Customer ContactWhich of the following is the most important way of keeping in touch with

Customer Contact

Which of the following is the most important way of keeping in touch with your customers: telephone, email, fax, letters, website, or face-to-face meetings？ Despite the choice, there is only one correct answer. That anyone who thinks that only one type of customer contact is sufficient is missing the point. Different customers have different preferences, so all types of contact are equally important.

The smart manager is, therefore, always looking for ways to improve the different types of customer contact—and there are plenty of helpful solutions out there to choose from. (8) At the same time, email is rapidly catching up, while the volume of business letters is declining. So, you would think that a good place to begin your quest for better-managed customer contact is to look at what's new in telephone and online technology.

It might, though, be better first to consider the factors that make for better contact management and see what can be done to improve them. The starting point for this is obvious: any type of customer contact is going to be more effective if the person handling it knows about the customer. (9) When did these customers last order？ What are their product or service preferences？ What is their credit status？

To make improvements in contact operations possible, all the staff who have contact with the outside world need to have immediate access to the same data. The software that can provide this is known as customer relationship management, or CRM. (10) Just as important, staff can enter any necessary details about the client they are dealing with while the contact is actually in progress. The data from this contact are stored in the system immediately. Then. if the client calls back a few minutes later, whoever picks up the call can see exactly what has just happened. (11) .

CRM systems can give a valuable edge even to companies that rely more on personal contact than on handling large numbers of phone calls and emails. Arguably, it is more important for senior executives to have fully up-to-date information to hand when talking to an important client than in any other situation. (12) With the right laptop or hand-held PC, there are even ways of providing secure access when they are out of the office. In this way, managers need never be without the information they need, no matter where they happen to be

A．To put it simply, contact relies on people, and successful contact relies on people with information at their fingertips.

B．In spite of this, it would be extremely valuable if all members of staff could call up information on any of the company's clients whenever they needed it.

C．Software can deliver critical information to selected users on a need-to-know basis.

D．For most businesses, the telephone is still the most commonly used channel of customer contact.

E．Basically, it enables any member of staff to type in a name and within seconds have on the screen in front of them all they need to know about that particular customer.

F．Once a member of staff has this recently processed information, he or she will be able to provide a faster and more efficient service.

(8)