Role of Customer Relationship Management in the Coffee Shop - Case Study Example

Contents Introduction 2 Definition 2 CRM in the past 3 Evolution of CRM from past to present 3 In the days before coffee 4 Role of CRM in coffee shop 5 CRM in coffee shop 5 Benefits of CRM for coffee shop 7 The bottom line 8 The solution 8 The future of CRM 9 Conclusion 9 References 10 Introduction Companies with intensifying competition are laying special stress on Customer Relationship Management, Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics. Organisations are looking forward to include it in the management thinking process and look towards improving their image in the society. Coffee shop can expand its reach and developed their coffee variety be ensuring that they look after the society and environment and include this things in their planning process. This will help to ensure that customers are managed well and retaining them becomes easier. Customer Relation Management will help the coffee shop to develop their strategies for the future. It will ensure that business is able to build a pool of customer which will warrant regular sales and ensure that customer is able to get what they want. The coffee shop on the basis of it will help the customers to get coffee at the same time and also a sense of belonging with the coffee shop. Also regular gifts and updates will help the customer to be associated with the coffee shop and will help in developing future relation. Definition Customer Relationship Management is “a business strategy of engaging customer and developing a relationship with him which is based on trust and loyalty”. (Harish, 2010) This definition highlights and covers various aspect of customer relationship management. Loyalty here is “the inclination of the customer to purchase the same product over and over again as the attitude matches with his requirements”. (Harish, 2010) This will ensure that customer have trust and will ensure steady sale. The chart looks as follows It shows that after acquiring the customers business units need to look at ways to retain them and grow which makes customer relationship more important. This shows that it is a cycle and business needs to continuously evolve and look for new strategies to ensure that customers remain loyal. CRM in the past Maintaining healthy relation with the customer is vital every time. Previously it was easy to “remember every customer by their face and name as the spread was small and with little technology customers preferred their local destinations”. (CRM, 2010) It was easy to remember all the customers’ needs and requirements. The business units on the basis of it were able to deliver it. With the changes in technology and advancement it has gone rapid changes and maintaining a healthy relation today is vital Evolution of CRM from past to present A study shows that “business units have slowed down their response to customer feedback and queries by email as the percentage of companies responding within 24 hours has come down to 33% in 2008 as compared to 63% in 2002”. (David, 2008) This is making many businesses realize the potential of this technology and the importance customer relationship has. This has also made sales go down and business loosing vital customers. This is making companies revert back to maintaining healthy relation with the customer so that they are able to tap the customers. Companies to maintain this relation has done many changes. It was seen that “an IT company to improve customer relation ensured that customer who enters their building are guided by the guide to the place concerned and while doing so the guard ensures to walk with the customer there by creating a friendly environment”. (Kale, 2009) This is a step in building customer relation and ensuring that development of relation with the customer is on an upswing. In the days before coffee The coffee shop has undergone tremendous change and this has being due to the change in customer relation. The coffee shop has “transformed itself from a coffee to a luxury item with special attention being laid to quality, ambience, furniture, floors and comfort level of the customers”. (Sims, 2010) This has transformed the way the coffee shop presents them. It has also ensured that “the long lines in front of coffee shop are done away with and the different varieties being offered present a lot of opportunity”. (Sims, 2010) The transformation has brought about changes in the way customers are looked upon. This change has improved the work culture and also ensured that the coffee shop who relies on customer satisfaction are able to sustain. Role of CRM in coffee shop Customer relationship focuses on customers. This makes it a vital part of the coffee industry. The coffee shop needs to ensure that “they organize and analyze customer data to understand the customer preference so that coffee which is demanded highly can be marketed accordingly”. (Krishna, 2010) The value of this can be magnified by storing the data centrally. This will allow easy accessible to all and makes it easy for the coffee shop to gather vital information. Customer Relationship Management will also help to improve “the sales and marketing function, the billing and expense function, the project management efficiency and better management of the human resources”. (Krishna, 2010) This will thus help the coffee shop to improve their services thereby making it more productive both for the management and the customers. CRM in coffee shop The coffee shop can develop customers “who are loyal by developing a program which has a link with the mobile and the customers get a plastic card which is accessible through mobile so that the customer can pay the bill via that mode and at the same time receive updates and free gifts”. (Butcher, 2009) This will help the coffee shop to ensure that frequent visitors are given something in exchange. It will make the coffee shop realize the potential of the market. The growth of the telecommunication network will ensure for the coffee shop to ensure that payment is received directly in the banks and will also make it easy for the customers. Receiving regular feedbacks and gifts will make the customer look for it. It will also make the customer come back to the coffee shop ensuring proper customer relationship. This will further add as a greater advantage as the decision support system designed by the coffee shop will act as a medium to find the prospective customer. The coffee shop by using the data base from the decision support system can identify the prospective customers and thereby ensure that there efforts are in the right direction. The coffee shop can also improve their customer relation by “ensuring regular feedbacks from them”. (David, 2008) This can be done by developing their shops. The coffee shop needs to see that “customer provide regular feedback as this will help to work on the areas which will help to improve the relation with the customers”. (David, 2008) The coffee shop can implement this by ensuring that their coffee outlets are “accessible and offer free internet wireless access so that more customer pour in and they are able to provide feedback by using the technology” (David, 2008) thereby ensuring that customer relationship with the coffee chain strengthens. The coffee shop to promote their relationship with the customer can make use of the latest technology and ensure that there is rapid growth. The coffee shop can make “use of you tube and customers by using it can visualize the satisfaction and rating of other customers who have visited their coffee shop thereby enhancing the performance”. (CRM, 2010) This will act as a boost as the penetration level of internet will help the coffee shop to reach far flung areas. The coffee shop will be able to deliver on the promises and will be able to expand it to other markets as customers by reading the blogs and watching the videos ascertain themselves regarding the potential and quality the coffee shop provides to the customer and the satisfaction derived. This experience can further be enhanced by “loading short movies made by the coffee shop on you tube which will show the ambience, variety, service, and pleasure the customer gets and also the different loyalty programs and services they can avail”. (CRM, 2010) This will act as a boost to the coffee shop and provide them with wider opportunity to deal with and also give a larger customer base. Benefits of CRM for coffee shop The use of customer relationship management tool will help to provide various benefits to the coffee shop. It will make the functioning of the coffee shop more efficient and help them get an advantage compared to their competitors. The benefits derived are Firstly, coffee shop can gain from “increase customer value as providing proper services will ensure that they remain loyal and will help the coffee shop provider to ensure that they don’t have to fight to get new customers”. (Advantages, 2010) This will make the coffee shop provide proper customer service. Secondly, coffee shop by using the CRM ensures that “control is better which will help to forecast better and estimation of the sales will be better”. (Advantages, 2010) This will help the coffee shop to perform the duties better and also see that customer satisfaction is high. Thirdly, coffee shop by ensuring customer relationship management “will help to discover new customers by finding out the prospective customer based on the data base and then directing their efforts in that direction”. (Advantages, 2010) This will help the coffee shop to execute their vision purpose and develop them. Fourthly, coffee shop on the basis of this “will be able to improve the call centres and be able to respond to the customers problems better”. (Advantages, 2010) this will thereby promote the customer interest and the coffee shop will be able to deliver quality services. Thus, the coffee shop using CRM techniques will benefit in the long run and will be able to plan accordingly. This will thereby improve the planning process and will make the coffee shop gain a lot of leverage. This will thus bring the coffee shop as one of the most favourable destinations and will them improve their market. The bottom line The bottom line for a coffee shop is to see that “a good idea is used in a correct manner to build long term relation and sustainability so that the relation with the customer improves”. (Brown, 2009) Developing the idea and inculcating it with the customer management will ensure that the coffee shop is able to deliver on the promises and also maintain relation with the customer. The Solution The coffee shop needs to ensure that “customer relationship management is given a priority as in a service industry it is important that a relation is developed such that it lasts forever”. (Brown, 2009) The coffee shop needs to integrate their data base by developing the decision support system and using different solution and software. This will help the coffee shop in pursuing active strategy and integrating all together will provide the framework to work upon. This will thereby build a good rapport and customer relation will be on an upswing. Future of CRM Customer relationship management is going to gain prominence in coming years. With competition intensifying and companies looking for ways to capture and retain the customer this will hold prime importance. Companies will be lying stress on the fact that maintaining healthy relation with the customer is stressed upon. The coffee shop and other providers will also ensure that technology and strategies are crafted to ensure loyalty and delivering on the promises to ensure satisfaction for the customers. Conclusion The coffee shop on the basis of the different techniques and mechanism develop proper customer relationship technique. This will help the coffee shop to work on important aspects. It will also create customers for the future as ensure that they remain loyal. Proper usage of customer relationship technique will help to the coffee shop to deliver quality service. This will help to manage the customer better and will act as a medium to gain advantage for the future. Thus, using VRM techniques will benefit the coffee shop and will be able to develop a big market for the future. References Advantages, 2010, “Advantages of CRM”, crmnext.com Butcher D, 2009, “Ink! Coffee launches mobile gift program”, retrieved on May 8, 2010 from http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/database-crm/2807.html Brown C, 2009, “Small Business CRM is here to stay”, Article Emporium, Coffee net CRM, 2010, “The Broadway cafe: Customer Relationship Management”, retrieved on May 8, 2010 from http://www.snwebc.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=37:the-broadway-cafe-customer-relationship-management&catid=25:students&Itemid=44 David S, 2008, “The real life of CRM: politics, healthcare, email and coffee shops”, Customer Interaction Solutions Kale S, 2009, “CRM evolves from Synergy”, Innovating Ideas, urbino.net Krishna R, 2010, “Role of CRM in customer interaction and services”, ezine articles, retrieved on May 9, 2010 from http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rama_Krishna Sims D, 2010, “CRM, coffee shop and customer service”, Espresso News and Reviews, theshot.coffeerating.com Read More