Marketing and Sales of Insurance as an Intangible Product a paper delivered by the President/Chairman Nigeria Institute of Marketing (NIMN) Ganiyu Koledo at the Insurance Consumers Forum (ICF) in Lagos.

Marketing and Sales of Insurance as an Intangible Product a paper delivered by the President/Chairman Nigeria Institute of Marketing (NIMN) Ganiyu Koledo at the Insurance Consumers Forum (ICF) in Lagos.

PROFILE OF MANAGING CONSULTANT: SIBLINGS AND ASSOCIATES G.A. KOLEDOYE MSc.fnimn
PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MARKETING OF NIGERIA

EDUCATION:

Ganiyu Koledoye is a Doctorate research student at the Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK.

MSc in Business Administration at the University of Bath in 1979.

Postgraduate DMS of the UK Council for National Academic Award (CNAA) at Kingston Business School, Richmond UK in 1977.

Post-graduate Advanced Marketing programme at The Greenwich University Woolwich Arsenal UK in 1975.

Graduate of Marketing at South West London College in November 1973.

Grad Member (CIM UK) 1974. FCBIM(UK) 1983. fnimn.

EMPLOYMENT:

Managing Consultant- Siblings and Associates Ltd; FOE Resources Ltd.

Executive Chairman – Greylands farms and Auto Care Services Ltd. Sango. Ogun State.

Chairman – Dharmattan (Nig) Limited. Lekki. Victoria Island. Lagos State.

Managing Director and CEO – Zaria Industries Ltd.: 2002 -2006, Zaria. Kaduna State.

Managing Director and CEO – Coastal Bottlers Ltd.: 2000 -2008. Mile 2. Lagos State.

Group General Manager- Texlon Group =1996 - 2000. Mile 2. Lagos State.

AGM Manpower Planning and PCH Churchgate Group 1990 -1995. Victoria Island. Lagos State.

Personnel Manager Churchgate group 1987 -1990. Isolo. Lagos State.

Marketing Manager – Ebun Nigeria Limited (Pump Division) 1986 – 1987.

Lecturer and Examiner: CIM (UK); ABE; IAM; ATMC – South West London College; Centre for Marketing

and Management Studies; North East London Polytechnic; Clapham College of Technology( UK)1978 – 1986.

PROGRAMME OBJECTIVES
TO DEVELOP AWARENESS OF THE KEY ROLE PLAYED BY ORGANISATION PHILOSOPHY, IDEOLOGY AND CULTURE IN OPERATING A SALES FUNCTION
TO EXPLAIN CRITICAL PRE-SALES MARKETING ACTIVITIES.
TO EXPLAIN THE ROLE OF SALES FUNCTION AND ORGANISATION IN MARKETING ORIENTATION PROCESS.
TO EXPLAIN POST-SALES MARKETING ACTIVITIES DESIGNED TO CONTIUALLY ACHIEVE CUSTOMER ORIENTATION AND RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT.
IMPLICATION OF MODEL OF PRESENTATION
1. EVERY CONCEPT OR CHAIN IS A CONTINUUM WHICH IS LINKED TO THE EFFECTIVENESS OR OTHERWISE OF OTHER CONCEPTS AND ACTIVITIES IN THE LOOP.
2. FAILURE TO EFFECT ANY OF THE ACTIVITIES IN THE LOOP WILL CAUSE MARKETING SYSTEM FAILURE.
3. THE LOOP IS A JOURNEY.
4. EACH ORGANISATION SHOULD ASSESS HOW FAR IT IS IN THE JOURNEY AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION TO ACHIEVE FULL MARKETING ORIENTATION SESSION 1
ORGANISATION FOUNDATION
BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY AND IDEOLOGY

1. CHARACTERISTICS OF UNORGANISED BUSINESSES
PREDOMINANT BUSINESS TYPE IN NIGERIA.
NO COMMITMENT TO A PARTICULAR PRODUCT/SERVICE OR CUSTOMER
OFFERS PRODUCTS TO MAKE MONEY.
SHIFTING BASE ALL THE TIME.
BASIS OF SUCCESS OR FAILURE CANNOT BE RATIONALLY ARTICULATED
CONGEST MARKET SPACE WITH GIMMICKS AND FAULTY PRODUCTS.
DISTORT MARKETING AND SALES FUNCTIONS.
PROMOTERS OPERATE MOSTLY UNLAWFULLY.
STAFF OFTEN ILLTREATED AND DEMOTIVATED.
　 2. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CLASSICAL TRANSACTION MODEL
LEGALLY AND LAWFULLY ORGANISED BUSINESSES.
THE PURPOSE OF THE BUSINESS IS TO MAKE MONEY FOR THE OWNERS OR INVESTORS.
GOOD PRODUCTS ARE DEFINED BY THE ORGANISATION WITH THE CONVICTION THAT IT WILL SELL ITSELF, IF AND WHEN CUSTOMERS KNOW ABOUT IT.
SCIENTIFIC AND AGGRESSIVE SELLING STRATEGY IS THE ONLY ROUTE TO ACHIEVING AND RETAING CUSTOMERS AND HIGH PROFIT.
COMPETITION IS BAD NEWS AND MUST BE CHALLENGED THROUGH PRICE CUTTING AND NEGATIVE ATTACKS.
COMPLEX ORGANISATION STRUCTURE ARE CREATED TO ENSURE THAT ALL TERRITORIES ARE COVERED AND ACCOUNTING FUNCTION REIN SUPREME.
MOTIVATION OF STAFF COMES FROM MEETING FINANCIAL TARGETS IN FORM OF COMMISSIONS SKEWED TOWARDS SHORT TERMS ENDS.
BUDGETS, BUDGET REVIEWS AND APPRAISALS ARE WAR OF ATTRITION.
3. Marketing orientation model
1. "an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders."
2. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments.
3. It is an integrated process through which companies build strong CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS and create value for their customers and for themselves.
MARKETING TRILOGY
Marketing is carried out at the three levels of an organization.
Each level within an organization is responsible for critical aspects in the total marketing chain.
Individual must appreciate his role and responsibilities in the marketing chain process for designed to achieve continuous marketing customer equity.
CORPORATE LEVEL
MARKETING AS A CORPORATE PHILOSOPY AND FUNCTION OF TOP MANAGEMENT.
‘’a corporate philosophy which focuses on customer’s satisfaction and problem solving as the foundation for effective management of stakeholders and societal resources in order to ensure profitability, competitiveness and continuing survival of the business’’
FUNCTIONAL LEVEL
‘ the management activities undertaken in identifying, analyzing and understanding the current and changing needs of customers and organizing, planning and controlling rational activities implemented for meeting needs identified for the purposes of satisfying and solving customers problems, as means for achieving organizational objectives for continuity and profitability’.
MARKETING AS A SET OF TASKS
"Day to day decisions and activities undertaken in order to ensure that customers expectations, in terms of service requirement and problem solving, are met and management provided with feedback for review of marketing plans, goals and control.
Tactical level activities would include field selling, physical distribution, customers’ relations, product, brand and concept promotions, brand performance monitoring, competitors activities monitoring, accounts management, product testing, assessing effectiveness of promotional and other marketing mix strategies, merchandizing and presence in Marketing place.
MARKETING ORIENTATION explained
The marketing approach inevitably leads to an organization, which constantly envisages changes in its market and accepts the challenges of finding out the nature and structure of the changes in the process of articulating resources to meet the demands of the market. Accordingly, marketing functions are organized to provide input into strategic planning and interpreting decisions based on marketing priorities.
The marketing concepts accept the continuous interplay of problem definition and problem solution through the market determined process.
MARKETING ORIENTATION PHASE
The marketing orientation views organizational success as being driven by the provision of long term consumer satisfaction and emphasizes the importance of ensuring organization wide commitment to meet marketing need through the development and installation of quality marketing system.
The strength of the marketing orientation as a business philosophy is in its comprehensive nature. Everybody connected with the institution appreciates the need to build an organization, which meets today’s customer’s needs as well as their future needs. Beyond the expression of commitment, corporate policies and priorities are organized to ensure the continuous interaction with the market.
　
CUSTOMER ORIENTATION as a logical extension of marketing orientation
The customer oriented organization would develop organizational extension in which the institution dedicates staff and policies to meet the ever-changing needs of customers as opposed to the need of an aggregate market.
Customer focus sees the world as providing continuous opportunities which if identified can be met by utilizing the marketing orientation capacity and philosophy through a strategy of dedicated staff and policies to meet the demands of specific customers.
CUSTOMER ORIENTATION 2
In order to be customer oriented, the organization would pursue a combination of sub-strategies designed for specific customers whilst retaining the global policies and strategies. The goals from the individual customer would vary according to needs, whilst at the same time, it forms part of the overall marketing oriented organization system.
CUSTOMER ORIENTATION
　
MARKETING KPI’S (1)

PRE-SALES MARKETING KPI’S:　

Customers’ profile
Customers density
Customers’ segmentation.
Product’s economic, social and psychological features
Market Price sensitivity analysis.
Market trend analysis
Competitors’ activities data base
Market performance relative to forecast.
Marketing mix requirements and budget.
Brand profile and perception analysis.
MARKETING KPI’S (2)




Customer Service Key Performance Indicators:

Customer service email count
Customer service phone call count
Customer service chat count
Average resolution time
Concern classification
Once you have set goals and selected KPIs, monitoring those indicators should become an everyday exercise. And most importantly: Performance should inform business decisions, and you should use KPIs to drive actions.
KEY MARKETING PERFORMANCE INDICES
A key performance indicator is a quantifiable measure a company uses to determine how well it meets the set operational and strategic goals. This means different businesses have different KPIs depending on their respective performance criteria or priorities. At the same time, the indicators usually follow industry-wide standards.
SALES PERFORMANCE INDICES
Sales Key Performance Indicators:

Hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual sales
Daily Prospecting: numbers and outcome
Daily, Weekly and Monthly conversions
Conversion rates
New customer orders versus returning customer sales
Cost of service provided.
Inventory levels.
SALES MANAGEMENT
Objectives: To reach the total viable segment with insurance products demanded and adequate information to enable the company achieve sales target in each area, segment, district and zones as may be designed by the company at competitive costs.
To create Sales organization structure for planning and control.
To recruit train and retrain sales personnel for effective field sales activities.
To establish remuneration policies that will motivate Sales to higher performance and review performance of non-compliant sales personnel
　


REVIEW OF SALES ORGANISATION STRUCTURE
Sales organization structure depicts the formal arrangement for organizing field work and support chain internally.
The internal support chain is responsible for planning sales objectives, sales quotas, sales targets, journey cycles; incentive schemes and communication support materials.
Sales organization structure shows division and specialization of labour in terms of Line organization
Line and Staff organization It provides for stability and continuity of organizational performance
It enables synchronization and coordination with marketing and non-marketing functions inpinging on sales functions.
Line and Staff sales organization
Horizontal Structure of the Sales Force
These will consist of different sales organisation structure. The company will adopt the most appropriate or combinations that would facilitate effective management of sales organisation. These are described below: Geographic organization
Product organization
Organization by customer type or market
Organization by selling function
The role of telemarketing
Geographic Sales Organization
Sales force organized by Product Type
Sales force organized by Customer Type
SPECIAL SALES CONSIDERATIONS
Consideration should also be given to organizing to meet need servicing ‘National and Key Accounts’
National or key accounts Assigning key accounts to sales executives
A separate key account division
A separate sales force for major accounts Team selling Team selling
Selling center Multi-level selling
Co-marketing alliances
Logistical alliances and computerized ordering
STRATEGY FOR RECRUITING SALES AGENTS FOR INSURANCE PRODUCTS.
Start with a strategy consistent with the history of the company and the nature of business.
Appoint an expansion team
Leverage existing strengths
Go to the press
Start off with minimum fixed salary and performance based commission.
Provide support.
Establish time limit for take-off performance of 3 months.
Establish average performer of six months.
Recruit new sales agents.
Six C’s of finding a good sales representative

CRM DEFINED 1

CRM is a corporate level strategy, focusing on creating and maintaining relationships with customers.
It is a holistic approach to an organisation’s philosophy, placing the emphasis firmly on the customer.
CRM governs a company’s philosophy at all levels, including policies and processes, customer service, employee training, marketing systems and information management.
　
POST SALES MARKETING ORIENTATION
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL CARRIED OUT QUARTERLY; HALF-YEARLY AND ANNUALY WITH A VIEW TO IMPROVING CUSTOMER DELIVERYAND SALES PERSONNEL MOTIVATION.
SUSTAINED MARKETING RESEARCH INTO THE 7P’S Product; Pricing; Place; Promotion; people; process; physical evidence
SUSTAINED CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
CRM DEFINED 2 There are several viewpoints on CRM: Is attracting, maintaining, and enhancing customer relationships for the mutual benefits of partners.
The focus of CRM is on collaborative and cooperative relationship between the firm and its customers and/or other marketing actors.
It is an integrated effort to identify, maintain and build up a network with individual customers and to continually strengthen the network for the mutual benefits of both parties through interactive, individualized and value added contact over a long period of time.
CRM DEFINED 3
Is marketing oriented programme toward a strong, lasting relationship with individual accounts.
Is a genuine customer involvement in a business through communicating and sharing of knowledge.
CRM is a comprehensive strategy and process of acquiring, retaining, and partnering with selective customers to create superior value for the company and its customers.
FACTORS DRIVING INTEREST IN CRM
Several factors have influenced interest in CRM. Some of these are:
Intense competition in many industries
Growth of service economy
Demanding and discerning customers
Technology
TQM - the emergence of total quality management.
CRM STRATEGY
This is a very important first step as it sets the stage for action and defines the limits.
It consists of segmenting your customers not only by their financial worth but also their service requirements, expectations and standard.
It also involves adjusting their expectations and standards to match your ability to deliver excellent service. Thus your relationship strategy is inevitably tied to your service strategy.
CRM STRATEGY – Cont’d
CRM Strategy entails customer classification and selectivity:
One-On-One relationship with individual customers, KAM.
Customer business development process
Frequency marketing
Loyalty programmes
Cross-selling, and Up-selling opportunities and various forms of partnering with customers including:
Co-branding
Joint marketing, and
Co-development, and other forms of strategic alliances.

Implementing CRM

CRM systems are integrated end-to-end across marketing, sales and customer service.

Implementing CRM

A CRM system should:
Identify factors important to clients
Promote a customer-oriented philosophy
Adopt customer-based measures.
Develop end-to-end measures to serve customers.
Provide successful customer support.
Handle customer complaints.
Track all aspect of sales.

CRM Architecture

There are three fundamental components of CRM:
Operational – automation of basic business processes (marketing, sales, service)
Analytical – analysis of customer data and behavior using business intelligence.
Collaborative – communicating with clients.

CRM Architecture

1. Operational CRM
Provides automated support to "front office" business processes (sales, marketing and service). Each interaction with a customer is generally added to a customer’s history, and staff can retrieve information on customers from the database as necessary.
Involves 2 general areas:
Sales force automation – critical sales, forecasting, account management, sales administration and tracking customer preferences.
Customer service and support – complaints, certain service requests, product returns and enquiries.

Marketing – provides information about the business environment, including information on competition, industry trends and macro environmental variables. These are used to improve marketing efficiency.

CRM Architecture

2. Analytical CRM
Analyses data (gathered as part of operational CRM, or from other sources) in an attempt to identify means to enhance a company’s relationship with its clients.
The results of the analysis can be used to:
targeted marketing campaigns.
Retaining existing customers.
providing timely and regular information to customers
contact optimization
Evaluating and improving customer satisfaction
Optimizing sales coverage
　
　
　

CRM Architecture

3. Collaborative CRM
Focuses on the interaction with customers (personal interaction, letter, fax, phone, internet, email etc.)
Includes.
Providing efficient communication with customers across a variety of communication channels.
Providing online service to reduce customer service costs.
Providing access to customer while interacting with customers.

Benefits of CRM

CRM covers all interaction and business with customers. A good CRM program allows a company to acquire customers, provide customer service and retain valued customers.

Customer Services can be improved by:
Providing online access to product information and technical assistance around the clock
Identifying what customer value and devising appropriate service strategies for each customer.
Providing mechanisms for managing and scheduling follow-up sales calls.
Tracking all contacts with a customer.

Benefits of CRM

Identifying potential problems before they occur.
Providing a user-friendly mechanism for registering customer complaints
Providing a mechanism for handling problems and complaints.
Providing a mechanism for correcting services deficiencies.
Storing customer interests in order to target customers selectively.
　
　
　
CRM TOOLS
　
With the great advances made in computer technology, mathematical science, there are a variety of software tools, both general and tailor-made, to facilitate CRM.
Effective CRM requires the development and use of relevant customer data bank. Again, in this respect, modern computer technology and software are available.
　
CUSTOMER ACQUISITION Any Marketing Activity or Programme designed to attract or win customers. Some of these activities include:
Direct Selling:
1. Personal selling
* Face-to-face
* Telemarketing
* E-mail. 2. Mass Marketing:
* Mass media aimed at wider consumer group
CUSTOMER ACQUISITION – Cont’d
Product sampling and demonstration to stimulate trial.
Sales Promotion of various types.
Trade Fairs, Shows, and Exhibitions,
- General or Specialized.
CUSTOMER RETENTION
Product/Service Quality: A guarantee that the product or service will deliver or function as promised most or all of the time.
Product/Service Reliability: The confidence or assurance that the product/service will not fail, e.g. phone will work or pen will write.
Safety: The assurance that the product/service is safe to use and will not endanger life or cause personal harm or injury.
Trust/Integrity: The perception that a business or person keeps to its/his words. It is ensuring your ‘No’ or ‘Yes’
CUSTOMER RETENTION – Cont’d
Empathy: This is getting totally involved in the customers business and life – making the customer a friend and partner by sharing his feelings and aspirations. It is putting yourself in the customer’s shoes.
Listening: This is part of communication and is about effectively handling and managing customer complaint, ensuring that the customer is heard and is left feeling warm, good and satisfied.
Courtesy: Politeness and respect in relating with the customer. Generally, customer wants to be respected and treated like a king.
CUSTOMER RETENTION – Cont’d
Two things to bear in mind in this respect:
Never hurt the customer’s ego
Never want to win an argument over a customer or go into any controversy. If you do, you might win the argument or get better in the controversy but be sure to lose the customer.
CUSTOMER RETENTION – Cont’d
Acknowledgement: This is simply recognizing and deferring to the customer.
After Sales Service: Product service guarantees and warrantee.
Communication: Maintaining regular dialogue with the customer by being interested and involved in the customer’s business, via phone calls, personal visits, business mails, business updates, news letters, business or product/service brochures, etc.
Customer Satisfaction: This is ensuring that the product or service package truly satisfies most of the time: the products of service quality and delivery, company front desk attitude, business processes, billings, complaints handling, communication, etc.

Improving Customer Relationships

CRM tracks customers interests and requirements, as well as their buying habits. This information can be used to target customers selectively.
The products a customer have purchased can be tracked throughout the product’s life cycle, allowing customers to receive information about a product or to target customers with information on alternative products once a product begins to be phased out.
Repeat purchase rely on customer satisfaction, which in turn comes from a deeper understanding of each customer and their individual needs.
CRM is an alternative to the "one size fits all" approach.
CUSTOMER RELATIONS SKILLS



Step 1: Identify your target customers



Begin by identifying your target customers. Who are they? What do they need from your agency? How, and at what times or places do they interact with your agency—what are the "points of service delivery"?


　


Cluster or segment target customers based on their common behaviors.
Determine the priorities of your customer "clusters".
When possible, focus on customers with high current or future value—for example, someone who frequently accesses your services. A comparable example is a frequent flier program—airlines offer a higher level of service (such as early boarding privileges) to their frequent flyers, while still meeting the needs of their other passengers.
To target the highest level of service to your "frequent flyers", you also need to identify the best ways to serve non-target customers, those to whom it is expensive to provide services, or those who might be better served by other means. This is a necessary part of a customer focus. One example: a fire department could discourage residents from contacting the department to remove cats from trees by charging a $20 fee for performing the service, and by advertising their busy emergency call load.
Step 2: Determine what your customers want

Determine what target customers want (not just what they need right now) by considering these techniques:
online customer satisfaction surveys
phone or email survey
in-person meetings or focus groups
user testing
channel analytics (web, phone, etc.) Determine how target customers prioritize their "wants". Generally, customers want timeliness, convenience, quality products and services, variety or selection, and protection or security. However, each agency must identify what is most important to its customers.
Weigh how important the customer-identified "wants" are to your agency. Are the services something that the organization does, is capable of doing, or wants to pursue?
Determine how well your agency can meet your customers' "wants" in comparison with competitors. You may think you don’t have competitors, but more than likely you do, especially if you're producing consumer-related information for the public. Be mindful of who's doing similar work—if competing organizations meet or exceed customer expectations, it changes the customer's frame of reference and increases their expectations.
Determine which "wants" would most positively impact your agency's bottom line (for example, increased compliance with a regulation, more loyalty and trust, or a desired customer behavioral change), and whether those "wants" should be targeted for improvement.
3.Create a culture of customer service

In the best performing private companies, CEOs ensure that employees at all levels understand their customers and are given the tools to serve them well.
Agency leadership must communicate the importance of customer service and ensure that all employees, even those without direct customer-facing jobs, understand how their work serves customers.
Management must regularly interact with customers so they understand evolving customer needs.
Most importantly, front-line customer service workers must be empowered to actually solve problems on the spot.
4. Clearly communicate service standards and expectations
Set service standards, such as call wait times, claims processing times, and satisfaction ratings.
Clearly define the standards and make them publicly available.
Clearly defined goals helps motivate employees and helps manage customer expectations.
When service standards cannot be met, customers must be informed—a non-negotiable best practice in the private sector.
Step 5: Provide consistent service across channels

Agencies should continuously collect comprehensive customer feedback across the whole customer experience—not just via each channel.
As communication preferences change, we need to adapt our services to interact with our customers, when and how they prefer.
Consistency of service across channels is critical—a customer who gets an answer on the phone should receive the same answer in-person at a local office, via the website, over email, or via mobile device.
Step 6: Establish a vision for customer service excellence

Establish your agency's customer-focused vision using all the information in these steps. The vision statement should be simple and may also identify what the company does not want to be. Sample vision statements include:
"Absolutely, Positively Overnight" by Federal Express
L.L. Bean's promise of "Guaranteed. Period."; and
Google's "Do no evil" Continually reflect on the vision and goals and the way services you're delivering service. Be creative about the ways you create and deliver new services. Be willing to change existing practices to integrate improvements.
Live up to what you promise by applying both an external and internal strategy that reflect the vision. If your agency doesn't implement both internally and externally oriented strategies consistent with the vision, you'll have good intentions but poor customer service.
Step 7. Implement an external strategy

Take into account the costs of providing services and ways to minimize those costs while implementing quality control. Develop the service concept with the frontline worker at its center. Determine the necessary financial, human, and technological resources, as well as how your agency structure and flow can enable frontline workers to deliver excellent customer service.
Use advertising/educational strategies to set appropriate customer expectations.
Provide a feedback loop to incorporate customer comments and complaints into the planning process. Customer complaints are an invaluable resource. Without them, organizations can't be successful. Complaints that people bring to your agency are one of the most efficient and least expensive ways to get information about people's expectations of your agency and its products and services. Studies have shown that customer comments and complaints are a more direct means of getting information than conducting research studies of customer expectations, conducting transaction studies, or reviewing customer expectations in similar industries.
Ensure that the complaint resolution strategy supports the customer-focused vision. Most research shows if customers believe their complaints are welcomed and responded to, they will more likely come back to your organization for a future interaction.
8. Focus on recruiting and retaining good employees
While Step 7 outlined an external strategy, the next three steps cover, in detail, the internal strategy—how your agency’s internal processes will support the customer-focused vision.
The premise is that "capable workers who are well trained and fairly compensated provide better service, need less supervision, and are much more likely to stay on the job. As a result, their customers are likely to be more satisfied…" (Harvard Business Review, 1994).
Research also shows that employee turnover and customer satisfaction are directly correlated—typically, the higher the turnover rate, the lower the agency scores in delivering good service.
In addition, it's commonly noted that employee turnover is an expensive problem, with significant costs needed to hire and train new people.
Leaders must foster the creation and testing of new ideas and be openly willing to change existing practices to integrate improvements.
Learn how targeted employees perceive the proposed customer services. An organization cannot change without the participation of its employees.
Focus on recruiting employees who support the customer service vision. The costs of employing people who do not support the customer service vision are considerable. In addition, develop career paths that allow successful customer-oriented employees to remain on the frontline.
9. Empower employees to resolve customer service problems

Empower frontline employees to do what it takes to satisfy the customer. Management must support employee empowerment by clearly defining the boundaries of the empowerment, while remaining flexible within those boundaries. This will encourage creativity. In general, rules should be simple and few—Continental Airlines actually had an employee handbook burning party to signify the change from a procedural environment to one of empowered customer service (Spector, 2001).
In addition to skills and empowerment, equip frontline personnel with the technology, information, and internal resources to do what it takes to satisfy your customers.
Step 10: Develop good communications and rewards system

Ensure that divisions and individuals within your organisation communicate. Frontline employees who take customer questions, and other employees who have answers to those question, need a support network. A customer should never have to tell one employee what another employee already knows.
Develop cross-functional teams for operations and improving service. Ask the people who are doing the work for suggestions to improve productivity.
Link employees' compensation to (and offer rewards for) good customer service performance. Rewards can be money, status, praise, acknowledgement, or perks such as trips, time off, or special events.
Finally, measure employee satisfaction regularly.
　
　
　
CONCLUSION
CRM is a veritable tool for enhancing business performance.
It is a potent source of competitive advantage if well conceived, planned and implemented.
As customer trends show, and as products and services attend parity especially for the service industry, CRM holds the key to ultimate success.
Finally, like most other elements of management, people make the difference in CRM.
SESSION CLOSES
　 THANK YOU