Relation Management

There are many different aspects to managing relationships with customers and prospects. Understanding customer motivation and behaviour, translating this understanding into value added products and services through efficient and effective processes and organisations, is not a 'nice to have'. It is an absolute necessity for a company positioning itself for long-term profitability. Our expertise in this area focuses on segmentation, service level definitions and the use of relationship management tools.

Customer segmentation is a key element. It ensures that the limited resources of a company are focused on selecting, acquiring, retaining and growing relationships with those customers who represent the highest return on investment. Customer segmentation plays an important role in answering questions on issues of product availability (which customers will be served in times of product shortage, how to deal with and compensate customers who will not be supplied) and concerning the level of service a customer receives.

Customer Relation Management tools (CRM), partly or fully linked to ERP systems, are capable of documenting and monitoring customer data. To make effective use of these tools it is essential to know and understand the information flows, mapping them against the business situation in practice.

Voorne Partners has implemented customer segmentation and assisted in service level definitions across a variety of industries. Results have included rationalising and optimising the customer and product /service mix by relating the company's primary business drivers to the individual customer value proposition, and establishing the relationship between customer segmentation and supply and demand planning, so that standardised product and service allocation rules can be defined.