Customer Service Strategy 

 Strategy development   

For a CRM product to succeed, you first need to create a customer service strategy.  Start by figuring out which customers you want to build relationships with and which you don’t.   You customer base should be divided into groups, ranging from the ones you have the broadest deepest profitability to those with the least profit and whom you don’t want to serve.  Based on these segments, the following questions are a start to creating the customer service strategy

•        Who is the customer? (attitudes, perceptions, behavior, and needs) and where is the customer in their relationship to the organization

·         How must our value proposition change to earn greater customer loyalty

·         How much customization is appropriate and profitable for our strategy

·         What is the potential value of increasing the loyalty of our customers?  How much does it vary by customer segment?

·         How much time and money can we allocate to CRM right now?

·         If we believe in customer relationships, why aren’t we taking steps towards CRM program today?  What can we do next week to build customer relationships without spending a cent on technology?

•  When and Why is the customer breaking off their relationship with the organization?

 Parts of the above taken from the HBR . 02

 Customer relationship metrics leading toward the strategy:

Developing customer relationship metrics enables companies to begin to understand the hurdles that keep customers from becoming loyal and profitable.  Typically, the hurdles are “perception, process, or product” issues that can be addressed with improved Marketing communication development, Product Development, and Channel Development.  The first and foremost step that one needs to undertake in this transition to CRM capabilities, is understanding how the customer moves through five distinct steps with the company before customer loyalty is attained.

The five steps are: