NAGALAND UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT ON

CONSUMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

(Supporting Case Topic: Leveraging CRM ThroughCoronavirus Crisis)

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Ma’am HovikunuNatso MatrenaLotha

Dept. of Management MengukhrietuoYiese

Moingam O Phom
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CONTENTS:
1. Introduction

2. Customer Relationship Management

2.1. Meaning

2.2. Types

2.3. Components

2.4. Models

3. CRM examples in Practices

4. Criticism

5. Case study

5.1. Overview

5.2. CRM software to overcome COVID-19

5.3. Final takeaway

6. Conclusion

*Webliography

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1. INTRODUCTION

CRM is a strategy and technology that is used to build stronger relationships between organizations
and their clients. An organization will store information that is related to their clients, and employees
will analyze it to use it in forecasting and making reports.

A CRM system gives everyone — from sales, customer service, business development, recruiting,
marketing, or any other line of business — a better way to manage the external interactions and
relationships that drive success. A CRM tool lets you store customer and prospect contact
information, identify sales opportunities, record service issues, and manage marketing campaigns, all
in one central location — and make information about every customer interaction available to
anyone at your company who might need it.

No matter what industry you’re in or what size your company is, if you have users or clients, having
custom CRM is the way to go. The benefits of CRM software include better customer service, a
better insight of relations with customers and prospects, better lead management and—finally—more
closed deals.
Today, when you hear about CRM, it mostly refers to CMR software - a tool which acts as a single
repository to bring your sales, marketing, customer support activities together, and streamlines your
process, policy, and people in one platform.

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2. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

2.1 MEANING
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a technology for managing all your company’s relationships and
interactions with customers and potential customers.

Customer relationship management (CRM) is the combination of practices,

strategies and technologies that companies use to manage and analyze
customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle.

Customer relationship management (CRM)  is a technology for managing all

your company’s relationships and interactions with customers and potential
customers. 

CRM systems compile data from a range of different communication channels, including a company's
website, telephone, email, live chat, marketing materials and more recently, social media. They allow
businesses to learn more about their target audiences and how to best cater for their needs, thus retaining
customers and driving sales growth.

CRM may be used with past, present or potential customers

Strategic CRM Operational CRMs Analytical CRM Collaborative CRMs

2.2 TYPES

i. Strategic CRM
Is a type of CRM in which the business puts the customers first. It collects, segregates, and applies information
about customers and market trends to come up with better value proposition for the customer.

The business considers the customers’ voice important for its survival. In contrast to Product-Centric CRM (where
the business assumes customer requirements and focuses on developing the product that may sometimes lead to
over-engineering), here the business constantly keeps learning about the customer requirements and adapting to
them.

These businesses know the buying behaviour of the customer that happy customers buy more frequently than rest
of the customers. If any business is not considering this type of CRM, then it risks losing the market share to those
businesses, which excel at strategic CRM.

ii. Operational CRMs

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Give your marketing, sales, and customer service departments the possibility to better support your existing and
potential customers.
As you can structure information about your contacts within the tool and set standard procedures, the tool can be
used for automation, including:
~ Marketing automation
~ Sales automation
~ Service automation
This way, different departments can work together on capturing, nurturing, and closing deals for your company.
For example, leads coming from different marketing channels can be automatically uploaded to the CRM through
integration with tools like MailChimp or Outreach. Using tags, they can then be assigned to appropriate stages of
your sales cycle and be investigated further by the sales team. Having all the information in one tool improves
how your company operates. At the same time, there’s less chance of “losing” a deal, or miscommunication
between departments.

iii. Analytical CRM

Is based on capturing, interpreting, segregating, storing, modifying, processing, and reporting customer-related
data. It also contains internal business-wide data such as Sales Data (products, volume, purchasing
history), Finance Data (purchase history, credit score) and Marketing Data (response to campaign figures,
customer loyalty schemes data). Base CRM is an example of analytical CRM. It provides detailed analytics and
customized reports.
Business intelligence organizations that provide customers’ demographics and lifestyle data over a large area pay
a lot of attention to internal data to get more detail information such as, “Who are most valuable customers?”,
“Which consumers responded positively to the last campaign and converted?”, etc.
Analytical CRM can set different selling approaches to different customer segments. In addition, different content
and styling can be offered to different customer segments. For the customers, analytical CRM gives customized
and timely solutions to the problems. For the business, it gives more prospects for sales, and customer acquisition
and retention.

iv. Collaborative CRMs

Allow different teams at your organisation to share the information about customers. While operational CRMs
often focus on marketing and sales, in this case, the emphasis is on customer service.
Collaborative CRM enables smooth communication and transactions among businesses. Though traditional ways
such as air mail, telephone, and fax are used in communication, collaborative CRM employs new communication
systems such as chat rooms, web forums, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and Electronic Data Interchange
(EDI). There are collaborative CRMs with in-built Partner Relationship Management (PRM) software application
which helps in managing partner promotions. SugarCRM is a popular collaborative CRM. It enables expert
collaboration and provides state-of-the-art social capabilities.

2.3 COMPONENTS

Competence Communication Conflict handling

i. Competence
In terms of banking industry, can be explained as the knowledge and the capability of the bank’s employees to
attract and retain customers in comparison with their competitors.
Competence as a key relationship marketing variable is supported by the rationale that people tend to value and
nurture relationships with competent individuals. Such competence maybe the result of intellectual, technical,
commercial, and social skills. In this context, competence is defined as the buyer’s perception of the (banking
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services) supplier’s technological and commercial competence. From this definition, there are four items that
are linked to competence: the supplier’s knowledge about the market for the buyer, theability to give good
advice on the operating business, the ability to help the buyer plan purchases, and the ability to provide
effective sales promotion materials.

ii. Communication
Communication is the exchange of information between supplier and customer. It is the ability to provide
trustworthy and timely information. There is a new view of communication as an interactive dialogue between
the company and its customers that takes place during the pre-selling, selling, consuming, and post consuming
stages. Besides providing timely and trustworthy information, effective communication oils the wheel of trust
and keeps it rolling. When there is effective communication between the bank and customers, a better
relationship, customer satisfaction, and fidelity are likely to result.

iii. Conflict handling

Conflict handling refers to the supplier’s ability to minimize the negative consequences of manifest and
potential conflicts. Conflict handling reflects the supplier’s ability to avoid potential conflicts and solve
manifest conflicts before they create problems, and the ability to openly discuss solutions when problems arise.
The ability of the bank to handle conflict well will determine customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.

2.4 MODELS

IDIC Model QCI Model CRM Value Chain Model

i. IDCI MODEL

The IDIC model was developed by Peppers and Rogers. This model suggests that companies should take four
actions in order to the building, keeping and retaining the long-term one-to-one relationships with customers.

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a) Identify
First, a company must identify who is an actual customer and should know about deep knowledge of their
customers. It is not only necessary to know about your customers but you have to know about more and
more your customers so that you can easily understand them and serve them profitably.

b) Differentiate
Differentiate your customer on two bases: value and need
Value: Differentiate your customer to identify which customer is generating most value now and which offer
most for the future. Give more value to those customers who are generating more value for you.
Need: Differentiate your customers according to their needs.
Different customers have different need and serving the in profitable ways need more knowledge about their
needs.

c) Interaction
The company must emphasis on interaction with the customer to ensure that you understand customer’s
expectations and their relationship with a brand.
The company must consider Interaction with customers according to their needs and value that they are
providing you.
Interaction directly with customers makes believe that company has a concern with them and company
wants to serve them individually. These efforts make customers loyal and help the company to build long-
term relationships
Recommended Read: Types of CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

d) Customize
When you differentiate your customers according to their values and needs, after that, you have to customize
your product according to their needs and values.
Customize the offer and communications to ensure that the expectations of customers are met. Interact to
customize is information to customers about your ability to cope with their need.
Failure in the third step means something wrong with second or third steps. So return or go back to previous
steps study them again and search out more and more and rearrange these steps.

ii. QCI MODEL

The QCI model is also a product of a consultancy firm.

The model’s authors prefer to describe their model as a customer management model, omitting the word
‘relationship’.
At the heart of the model, they depict a series of activities that companies need to perform in order to acquire
and retain customers.
The model features people performing processes and using technology to assist in those activities

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This model includes the series of activities related to employees, people, and organization, and technology as
well.According to this model, relationships process with the external environment. Because when a customer
wants to start selling process or wants to interact with the organization, external environment directly affects the
customer experience. External environment also affects the planning process of the organizations.

Now as you can see in the figure that customer experience affects three activities future: customer proposition,
customer management activity, and measurement.

Customer proposition means something that a company offers to the customer against the price.

Customer management activity is a process of capturing customers, start with targeting, conversation, selling and
end with retaining or winning back the customers.

Customer management activity affects customer’s experience that how a company acquires, retains a customer
and also penetrates.

Finally, measurement process also affects the customer experience.People and organization have relation with the
planning process, customer proposition, customer management activity and measurement.

Because CRM starts with people and ends with people.

Infrastructure deals with the organization in a sense of technology, customer information, and process
management.

One big thing is that each activity, people, organization, process, and technology have a dual effect and inter
correlated with each other.

iii. CRM Value Chain Model

CRM, the meaning of those three letters, is emotionally contested. For some, CRM is simply a bridge between
marketing and IT: CRM is, therefore, an IT-enabled sales and service function.
For others, it’s little more than precisely targeted 1- to-1 communications

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The CRM value chain is an established model which businesses can easily follow when they developing and
implementing their CRM strategies
The CRM value chain model applies this principle to customer relationships. This CRM model observes all the
stages and activities required to build a relationship with a customer.

These activities are divided into two stages: primary and support.

a) Primary stage

The primary stage of CRM has five main processes that enable the strategy.

 Customer portfolio analysis: Similar to the IDIC model, the first step of the value chain model is to
analyze your customers to identify your SSCs (a.k.a. the customers who create the most value for the
company). This analysis stage helps companies understand their customers so they can better address their
needs and expectations and develop strategies to maximize their lifetime value.
Customer intimacy: The next step is to engage with the customer and build on the original database of
information. At each touchpoint, companies should be collecting data on the interaction in order to
betterunderstand and serve their customer. The better you know your customer (and adjust your service
accordingly), the more likely you are to retain their business over the long term.

 Network development:A business’s network includes all people and entities involved in the value chain,
including partners, suppliers, customer service, investors, etc. The goal is to use your customer data to
inform the processes at each level of your network so that the entire system works together to optimize
your customer’s experience.

 Value proposition development: Armed with your customer information and interaction data, you can
create value for your target customers. The idea is to shift the focus from the product to your service and
to reduce process costs to create more value for the customer.

 Relationship management: The last stage of the value chain model is to manage your customer lifecycle.
This process involves evaluating your business processes and organizational structure to manage
acquisition, retention, and customer development.

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b) Support stage
There are five supporting conditions necessary in order to effectively implement the strategic processes of
the primary stage:

 Leadership and culture

 Procurement processes

 HR management processes

 IT/data management processes

 Organization design

Creating and developing these underlying conditions will support a successful CRM value chain
implementation..

3. CRM EXAMPLES IN PRACTICE

Contact center Social CRM Mobile CRM Business-to-business

(B2B) practices

i. Contact center

Traditionally, data intake practices for CRM systems have been the responsibility of sales and marketing
departments, as well as contact center agents. Sales and marketing teams procure leads and update the system
with information throughout the customer lifecycle, and contact centres gather data and revise customer history
records through service calls and technical support interactions.

ii. Social CRM

Social media in CRM involves businesses engaging with customers directly through social media platforms,
such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Social media presents an open forum for customers to share
experiences with a brand, whether they are airing grievances or promoting products.
To add value to customer interactions on social media, businesses use various social CRM tools that monitor
social media conversations -- from specific mentions of a brand to the frequency of keywords used -- to
determine their target audience and which platforms they use. Other tools are designed to analyze social media
feedback and address customer queries and issues.
Companies are interested in capturing customer sentiments, such as the likelihood they will recommend products
and their overall customer satisfaction, to develop marketing and service strategies. Companies try to integrate
social CRM data with other customer data obtained from sales or marketing departments to get a single view of
the customer.
Another way in which social CRM adds value for companies and customers is through customer communities,
where customers post reviews of products and can engage with other customers to troubleshoot issues or

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research products in real time. Customer communities can provide low-level customer service for certain kinds
of problems and reduce the number of contact centre calls. Customer communities can also provide new product
ideas or feedback that companies can use in lieu of feedback groups.

iii. Mobile CRM

CRM applications built for smartphones and tablets have become a must-have for sales representatives and
marketing professionals who want to access customer information and perform tasks when they are not
physically in their offices.
 Mobile CRM apps take advantage of features that are unique to mobile devices, such as GPS and voice
recognition capabilities, to give sales and marketing employees access to customer information from anywhere.

iv. Business-to-business (B2B) practices

A CRM system in a B2B environment helps monitor sales as they move through the sales funnel, enabling a
business to address any issues that might come up during the process. CRM systems in the B2B market help
create more visibility into leads and, therefore, increase efficiency throughout the sales process

4. CRITICISM OF CRM
i. Costly

One of the greatest challenges to CRM implementation is cost. There are dozens of software options available
and many pricing plans that go with them such as software subscription or purchase fees, premium upgrades,
customisation, staff training, up skilling etc.

ii. Dependent on proper set-up

If a CRM is not set up properly from the beginning, using it may be tedious or difficult. This may lead to a loss
of time or low employee use

iii. Decreasing in personal interaction

Because CRM use technology for its communications, therefore it can decrease the face to face interaction.
Using technology can be an opportunity and threat from two views.

iv. Over automation

CRM can become too computerized and again would go to the loss of personal interaction. Customers prefer a
relationship with their suppliers
.
v. Raising customer expectations

By providing some unplanned facilities like giving gifts, promotions, bonuses, organizations increase the
expectation of their customers, so in future, they may not be able to satisfy their customers and this can cause
losing their loyal customers.

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5. CASE STUDY
- Leveraging CRM system through Corona Virus
5.1. Overview
Although we live in uncertain times, the future was ahead of us. It seems like a paradox. Faced with
the pandemic’s confinement and restrictions, there was nothing left but to place trust in online sales.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken the whole world by storm and has rattled many things. A few
months back if we were washing hands to keep dirt off, now we are probably doing it to avoid
possible death. Covid-19 is having a momentous effect on many businesses, with some drastically
collapsing, some staying afloat and a few booming up whatever is the case, the way businesses
function now is completely different than before.

Of course the COVID-19 disease is serious and of course smart companies are taking all the
necessary steps to ensure the safety of their employees and community. But work still needs to be
done. Sales need to happen. Opportunities need to be pursued. Service issues need to be resolved.
Employees – whether they’re working from home or still in the office – need to collaborate. That’s
where customer relationship management systems come in. For years and for multiple reasons,
many of the clients have under-utilized the capabilities of the CRM software they already own. But
now – and unfortunately thanks to the COVID-19 – many are being forced to re-visit and leverage
all the things that they should have been leveraging in their CRM systems in order to make sure
sales are pursued, customers are served and employees are productive, even when they’re out of the
office

Businesses are venturing into automation and digitalization in a large number and CRM software
has become the ally of those who had to transform their business to survive.

5.2. A CRM software to overcome COVID-19

i. Keeping connected
Work from home is the norm these days, social distancing and avoiding contact is paramount to reduce
the spread of the virus. With people located in different geographies, coordination and organization can
lose ground fast. With a large workforce, different employees will get mixed up with different
departments which will decrease overall efficiency. This can also affect connections with customers.
Most of CRM solutions are effective in handling interconnections with users. The data present on the
database can be accessed by multiple users at the same. This keeps employees on the same page. To
collaborate in other work, the user can access any data with permission. Some of the best CRM software
Provides options like email and chat support to handle customer inquiries and queries. Besides, through
CRM, regular reminders, updates, and notifications can be scheduled for everybody.

ii. Improves customer service and satisfaction levels

Good customer support is integral to most small businesses as it directly impacts customer retention.
During this time, where customer loyalty and trust are being put to the test, providing outstanding
customer support experience can be a strong differentiator for the business. CRM is providing a valuable
assist to customer service. As your customers’ service needs evolve because they are working remotely,
your ability to service them will have an impact on customer satisfaction and customer retention.
A CRM can send mass emails and personalized messages. This way, you avoid losing business
opportunities by taking advantage of each occasion to disseminate important information and promotions.
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CRM system gives the company a 360-degree view into each customer to your support staff and stores
details such as their history, their online behaviour on the website, any past interactions with the company,
and more – all in one place. This makes it easier to have a more personalized conversation with the
customers, resolve issues quickly, and build trust.

iii. Elimination of Data loss

Every company deals with tremendous amounts of data. From customer information, sales logs, content
generation, etc. All of this data is crucial for the smooth functioning of the business. However, in times
like these when employees are distant and communication isn’t thorough, data handling can be affected
badly.
CRM tools are capable of managing and storing the complex amount of data that otherwise could get lost
in transition. CRM tools have features that can gather information for an external source and effortlessly
redirect it to the system. Through this, no data will be missed and opportunities will not be lost.

iv. Accelerates sales performance

CRM solutions give you a deeper understanding of your customers. You can automatically gather
information on a granular level and analyze that data to get valuable insights. This allows your staff to
assess behaviours, identify opportunities, and track trends through just a few clicks of a button. This kind
of information gives your sales team a huge advantage as they can take relevant actions to move
relationships forward and boost sales. A CRM solution can also provide visibility into any up-selling or
cross-selling opportunities.

v. Costs reduction
The Covid-19 forced a lot of companies to make unfortunate cut downs. This could have been with
technologies, employees, or amenities. But even for a company, certain necessary things help to run the
core functions of it. CRM is a cost-effective yet highly resourceful technology. The incorporation of CRM
can result in better profits down the line with little investment.
Data analysis showed that with CRM the average return on investment for every dollar spent was $8.71.
By this data, it is evident that a simple and effective tool like CRM can garner the best result at lower
costs.

vi. Optimization and systematization

Planning in any organization is critical, without a well-formulated plan the entire business can collapse.
But with Covid-19 running amuck, planning and strategizing are hard to manage, especially with
employees working remotely. However, even with people working from home, there must be a scheduled
forecast with timely deliveries and supervision.
CRM software offers features and tools to coordinate tasks to better improve productivity. The automation
system in CRM assorts data into the right location with utmost precision. The accumulated data through
CRM databases can provide insights on how to manage certain functions in the business. It is possible to
develop a certain niche area in the company with specific plans devised to enhance them specifically.

vii. Future-ready
This current situation came in with a surprise and nothing predicted this, therefore many companies didn’t
have any backup system in place. The future can be unpredictable and people should be prepared for the
best and worst at all times. To investing in new technologies or skills requires a good amount of capital
and security and both are hanging by a thread. CRM can enable leaders to adapt to quickly changing
business conditions. Most platforms have an extensive ecosystem of extensible solutions that can be
implemented remotely and provide new capabilities needed by your organization.

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CRM is a well-rounded system as a whole, which has helped boost many businesses to better success in
the past. These systems incorporate automation in every aspect and hence future scalability is simple. The
best CRM software can transform into a better system and incorporate complex tasks with few minor
updates or changes to them.

5.3. Final Takeaway

The future is blurry right now. Future predictions are just a shot in the dark. Even though the future is
uncertain, the present is very malleable and CRM software is bringing in hope during
times like these. They possess immense applications and benefits that are of great use when dealing with
processes, not in a conventional way.
People are our most valuable asset, and we realize that more than ever today. And while the way we engage
and work with each other is evolving since the onset of the corona virus pandemic, we are seeing
executives take actions that will help their businesses come through this challenges. Fortunately CRM
platforms have evolved to become mission-critical and are making a difference in the ways we find and
keep our customers.

6. CONCLUSION
CRM is a business philosophy based on trust and value.

The core function of CRM is the value creation process are as follows:-

 Customer relationships develop over time

 The role of global salespeople in the process is that of both relationship builders and relationship
promoters
 CRM requires a cultural change with organizations
 The basic premise of CRM is to offer superior value to customers to turn prospects into customers,
customers into loyal customers, and loyal customers into partners.

For any business, victorious CRM steering is becoming more and more significant in today’s competitive
commerce and business world. Client expectations are for all time growing, and business services must grow
along with these expectations. CRM is the technique throughout businesses that can attach with their clientele and
so serve them better. Businesses and commerce with successful CRM strategy and requests will take in a large
increase in sales, client satisfaction, and finally the victory of the business. Make using of CRM technology is
serious and critical to keep costs and expenditures low. CRM make powerful employees to get client approaching
and correct CRM practices can reach highest enlargement and great success. Customer Relationship Management
enables a company to align its strategy with the needs of the customer in order to best meet those needs and thus
ensure long-term customer loyalty.

It is essential to bear in mind that: “If you are not listening to your customers, your competitors will.

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*WEBLIOGRAPGY
 https://cio-wiki.org/wiki/Customer_Relationship_Management_(CRM)

 https://www.lucidchart.com/blog/crm-models

 https://ninjaoutreach.com/crm-models/

 https://www.aurocrm.com/advantages-businesses-can-have-using-crm-in-covid-19-pandemic/

 https://www.kapturecrm.com/us/blog/how-to-boost-your-sales-amidst-the-pandemic-with-an-
intelligent-crm/

 https://blog.perfectmind.com/crm-for-small-business

 https://trackingtime.co/productivity/crm-software-boost-productivity-in-a-pandemic.html

 https://www.superoffice.com/blog/crm-benefits/

 https://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/Columns-Departments/The-Tipping-Point/Leveraging-
CRM-in-the-Face-of-COVID-19-140446.aspx

 https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/quickerbettertech/2020/03/20/on-crm-
how-companies-are-leveraging-their-crm-systems-to-help-navigate-through-covid-19/amp/?
espv=1

 https://www.managementstudyguide.com/customer-relationship-management-software-
importance.htm

 https://www.slideteam.net/powerpoint/Crm-Presentation

 https://www.creatio.com/page/what-is-crm

 https://www.slideshare.net/SadamHussain80/presentation-on-crm-customer-relationship-
management

 https://www.slideteam.net/powerpoint/Crm-Presentation

 https://www.salesforce.com/in/crm/what-is-crm/

 https://www.salesboom.com/products/intro-intro.html

 https://www.google.com/amp/s/softwarehut.com/blog/business/5-types-of-crm-software/amp

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