Summary of Presentation
Summary of Presentation
In this presentation, my objective was to effectively communicate what I know about customer relationship management (CRM) in the context of small business marketing. I started by defining the meaning of CRM. CRM is concerned with the management of the relationship with customers and not stakeholders. The presentation was about communicating various issues involved in the management of customers in the business marketing. I set about doing the presentation about the topic by first analyzing various issues of electronic-CRM (e-CRM). There were various issues which I analyzed and formed topics of the presentation including customer equity, customer engagement, customer relationship management in the context of SME, internal application of CRM, advantages of CRM for SMEs, using CRM as a competitive advantage, and the use of IT to facilitate CRM. Further, I explored the e-CRM to manage characteristics of the SME, and also investigated their benefits. I found out that using e-CRM to manage SMEs has advantages such as enhanced customer service, improved customer loyalty, increased personalization, and creating of market awareness. The use of e-CRM has additional benefits such as cost savings in marketing, sales generation, improved profitability, and helping SMEs in the international edge. Other topics I explored include management of customer information and Ten Commandments of e-CRM in the context of SMEs. After analyzing the e-CRM, I summarized the findings. This included the definitions, benefits, and barriers to the implementation of effective e-CRM. I selected and used JE Art Gallery as an example of the use of e-CRM to prove my topic. My plan was to conduct a literature review of various sources. This included journals, books, internet sources, and company websites. In addition, I searched for a small medium enterprise (SME) in China where I used it as an example. The SME is known as JE Art Gallery. This is where I once used to work in summer holidays.
Success and Failures
In the preparation of this presentation, some things went well while others did not go well. Some of the things which went well include success in obtaining relevant information about the topic from various sources. I was also successful in getting a very good example of an SME, which was in line with what my topic covered. I enjoy designing presentations in PowerPoint and it took me a short while compiling all the information and organizing it well. During the presentation, I managed time well, and I covered everything in the presentation within the given time. Interaction with the audience gave me the opportunity to clarify some issues that were not clear during the presentation. It helped the audience to understand the presentation better. However, there were also some aspects of this work which did not go well. One thing was the problem in summarizing key information from multiple sources I used. I am not a fast reader, and I sometimes take a lot of time to summarize a piece of article in a few words. Therefore, I had to read several times before I move to the next article. This consumed a lot of time. During the presentation, I later noticed that I did not employ the use of effective communication especially in my speed of talking. At some point, I was talking too fast, and I was slow in other parts. During the presentation, there were visible signs that I was nervous. Nervousness impaired my communication. These three things which went bad will form the basis of my improvement in future presentations.
Engagement of the Audience
During the presentation, I managed to interact with the audience. The purpose of Task (3) was ‘To manage and co-ordinate the individual presentations in the tutorial as a coherent whole experience for the audience; to avoid repetition; to have at least one coordinating PPT slide sharing experience across all individual presentations and copied into all individual packs.’ When I had gone through the presentation, I had a short time to engage with the audience. The audience took the time to ask e questions and I provided answers to their questions. The discussion was about issues that were not clear in the power point and some items that were missing from the power point. I also had time to ask the audience some questions. One of the question I asked the audience was to give me their opinion of what they thought was the most important factor for their company. I also asked them their opinions about the impact of the e-CRM for their SMEs. The interaction provided a great opportunity to further share more information with the audience.
Literature Review
As I built knowledge and framed my analysis which led to the recommendations I made on this topic, I referred to academic sources especially those dealing with e-commerce and CRM. In Harrigan, Ramsey, and Ibbotson (2009) and also Harrigan, Ramsey, and Ibbotson (2012) I learned a lot about the relationship between CRM and the internet (See Appendix 1 and Appendix II). I also referred to 8 other journals with various topics on CRM and the use of the internet. Stone (2003) provided a comprehensive definition of e-business and its benefits. Wahlberg, Strandberg, Sandberg, and Sundberg that there are certain features of customer relationship management which can be incorporated in the ICT. However, they suggested that more research needs to be done.
Customer relationship management is vital to the business. It is, therefore, important to understand its process, measurement, and impact on the business. According to Reinartz, Krafft, and Hoyer (2004), CRM involves initiation, maintenance, and termination. Evidence suggest that when implemented well, CRM has a positive impact on the organizational performance. There have been questions as to whether CRM strategies play any significant role in business. According to Verhoef (2003, CRM can be used as an effective tool for improving customer retention as well as customer share development. Customer relationship management increases customer satisfaction and thereby act as an incentive for the customer to remain loyal to the business. Further, Lee-Kelley, Gilbert, and Mannicom (2003) suggested that businesses which have adopted e-CRM are competitive. Their findings suggested a close relationship between e-CRM and customer loyalty. Studies conducted by Kimiloglu and Zarali (2008) showed that companies which employ e-CRM record higher levels of improved brand image, customer satisfaction, transactions amount and frequency, efficient business processes, customer targeting, improved sales, effective database management, decreased service support costs, innovation services, and profitability.
Payne and Frow (2005) contend that customer relationship management can be used as a tool for increasing customer value. The authors further explored the various definition of CRM and three alternative perspectives of customer relationship management. CRM is not only applicable to large businesses. Their view is in agreement with the views of Alshawi, Missi, and Irani (2010) who also pointed out that adoption of CRM in SMEs is just the same as in large organizations. Zontanos and Anderson (2004) asserted that it is very difficult to separate CRM from entrepreneurship. The authors pointed out that it is very important to consider relationship markets a component of entrepreneurship marketing. By their nature, SMEs are entrepreneurs. Zontanos and Anderson’s view suggest that SMEs can also employ the concept of relationship marketing in their businesses. There have been attempts to find out effective and efficient ways of implementing CRM strategies. Previous studies have attempted to study how relationship management can be enhanced by the use of technology. Pan and Lee (2003) contend that the use of e-CRM can act as a completive advantage to the business. However, the authors further argued that e-CRM does not offer all the solutions a business requires. To them, businesses need to adopt e-commerce, but they should not take e-CRM as a replacement for the personal contact with the customer in the key points of marketing, sales, and customer support. This view is in line with Chen and Popovich (2003) who argued that CRM should always comprise processes, technology, and processes which try to understand the company’s clients. The authors pointed out that many companies have failed to implement CRM because they failed to understand that it requires customer-focused, cross-functional company-wide re-engineering.
Relevance of the Presentation
The presentation has advanced my knowledge in marketing in the context of SMEs. Specifically, it has given me an idea of how e-CRM can be effectively employed in CRM as a competitive advantage. E-CRM has many advantages which can facilitate efficient business processes for SMEs. Knowledge of this idea is very important to me in case I operate an SME or advice someone operating an SME. The presentation has also given me an opportunity to interact with a large audience. Having the ability to interact with such a large audience helps me to practice communication skills. It has been found that communication skills are very important in one’s professional life. Participation in the presentations gave me a chance to practice what I know about communication effective communication and also to identify areas of weakness and strength. The areas of weaknesses I identified will form the basis of my improvement. On the other hand, I will retain what went well in the presentation. I have felt nervous in the past every time I stand in front of people. I have also known that using gestures can improve communication. I have been improving, and I was far much better during the presentation. Without presentation, I would not have had a chance to measure my communication skills.
Lesson and/or Theme
In preparation for the presentation, I learned the application of the concept in real life. I was in a position to relate the contents of the presentation with one live case study. The live case study is an existing business which currently utilize the concept of e-CRM. The business I used is an SME employing only 8 employees. I learned that they were successful in their business because they not only use creative programs but they also run a formal CRM. Their CRM not only involves face-to-face contact but also utilize the internet to facilitate efficient business programs. The business allows visitors to follow their business in the social media. Customers also use e-mails. Through this approach, the SME has been able to attract more customers. Further, the SME has recorded improved sales with a corresponding increase in market share. All these lessons have been beneficial to me. It has given me an idea on how theory can be translated into practice. It has also shown how e-CRM can be used as a tool to gain competitive advantage. Using a live case study also helps in reinforcing the theory obtained from literature review and those taught in class. Further, the use of live case study also helped in designing of a better presentation.
Lessons from colleagues
Apart from what I learned from my own presentations, I also got a chance to learn from my colleagues. I learned two types of lessons. First, I learned what worked well with them. I picked what made a perfect presentation. On the other hand, I also learned what went wrong in some presentations. Combining both lessons gave me an idea of what I should do and what I should not do in future presentations. Further, I learned aspects of CRM from my colleagues’ presentations. In Ibtehal’s presentation, I learned more about the roles of CRM in the context of SMEs. Ibtehal had included some additional information which was missing in my presentation. Riana’s presentation also contained some additional points about benefits of CRM which were missing in my presentation.
References
Alshawi, S., Missi, F., & Irani, Z. (2011). Organizational, technical and data quality factors in CRM adoption—SMEs perspective. Industrial Marketing Management, 40(3), 376-383.
Chen, I. J., & Popovich, K. (2003). Understanding customer relationship management (CRM) People, process and technology. Business process management journal, 9(5), 672-688.
Lee-Kelley, L., Gilbert, D., & Mannicom, R. (2003). How e-CRM can enhance customer loyalty. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 21(4), 239-248.
Payne, A., & Frow, P. (2005). A strategic framework for customer relationship management. Journal of marketing, 69(4), 167-176.
Harrigan, P., Ramsey, E., & Ibbotson, P. (2012). Exploring and explaining SME marketing: investigating e-CRM using a mixed methods approach. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 20(2), 127-163.
Harrigan, P., Ramsey, E., & Ibbotson, P. (2009). Investigating the e-CRM activities of Irish SMEs. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 16(3), 443-465.
Kimiloglu, H., & Zarali, H. (2009). What signifies success in e-CRM? Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 27(2), 246-267.
Pan, S. L., & Lee, J. N. (2003). Using e-CRM for a unified view of the customer. Communications of the ACM, 46(4), 95-99.
Reinartz, W., Krafft, M., & Hoyer, W. D. (2004). The customer relationship management process: Its measurement and impact on performance. Journal of marketing research, 41(3), 293-305.
Stone, M. (2003). SME e-business and supplier-customer relations. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 10(3), 345-353.
Verhoef, P. C. (2003). Understanding the effect of customer relationship management efforts on customer retention and customer share development. Journal of marketing, 67(4), 30-45.
Wahlberg, O., Strandberg, C., & Sandberg, K. W. (2009). Trends, Topics and Under-Researched Areas in CRM Research-A Literature Review. International Journal of Public Information Systems, 5(3).
Zontanos, G., & Anderson, A. R. (2004). Relationships, marketing and small business: an exploration of links in theory and practice. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 7(3), 228-236.
Appendix 1
Abstract from Harrigan, Ramsey, and Ibbotson (2012)
Appendix 2
Abstract from Harrigan, Ramsey, and Ibbotson (2009)
