An electronics engineer and an MBA with specialization in finance and marketing from XLRI, Jamshedpur, throughout his career he has been a service professional, an area which he is very passionate about. He has also spoken in international forums in the area of customer service.
The
relationship between customer loyalty and profitable
growth has been proven by many studies. Loyal customers
tend to spend more, refer others and cost less to
serve. However, achieving loyalty is easier said than
done. Many companies in the past have even appointed
CRM heads, but couldn't achieve the desired result.
They just forgot the fact that instead of investing
on a customer who is in front of them, they have invested
elsewhere and paid the price for it. The art of improving
existing customers through loyalty programs enables
the companies to keep track of the customers tastes
and preferences, and purchase behavior.
The
telecom industry in India operates in a fiercely competitive
market. There are multiple service providers and little
or no exit barriers for customers. In the drive to
acquire larger shares of the growing market, companies
have to make substantial investments to get new customers.
As a result, it costs 5-10 times more to acquire a
customer today than to retain one. Also, as we penetrate
deeper into the SEC segments and competitive pressures
drive prices down, it is becoming increasingly critical
for companies to retain their high value customers
for sustainable revenue growth. It is for these reasons
that customer loyalty and retention has to be an integral
part of any telecom operator's business strategy. |
