Despite the obvious benefits of customer satisfaction, most enterprises continue to rapidly reduce their expenses in a way that seriously undermines the possibilities of providing services to their existing customers. Today, customer retention for most of these businesses is seen as just a preference distinction in order to survive and maintain its existence.

It can be said that customers prefer other organizations, often because of their service dissatisfaction. On the other hand, making a satisfied customer permanent not only reduces the likelihood that the customer will leave the organization, but also significantly increases the chances that the business will gain new customers through their recommendations. It is not easy to make customers satisfied, satisfied. It is not easy at all, especially for organizations that enjoy protected or restricted competition, which continue to exist based on past achievements. During periods of high demand, it may be possible for every business to be successful. However, the conditions of increased competition have eliminated this situation. As a result of the increasing competitive environment and the emptying of consumers' preferences, companies are faced with the situation of not being able to produce and sell, and in the end, all that has been done does not help. In order not to get into such a situation, of course, it starts with making customers connected (creating loyal customers), retaining customers (making customers permanent), but with excellence in customer service. This, in turn, constitutes a critical issue on which all care should be taken. Keeping customers is useful for both the business and the customer. The customer maintains the relationship as long as the amount he receives is more than he gives. The client receives quality, satisfaction and benefits in exchange for financial and non-financial costs. On the other hand, building a relationship from a customer's point of view is an investment. The customer wants to take advantage of this investment for a long period of time. The time to be spent in a well-formed and long-term relationship has been shifted to another area for the client. Another benefit is that the organization can take on the role of consultant and promoter from a social and technical point of view for the client. Creating a loyal customer and maintaining this loyalty can bring multifaceted benefits to organizations. It has been revealed that customers tend to spend more every year on the products of companies with which they have established a certain relationship than in the previous year. As customers get to know the company better and compare it with competitors, they tend to do more business with the organization, being satisfied with the quality of services. One of the other important benefits is the costs; in order to attract customers, it is necessary to make certain expenses, therefore, to incur certain financial costs. Once an investment is made for the customer, maintaining the established relationship allows you to get a healthy return on your expenses. On the other hand, the creation of loyal customers through customer retention provides more effective promotion than any promotional tool can.

Customer Deepening

Customer deepening includes the steps necessary to maintain loyalty and profitability of an acquired customer for a long time and to increase the share of customer expenses. The aim is to provide new benefits from the relationship in which continuity is achieved. The studies carried out at this stage are as follows:

Cross-selling campaigns
Customer needs analysis
Among the important functions of marketing, demand satisfaction and demand creation stand out dec Enterprises that produce and sell more than one product should deepen the relationship by selling other products to a customer who has bought one product himself. In addition, these possible needs should be satisfied first by conducting product development studies that the customer may need in the future through customer needs analysis.

Components of CRM

In order to become a customer-oriented company, there are 3 components in the CRM world: people, process (process) and technology. The decision of which, when and how much to put into the CRM structure is one of the most important factors affecting the success of the CRM project. In this section, we will focus on these three components that make up CRM.

Human

The human component can be defined as the most basic element in CRM-oriented restructuring projects. The business that embarks on the CRM journey is undergoing a serious change, and business culture plays the most decisive role in the success of this exchange program. Change can be grouped into two headings: cultural and organizational. Looking at the cultural dimension, individuals need to understand and adopt a new way of thinking and doing business. In order for individuals to keep up with this change and create a certain infrastructure that will allow them to develop themselves in this regard, the personnel in businesses that are on a CRM journey should be trained in this regard. Customer relationship training is very important for the employees of the enterprise, especially those who face the customer, in order to transform the impression created on a customer into a positive one and to improve the quality of service. The correct methods given during the training should be sincerely adopted by employees. First of all, employees who can change their behavior in relation to customer relations should have reached the level of development that can do this behavior. In addition, the business environment should also be conducive to a change in behavior in this regard. The trained person should be willing to do these behaviors that will be changed or restored. The knowledge, skills and attitudes required for new behavior should be learned at an adequate level by the participants in the customer relations training. As it is known, the majority of the first-level employees who have the most contact with the customer in enterprises, who directly encounter and face the customers, are people with a low level of education, who receive a salary from the minimum wage and who have the least faith in the company. However, the success of the enterprise in customer relations and its reputation in the market depend on these people.

Those employees who have direct contact with the client tend to consciously or unconsciously reflect the attitude of their managers. Therefore, all managers in enterprises must first of all have the right attitude towards their employees and the behaviors that will motivate them. The enterprise should aim to create a new “company culture” with customer relationship management. All employees in the enterprise use the customer-oriented “way of behavior”

it should be adopted. Made according to the requirements of relevant industry and technology, customer relationship management, enterprise customer relationship Strategy, Policy and provided information about the functioning of the system of concrete proposals to their employees, which transferred, and you must have a permanent training instructed.

Process

In enterprises that are considering and have decided to implement CRM, business processes (operational processes) can be reviewed both to produce behavior analysis and data, and to work more accurately and efficiently, while new opportunities may arise. The opportunity to reevaluate and review processes is also available in CRM projects, and it would not be wrong to say that CRM projects indirectly contribute to increasing productivity in business. At the beginning of the 1990s started to be heard and BPR (Business Process ReEngineering) concept, doing so is a necessity, regardless of whether if it was applied by many businesses in line with the real needs, this action was applied by a small number of operating. At the moment, it is extremely natural that CRM projects that have been launched due to a real need again have the opportunity to reconsider their current processes, and companies should take advantage of this opportunity. Some once very popular concepts, such as Re-Engineering, TQM (Total Quality Management), have become more complicated than necessary in many enterprises because they have been implemented by businesses without knowing exactly what they are. Adopting the principle of the principle of operation of the process really efficient, many executives and grasped the futility of it until that moment which occupied the seat to give the opportunity to the emergence of a more dangerous situation for himself, or re-engineering projects is organized in a way that justifies their existence or processes baltalamis has done what is necessary to ensure that. This behavior, of course, includes efforts to protect the wrong processes exactly and prove that they are not actually wrong. Here, this opportunity that arises in CRM projects should not be missed and the wrong processes should be detected and ways to get rid of them completely should be sought. At the stage of reorganization of operational systems and processes in CRM projects from the point of view of CRM, it may be necessary to restructure the organization through the re-organization process. Nowadays who want to implement CRM large and well-established organizations needs are identified and developed before the advent of CRM operational processes many of the hardware that you need and need to these issues, as I wrote invested a lot of money "for detailed analysis of customer data" phase, the implementation of the CRM is also extremely challenging and costly. For this reason, businesses that will start a new activity should also consider their CRM needs when defining their processes and structures. The main purpose of the processes in the enterprise should be to perform customer transactions as soon as possible and in the most reliable way. In addition, attention should also be paid to the basic principles listed below:

Ability to receive, store and forward customer transaction details,
Integration of operational systems and processes with each other as "Customer-Oriented" (for example, to facilitate the process of collecting different products under one customer in a data warehouse environment, each system is based on the customer, not on accounts, cards, or similar numbers as the "Basic Key"),
Having basic analysis competence, that is, conducting uncomplicated queries and being open to accommodating some elements that help the official who will serve in front of the client make a final decision,
It should be clear that the ability to "Learn” from customer transactions can also be integrated in the future.
The concept of “Learning Organization”, which has emerged today, predicts that the way to adapt to changing conditions is through constant improvement and learning. No matter how dazzling a new actor or theory may be when considering customer relations as a production factor, there is no benefit to it if organizations and employees do not learn a lesson from it and apply it. Therefore, enterprises should evaluate existing customer relationships, learn about customer relationships, and make efforts to improve them. In traditional enterprises, problems encountered in customer relations have often arisen due to lower-level employees. In modern enterprises where customer service is important, the most important person is the employees at the lowest level who directly encounter the customer. For businesses that care about customer relations, these employees who face the customer are so important that the current organizational structure is reversed and other levels of management and business systems are organized in such a way as to support all employees in customer relations.

Technology

As one of the most important elements of CRM applications, technology is an important tool for detailed analysis of customer behavior and determining customer needs. Database marketing is a departure from the CRM process, as it is based on selling more products at less cost to the customer. It is not possible for database marketing to fully provide customer loyalty with discount campaigns or one-time promotions, as is done in database marketing. However, the CRM approach is customer-oriented. This approach is based on a long-term relationship and aims to provide benefits and value to the customer (Rogers, 2000). People who work in organizations that are going to start CRM projects and are authorized to make decisions about the technology to be used face a lot of confusing messages about this issue around them. These messages lead to the formation of the idea that the noble focus of most people is "Technology", or even worse, the application software to be used, moving away from the noble point of action of the CRM project. CRM projects often do not consist of a single product or element, but rather consist of the correct combination of many components in a format specific to the needs of the organization. In this context, foot while providing CRM technology and related products, this factor, in consideration of the company that sells a single product, not the CRM philosophy and fully understand this philosophy, in accordance with integrated product/products to work with companies that offer it would be more correct. Since various software is used in the technology element of CRM projects, it is extremely important that the risk of sticking to a single software is also taken into account in advance when choosing software. One of the biggest problems related to the costs of software products that are planned to be used for both CRM and other projects is software update. For this reason, in order to avoid unnecessary version upgrade costs, it is useful to focus on the updates included in the license price and open the concepts here. After it has been thoroughly determined whether the features that come with the new version of the software used are really needed, it is necessary to use the new version. One should not act decisively, ignoring the real goals, with the concern of using the final version. The attention and care shown in purchasing hardware and services related to both CRM and other projects should also be shown in the same software. It should be understood very clearly and very specifically what each component does, detailed information should be obtained from the seller's companies about it, and no purchase decision should be made without convincing them about it.

CRM Architecture

CRM is a strategy used to gain new customers, retain them, and win back customers who are in the situation of promoting competing companies. When developing CRM strategies, organizations should also take into account the purchasing behavior of customers. CRM architecture is defined by three elements: Operational CRM, Analytical CRM and Collaborative CRM. These elements are described below.

Operational CRM

Every activity that will require a direct connection with the customer is in the operational CRM. Operational CRM supports ongoing relationships with customers and suppliers through a wide range of tools, including telephone, fax, e-mail and mobile devices. The topics of Operational CRM include sales automation, call center and call center automation, strategies used in places where dec are in contact with the customer, and technologies that support these strategies. In the process that starts with marketing and sales activities, there is also an after-sales support service for receiving and fulfilling orders.

Analytical (Analytical) CRM

With analytical CRM, the tools necessary to analyze customer behavior are provided. In this context, data warehouse applications are included with the compilation and analysis of all the information generated in the operational department. The purpose of analytical CRM is to predict the future by looking at historical data. Analytical CRM provides better planning and management by performing analyzes. Without analytical CRM, it is impossible for integrated projects and operational CRM to function in a healthy way. There are many studies conducted in Turkey in the field of operational CRM. All banks and insurance companies have call centers. Customers are asked a lot of questions in these call centers. At this point, these questions should be forwarded to customers by "Analytical CRM". Because, "Who is that customer?", "What are his hobbies?", "Is he married or does he have children? behavioral habits such as " should also be known. In Turkey, such questions are asked without relying on Analytical CRM. Here, data should be returned from Analytical CRM to Operational CRM and from Operational CRM to Analytical CRM. Because the goal is to reach the right customer with the right campaigns. Although serious breakthroughs have been made in the field of Operational CRM in Turkey, Analytical CRM is still at the very beginning of the road.

Collaborative CRM

Collaborative CRM enables faster response to customers dec enables to increase efficiency in the supply chain by cooperating between customers, suppliers and business partners. Customer contact point management (telephone-voice, Internet, fax-letter, face-to-face direct contact) is included in this scope. Collaborative CRM consists of the optimal combination of Operational and Analytical CRM. These solutions, which allow creating a full-fledged network of interaction and coordination between customers and companies, allow information from different communication channels to be decoded into value. Collaborative CRM solutions include all the functions that allow you to interact with the customer.

Ten Critical Success Factors in CRM

The following are the 10 keys to successful CRM models for organizations running CRM projects or planning to start CRM projects.

Increasing Productivity:

In order to increase productivity, it is necessary to collect all the information in one place. For example, Benetton controls 8 thousand stores worldwide and customer preferences from a single center. If customers in South America prefer a tight sweater and a tight sweater, the information can be transmitted to the center instantly thanks to the barcode on it when buying it. In North America, if red-colored, straight-necked sweaters are preferred, by the same method, this information also reaches the center. information from 8 thousand stores is tracked along with their colors and models on a map. Production is carried out with this information from the consumer. Thus, whichever color and model is preferred in which region, those products are sent to that region. Benetton has spent $1 million on CRM technology.

Reduction of Cost:

Costs should be reduced in sales, marketing and general expenses. With CRM, costs can be decoupled between 5-10 percent. For example, a company that sends books to dead professors, because customer information is not constantly monitored, can avoid this situation by applying the CRM method and make a 5 percent profit.

Superior Staff Morale:

People leave a company all the time. When asked why, they said, "This is a high-tech company, but we can't use this technology". For this reason, CRM increases staff satisfaction and increases the number of people who want to enter that company.

Better Customer Information:

Thanks to CRM, a complete customer profile is emerging. Thus, customer satisfaction reaches 100 percent.

Customer Loyalty:

In a financially difficult situation, customer loyalty is a very important factor.

The Prototype of the System Needs to Be Found:

A pilot application of the system must be made first. Disruption points should be detected during pilot application.

User Training:

50 cents of every $1 spent should go to education. In the early years, even more attention should be paid to education. if $ 1 million has been invested in technology, $ 500 thousand of it should be spent on education.

Motivation of the Staff:

For a healthy development of CRM, it is necessary to look at the system and the value it provides to the company.

Managing the System:

It is very important that the established system is managed according to the situation and conditions.

Commitment of Management:

It is also necessary to keep the people in the senior management of the company connected to the system. For this purpose, it is necessary to report the contribution of CRM to the company and submit it to the management.

Strategies of CRM

CRM is based on the idea of establishing a learner relationship with each client. As a result of the learning relationship established with each customer, the company can more easily learn the expectations and needs of its customers and gain a competitive advantage by meeting these expectations just in time. In a learning relationship, the customer tells the business their needs and expectations, and the business can meet these needs and expectations with its products and services. The enterprise, together with its competitors

A similar type of consumption and interaction may be offered to customers. Since the business will have better customer information than its competitors through the learning relationship it has developed, it will not keep the business at the same level as competitors. In order to obtain the expected benefits from customer relationship management, businesses need to develop and implement a wide-ranging customer relationship management program. Nowadays, most enterprises have embarked on customer relationship management activities without proper preparation. Customer relationship management activities are quite complex activities. First of all, in order for such activities to be developed and implemented in the enterprise, an appropriate organizational culture has been developed, and then continuing education is a very important element so that sales personnel can be kind and understanding. In order for businesses to successfully perform customer relationship management and evaluate the results, they need to develop a customer relationship management program. This program has four basic steps. These are identifying customers, distinguishing customers from each other, engaging in mutual interactions with customers, providing products or services that meet the needs of each individual customer.

1. Step: To identify customers. Considering the needs and values of the enterprise's customers for CRM, the value of each individual customer should be positioned individually. In order to achieve this, a large number of customers should be contacted or at least a learning relationship should be established with customers who are quite valuable to the business. It is quite important to have as much information about customers as possible. It is not enough just to know the customer's first name, last name, address, account number, phone number, but also the customers' habits, experiences, expectations and more should be known. The learning relationship is a process for both parties. It is very important not only to have a relationship at the time of sale once, but also to know the customers at every connection point with the customers, in every situation and location, to learn their expectations. The activities that businesses can do to identify customers are summarized in the following table.

Table 1.1. Necessary Activities and Elements to be Paid Attention to in Order to Identify Customers

Activities

Elements to Be Considered

Create a customer database. Enter more customer information into the existing database.

Using external service channels for data entry or reviews. Exchanging customer data with a non-competitive enterprise in the company's field

Collecting october information about customers and placing them in the existing database

Deleting invalid information about customers and updating customer data. To determine the accuracy of this information.

To learn more about customers by having short-term dialogues at december intervals. To investigate the validity of the information in the database during certain periods.

2. Step: Separating customers; in general, customers differ from each other in two main ways. Firstly, the values that customers present to the enterprise differ from each other. Secondly, customers have different needs and expectations. In these two basic aspects, customers can be separated from each other. In this case, it will be easier to focus on the efforts that are necessary to get more advantages in valuable customers. Cost savings can be achieved by recognizing high-cost customers and developing lower-cost marketing strategies for them. In addition, by separating customers from each other, their needs and expectations can be met just in time. The activities necessary to distinguish customers from each other are described in the following table.

Table 1.2. Activities to be implemented and elements to be paid attention to when separating customers from each other.

Activities

Elements to Be Considered

To identify valuable customers of the enterprise.

Using last year's sales amounts and other relevant data to identify the 5% most valuable customers for the business.

To identify customers who have a high cost to the enterprise.

To distinguish customers who have a high cost to the business from others, identify customers who have not ordered for a year or more and reduce the costs incurred for them.

Find valuable customers who have complained about one or more products or services for the past year

To approach the complaints of these customers specifically. To provide product or quality assurance for these. Checking the order process

To investigate customers who ordered a smaller amount this year than last year.

Visiting such clients. To measure their degree of satisfaction.

To identify customers who receive more products and services than competitors.

To make attractive offers to such customers.

Based on the value that customers offer to the business; dividing it into A, B, C groups.

To reduce expenses and marketing activities for group C customers, to use the saved funds for valuable customers in group A.

3. Step: To interact with customers; the critical components of marketing are to communicate effectively with cost effectiveness while interacting with customers. Cost-effectiveness can be achieved by using more low-cost communication channels. For example, website usage and search centers dec be created. The use of the website depends on the correct and timely provision of customers' needs. Each interaction established with customers should complement each other. It should be known when and through which communication channel the enterprise connects with customers. As a result of these interactions, it will be possible to provide product and service delivery in accordance with customer expectations.

4. Step: To provide products and services suitable for the needs of each customer; businesses can have the ability to provide a different behavior for each of their customers by focusing on the learning relationship with their customers. In this way, they can meet their customer needs and expectations in a timely and accurate manner. This, in turn, can make customers more loyal to the business. Loyal customers are also the reward of customer relationship management implemented by the enterprise.

As is known, CRM can be defined as getting to know the customer, understanding the customer's need, developing services and products suitable for it, and sharing this information within the organization. Now, thanks to technology, it is much easier to process and develop information. CRM is a form of management and organizational model. Technology, on the other hand, is a tool that provides and supports this. In addition, in order for companies to stand out from their competitors, they must dec customer tracking applications, installment sales applications, overdraft sales applications, promotional applications, announcements, advertising information applications. Increasing efficiency in retailing is possible by turning to vertical applications. Customers can also track and manage the whole experience with the company target the right customers, clients, which are in contact with the consolidation of all business processes, 360-degree look of the Customer Relationship, provide customers themselves to ensure that the service they give, provide personalized service, customers should create the environment to communicate among themselves.

CRM and Technology

CRM is not implementing a technological CRM package as is generally thought. For an effective CRM, it is necessary to restructure the organization and bring it into a customer-oriented structure. If the technology purchased in these applications is supported by changes in understanding, it will be able to add the expected value to the company. Customers can now access information very quickly and can always choose the one that suits them better than the one that suits them better. This was especially the result of the development of the Internet and new communication technologies. All these developments now lead to the fact that out of the many options, customers find a company quite consciously and choose to become a customer of this company. Firms are becoming aware and have an Unlimited Choice customers so quickly on almost any subject not to buy from a competitor product to customers that the company computers from the best of time at the beginning of two minutes more seizures during this period, from the firm to satisfy the customer, and this is to ensure continuity of satisfaction, the key to success creates. Collecting, managing and evaluating customer information effectively has become the most important competitive advantage that companies have. The value of a company is no longer determined by physical assets, but by intangible assets. One of the two important parts of this is human resources and the other is customer relations. These are resources that guarantee the future success of a company, not its past. Therefore, companies should invest in these issues

is required. It has been accepted as an organizational technique to think and plan customer relations within the marketing activities of the company. Nowadays, consumers have become dominated by their preferences. With the spread of communication tools, consumers have also found the opportunity to monitor the production mechanism that occurs outside their own environment. In parallel with these developments, the responsibilities of the manager have increased. Paying more attention to customer requests than necessary, lowering standards in the ability to design and operate products can result in inefficiency of the services provided. Therefore, management should always be guiding, convincing in front of the masses. In short, a manager who wants to be successful should determine the importance of customers well.