Who Should Read This Book?

This book is for the business professional who is already managing customers on a daily basis. Microsoft CRM is designed for small and mid-sized companies with at least one dedicated IT staffer and a single line of business or several closely related ones.

In the typical CRM environment, the people using the software include the following. The benefits particular to each group are discussed in detail:

• Marketing product managers, information managers, database analysts, and reporting specialists

• Strategic planners, business-development managers, change managers, and market strategists

• Financial managers and pricing and profitability analysts

• Advertising and Public Relations specialists, sales and service personnel, promotion, and campaign managers

• Customer portal specialists, market researchers, and Internet traffic analysts

• Account executives and regional managers

Marketing Product Managers, Information Managers, Database Analysts, and Reporting Specialists

Microsoft CRM offers reports on customers, sales, service performance, and other aspects of the customer relationship that marketing experts may want to monitor. Product managers can use this information to manage products, tracking their performance and trends of product ordering and usage. They can also determine the products that are most successful with particular customer segments and tailor marketing efforts accordingly.

Information managers can use Microsoft CRM to get a bird's eye view of a company, producing reports for the needs of various departments, with confidence that the information is single-sourced and will match across departments within the organization.

Database analysts and reporting specialists can use Microsoft CRM to analyze patterns in a customer's behavior and recommend adjustments to products and services or report on their performance.

Strategic Planners, Business Development Managers, Change Managers, and Market Strategists

Having an improved view of their overall business will give strategic planners and other market strategists the information to make better decisions. It will help them define their best customers, providing a basis for targeting and developing the markets that contain the best prospects.

Knowing what types of customers are most attracted to your offerings enables you to expand your business wisely, in the areas most likely to succeed. Getting clear about your market and its trends enables you to invent new markets and expand your business.

Financial Managers and Pricing and Profitability Analysts

Financial managers use CRM systems to help forecast sales, identify price points, understand competitor offerings, and determine the profitability of current customers and products. With this information, they can plan price increases or adjustments based on facts rather than speculation.

Advertising and Public Relations Specialists, Sales and Service Personnel, Promotion and Campaign Managers

Microsoft CRM helps track the effectiveness of sales promotions and campaigns. Advertising and public relations specialists will gain valuable information on which to base future campaigns, and public relations activities.

Service personnel use CRM to track performance, identify needed improvements, and quantify the benefits of making those improvements, both internally and externally. Customer value initiatives use CRM to demonstrate to the customer the value of improvements, services, and products delivered.

Account Executives and Regional Managers

Regional sales personnel and executives use Microsoft CRM to plan, manage, and monitor regional sales activities.

Microsoft CRM offers a centralized, customizable view of sales and support activity and customer history. Account executives can access full sales functionality both online and off with Microsoft Outlook, or work online from any location with a Web browser.

Account executives will be especially interested in Microsoft CRM's complete customer view, which enables them to view and manage customer and account activity and history including contact and account information, pending orders, payment history, and more. They can also track customer profiles across the Web, email, fax, and phone. Customizable reporting will enable regional managers to customize a wide range of reports to identify trends, measure and forecast sales, evaluate performance, and more.