Sales & Customer Relationship Management

Unit 1 – Customer Services

Author : Prof ( Dr.) Narinder Kumar Bhasin

Unit 1 : Customer Service

1.1 : Types of Customers

1.2 : Needs of the customers
1.3 : Understanding the 5 stages in customer relationship
1.4 : Customer Relationship Management - Definition
1.5 : Understanding CRM
1.6 :Determinants of CRM
1.7 :Function of CRM Model
1.8 :Managing Customer relationship

In sales, commerce and economics, a customer (sometimes known as a client, buyer, or

purchaser) is the recipient of a good, service, product or an idea - obtained from a seller,
vendor, or supplier via a financial transaction or exchange for money or some other
valuable consideration.

1.1 Types of Customers

Here are five sales-oriented types of customers you will encounter.

1. Potential customer – The Potential Paul

The Potential Paul is a type of customer that is on the very beginning of your sales funnel.
Technically, Paul is not your customer yet. However, you should give them the full treatment
and hopefully change that quickly.

Potential Paul is a lead that needs nurturing and warming up before making a buying decision.
He already showed some interest in your business, either by filling out a contact form, asking a
question on one of your support channels, signing up for a newsletter or came to your website as
a result of other lead generation methods.

That piece of interest is what separates Paul from other website visitors. You can use that spark
of interest to convert him into a paying customer. It’s much more effective than carpet bombing
all website visitors with offers.

How to deal with Potential Paul:

  Show him value: You can capitalize on his interest by clearly showing him what he can
get from your product. You can do this yourself or point him to a resource like a landing
page or a case study that will do it for you.
 Reveal yourself: Make sure to let the potential customer know that they can ask for help
or advice at any time. Even if the customer won’t need it immediately, they will
appreciate the offer.

2. New customer – New Neil

New Neil is the fresh customer that just bought something from you. He is still learning the ropes
of using your product. You need to do everything in your power to make that adoption period
smooth.

Even though you already made a sale, you can’t leave Neil without any help. If he won’t receive
it, he may not find much success with your product. The time you save by not helping Neil will
be less valuable than the future business he may bring.

You can make sure that doesn’t happen with a proper user onboarding. After someone buys you
product, you need to guide them and show them how to use it.

How to deal with New Neil:

 Guide them to success: You can earn a long-lasting customer by investing a bit of your
time into explaining how your product works and making sure the new customer knows
how to use it. You can do that with a proper onboarding process.
 Leave a contact option open: Even if you offer an automated onboarding to customers,
have a live customer service option available. It will go a long way in situations when a
customer has a question that’s not covered in the onboarding.

3. Impulsive Customer – Impulsive Iggy

This is the type of customer that can make a buying decision in an

instant, provided that the conditions are right.

You see, Iggy doesn’t need much convincing to make a purchase.

You don’t need to warm this lead up with value proposition too
much.

What Iggy needs to buy something is a clear and easy way to do

that. The less steps involved, the higher chances that a customer like
Iggy will make a purchase.
Clear the way for Iggy and get rid of any distraction he may face to
make sure you’re not wasting that buying impulse when it comes.

How to deal with Impulsive Iggy:

 Clear the way to checkout: Make sure nobody needs a manual to make a purchase on
your website. The less clicks and information needed to make a purchase, the better.
 Quick and concise help: If you get a question from Iggy, make the answer short. Stick to
the brass tacks. You also need to provide the response quickly. If you take too long, the
buying impulse will fade and Iggy will leave your website.

4. Discount customer – Discount Dan

Discount Dan is the type of customer that sees value in your product but won’t buy it at full
price. Upselling your product to Dan is nearly impossible.

Dan is usually looking for some extra information on the exact conditions of the deal or
discount you are offering. You can help him by explaining the deal and what he needs to do to
use it.

Once the deal runs out, it’s hard to keep Dan as a customer. If you are offering a service at a
discounted price, Dan will usually leave once the discount stops applying. To increase your
chances of keeping Dan as a customer, you need to show him that he is not only getting a
product at a discount, but he also gets amazing customer service bundled with his purchase.

You need to provide added value that will make Dan think twice before switching to another
company.

How to deal with Discount Dan:

 Explain the deal: Provide all the necessary details about the deal to avoid any confusion.
Dan may also require help with entering a discount code or using a coupon so make sure
your team knows the deal’s details.
 Offer added value: To make sure Dan continues being one of your customers, you need
to go beyond your initial offering. Add the cherry on top of the deal. Something that they
can’t get elsewhere. Stellar customer service can be one of such advantages that will help
you keep Dan as a customer.

5. Loyal customer – Loyal Larry

This type of customers keeps coming back for more. Apart from having a significant impact on
your revenue, Larry will be also your brand’s ambassador.
Larry and customers like him help you grow through word of mouth. He will recommend your
business or product to his friends and family, sending a healthy stream of new customers your
way.

You should try to leverage his experience and learn what makes him so satisfied with your
business. When you have the chance, ask Larry which aspect of your product or business he likes
the most. Take note and try to replicate that experience so that other customers can become your
brand ambassadors.

How to deal with Loyal Larry

 Give him a platform: You can help Larry spread the love and feature him in a case
study. A bit of social proof like that will make your landing pages much more appealing
to potential customers.
 Learn from his experience: See what turned Larry into a loyal follower and make sure
that happens more often with other customers.
 Don’t mess it up: Whatever you do, make sure that Larry stays excited about your
product and business.

Other types of sales customers

Know of any other types of sales customers? Feel free to pitch in and share your experience. The
list is definitely not final and there are more names we could add.

And this is only the sales part.

Tune in next time when we will be discussing types of support customers and methods you can
use to make sure they have a memorable support experience.

( Source : 5 Types of Customers and How to Approach Them (Pt1) , By Jacob Firuta in
LiveChat Blog > Types of customers, April 1, 2016 )

1.2 : Needs of the Customer :

Know your customers' needs. However good your product or service is, the simple truth is that no-one
will buy it if they don't want it or believe they don't need it. And you won't persuade anyone that they
want or need to buy what you're offering unless you clearly understand what it is your customers
really want.

The Six Basic Needs of Customers

1. Friendliness
Friendliness is the most basic of all customers needs, usually associated with being greeted
graciously and with warmth. We all want to be acknowledged and welcomed by someone who
sincerely is glad to see us. A customer shouldn’t feel they are an intrusion on the service
provider’s work day!

2. Understanding and empathy

Customers need to feel that the service person understands and appreciates their circumstances
and feelings without criticism or judgment. Customers have simple expectations that we who
serve them can put ourselves in their shoes, understanding what it is they came to us for in the
first place.

3. Fairness
We all need to feel we are being treated fairly. Customers get very annoyed and defensive when
they feel they are subject to any class distinctions. No one wants to be treated as if they fall into a
certain category, left wondering if “the grass is greener on the other side” and if they only
received second best.

4. Control
Control represents the customers’ need to feel they have an impact on the way things turn out.
Our ability to meet this need for them comes from our own willingness to say “yes” much more
than we say “no.” Customers don’t care about policies and rules; they want to deal with us in all
our reasonableness.

5. Options and alternatives

Customers need to feel that other avenues are available to getting what they want accomplished.
They realize that they may be charting virgin territory, and they depend on us to be “in the
know” and provide them with the “inside scoop.” They get pretty upset when they feel they have
spun their wheels getting something done, and we knew all along a better way, but never made
the suggestion.

6. Information
“Tell me, show me – everything!” Customers need to be educated and informed about our
products and services, and they don’t want us leaving anything out! They don’t want to waste
precious time doing homework on their own – they look to us to be their walking, talking,
information central.

( Rosa Say is the author of Managing with Aloha, Bringing Hawaii’s Universal Values to the
Art of Business and the Talking Story blog. She is also the founder and head coach of Say
Leadership Coaching, a company dedicated to bringing nobility to the working arts of
management and leadership ).

1.3 : Understanding the 5 stages in Customer relationship

For years, we’ve described what we do as a means to improve the marketing ROI for our
clients. As our clients juggle new channels, new technology and new media, we realize that
their relationships with their customers and prospects have to be 24/7 and “always on." How
we help them with analytics, strategy and marketing technology today really goes beyond
just the marketing process, helping them deliver a consistent and relevant brand experience
across the entire consumer relationship.

Our paradigm has shifted from just acquisition

and retention. Today we need to think about
every stage of the customer relationship and how
we can coordinate and optimize each to improve
the overall value of the customer. The
methodology is the same – analyze the customer,
use insights to fine tune strategy and then use
technology to automate and streamline the
interactions any way we can. Now, however, we
have to cover more stages in the relationship. A
little simplification certainly helps – while there
are unlimited steps in each individual customer’s
multichannel interactions with your brand,
moving to five stages in your planning makes this
“always on” relationship a bit more manageable.

Below are some questions you’ll want answers to

as you build out that 24/7 relationship:

1. Share. Before your prospects ever make a

purchase, they are probably talking about you
with their friends or researching your products
online. Understanding who your customer
evangelists are is the first line of offense – they are probably the group that will be sought
out with questions by prospects. Consider Evangelists as a special target audience that
should have all the most up-to-the-minute information about your products and services so
they can give the right advice before you ever have the chance to talk to a prospect. Start
experimenting with social listening platforms to find out what kind of conversations are
happening online where your brand is mentioned. Consider a strategy where your outbound
contact centers reach out proactively wherever your brand is mentioned to make sure
bloggers or detractors have information from your point of view.

2. Attract. Understand where visitors are coming from online and offline! How customers
heard about you and what drove them to your brand isn't nice to know – it's something you
need to know. Just as traditional direct response marketers always evaluate the source of a
customer, marketers should try to identify the source and maintain that information on the
database because it will illuminate the vast differences between attraction strategies. Bring
online and offline data together to try to evaluate both the overall value of the source and the
different value of the customers who are attracted from each.

3. Convert.How does the conversion to a sale happen, and when does it fall apart? You
should know the cost of the sale and the lost opportunity when prospects fall out of your
pipeline, shopping cart or walk out of the store without finding what they were looking for.
 Be ready with automated messaging and outbound support as soon as those events happen.
Finding your conversion problems and fixing them with automated communications can
often deliver an excellent return on investment.

4. Retain.It’s amazing how sophisticated marketers don’t really understand how many
customers they lose on a regular basis. Really understanding your retention or attrition rates
can be the highest revenue generating research you can do. Play around with retention
scenarios and see how much you can gain by reducing attrition by just 1% – it’s usually a
very large revenue number. And remember to think about retention in terms of cohorts –
many companies lose first-year customers at much higher rates than customers who have
stuck around for longer. The average retention rate across all customers is usually a very
misleading number. Some membership organizations say they have 80% retention, but they
lose over 95% of first-year customers. If you understand what the triggers are in the first
year, you can make much better decisions about what it’s worth investing in to turn a one-
year customer into a two-year customer.

5. Grow.Some of your customers will happily grow their relationship with you and others
will deliver less opportunity. Use the same kind of analytics to find growth opportunity as
you do to find the initial sales opportunity; the payback may be much higher.

Each of these five stages deserves smart, targeted and personalized strategies that will help
deliver a more consistent, satisfying relationship for your customers. If we want to truly
create an always-on relationship, stop focusing just on acquisition and retention and discover
the terrific return on investment opportunity across relationship stages.

Martha Bush is SVP of Strategy at SIGMA Marketing InsightsConnect with her on Twitter
or LinkedIn.

1.4 CRM Definition :Customer relationship management (CRM) refers to the principles,
practices, and guidelines that an organization follows when interacting with its customers. From
the organization's point of view, this entire relationship not only encompasses the direct
interaction aspect, such as sales and/or service related processes, but also in the forecasting and
analysis of customer trends and behaviors, which ultimately serve to enhance the customer's
overall experience.

With the growth of the internet and related technologies, customers are concerned over the
privacy and safety of their personal information. Therefore, businesses need to ensure that the
storage and analysis of the customer data must have the highest levels of protection against cyber
criminals, identity theft and other breaches of securities.

CRM refers to practices , strategies , and technologies that company use to :

a. Manage and analyze customer interactions and data throught the customer life,
b. With the goal of improving business relationship with the customers ,
 c. Assisting in customer retention and
d. Driving Growth.

CRM systems are designed to compile information on customers across different channels – or
point of contact between the customer and the company which will include the :

a. company`s website
b. telephone
c. live chat
d. direct mail
e. marketing materials and
f. social media
CRM systems can also give customer facing staff detailed information on customer`s
personal information , purchase history , buying preferences and concerns.

1.5 :Understanding Customer Service

Customer service is the process of ensuring customersatisfaction with a product or service.

Often, customer service takes place while performing a transaction for the customer, such as
making a sale or returning an item. Customer service can take the form of an in-person
interaction, a phone call, self-service systems, or by other means.

Customer service is an extremely important part of maintaining ongoing client relationships that
are key to continuing revenue. For this reason, many companies have worked hard to increase
their customer satisfaction levels. Often there are many more people working behind the scenes
at a company than there are customer service representatives, yet it is primarily the personnel
that interact directly with customers that form customers' perceptions of the company as a whole.

1.6Basic Determinants of CRM :

1. Product Leadership :Tailor made products – Best in the industry – Winning advantage
over competitor’s – Suits the customer needs.
2. Customer Intimacy :New Customer attraction – consumer buying behavior ,
competitive advantage – customer satisfaction – customer retention – acquisition , long
term relationship , knowledge management , web enabled customer service , customer
value.
3. Operational Excellence – Front Office Customer Interaction – Enables communication –
Enables communication area where direct customer contact happens – Operational CRM
provides integration of back office transaction with customer interfaces.
Reading Material :Gefen& Riding ( 2002 ) divided CRM into three folds : Operational ,
Analytical and Colloborative.,Article: DETERMINANTS OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP
MANAGEMENT (CRM): A CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS - Mohammad Shamsuddoha

1.7Function of CRM Model :

Customer Relation Management Systems have many different functions that all can be extremely
beneficial to any business. Customer Relation Management Systems can process a companies
use to track and organize its contacts with its current and prospective customers. CRMs store all
customer data in a single database. This helps businesses avoid customer data errors.

It can also improve services for customers to use customer contact information for target
markets. Customer Relation Management Systems integrate all the primary business activities.
This makes every day business processes much more efficient. Customer Relation Management
Systems prioritize customers using their purchase history. This allows a company to delineate
which customers are most important and target most of their efforts towards. This means that
Customer Relation Management Systems maximize the value of a company's existing customer
base.

This system enables employees in every department to see and know the customer's complete
history. Enabling employees to review customer history allows them to analyze customer activity
and can help to sell more of their product or service to that customer. Employees can do this by
viewing customers that have previously ordered large quantities of their product or service. On
the other hand it can help a company realize when they have lost a customer. A company can do
this by seeing the past history of the customer. This is helpful so that a company does not waste
time on a customer that they have already lost. It can also help to avoid any complaints or issues
that a customer may have had in the past to correct it for the future. Another aspect of Customer
Relation Management Systems is it can help turn prospective customers into loyal customers. All
of these functions help companies maximize the value of their existing customers as well as
acquiring new customers.
1.7 Managing CRM :

1. High value , loyal , returning , satisfied , profitable customer is the key focal point for
profitable and growth organizations.

2. Today customer required flexibility , availability , creativity , and price advantage from
the service provider or bank or any organizations.

3. This change in outbound customer interaction has created a doubling of customer

loyality , and retention along with the understanding the issues and concerns of the best
customers.

Read : Chapter 1 : On google “ Managing Customer Relationships – Accelerating

Customer Relationships : Using CRM and relationships technologies by Ronald S swift

Other CRM Related topics discussed : 1

2. What is the '80-20 Rule'

The 80-20 rule is a rule of thumb that states that 80% of outcomes can be attributed to 20% of all
causes for a given event. In business, the 80-20 is often used to point out that 80% of a
company's revenue is generated by 20% of its total customers. Therefore, the rule is used to help
managers identify and determine which operating factors are most important and should receive
the most attention, based on an efficient use of resources.

The 80-20 rule is also known as the Pareto principle, the principle of factor sparsity and the law
of the vital few. At its core, the 80-20 rule is a statistical distribution of data that says that 80% of
a specific event can be explained by 20% of the total observations.The 80-20 rule was first
introduced by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who, in 1906, observed that 80% of Italy's land
was controlled by 20% of its population. From there, it was developed by Joseph Juran, a 20th
century figure in the study of management techniques and principles. Jurin took the rule and
applied it to a number of different facets of business and the economy. It is now used to describe
almost any type of output in the real world.
Real World Example of the 80-20 Rule

For example, the 80-20 rule in economics refer to the fact that 80% of a country's wealth is
usually controlled by 20% of its population, although this can sometimes be explained by
the Gini index. Nigeria was found, on June 22, 2016, to have this exact distribution of wealth
within its country's borders. The minimum yearly income needed to sustain a living in Nigeria
was $1,000 as of June 22, 2016, yet more than 74% of the population lived below this poverty
level.This distribution came after the country's population grew by 12% while its GDP rose by
54% from 2010 to 2014. However, the allocation of the increased wealth was not even, and it
exacerbated the income inequality, thus adding to the Pareto principle.

Practical Application of the 80-20 Rule

The 80-20 rule is most commonly used for analyzing sales and marketing. If a company can
identify its highest-spending customers, it can effectively market to them in order to retain
existing customers and acquire similar consumers. Therefore, companies should dissect their
revenues and understand who makes up their top 20% of customers.

From there, it's been found that the top 4% of a customer base accounts for 64% of total sales,
meaning that the more granular a company can get in its analysis, the more accurate the
understanding of its customers becomes. This then allows companies to launch targeted
marketing campaigns aimed at resonating with the most impactful consumers.

A technique used for decision making based on the Pareto Principle, known as the 80/20 rule. It
is a decision-making technique that statistically separates a limited number of input factors as
having the greatest impact on an outcome, either desirable or undesirable. Pareto analysis is
based on the idea that 80% of a project's benefit can be achieved by doing 20% of the work or
conversely 80% of problems are traced to 20% of the causes.

BREAKING DOWN 'Pareto Analysis'

In its simplest terms, Pareto analysis will typically show that a disproportionate improvement can
be achieved by ranking various causes of a problem and by concentrating on those solutions or
items with the largest impact. The basic premise is that not all inputs have the same or even
proportional impact on a given output. This type of decision-making can be used in many fields
of endeavor, from government policy to individual business decisions.
 4. Important Definitions :

According to Sir John Paget: “To constitute a customer, there must be some recognizable
course of habit of dealing in the nature of regular banking business”

According to Heber L. Hart:

A customer is a person who has an account with a banker. Coming to the meaning of the word,
Hart says that a person is a “customer” of a bank within the meaning of section 82 of the Bills of
Exchange Act, 1882, if he keeps either a current or a deposit account with the bank, or , it would
seem if the bank systematically transacts with him, or for him, any kind of banking busine

Peter F Druker : Teachings in Marketing

 "The purpose of a business is to create a customer."

 "Business has only two functions -- marketing and innovation. All the rest are costs."
 "The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or
service fits him and sells itself.“
 “The aim of marketing is to make selling unnecessary.”
 "The best way to predict the future is to create it.“
 "The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an
opportunity."
 Definition of Customer
• Customers are the individuals and businesses that purchase
goods and services from another business.
• To understand how to better meet the needs of its customers,
some businesses closely monitor their customer relationships
to identify ways to improve service and products.
• The way businesses treat their customers can give them a
competitive edge.
• Although consumers can be customers, consumers are defined
as those who consume or use market goods and services.
•

3
 Understanding Customers
• Businesses often honor the adage "the customer is always
right" because happy customers are more likely to award
repeat business to companies who meet or exceed their needs.
• As a result, many companies closely monitor their customer
relationships to solicit feedback on methods to improve
product lines.
• Customers are categorized in many ways. Most commonly,
customers are classified as external or internal.
• External customers are dissociated from business operations
and are often the parties interested in purchasing the final
goods and services produced by a company. Internal customers
are individuals or businesses integrated into business
operations, often existing as employees or other functional
groups within the company.

4
Needs of a Customer- “Know
your customer’s needs.
However good your product or
service is, the simple truth is that
no-one will buy it if they don't
want it or believe they
don't need it. And you won't
persuade anyone that they want
or need to buy what you're
offering unless you clearly
understand what it is
your customers really want.”
5
 Tips

Always communicate the estimated transaction time to the

customer.

When a customer feels unwanted or ignored, he feels that he

is not important to you. Give him/her due respect.

Always ask for help from reporting managers or colleagues if

you do not have the correct information. Never give out
incomplete/incorrect information to customers.

6
Needs of a Banking Customer

Insurance

Depository
Lockers
Services

FD/RD

CASA Mutual
Funds

Loans