Customer Relationship Management and Marketing

Proactive CRM Methods to Increase Customer Satisfaction & Retention

Dec 6, 2009 James Clausen

n order to have a high level of customer retention, the customers must be happy with the level of service they receive and the company’s ability to meet or exceed their needs. Expectations play a big part in client satisfaction. If a company can exceed the customer’s expectations, the chances of them returning is significantly increased. Proactive CRM is one important method of exceeding customer’s expectations.

What is Proactive Customer Relationship Management?

When it comes to good customer relationship management, it always best to be proactive rather than reactive. Anticipating concerns before they become problems can often make the difference between a customer returning and never setting foot in the store again. Taking care of customer concerns should be fast and immediate whenever possible. The longer a client has to stew over a concern, the greater the probability that they will not return.

Proactive Customer Follow Up Techniques

One method of correcting concerns before they escalate into a major problem is to follow up with the customer by phone. Any type of follow up should be done as soon as possible, preferably by the next day. The following is an example of creating a customer follow up process.

• Assign a responsible employee to make follow up calls.
• Use customer follow up software or a spreadsheet to log all calls before they are made.
• Make at least three attempts to contact the customer.
• Have a process in place for customers that couldn’t be contacted.
• Make a note of any concerns or complaints the customer may have.
• Inform the customers that have a concern that a manager will be contacting them.
• A manager that has the authority to correct a customers concern should contact the client ASAP, preferably the same day.

Proactive Customer Handling and Employee Empowerment

Since taking care of a client’s concern quickly and efficiently increases the probability that the customer will return, employee empowerment can make a huge difference in the time it takes to resolve a concern. When an employee doesn’t have the authority to immediately resolve a concern, the customer has longer to stew over the concern. Employees that have direct interaction with the customers should be empowered to make decisions for immediate resolution of the concern.

Unhappy customers are like a double-edged sword. Besides the fact that they may never return, there’s a good chance they will create negative word of mouth advertising. Proactive, along with other customer relationship management methods can help to increase customer satisfaction, retention and word of mouth advertising. Creating surveys can also give more in-depth analyses of the company’s perception in the eyes of the customer.

© 2009 James Clausen

Read more at Suite101: Customer Relationship Management and Marketing: Proactive CRM Methods to Increase Customer Satisfaction & Retention http://customer-management.suite101.com/article.cfm/customer_relationship_management_and_marketing#ixzz0tLYVBTwv