Customer Relationship Management for the Birmingham New Library - Essay Example

? RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT FOR THE BIRMINGHAM NEW LIBRARY By Lecturer: of Affiliation: and Word Count: 3, 405 Executive Summary The research report provided a succinct introduction that incorporated the underlying principles of the research study. The researcher formulated key objectives that enabled the researcher to offer effective research analysis during the report writing. The report provided detailed information about situation analysis and in this part; the author provided varied strategies such as use of SWOT analysis. These strategies are vital for assessing both the internal and external environments, which are favourable or unfavourable to the successful business activities. The researcher incorporated varied marketing strategies vital for enabling the Birmingham Library to accomplish their goals successfully. The researcher provided varied recommendations which the company should take into considerations in order to achieve successful business performance. The action plan was formulated that attempted to reveal the way the objectives of the company will be achieved. Lastly, the conclusion was included that provided a concise summary of the market report. Customer Relationship Management for the Birmingham New Library Introduction The customer relationship management (CRM) has evolved as an effective approach for enabling companies to interact with their customers effectively in order to achieve their business goals successfully. CRM is a business strategy that enables the company to understand the needs of the clients, retain customers through customer experience, reduce management costs and increase profitability (Kangal, 201, p. 45). Senn, Thoma andYip (2013, p.28) defines CRM strategy as the management process accountable for predicting, identifying customers and satisfying their demanding needs for shared benefit. The CRM strategy integrates sales, services, technology solutions; thus it attempts to bring together every part of the business, which touches the client in order to achieve effective business organizational performance. The Birmingham Library is a new library, which is under construction in the Birmingham centre in England; thus employing effective strategy will enable the company to achieve their intended goals. Therefore, employing CRM strategy will be an effective means that will enable the company to assign, create and manage customer requests; thus contributing to effective business performance. The Birmingham Library will employ CRM strategy because this approach often integrates social media services in order to communicate, share customer opinions and experiences; thereby, building up successful customer relationship. Key Objectives The market report aims to examine the marketing strategies vital for increasing performance in the Birmingham Library. It analyses the internal and external factors that may hinder the company from achieving effective customer relationship in the market. The aim of the market report is to carry out marketing research in order to enable management team in the Birmingham Library to understand the customer expectations and customer experience; thus employing vital approaches that will satisfy the needs of customers. The report provides effective recommendations that will enable the company to improve their customer relationship and incorporate action plan vital for enabling the company to improve their performance level. Situation Analysis Real business situations are complex and confusing; thus they are more difficult to analyze that any real life problems, which people undergo in their daily life. Therefore, to make the sense of real business situations and come into a clear conclusion that will help one to succeed in the long-run, it is vital to make recommendations or effective decisions in real business situations. Kotler and Keller, 2009, p. 34) argue that situation analysis enables the manager to analyze both internal and external factors that may impact the effective organisation; thus understanding the capabilities of the firm, customers and business situation. However, understanding the situation where the company operates and carrying out environmental analysis is crucial. Environmental analysis is vital because it will help the company to determine the internal and external forces that may impact the effective organisation performance. Shaw and Onkvisit (2008, p. 121) argue that the organisation should analyze the external forces because these factors are difficult to control; thus they should be taken into considerations especially when introducing new services in the market. Therefore, the company will employ SWOT analysis in order to determine the factors that may hinder or promote successful business performance in the market. SWOT Analysis The company can employ SWOT analysis in order to enable them to analyze the environment; hence enabling them to determine factors, which can be favorable for effective organisation performance. Piercy (2009, p.91) argues that SWOT analysis is a significant technique vital for understanding the weakness and strengths, as well as, identifying threats and opportunities that the company may face. The SWOT analysis will enable the company to carve a sustainable niche for their market; hence enabling the company to achieve their stated goals effectively (Alvarez, Casielles and Martin, 2011, p. 143). This strategy has also become widely employed in the contemporary business environment because of the rapid technology advancement, which contributes to increased global competition. Strengths One of the strengths to the Birmingham New Library is unique services that the company will offer to the clients. The company will also utilize Internet series and other social media services to interact with their customers; thus strength for increasing performance. Employee morale can be one of the strengths for increasing organizational performance. The company can offer incentives to their employees and reward them in order to encourage them to serve their clients effectively; thus increasing better customer relationships. Weaknesses Legal issues which are not resolved may be a weakness to effective organizational performance. Understanding the legal aspects or external influence is imperative because it will enable them to perform their business efficiently in the new market; thus accomplishing their objectives successfully (Kumar, Petersen and Leone, 2013, p. 69). Lack of diversified range of library services and market shares may hinder the company from increasing effective business performance. Opportunities Opportunities in the company many include significant aspects such as technology changes, changes in government policies, changes in lifestyles and other social changes. The increased use of social networking sites across the globe and Internet marketing will offer the company an opportunity to interact with their clients effectively. The company will use social networking sites to update their profiles and respond to customers issues or question; thus improving their business performance. Moreover, the demand for library services will increase annually because the Birmingham Library is one of the biggest libraries built in Birmingham; thus it will increase customers through employing CRM strategy. Threats Threats in the company can be any obstacles that the company may face. Birmingham Library will face competition from other libraries offering high quality services and technology changes might also become a threat to the position of the company and cash flow problems. New technology can be a threat because the use of e- marketing in the business may impact the business negatively in case the company does not utilize proper strategies for improving organizational performance. Tavana, Bakiyan, Farjam, Karami and Ostovari (2013, 660) argue that technology is one of the vital elements for achieving a competitive advantage, but it can impact the business in case of poor technological implementation techniques. Therefore, the management team in the Birmingham New Library should examine the required technology such as the use of effective Internet applications and social networking sites vital for marketing their services in the market. CRM Practice of the Birmingham Library Birmingham Library can employ CRM approach because this model is an effective model for developing customer relationship. Therefore, one of the CRM practices for the company may include training employees. Employee training practices is vital because it will enable the company to acquire knowledge on the way they should relate with clients and treat necessary school courses effectively. The company should ensure that every employee take training programs seriously because training will contribute to increased knowledge and skills vital for handling varied customers from diverse cultural background; thus meeting their demanding needs effectively. Another practice is engaging customers directly and this practice is vital because CRM strategy is a tool that that aims to engage customers in business process; thereby enabling the company to achieve success. Hawkins and Mothersbaugh (2010, p. 89) argue that taking into considerations direct customer engagement is crucial because CRM best practices focus on client relationship with the company. Therefore, the company can engage customers through updating their information, offering more details about the company profile and the services they offer in the market. In this globalization era, customers will respond high to any company updates and this is vital because it increases the level of engagement with clients. Moreover, employing social media services is an effective organizational practice because it will increase customers; hence increasing organizational sales. The customer expectations have been rapidly changing for the past two decades because of increased technological advancement. The new technology has contributed to increased innovative product features and services; thus customer expectations have also been changing on the daily basis. The CRM best practices should involve use of social media services to bring clients and communicate with them about the products or services provided by the company. The relationship of the client will grow because building cooperative and collaborative relationships with the clients seems the most prudent means of fostering or creating long-term relationship with clients. This is vital because it will enable the company to achieve their stated objectively successfully; hence achieving a competitive business in the competitive business world. The CRM system can increase the company sales and make it highly productive; thus employing best CRM practices can highly reward the company. Recommendations It is recommendable for the company to carry out SWOT analysis in order examine the current and future internal, as well as, external forces that may impact the organisation performance. Hoffman et al (2005, p. 47) argues that employing SWOT analysis is vital when analyzing the environmental factors because this can enable the company to determine the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats to effective business performance (Jain, 2005, p. 121). Scanning the external environment is vital and this includes analyzing the opportunities and threats that may impact effective organizational performance in the market. External aspects are those factors that are difficult to control but analyzing them is crucial because it will help the company to come up with an effective plan, which will keep them prepared for the diverse potential scenarios (Kumar, Sunder and Ramaseshan, 2011, p. 24). Kotabe and Helsen (2010, p. 136) argues that the success of the company is influenced by varied factors operating within and outside the business environment. Therefore, analyzing the internal and external environment is vital because it will enable the company to adopt unique marketing strategies that will enable them to manipulate these factors in a manner that will enable them to achieve effective business performance. Moreover, the company should take technological factors serious in the business environment. Technological factors involve those factors, which are related to innovations in technology and that may impact the industrial operations. Many organizations in the current market employ technology because they want to achieve effective competitive advantage in the global market (Adekola, and Sergi (2007, p. 123). This is because of increased competition; thus analyzing technological issues will enable the company to achieve successfully their stated objectives. The company can also take into considerations the social factors, which may affect effective business performance in case the management does not consider them well. Therefore, the company may examine the social factors including, cultural aspects or traditional beliefs of people, the consumption pattern or behaviors, opinions of consumers and religious beliefs. It is also recommendable for the company to carry out customer analysis and this is vital when employing CRM strategy in the business environment. The customer analysis may include carrying out demographic analysis and this is where the company can identify the quantifiable subset of the population within the study area (Madhoushi, Saghari and Madhoushi, 2011, p. 215). Demographic involves characterizing the population in terms of gender, ethnicity, class and age, employment status among others (Baran, Galka and Strunk, 2008, p. 45). The distribution and value trends are also significant aspects of the demographic variables. Customer needs or wants should also be taken into considerations when carrying out customer analysis because this will enable the company to deliver effective services, which will enable them to satisfy their demanding aspects; thereby, creating effective customer relations with their clients. Lastly, analyzing the market size, income level of the customer and the potential market growth of the company is vital because it will enable the company to achieve their stated goals effectively. The organisation will carry out marketing research in order to enable management to understand the customer expectation and experience; thus employing vital approaches that will satisfy the needs of customers. Carrying out marketing research is vital because it will enable the company to make significant decisions of reaching their targeted potential clients in the market safely. The targeted market will include market size, customer characteristics, consumption behaviors and customer satisfaction level. Marketing research is vital because it offers the marketing management team appropriate, precise, reliable and valid information about marketing related aspects vital for enabling the company to achieve their organizational goals effectively (Armstrong, 2009, p. 122). This will enable the company to make significant action plan that will enable them to achieve their demanding aspects within the stipulated time frame. Moreover, it is recommendable to carry out marketing research because this will enable the company to determine whether the services they offer will satisfy the need of customers. Marketing research can identify the marketing trends, economic shifts, consumption behaviors of customers or their experience on the services, demographic and segmentation of the targeted customers. Understanding these aspects is vital will enable the company to achieve success in their business activities. This is because they will guide the company in making strategic business decisions and understanding the needs of customers effectively. In other words, marketing research helps the company to communicate and interact with their targeted customers (Klaus and Maklan, 2013, p. 228). It is also the benchmark for understanding and identifying their opportunities, as well as, evaluating the success of the business. The company will also employ effective marketing strategies crucial for increasing business performance; thus achieving a competitive advantage. Marketing strategies are effective in the current business world because they contribute to better achievement of the company goals effectively. For instance, the company can employ marketing segmentation approach by subdividing the targeted population depending on age, class, lifestyles, employment level and other aspects. This will enable the company to determine the needs for each customer; thus providing them high satisfaction level (Homburg, Muller and Klarmann 2011, p.56). Market segmentation is vital because it contributes to increased sales of products and services. Birmingham Ne Library is located in an area where there are diverse cultural groups of people and highly populated environment; thus segmenting the population into varied categories is vital. This is because it will enable the company to deliver or offer effective services to the targeted customers effectively. The company can also employ customer relationship management strategy because this will enable them to identify, anticipate and satisfy the needs of clients for mutual benefits. Buttle (2008, p. 43) asserts that CRM is the key strategy, which integrates internal process and functions, as well as, the external systems with an aim of providing high value to the targeted clients at a return. This strategy is grounded on a high quality customer data and it is an effective strategy for achieving new customers or retaining customers in accompany. Mende, Bolton and Bitner (2013, p. 125) point out that CRM is a client-centric strategy that aims to advance business activities in order to achieve success. It is vital in the company because of its varied benefits such as providing high customer satisfaction, improving market efforts, offering better customer services and also creating mutual relationships with the clients; thereby, contributing to effective organizational performance. Anabila and Awunyo-Vitor (2013, p. 108) argue that CRM is an effective strategy and a key to organizational survival and maintaining customer loyalty. Therefore, employing this strategy can enable the firm to increase their sales; thus achieving high revenues. In addition, many scholars have attempted to argue on the way incorporating CRM strategy in the business process can create successful business performance (Muther, 2002, p. 145; Peel, 2002, p. 37). Therefore, it is the role of the top management team to develop customer relationship management strategy because this will enable the company to reduce client dissatisfaction, reduce client management costs and manage demands efficiently (Chakrabarty, Brown and Widing (2012, p. 438). CRM is beneficial to the company because it increases the knowledge of the client about the services offered in the market and it offers a complete client view. This is vital because it will not only enable the client to understand the services offered in the market but also helps the company to define or determine the needs of customer in the market. Customer experience will also enable the company to deliver significant services, which can satisfy their clients successfully; thus enabling the company to improve their business performance. It is recommendable to employ CRM strategy because this approach often integrates social media services in order to communicate, share customer opinions and experiences; thereby, building up successful customer relationship (Nadeem, 2012, p99). Many companies have attempted to integrate CRM strategy especially when using e-marketing services in order to create successful relationship with customers. The use of e-marketing has become one of the effective means of communicating and promoting business activities in the market. This is because e-marketing such as use of the Internet and social networking services enables the company to reach many people faster in the global market. Fjermestad and Romano (2006, p. 27) argue that employing customer relationship management strategy in the current globalization era is vital because technology can impact business activities in case it is not taken into considerations. Therefore, CRM strategy can offer varied benefits especially when incorporating technology in business activities. This is because this strategy will enable the company to manage their services well through communicating well with clients via social media services; thus, contributing to successful business performance (Rainer, Turban and Potter (2007, p 81). Action plan Goal setting and offering effective recommendations are among the most crucial aspect for the success of the company. Many studies have proven that managers who set goals are much far successful than those one without objectives (Peelen, 2005, p.12; Ryals, 2005, p. 253). Creating goals and providing recommendations is the key to successful business performance; thus they should be made as a priority. Therefore, creating an action plan to achieve these goals is vital in any organisations and the goals should be achievable in a timely manner. Curry and Curry (2000, p. 121) argues that a successful action plan will not only have clear objectives but also aims with effective recommendations vital for achieving the demanding needs of both customers and organization. Therefore, the company will ensure that the action plan is clear and quantified in a manner that will enable them to monitor its performance. It should have SMART goal setting layout meaning that the goals should be specific, measureable, achievable, realistic and achieved in a timely manner (Yaghoubi et.al, 2011, p.78). In other words, it is vital to state clear what one wants to achieve as this will enable the company to achieve better results within the stipulated time frame. The table below provides an action plan that will enable the company to achieve their stated objectives effectively within the stipulated time frame. Action Timetable Objective Owner Performance measures or indicators Time Frame (2013-2014) Marketing research Marketing representative team Measure the performance of the Birmingham Library to determine in case the objectives has been achieved September-November 2013 External analysis Project manager Analyse the internal forces December 2013 Internal Efficiency and Effectiveness Project team leaders Asses the internal factors to determine in case the company is doing well in the market January to March 2014 PESTLE analysis Service manager Examine all the internal and external factors to determine in case they have contributed to organisational change March to April 2014 Long Term Development and Innovation Leader of technical group Implement strategies for achieving long term development plans and measure the innovativeness of the company April to June 2014 Customer relationship management and customer support Marketing manager Measure customer experience to determine their satisfaction level July 2014 Conclusion In conclusion, Birmingham Library will employ CRM strategy because this approach often integrates social media services in order to communicate, share customer opinions and experiences; thereby, building up successful customer relationship. This is vital because it will enable the company to increase their business performance in the market. Therefore, to come into a clear conclusion that will enable Birmingham Library to thrive into the market, it is vital to make recommendations or effective decisions in real business situations. Analysing the situation is vital and this includes employing effective business strategies such as SWOT analysis tool vital for determining in case the environment can favour successful business activities. Varied recommendations were given and these included carrying out customer analysis, carrying out SWOT and PESTLE analysis, incorporating CRM strategy in the business process and employing effective marketing strategies. However, developing an action plan is necessary because goal setting and offering effective recommendations are among the most crucial aspect for the success of the company; thus they can be achieved through implementing clear action plan. 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