Those Who Turn “Crm” Into Profits

“Companies have become more customer-focused. There has been a change in their organizational structures. Customer management positions have been created. There have been changes on many topics ranging from the promotion of products which enable additional services to be sold to existing customers, to giving awards to personnel and salary bonuses.”

Marketing professor Sunil Gupta highlights this change which has occurred throughout the world over the last 10 years. Companies are adapting all their business processes to focus on the customer. As they implement this change they are utilizing all the benefits of technology and the information economy. It is here that Customer Relations Management (CRM) becomes important. The world’s leading companies are spending millions of dollars on CRM in order to get to know their customers better.

The first examples of CRM in Turkey occurred in the second half of the 1990s in companies which were leaders in their sectors, such as Garanti, Yapı Kredi, İntema and Migros. In the last 2-3 years, there has been an increase in interest in such systems. Companies in every sector have made large investments in CRM and the result has been a series of extremely successful projects. Here at Capital we have collected 13 top stories of these applications for our special edition on the ‘Information Economy’. These companies collect customer information in a data warehouse. They then develop product and marketing strategies based on the segmentation of the information that has been collected. Our study shows how customer relations management has enabled Turkish companies to prepared for a new era in which they offer special products and services customized for the individual.

BANKS LEADING THE WAY IN CRM

In Turkey it is the banks which lead the way in customer relations management. Garanti began working on CRM in 1998. The bank monitors customer activity on a daily basis, which enables it to reduce costs and its personnel to work more productively.

Şebnem Dönbekçi, who is the manager of the bank’s Customer Relations Management and Marketing Department, says: “Such efforts enable us to conduct more detailed and sophisticated analyses. These are used in the most productive way at the point of contact with the customer.” The bank designs development programs to attract more customers. Introductory packages are prepared for new customers.

Yapı Kredi began to use CRM in retail banking in 1997 and the system it has developed enables customer based information to be shared with all channels. Mehmet Kırca, the Director of the Yapı Kredi Bankası Retail and Business Banking Marketing Department, says: “We now can set a strategy very easily and very quickly. We can know and manage what the customer wants beforehand. On a customer basis our profit figures have risen rapidly.” The bank has a broad customer base and soon plans to provide its sales teams with information support and an even more successful system of individual portfolio management for high intensity customers.

Denizbank CRM Planning Department Manager Serdar Ceylan gave the following information about what they have done in this regard since they began CRM in 2003.

“In addition to our data and technology models, we are working on reaching customers with product proposals using simple, intelligent criteria. These proposals have accelerated our sales processes, and customer satisfaction and loyalty has increased. We are aiming to provide our sales teams with data and to make the sales process quicker and easier for both parties.”

THREE EXEMPLARY PROJECTS IN AUTOMOTIVES

Automotives is one of the areas where customer relations management has most importance. Renault Mais, the leader in the sector, began professional CRM in July 2004. Since that date the company has collected customer information in a database.

Renault Mais General Manager İbrahim Acar says: “We have a loyalty card for vehicle owners which provides them with discounts in services and purchases of new vehicles in proportion to what they have contributed to the brand. The Renault CarDvisit provides customers with services which go beyond an identity.” In the future the company will give increase the number of its custom-designed campaigns.

Toyotasa has been using CRM for 18 months. Toyotasa Marketing Customer Management Department Manager İsmail Ergün says that, after they have been provided with training, authorized dealers are able to access customer information through a standardized software. As a result, customers who are registered in the system receive prior notice of new models, campaigns and various surprises. İsmail Ergün says: “We want to develop special programmes. Next year we shall introduce e-CRM applications. We are planning to launch our call centre project.”

Zehra Çankaya, who is responsible for CRM at Trakmak, says that, in a professional sense, they have diversified their CRM activities since 2003. As a result of these efforts, the company has provided training to approximately 25,000 farmers. 500,000 farmers are informed through publications. Every year 30,000 customers are visited. Their targets include customer applications based on more detailed information and a greater variety of individual services.

How 13 companies have benefited from CRM

Company Year CRM The results obtained  was introduced

YAPI KREDI BANKASI 1997 Strategies can be defined easier and more quickly. On a customer basis, product ownership, volume and profit figures have increased rapidly. These increases are measured more effectively.

GARANTİ BANKASI 1998 Customers are monitored on a daily basis. As a result, costs can be managed accurately and well. Products with high purchasing trends can be identified.

İNTEMA 1998 Has begun to study 12,000 professional customers according to over 50 different criteria. A PartnersClub has been established to handle communications with these customers.

MIGROS 1998 Its 4.7 million members have been divided into 47 segments. Has begun to introduce customized special marketing and promotional campaigns based on these segments.

TURKCELL 2002 All processes are conducted on a customer basis. Tariffs, services, products, and campaign decision mechanisms are based on CRM processes.

SHELL 2002 The Shell Club Smart has increased customer loyalty for Shell. When combined with the strength of the brand, the applications which have been introduced have has created a competitive advantage.

DENİZBANK 2003 The system which has been established has ensured that product proposals go directly to the customer. This has also accelerated sales processes and increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.

TRAKMAK 2003 25,000 farmers have received training. 500,000 have received information from publications. 10,000 framers participate in service days each year, 30,000 are visited.

ECZACIBAŞI-BEIERSDORF 2003 The introduction of one to one communication has resulted in customer loyalty for Nivea being higher than for other consumer products.

GROUPE SEB ISTANBUL 2004 There has been an increase in awareness of focusing on the customer inside the company. All the instruments have been prepared. The company will soon obtain the first concrete results.

TOYOTASA 2004 The levels of satisfaction which have been obtained are higher than for other brands. As a result of these efforts, the rate of repurchases has increased compared with the sector average.

ARÇELIK 2004 Data on 16 million households has been collected in a single computer programme and analyzed. The consumers have been divided into segments and studies on them have begun.

RENAULT MAIS 2004 The Renault CarDvisit provides Renault vehicle owners with discounts new vehicles and services commensurate with what they have contributed to the brand.

Note: The starting date has been taken as the one on which professional CRM was introduced.

EBRU FIRAT
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