Relationship Management: Definition, Types, and Importance
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What Is Relationship Management?
The term relationship management refers to a strategy in which an organization maintains an ongoing level of engagement with its audience and supply chain. This management can occur between a business and its customers, which is called business to consumer [B2C], or between a business and other businesses, which is referred to as business to business [B2B]. Relationship management aims to create a partnership between an organization and its patrons, instead of viewing the relationship as merely transactional. This is done through sales, service, and the analysis of data.
Key Takeaways
- Relationship management is what an organization undertakes to establish and maintain engagement with its customers and business partners.
- Management can occur as business-to-customer or business-to-business.
- Relationship management can benefit from the use of data analytics and software.
- Companies often employ relationship managers to oversee their relationships.
- Relationship management can increase brand loyalty, spot inefficiencies, attract new customers and suppliers, and mitigate risk.
How Relationship Management Works
Businesses must establish and maintain good relationships with their business partners and their customers in order to succeed. This is done through relationship management. Relationship management involves strategies to build client support for a business and its offerings, and increase brand loyalty. Building a relationship most often occurs at the customer level, but it is valuable between businesses as well.
Building a relationship with clients yields rewards for all parties. Customers who feel that a company is responsive to their needs likely will continue to use that company’s products and services. The same principle applies to relationships between businesses. Put simply, business partners are more likely to be loyal when there’s a better connection between the two.
A company’s reputation for responsiveness and generous post-sales involvement can often stimulate new sales. Maintaining communication with consumers lets a company identify potential problems before they come to a costly head.
A business may hire a relationship manager to oversee relationship building or it may combine this function with another marketing or human resources (HR) role. The role of a relationship manager requires analytical and communication skills. Professionals in smaller firms may handle both consumer and business relations. Larger companies may employ two different individuals to handle each.
There are four components to relationship management: customer retention, loyalty, profitability, and satisfaction. The first measures how many customers are loyal to the company. Loyalty is measured through repeated sales as well as referrals. The third refers to the total profit or loss earned by a company. Satisfaction is how well-received a company’s goods and services are by its customers and suppliers.
Types of Relationship Management
As noted above, businesses have different relationship management options available to them based on the subject. The first is business-to-consumer while the other is business-to-business. We’ve highlighted the basics of each below.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Business-to-customer or B2C businesses rely on customer relationship management (CRM) tools to build a solid rapport with their customers. CRM involves a significant amount of data and sales analysis as it seeks to understand market trends, the economic landscape, and consumer tastes. CRM also can include marketing techniques and a post-sales support program.
A CRM program typically consists of written media (such as sales announcements, newsletters, and post-sale surveys), video media communication (such as commercials), and tutorials. Ongoing marketing is critical to a business, as it is more costly to acquire a new customer than it is to maintain a current customer. Marketing helps a business to gauge consumers’ interests and needs and develop campaigns to maintain loyalty.
Business Relationship Management
Business relationship management, which is also called B2B management, promotes a positive and productive relationship between a company and its business partners. As such, business-to-business relationships occur with vendors, suppliers, distributors, and other associates. These relationships can also benefit from relationship management.
BRM seeks to build trust, solidify rules and expectations, and establish boundaries. It also can help with dispute resolutions, contract negotiations, cross-sale opportunities, and controlling risk. For instance, companies that have a long-standing relationship with their suppliers may be able to negotiate a better price for supplies for quicker delivery. And having a good relationship may help increase payment times to them from, say, 30 to 45 days.
Why Is Relationship Management Important?
The obvious answer to this question is that relationship management builds and strengthens new and existing relationships with customers and business partners. This can help increase brand loyalty and lead to greater efficiencies.
Relationship management can help attract new customers, vendors, and suppliers, thereby increasing a company’s reputation and profitability. This can often come through visibility or word-of-mouth from existing partners.
Another key benefit to relationship management is the way it can reduce risks. By using data analytics, special software, and other tools, relationship managers can look for weaknesses (and inefficiencies) in their supply chains. This gives them the option to look for new suppliers or find ways to improve their existing relationships.
What Is the Main Purpose of Relationship Management?
Relationship management is a process that companies use to manage and make effective use of their client and supplier relationships. The process involves analyzing data and using software to attract new relationships, increase and protect brand loyalty, identify inefficiencies, mitigate risk, and boost profitability.
Why Do Companies Use Relationship Management?
Companies use relationship management for many reasons. Relationship management refers to a strategy that helps them establish new and maintain existing relationships with customers and suppliers. Doing so allows them to increase brand loyalty, find and deal with inefficiencies, attract new relationships, and increase profitability. It also helps them mitigate risks by identifying weaknesses in supply chains.
How Do You Improve Relationship Management?
There are several ways companies can improve their relationship management. These include establishing and outlining clear goals. Companies can also use special tools and software to analyze data and provide/invite feedback to customers and suppliers. Training and developing staff is also a key driver to improve relationship management. But perhaps the most obvious choice is to hire a relationship manager who is responsible for analyzing inputs, communicating with those on both sides, and delegating tasks.
The Bottom Line
There’s a lot more to success than simply having a good product, service, or brand name. Sure, these may attract a few new customers and suppliers, but is it enough to retain them? Companies should employ some form of relationship management in order to ensure their success. This is a strategy used to attract and retain new customers and suppliers, boost brand loyalty, increase profitability, find inefficiencies, and mitigate risk. Some companies use special tools like software while others do so by hiring a dedicated individual known as a relationship manager.
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