Customer relationships marketing Essay -- essays research papers

Literature Review The Evolving Sales and Marketing Landscape Marketing and business development professionals are confronting a rapidly different and changing business landscape. The traditional business model that was once the standard is now being transformed due to technology drivers that make advanced marketing and sales capabilities possible. The business model of yesterday supported mass marketing, mass production, and standardized cookie-cutter products and services. Enterprises will have fall behind the competition if they continue to rely and operate on this substandard model. Today, companies are re-engineering their operations and investing in enhanced IT infrastructures, which enable them to provide customized, personalized, information-rich products and services. The new objective for marketers and business developers involves understanding the needs of their clients and the markets that they serve. This new focus on providing customer value is redefining business proce sses. Professionals, who understand and anticipate this shift, are positioning themselves ahead of the competition. The Impact of Technology Enabled Business Processes There is no denying the effect that technology has had on the way we conduct business. In recent years, technology has begun to play a significantly larger role in all aspects of business, including sales and marketing. Business processes must be re-engineered to incorporate a pro-active strategy for using information and IT to build a competitive advantage over other organizations. In many instances, the functionality provided by sales and marketing technology only automates current processes. Therefore, it is imperative that processes are clearly defined and well proven. Automating a poorly understood or followed process usually results in failure. Technology must be used as an enabler to support an already sound sales and marketing strategy. Beyond automating sales and marketing capabilities, technology is now desi gned to provide professionals with a wealth of information about their company’s clients and the markets that they serve. Companies are now able to collect data about their customers that when analyzed and utilized properly, can result in a competitive advantage. Online shopping is a prime example. If a customer makes a purchase, then the transaction is completed and revenue is generated. However, if a... ...tomer profile based on data received from web registrations, surveys, as well as historical interactions. Information from client transactions can be used to determine customer preferences, needs, as well as activities or events the client has attended. This information can be used when making decisions on how to best optimize sales with that client in the future. The Architectural Components of a CRM To understand the structure of a CRM solution one must consider the business model it is designed to support. As mentioned previously, marketing and sales departments are increasingly relying on relationship marketing as a means to more effectively acquire and retain clients. In short, in order to say competitive, companies must operate based on a customer-centric business model. The Gartner Group predicts there is an 80% probability that by 2001, 70 percent of marketing applications will be entirely redesigned to focus on customers instead of products and redeployed to take advanta ge of emerging technologies. CRMs are at the forefront of emerging sales and marketing technologies, but there are many tools that contribute to this technologies vast functionality. Word Count: 2020