A very well written article over at ZDNet titled NAB pins turnaround on improved CRM gives great insight into the value of CRM to a business. What is especially interesting is the strategy of the National Australia Bank in light of it’s recent problems.

I really like the way that the article points out that focusing on cost cutting can really hurt your business in the long term. Whereas, focusing on customers and what you’re offering them is the best focus for your business. This focus not only improves customer satisfaction, but this in turn will always improve your bottom line in the long term. Note, “long term”, it can take a while for this direction to pay off, but eventually, it does.

Shenkel believes the changes will enable the bank’s customer relationship managers to more accurately predict when and how to offer new loans or investment packages to its existing customer base. More importantly perhaps, the CRM package is also designed to indicate when such an offer should be avoided.

This is a great example of the power of CRM and the advantages it can give your business. Information like this can mean improved efficiency for your sales and marketing teams. They would spend less time targeting customers who are unlikely to buy, which improves your conversion rate, which in turn, improves the bottom line!

Beautiful, isn’t it?