Goals of the CRM-approach

CRM is frequently diminished to its technological components or understood as a pure software project with the only tasks of acquisition, storage, and evaluation of customer data (Stauss and Seidel, 2002, p. 11). However, this single-track perspective carries the risk that the necessary framework conditions in the company will be neglected. The result is that the technological possibilities are created, but the supporting processes are not geared towards the customer (Hippner, 2005, p. 116). The aim of CRM is to take customer processing to a new level of quality through a holistic focus on customer needs. The corresponding CRM-software only offers data processing support. The concept defines the orientation of customer processing and the software helps to assimilate the resulting processes more quickly. The objectives of the CRM-approach are illustrated in detail in figure 6 (Dangelmaier, Uebel, and Helmke, 2004, p.

5).

Figure 6: Goals of the CRM-approach

Source: Helmke, Uebel, and Dangelmaier, 2017, p. 7

Higher client satisfaction results in a more powerful client retention, which has a beneficial impact on company profit. To reach this target, the available funds in sales, marketing, and client service must be utilized in a focused manner. CRM-software provides the appropriate technological support for customer management in order to cope with sales,

marketing, and customer service tasks faster and better. The use of new technologies can increase the quality of customer processing and customer data management, which offers the company value-added services (Helmke, Uebel, and Dangelmaier, 2017, pp. 7-9).

The aim of the CRM-approach is to distribute the information about customers more efficiently in the company’s organization in order to use it more effectively in the context of processing customer relationships. This is the basis for implementing differentiated and individual customer processing in practice and that an optimal service can be offered at the interface to the customer (Dangelmaier, Uebel, and Helmke, 2004, pp. 5-8). More efficient customer processing is desirable, but no guarantee for additional sales, as the quality of the content of customer processing has not yet been improved. Setting the goals of the sales force solely on the number of processed customer contacts and thus placing the quantity of processing over quality can be counterproductive. First and foremost, the quality of customer processing must be increased. This can be achieved through a consistent focus on customer-oriented goals, such as e.g. customer satisfaction (Helmke, Uebel, and Dangelmaier, 2017, pp. 7-10). Customer satisfaction, motivated by corporate practice, is a central construct in management research and research in the field of organizational psychology, and will be explained in chapter 2.5.3 (Bednarek, 2014, p. 15).

Concepts for increasing effectiveness are based on the focus of generating additional sales. This also includes customer satisfaction. This should lead to increased sales through a differentiated treatment of customer needs. It is important to consider that the costs associated with increasing customer satisfaction must be in an economic relationship to the benefits expected from the customer relationship. These benefits do not only have to be of a monetary nature (Dangelmaier, Uebel, and Helmke, 2004, pp. 5-8).

Substantial instruments for increasing the effectiveness of customer processing through CRM are the introduction of innovative, value-adding instruments and processes that enable prioritized customer processing and target-oriented recording and evaluation of customer data (Helmke, Uebel, and Dangelmaier, 2017, pp. 7-10). However, the thrusts of increasing efficiency and effectiveness cannot be observed completely separately from one another, since e.g. an increase in the effectiveness of customer management can result in additional process improvements (Dangelmaier, Uebel, and Helmke, 2004, pp. 5-8).

The goal of all CRM-activities is to increase customer profitability, which can be achieved on the one hand through improved customer selection and acquisition, and on the other hand through increased efficiency in the CRM-processes. In addition, the establishment and stabilization of profitable customer relationships should result in increased customer loyalty and the acquisition of repeat buyers and should be reflected in an increased economic success.

The increase in market share is therefore less important than the "share of wallet" of an individual customer. The “share of wallet” is a performance management survey methodology that helps managers understand how much business a corporation is getting from certain customers. The focus on increasing the "share of wallet" is closely linked to the objective of building and strengthening long-term relationships with customers with high future potential.

Since a company contributes in the short term through intensive processing of "bargain hunters"

with low loyalty, this can achieve a higher "share of wallet", which needs to be put into perspective by the high acquisition costs. Modern information and communication technologies, as implemented in the context of CRM-projects, initially facilitate the task of selecting previously and/or prospectively profitable customers or attractive target groups in the future, thanks to the customer-specific design of the business relationship and the offer of customer-specific problem solutions to be bound to the company in the long term. The individualization of the business relationship with particularly valuable customers is reflected in two aspects. On the one hand, the interaction processes between customers and the corporation can be individualized, and on the other hand, the features of the range of services can be better adapted to specific customer needs. These tasks are significantly simplified by the introduction of a CRM-system. New information and communication technologies thus serve to a certain extent as "enablers" for direct and personalized communication and interaction between the company and its customers (Hinterhuber and Matzler, 2009, p. 182).

The goals from the perspective of the company should be compatible with the goals and needs from the customer's perspective in order to ultimately achieve customer satisfaction.

Individual treatment by the company can be named as a central customer-side goal. This goal requires knowing and responding to the needs of each customer. In the past, customers have come to appreciate it when they were made aware of certain products or current offers that corresponded to their needs and/or price expectations. Customers appreciate any support that is tailored to their needs (Meyer, 2002, p. 9).