Implementing A Customer Relationship Management: The Proactive Steps For Sales Managers To Prevent A Sub-Optimised Salesforce Performance

Abstract

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a comprehensive business model for increasing revenue and profits by focusing on customers.  It includes any application or initiative designed to help firms optimise interactions with customers, suppliers or prospects via one or more touch points – such as a call centre, sales person, distributor, store, branch office, web, or email for the purpose of acquiring, retaining or cross-selling customer.  But it is a serious mistake to consider CRM as mere software.  In fact, many firms are struggling with their CRM initiatives precisely because they have bought the sophisticated software, but do not have the culture, structure, leadership, or internal technical expertise to make the initiative successful.  Factor analysis was used to analyse the collected data, in order to isolate principal components that account for the proactive steps for sales managers to prevent an out-and-out CRM failure.  The result shows that a close relationship exists between a company’s effective CRM strategic implementation and its salesforce compensation plan.  To get its salespeople to aid in successfully implementing its CRM, sales managers need to coordinate its sales compensation plan with the company’s CRM strategy.

Keywords: Campaign Management; Transaction-based Interaction; Point-of-Sale Interaction; Predictive Modelling; Empowerment; Data-driven Marketing; Response List; Database Enhancement.