Benefiting

When CRM was initially introduced to the service industry, it was used to help consumer-oriented markets, (like utility and telecommunication), to keep track of numerous customers. Manufactures need CRM for a different reason. They tend to sell to the same customer multiple times while having fewer customers and higher transaction rates. The role of CRM in the manufacturing industry is to understand the activity that goes on with the customer and secure the relationship. Because of the downturn in the economy, which resulted in an increased need to retain customers, manufactures were sparked to adopt CRM earlier than most expected.

Many manufactures using CRM has success stories. For example, an unnamed company using a CRM package tracked service requests, compiled the data, and represented dissatisfied customers in red on a bar graph. The manufacturer was able to narrow in on those customers and resolve their issues before the relationship was destroyed. The result, the manufacturer's on-time closure rate improved from forty five percent to eighty three percent, part sales to those customers increased about seventy percent, and the overall number of sales opportunities increased forty percent. The rollout was accomplished in thirty days and in less than one year, the manufacturing achieved payback on its investment. The most valuable CRM tool to manufactures is account management.

CRM can make a company increasable proactive by connecting the manufacturing floor to the front office. You have the advantage of knowing what is going on with customers and can quickly notify them of a product is shipped late. Another valuable tool is Order management. One can look up what a customer has ordered in the past and can easily and quickly complete the order. Manufactures can create product marketing materials; increase sells and decrease marketing expenses dramatically with the help of an automated CRM system. One can promote products and services in real time in a personalized manner while reducing a manufactures printing expense. Some manufactures use automated e-mail updating and pending orders, which can include a status link. Customers can click on an icon, log in and get data instead of calling the manufacturer.