Abstract
Customers’ satisfaction and customer loyalty are two quite different business concepts logically utilized in industries but are very important marketing strategies. According to the industrial experts, when the customer is satisfied, the business gains a huge leap on their faith and thus the continual loyalty.
Marketing and customer relationship is achievable when the company has strategic approach to customer satisfaction as well as enough investment for supporting the business and financial objectives.
In line with Crowder et al (2007, 13), this is a counter measure to achieving required business growth, strategy to retaining customers as well as maximizing profits.
Today marketing entails rationality as opposed to the common transitional approach of advertising. According to the American Marketing Association (2008), marketing is a function of an organization that involves the process of creating customers’ values.
It also entails corresponding and delivering them as a measure of managing customers’ relationships in the aim of acquiring maximum benefits. (AMA, 2008) In accordance with Harker and Egan, (2006, 215), this approach of marketing has become more acceptable as a modern style of enhancing business growth.
In close link to Kotler and Keller research (2009, 3), the Customer Relationship Management (CRM), is more preferable and chosen as a top priority approach among most companies worldwide. It incorporates the use of technology, customer’s knowledge and any acquired or processed data involving the customer.
In connection to Payne and Frow findings (2005, 167), Kotler and Keller (2009, 3) indicated that the strategy of CRM has a foundation of the additional organizational knowledge penetrating the involved sectors with the aim of strengthened relationship.
Today the use of value added systems is important such as the electronic interactive programs for enhancing communication and thus collecting important consumer information.
According to Kotler and Keller writing (2009, 3), to harness the success of CRM, the stakeholders ought to be educated; the idea behind the approach should ensure value of enhancing the firm to customer relationship and ensuring a strategic innovations of the organization.
Satisfaction relates to results while loyalty links to relationship and this is achievable thought improved CRM system. If the customers are repeatedly satisfied with the goods or services, they are likely to become truly loyal and easily overcome the negative occasional impacts or business challenges.
Satisfied customers may not necessarily be loyal or remain loyal but existence of a management system to strengthened relationship especially for the Small and Medium Sized Enterprises enhances the loyalty. (Baas and Schrooten, 2006, 128)
The greatest economical benefit for the business involves finding the value for customer satisfaction, ensuring the business revolves around the customer’s interests and considering the key elements that accelerate the technological growth. This is what consists of the Customer Relationship Management.
It is eminent for the business owners or managers to identify the segments that the customer tend to have greater value upon by either finding and eliminating the satisfaction elements that may control decisions regarding their purchases, or offer greater satisfaction levels beyond the possible customers breakpoints. (Kotler and Keller, 2009, 3)
The business can also manage its relationship with the customer by ensuring the focus of the customer is among the business strategies or objectives. By reinventing the interactions with the customers, the business ensures proper support especially to the highly valued clients.
It is also the role of the business to ensure existence of a well trained, motivated and organized human resource that has the ability to support all the customer’s needs.
Alltel is a top US communication industry that utilizes the Oracle Database Siebel CRM system to enhance the required competitive advantage, through integrating customer information from various systems to have a comprehensive view of their needs and ensure satisfaction.
They are able to capitalize on the self-service concepts through their accurate and rapid response to their needs. The Subaru of America Inc (SOA) is a marketing company of Japan manufactured Subaru products and through the CRM applications, they are able to capture over 600 dealers across US.
Their relationship enables them to have an accurate view of the customers through research, purchases and ownership. The Zebra Technologies Corporation is a product and solutions identifier that utilizes the CRM to track transactions, manage its assets and people in over 100 countries.
This is a technological company in the US and its CRM system ensures rapid integration of other systems to capture the interest of the clients. The linked electronic business suites and resource planning solutions ensures the importance on identification of the key drivers of a firm that satisfy the highly valued customers, such as the credit card firms.
They capture interests of such customers by the accurately billing, competition over interest rates and quality of the customer services. Poor services to the customer and inaccuracy on transactions cause dissatisfied customers to transfer somewhere else.
Considering the airlines industries, the factor that require important address in order to maintain a strong customer relationship entails arrival and departure time, the traveller’s benefits, security and discounts. (Oracle, n.d)
Regarding the technological advancement, for a firm to understand the customers’ needs and measure its progress in a better way, the technology used ought to provide the customer’s data source through various channels for analysis.
The provision for satisfaction across the wide range of customer’s interactions is another key determinant of a firm’s success. The customer relationship management has to focus on supporting specific business financial objectives for it to have a positive impact on business profitability or customer satisfaction.
The concepts behind this management mainly regard the satisfaction, especially during the current robust technological platforms, customer retention, higher returns and accelerated growth over the competitors.
References
AMA (American Marketing Association). (2008). Customer Relationship Management. Web.
Baas, T., & Schrooten, M. (2006). Relationship Banking and SMEs: A theoretical Analysis of Small Business Economics. Journal of Economics, 27, 127-137.
Crowder, M.J., Hand, D, & Krzanowski, W. (2007). On optimal intervention for Customer lifetime value. European Journal of Operational Research.
Harker, M, J., & Egan, J. (2006). The past, present and future of relationship Marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 22, 215-242.
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2009). A framework for Marketing Management (fourth Ed). JITCAR Journal, 11, 3.
Oracle Company, (n.d). Oracle’s Siabel Customer Relationship Management. Retrieved from https://www.oracle.com/index.html
Payne, A., & Frow, P., (2006). Customer relationship management: from strategic Implementation. Journal of marketing Management, 22, 167-176.