Now that supply chain is fast becoming the one key competitive advantage that sets one business apart from its rivals, what could be more natural than to extend the concept to the supply chain as a whole – and to use marketing and customer relationship management (CRM) to pilot the process?
Customer relationship management is about building and maintaining profitable long-term customer relationships; typically by supplying customers with what they want. To know what your customers want, ask them; or ask the customer relationship management system that the marketing and sales departments rely on to track what customers want, prefer, dislike and are likely to do in the near future.
Not only does an existing CRM system contain a ready-made database of customer information, but it is also a purpose-built tool for getting more. From web surveys that ask supply chain related questions, or unstructured notes made by customer service representatives, a CRM system can collect valuable data to show which groups of customers want which kind of service. However you do it, supply chain has to connect with the marketplace. Leveraging the knowhow and tools of your marketing colleagues is a smart way forward.
The Seven‘R’s of CRM’s Contribution to Supply Chain
Good customer relationships are the result of ‘
The right product,
for the right customer,
in the right place,
at the right time,
in the right quantity,
in the right condition,
and at the right cost’.
CRM is a way to identify each of these ‘rights’ and to segment customers accordingly.
The CRM system provides the ability to the organization for managing the customer orders, delivery of products, revenue, marketing, order management, products information along with strategies for reaching the target market in timely and efficient manner.
Yet besides relationship marketing and cross-selling techniques favoured by sales and marketing, CRM can also be used to predict future customer behaviour. Forecasts can be made of the likelihood of customers’ purchases, and even of the risk that they may move over to a rival company and stop buying from yours.
