RSR Business Consultancy

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By Roland Moore.

Most growing businesses will tend to focus their sales efforts on new rather than existing customers. Yet an existing customer is a likely and legitimate target for upgrades, and additional and complementary services. Moreover, the cost and effort of selling to an existing customer is around a quarter of that for a new sale. So why, asks Roland Moore of RSR Business Consultancy (http://www.rsrbusinessconsultancy.co.uk/), are people failing to harness this? 

When a London property management company was trying to manage 50 rental properties with just three staff, everyone was struggling. Two years later, the same three staff are now handling 150 properties, better than ever, managing suppliers and contractors like plumbers and boiler maintenance more efficiently, and they believe they can take on another 50 properties before needing an additional staff member.   Such is the power of a well implemented CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system, which they had the foresight to implement. The company now holds and updates all information online, accessible to any of the team taking or making calls, from inventories through to repairs. Big, dusty files on each property have been reduced to a single file containing contracts, and they have shared information on contacts, costs and efficiency of the suppliers they have used.  The kind of system that they implemented (Microsoft SMB) costs around £2-2.5k plus the cost of customisation. With a well implemented system, any smaller business can have the kind of supplier and customer knowledge that larger companies like Tescos or the power utilities boast.   The value of such systems lies in the information to be extracted: which customers are most profitable, what are their issues, needs, wants and desires. It enables both proactive and preventative measures to be put in place. If you call a large utility, be it phone company or power supplier, you expect them to know information about your bill, complaints, problems,  There is no reason why smaller companies shouldn’t be able to do the same.  Extrapolating where our property company was before putting a CRM system in, they would have had to have had nine people to manage the properties that they have now – and would probably be offering a poorer service. They have saved the cost of their system 50 or so times over, and can be benefiting from a positive customer experience resulting in additional sales.  Of course CRM systems are not a panacea. They will help where organisation and information can improve company processes. And some go horribly wrong if poorly implemented.   The things to look out for include ensuring that the system matches rather than dictates the company’s existing processes, ensuring that training is given and that there is ‘buy in’ from users. If they have been involved in defining how the system will look, they are more likely to embrace it enthusiastically.  The prize is there for the effort put into this kind of planning. Which of us wouldn’t, like our management company, like to get three times the throughput of work from a team, whilst simultaneously reducing their workload?

Are you ready for the lead up to 2012? Asking this question can lead to some confused looks and bewilderment, can it really be true that so many business people are unaware of what is going to happen in 2012 and what opportunities exist to be one of the companies that benefit from 2012. Today companies that can clearly identify their potential clients and attract them are going to be the one who benefit from 2012. Companies who have no idea who their clients are, which clients are adding value to their business and where they should be targeting their business growth will continue as then are in the lead up to and beyond 2012. Mobilising sales and service staff now will differentiate businesses and the delivery of exception customer service will differentiate those who can and will above those who are just there. Having a clear understanding what clients really think through customer feedback and continuous improvement and what they would like to see to make the client supplier relationship even stronger, reinforcing long term commitment and a higher client value. Are you ready for the lead up to 2012?