netrashetty
MP Guru
Westat is an employee-owned corporation providing research services to agencies of the U.S. Government, as well as businesses, foundations, and state and local governments.
In addition to the company’s capabilities as a statistical survey research organization, Westat does custom research and program evaluation studies across a broad range of subject areas. Westat also has the technical expertise in survey and analytical methods, computer systems technology, biomedical science, health information technology, and clinical trials.
Westat's research, technical, and administrative staff of more than 2,000 are located at its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, near Washington, DC.
Depending on the number of active projects at any time, up to several thousand data collection and processing staff work at Westat's survey processing facilities, at the Telephone Research Center facilities, and at data collection sites throughout the nation. Westat also maintains research offices near its clients in Atlanta, Georgia; Durham, North Carolina; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Houston, Texas. The company has international offices in Beijing, China; San José, Costa Rica; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; New Delhi, India; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Bangkok, Thailand.
The idea itself is nothing new; its roots have been around since trading began. The principle of looking after your customers so that they come back regularly is, after all, merely the basis of good trading. In an increasingly competitive commercial world however, strong customer relationships take on an increasing importance. With the cost of selling to a new customer being five times the cost of selling to an existing one you can’t afford to lose established business.
Yes, you still want new markets, and yes, for various reasons customers will still disappear. The important thing is to minimise this loss and make sure the reasons behind it don’t stem from something you are doing – or more significantly something you are not doing.
Which is why good Customer Relationship Management is vital – and why the process has now been refined to make it more effective than ever.
What does CRM Involve?
In essence, making your customer feel special by understanding his needs and fulfilling those needs in a personal manner which will keep him coming back for more.
Going that extra mile and providing service beyond that which was expected takes your customer to the next stage, where he becomes a ‘raving fan’ of your business - and you can’t have too many of those. Achieve this and your customer suddenly becomes part of your sales force, telling everyone he meets how good you are.
This can actually be achieved without computers and software. A good memory and a card index can keep track of customer’s preferences and buying patterns. Newsletter campaigns, post sale follow-ups and special offer mailings can all be organised - given time; except that this is where it so often falls apart. For most companies time is the commodity in shortest supply.
Identifying the Challenge
This is where you find the first steps into CRM. Contact Management or Personal Information Manager software can provide substantial benefits. A database of customers for envelope labelling, simple word processing and calendar functions can save an enormous amount of time. The latest breed of contact manager software can do this quite efficiently across small groups of people, an office based sales team for example. So what’s the point of moving to a full CRM strategy? Why not stick with a simple address book style contact manager?
The real secret of selling has always been to ‘Think Buying’
So consider for a moment, the things that annoy you as a customer:
* Promised return phone calls not made, and information not sent
* Not being informed of possible delays or problems
* That call to tell you when your order is ready – promised but not made.
* One department in the company having no idea what another department said to you in the last call or letter.
* No one bothering to call to make sure the goods arrived, or are satisfactory. Probably no calls at all – until of course they want to sell you something else
* No one knowing what they last sold to you – or when
* No one knowing enough about you to offer you items or services that would enhance or compliment your purchase.
In addition to the company’s capabilities as a statistical survey research organization, Westat does custom research and program evaluation studies across a broad range of subject areas. Westat also has the technical expertise in survey and analytical methods, computer systems technology, biomedical science, health information technology, and clinical trials.
Westat's research, technical, and administrative staff of more than 2,000 are located at its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, near Washington, DC.
Depending on the number of active projects at any time, up to several thousand data collection and processing staff work at Westat's survey processing facilities, at the Telephone Research Center facilities, and at data collection sites throughout the nation. Westat also maintains research offices near its clients in Atlanta, Georgia; Durham, North Carolina; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Houston, Texas. The company has international offices in Beijing, China; San José, Costa Rica; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; New Delhi, India; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Bangkok, Thailand.
The idea itself is nothing new; its roots have been around since trading began. The principle of looking after your customers so that they come back regularly is, after all, merely the basis of good trading. In an increasingly competitive commercial world however, strong customer relationships take on an increasing importance. With the cost of selling to a new customer being five times the cost of selling to an existing one you can’t afford to lose established business.
Yes, you still want new markets, and yes, for various reasons customers will still disappear. The important thing is to minimise this loss and make sure the reasons behind it don’t stem from something you are doing – or more significantly something you are not doing.
Which is why good Customer Relationship Management is vital – and why the process has now been refined to make it more effective than ever.
What does CRM Involve?
In essence, making your customer feel special by understanding his needs and fulfilling those needs in a personal manner which will keep him coming back for more.
Going that extra mile and providing service beyond that which was expected takes your customer to the next stage, where he becomes a ‘raving fan’ of your business - and you can’t have too many of those. Achieve this and your customer suddenly becomes part of your sales force, telling everyone he meets how good you are.
This can actually be achieved without computers and software. A good memory and a card index can keep track of customer’s preferences and buying patterns. Newsletter campaigns, post sale follow-ups and special offer mailings can all be organised - given time; except that this is where it so often falls apart. For most companies time is the commodity in shortest supply.
Identifying the Challenge
This is where you find the first steps into CRM. Contact Management or Personal Information Manager software can provide substantial benefits. A database of customers for envelope labelling, simple word processing and calendar functions can save an enormous amount of time. The latest breed of contact manager software can do this quite efficiently across small groups of people, an office based sales team for example. So what’s the point of moving to a full CRM strategy? Why not stick with a simple address book style contact manager?
The real secret of selling has always been to ‘Think Buying’
So consider for a moment, the things that annoy you as a customer:
* Promised return phone calls not made, and information not sent
* Not being informed of possible delays or problems
* That call to tell you when your order is ready – promised but not made.
* One department in the company having no idea what another department said to you in the last call or letter.
* No one bothering to call to make sure the goods arrived, or are satisfactory. Probably no calls at all – until of course they want to sell you something else
* No one knowing what they last sold to you – or when
* No one knowing enough about you to offer you items or services that would enhance or compliment your purchase.
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