Be the best store manager

Chapter 14 Customer Relationship Management
The purpose of customer relationship management

Customer relationship management refers to the company's interactive and meaningful communication with customers, thinking from the standpoint of customers, fully understanding customer needs and influencing customer behavior, so as to increase the number of customers and better retain customers And improve customer loyalty, and finally realize the profit of the enterprise.Therefore, for the operation of stores, customer relationship management is of great significance.

Whether it is the sale of tangible goods or service goods, the cultivation and diffusion of regular customers is an important part of sales policy and marketing strategy. It is not only necessary to ensure the purchasing power of customers themselves, but also to enable them to "pass on" to neighbors and friends. Expand the required functionality, but also make it a conduit for product and service intelligence (sometimes in the form of customer complaints).

The cultivation and diffusion of regular customers like this is indispensable in each stage of the market (introduction, growth, maturity, etc.) no matter what the product is.At this time, the store must establish a good relationship with the customer, have a good understanding of the customer's life background, family situation, and economic situation, and always care about the customer.When a new product is launched, it can be communicated to customers through this channel, and customers are advised to buy the product and given a preferential price, which will surely stimulate purchase and achieve the sales target.

We summarize the purpose of customer relationship management into the following four points:
(1) Establish communication channels, shorten the distance with customers, and grasp the consumption trends of customers.

(2) Provide diversified services such as commodity information and life consultation to enrich customers' lives, increase the frequency of customers' patronage, and improve customer satisfaction.

(3) Attract and cultivate stable customers and improve customer loyalty.

(4) Establish a good corporate image and social reputation, and maintain customer trust.

The necessity of customer relationship management

Stores conduct customer relationship management in order to achieve sales goals.Customer relationship management is customer-centric, adheres to the principle of customer first, and aims to gain customer trust and satisfy customers.

For stores, without customer satisfaction, there will be no customer loyalty, and there will be no long-term competitiveness of the store. This is an undeniable fact.

In order for any store to provide products or services to be recognized by customers, it must understand what products and services customers need.At the same time, the degree of customer satisfaction determines the profit of the store and the development of the store.Therefore, the focus of the store should also be to satisfy customers.Generally speaking, customer satisfaction is a direct comprehensive evaluation of customers on the products or services provided by stores and employees, and it is customers' recognition of stores, products, services and employees.As stores are getting more and more aware of customers' needs, they don't need to spend more time and energy doing market research, which greatly reduces the waste of stores and reduces costs.

At the same time, satisfied customers are often willing to pay extra for reasons that satisfy them.Of course, the customer's extra contribution is not unlimited, and the amount of contribution depends on some factors other than satisfaction, such as comprehensive and thoughtful service.

Satisfied customers have higher brand loyalty than dissatisfied customers, and are more likely to buy the product again or purchase other products in the store, which wins a higher customer return rate for the store.

Satisfied customers are loyal and stay loyal over time, making them less likely to switch to other products or leave their original store for a lower price.Even when the store encounters difficulties, these customers will remain loyal to the store within a certain range, which provides the store with a buffer time and can minimize the impact of operating difficulties on the store.

The needs of customers are constantly changing with the development of the times. How to grasp this change and meet the new needs of customers?Maximizing customer satisfaction has practical significance for solving this problem, because stores that aim to satisfy customers can predict changes in customer needs in their daily work, and satisfied customers generally give stores time to change their practices.

For stores, customer relationship management is not just as simple as achieving customer satisfaction.William, president of the United States Sustain Chemicals Company?Taylor believes: "Our interest is not only to satisfy customers, but to dig out those valuable things that customers think can enhance our relationship." That is to say, customer satisfaction is not everything, customer satisfaction is only customer trust. The premise, customer trust is the result.Customer satisfaction is an affirmative evaluation of a product or a service. Even if customers are satisfied with a certain store, it is only based on the products and services they receive that satisfy them.Even if the goods and services provided by the store are not perfect, the customer will not be satisfied, that is to say, it is a perceptual evaluation index.Customer trust is the customer's trust in the brand's products and stores that own the brand, and they can rationally face the success and disadvantages of the store.

Customer trust refers to the customer's recognition and trust of a store's products or services. It is the result of continuous strengthening of customer satisfaction. Unlike customer satisfaction, which tends to be emotional, customer trust is the affirmation, recognition and trust of customers on the basis of rational analysis. .Generally speaking, customer trust can be divided into three levels:

Cognitive trust - it is formed directly based on products and services, because such products and services just meet the individual needs of customers.This kind of trust is at the basic level, and it may shift due to changes in interests and circumstances.

Affective trust - lasting satisfaction obtained after using products and services, which may form preferences for products and services.

Behavioral trust—behavioral trust will only be formed when the products and services provided by the store become an indispensable need and enjoyment of customers, which is manifested in the maintenance of long-term relationships and repeated purchases, as well as the focus on stores and products, and In this attention, look for information that consolidates trust or verifies information that is not trusted, so as to prevent being deceived.

If the customer trusts you, then he will be loyal to you, and if the customer is loyal to you, then he will be very valuable to you.It is more economical to serve an existing customer than to attract a new one.Maintaining a close relationship with a loyal customer makes it easy for you to provide them with the products and services they want, and they will spend more with you.Customer relationship management can maintain customer satisfaction and build customer trust for stores.

customer relationship management
The basis for establishing and maintaining customer relationships is that the store "transfers" the value that satisfies customers, that is, if you want to establish a long-term and stable cooperative relationship with customers, you have to give up some of your own interests and change the traditional one. Every transaction pursues the practice of maximizing profit.The ultimate goal of an enterprise should be to establish a long-term profitable "win-win" relationship with customers.

When the total quality management theory in modern management studies the problem of "quality improvement", it puts forward the "PDCA cycle" for the working method of quality management (it was originally proposed by quality management expert Dr. Dai Ming, so it is also called "Deming cycle") . PDCA is essentially the initials of the four English words Plan (plan), Do (execution), Check (check) and Action (processing).The specific meaning is as follows:
Plan: Analyze the current situation, determine the work goals, and formulate methods and plans to achieve the goals.

Do (execution): In the case of clear work objectives and implementation steps, execute the plan and plan.

Check (check): check the effect of the actual implementation of the plan, and compare the gap with the target.

Action: Summarize the successful experience and standardize it to consolidate the results; for unresolved problems, find out the reasons, propose solutions, and start the next PDCA cycle.

The PDCA cycle is an indispensable tool for researching quality improvement issues. In essence, it is a scientific summary of the continuous improvement of management and the realization of a spiral upward trend. It means a cycle of improvement with clear goals and effective measures. Promote the spiral upward of the management level.It also has important guiding significance for the research on the establishment of customer relationship.Because the establishment of customer relationship must also include the links of planning, execution, inspection and processing. Through the research on customer positioning, contact point management, satisfaction and loyalty, etc., it will lay the foundation for the store to carry out comprehensive customer relationship management and realize customer relationship. A virtuous circle with the store value chain. The PDCA cycle can reflect the continuous improvement process of customer relationship "cooperation-improvement-cooperation" from the micro level direction, and the spiral upward process of "development-jump-development" customer relationship management from the macro-vertical direction.

(End of this chapter)