A new wave in creating customer satisfaction
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Guy de Torcy joined Cincom in 2001 as Marketing Director for the iD Business Unit, and became Director of Marketing Europe for all Cincom Group activities in December of that year. He began his career in Spain at Group BNP-Paribas and was Marketing Manager at France Telecom for four years before joining Cincom. He holds an MBA from HEC (ISA) and is a postgraduate from the University of Dauphine.
Abstract The time has come for companies to put CRM theory into practice. Making your customers feel like they are important to you can be an expensive venture when you have thousands of them, but the right processes and support from personalised CRM systems can reduce costs significantly, shorten the lead times and limit the number of phone enquires from customers. To succeed in the 21st century, companies need to equip themselves with content processing applications for the age of interactive customer communication.
Guy de Torcy Cincom, 1 Grenfell Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 1NH, UK. Tel: ⫹33 (1) 5361 7000 Fax: ⫹33 (1) 5361 7070 e-mail: [email protected]
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INTRODUCTION Competition has never been so fierce with competitors appearing from anywhere and everywhere. At the beginning of the 1990s, it was inconceivable that supermarkets would be launching financial service products. Being able to differentiate a company has been pronounced a major business advantage, but it can remain an elusive goal. Probably the most significant differentiator today is customer service and, for many companies, it has become critical. The pressure on the customer service department is immense. Technology has created a significant rise in the volume and forms of communication. This, combined with the increase in customer expectations, is exacerbating the difficulty in delivering good customer service. It is, however, essential in the business world today.
Journal of Database Marketing
Vol. 9, 4, 366–370
CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION Companies are now starting to put more effort into maintaining existing clients than gaining new ones. In market research conducted among 100 customer service managers1 from the financial services industry, it was discovered that 53 per cent of respondents communicate with their existing customers on a daily basis and only 40 per cent communicate daily with their prospects. Written correspondence is the most frequently used channel for this communication and is one of the widely used forms of customer contact, not to mention the only lasting form — 42 per cent of respondents use letters or e-mail and recognise it as the most important means of servicing customers. Despite this, many companies feel that the relationship with their customers is not managed in the most efficient way. For example, 62 per cent think there is
䉷 Henry Stewart Publications 1350-2328 (2002)
A new wave in creating customer satisfaction
room for less duplication of effort. This is not surprising considering that 53 per cent of companies, sending more than 20,000 letters per month, do not have a system in place to manage it efficiently.
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