If you focus on results, you will never change.
If you focus on change, you will get results.

What is the difference between your product or services and the products or services of your closest competitor? Or between one car and another, one television and another, one cell phone and another?

Probably very little, besides their fancy names and some good branding.

But this is not unusual today. The fact is that today's products and services are becoming more and more marginal and customers are becoming more and more informed and demanding. So now the companies around the world speak a new language, not only to attract new customers, but also to retain their existing customers. And that language is their customers' language; in the form of Value Added Services (VAS) along with Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

The concept of managing customer is not new. Companies have been interfacing with the customers since the beginning of trade. However, the focus has always been to sell the products and services, not necessarily from the Customer Retention Perspective.

The basic functionality of a CRM system is its automation of front office business processes. This is what characterizes a CRM system or application - the ability to collect, organize and store customer data and make it available to the company's back office functions such as ordering, billing, procurement, manufacturing and distribution so that the information can be acted upon. And also the ability to provide optimization of the front office functions, thereby leading to cost savings in the front office. This means both added revenue and profit for you.

Gone are the days when the customers were satisfied only with good and efficient products and services that meet their needs. In today's world of freebies and buy-one-get-one-free markets, every customer expects you to provide something extra apart from the goods and servics that you provide. Let us see some case studies of differnet industries to understand how can you add value to your business by providing Value Added Services to your customer apart from your regular products and services.

Just know that this level of service and functionality is not accidental, but rather the result of careful selection and development of the organizational capabilities that matter most to your customers. With customer expectations on the rise, it's about time you realize that your company can not retain customers by providing products and service the traditional way.

The Industries in focus are:

• Health Care
• Electronic Appliances
• Travel
• Manufacturing
• Finance & Investment Consultants

Health Care

After viewing a TV medical series on heart disease, Natasha logs on to her heart specialist - Dr. Sheth's Web site - hoping to receive some reassurance that she's taking every precaution possible in her battle against the disease. Once on the site, she finds valuable news and research findings, dietary advice and sample menus from nutritional experts, along with behavioral modification techniques that address her particular health challenge - hypercholesterolemia.

With just a few clicks, Natasha can graph her cholesterol history and forecast the impact that certain changes, such as increased exercise, will have on her cardiac risk profile. While looking at her personal profile, Natasha discovers that it 's time to reorder her medication and the next check-up. A new feature has been provided on this web site-a link to the Web-based pharmacy affiliated with her heart specialist's clinic. In seconds, Natasha's refill is on order, scheduled to arrive before she misses a dose. Natasha clicks on the schedule appointment button to arrange a specific date and time for her visit. There is also a link that asks Natasha whether she would like to be the appointment for her next check-up online and notified the confirmation electronically or by phone.

The next afternoon, Natasha receives e-mail from Dr.Sheth's clinic confirming her appointment. Now at the clinic, Dr.Sheth touches the wall-mounted computer to prescribe a new medication. As he enters the order, a red stop sign flashes a warning. An allergy -apparently omitted from hospital admission forms -was detected in earlier notes from the Natasha's former physician. After reviewing the complete medical record, Dr.Sheth selects a different drug from the list of alternatives offered by the system, then verifies the dosage that was calculated based on the patient 's weight. As the prescription is transmitted to the pharmacy, Dr.Sheth continues with his next patient.

Electronic Appliances

A residential customer reviews her monthly utility bill on the Web. Her telephone, water and cable charges look normal, but her energy line item seems too high. She uses your online energy audit to help identify potential reasons for the overage. Details about her installed appliances -provided as part of the audit -are fed into your marketing system. Based on the audit, evidence points to her aging geezer as the culprit. She clicks on "talk to us " to speak realtime with a customer service representative (CSR) about her audit results. Shortly thereafter, she receives a brochure in the mail describing your maintenance service -and a special offer on a new energy-efficient geezer.

Travel

As a Customer Service Representative (CSR) answers an incoming call, she quickly scans her screen to view all recent interactions with this customer. She notices that a week earlier, the customer booked two seats on the Web under their new holiday scheme and the pickup service bus was supposed to reach at the joint within 30 minutes today. After greeting the customer, the CSR asks if he is calling about whether his pickup bus was on schedule. Pleasantly surprised that she's anticipated his need, the customer explains that something urgent has come up and he can not make it to the pick-up point before an hour, and he doesn't want to miss this vacation. While she checks on his profile, the CSR understands that he is one of the regular customer and has travelled around 4 times in last 2 years with them, and that he also loves to travel with them. The CSR can see from the schedule of the pick-up bus that there are still two stops bus must make before reaching to the pick-up joint of this customer -plenty of time to make the change. She quickly reschedules the route to pick-up other 2-3 passangers on the route before getting to this pick-up joint, so that this customer gets some more time, and immediately the bus-crew is informed about the revised schedule and also to wait for sometime for this customer via their mobile devices like pager.

Manufacturing

An OEM launches the model year with major design overhauls in four different models. Carefully, the company watches the market and all internal measurements for any sign of problems. Everything looks great; all four lines are experiencing record sales.The early warning system kicks into routine operation.

Just three months after introduction, a few customers report problems with their windshield wipers "getting stuck." Alerted to a potential product issue, the early warning system analyzes these isolated cases and discovers that all of the reports were related to one particular model and most of the affected customers are located in rainy Seattle, Washington. When usage readings reported by in-vehicle telematics are compared, it becomes clear that the failing wipers have been used ten times the standard amount. Believing failures are more likely when a specific usage threshold is reached and knowing the volume of vehicles already on the road, engineers realize that they must act quickly to protect consumer safety. Still puzzled by the fact that failures only occur in one of the four models using the blades, the OEM receives the much-needed answer from their supplier.

Using information supplied by various OEMs, the supplier detects a flaw that only occurs with certain windshield slopes. An enhanced design is already in testing. With help from customer service, the OEM identifies all potentially affected customers. Fortunately, the defect is found within six months of product introduction, keeping the car volume involved relatively small. And, thanks to the early warning from Seattle, most vehicles are far from the usage threshold where the problem typically occurs. Although the media does publicize the recall, they praise both manufacturer and supplier for a prompt and proactive response. Recall costs are contained, and no litigation arises.

Finance & Investment Consultants

During a cab ride from the airport to his meeting location, John gets an SMS on his cell phone. That's an urgent message triggered from his investment consultant's web site, advising John that the price on a desired scrip has just been dropped. John replies with his last offer price. Later that afternoon, the consultant sends an instant message advising John that his offer has been accepted and that the transaction details with the latest information about the scrip have been sent by e-mail. Later that evening at his hotel, John reviews the two alternatives provided for the payment for the transaction: He can exercise the stock option shares he received as a bonus a few years ago, or sell some of his XYZ stock. John clicks on the link to his account information on his consultant's Web site. He reviews the stock he has and the transaction he made on that day so far. A quick look at the latest stock position makes John even more curious, so he initiates a Web chat with his consultant's representative to ask about the options he has. The rep points out that the majority of stock experts recommend option two (selling XYZ), since John's stock options are expected to have another sharp increase in value later this quarter. Before ending their chat, the rep reminds John to review the attached recommendations on the new scrip. Before he logs off, John gives a preliminary okay on option two, trusting his consultant to keep tabs on the market.

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Health Care
Electronic Appliances
Travel
Manufacturing
Finance & Investment Consultants