Both make sure that our statements are justified both theoretically and practically applicable by the management. In our work, we relied on the research of both domestic and foreign organizations.
For whom the book is intended:
- For students and university professors in the specialty "Marketing", as well as studying the basics of relationship marketing, customer management, sales management, strategic management, etc.
- Top management and middle managers involved in CRM development and system implementation in the marketing department, sales department and customer service center.
- Standard CRM users who want to understand get a comprehensive view of this area. Used CRM tools go through the whole organization. Users, including sales and customer service managers, marketing managers, analysts. These users use only a small part of the entire CRM universe. This book is intended to expand their role in this context.
Key features of the book
The book is an independent look at a huge number of CRM-systems on the market. When analyzing the main points of the customer management system, we will not rely on a single CRM. Instead, the book will compare different versions with each other and provide an independent overview of the systems.
Despite the fact that CRM is actively used in many business areas, there are some misunderstandings about the essence of CRM. It is customary to distinguish three types of CRM - strategic, operational and analytical. The book is structured in such a way that the chapters of all three types are grouped together. Several chapters are separately devoted to a single CRM type.
The author gives the following definition of CRM. This is a business strategy of a company that combines internal processes and functions and an external network for creating and delivering value to a specific group of customers for the purpose of making a profit. It is based on high-quality customer data and the use of modern advances in IT. This definition will be a key point in all chapters of the book.
We do not assume that customers are going to value or build relationships with suppliers. If CRM is designed to develop or support customer relationships, it is important to have a clear understanding of how relationships look and how they should be managed. We have already discussed everything that concerns “relationships” and the question is this: do customers want to build relationships with suppliers and vice versa. We will also define the attributes of successful relationships and consider five different theoretical schools that have had a tremendous impact on managing relationships in a business context.
The book emphasizes CRM management perspectives. Although there is a certain amount of technological solutions, this book is not about technology in itself. The technology-related material in the book was written so that readers who are unfamiliar with information technology or technophobes can understand what benefits CRM can bring to their business. Technology is the second component after management in the book. You do not need to get a higher technical education to understand everything that is written in this book!
The book has a huge academic foundation provided by researchers from several disciplines.
The book contains a large number of examples of CRM technologies and their practical application in marketing, sales or service functionality. Screenshots with functionality attached to the book.
Each chapter contains a picture with cases. There are no case-based cases, but there are practical examples of CRM, so that readers can better understand how to use the system in their business.
All chapters are in the following order: the purpose of the study, text, illustrations with case studies, conclusions, notes.
The book consists of six parts. Part 1 consists of four chapters that introduce us to the fundamentals of CRM. Chapter 1 explains the nature of CRM, selects three different types of CRM, identifies the main stakeholders and describes the number of different contexts in which CRM can be used. Chapter 2 examines what we know about relationships and asks us why companies and customers may want to develop relationships with each other and why sometimes this does not happen. Chapter 3 and 4 explore the three main stages of the customer life cycle - attracting, retaining and developing customer relationships.