Operational Customer Relationship Manager(CRM) Interview Questions & Answers:

1. What is Operational CRM?

Operational CRM is oriented towards customer-centric business processes such as marketing, selling, and services. It includes the following automations: Sales Force Automation, Marketing Automation, and Service Automation.

Salesforce is the best suitable CRM for large established businesses and Zoho is the best CRM for growing or small-scale businesses.

2. What is Service Automation?

Service automation involves service level management, resolving issues or cases, and addressing inbound communication. It involves diagnosing and solving the issues about product.

With the help of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, a customer can interact with business computers by entering appropriate menu options. Automatic call routing to the most capable employee can be done.

Consumer products are serviced at retail outlets at the first contact. In case of equipment placed on field, the service expert may require product servicing manual, spare parts manual, or any other related support on laptop. That can be availed in service automation.

3. What is Value through Customer Intimacy?

Customer intimacy is generated and developed by understanding customer requirements, offering customized products, creating best outlet ambience, the warmth and interest of business staff while communicating with customers, and putting the customer first.

4. Explain Theory by Nordic School?

A Scandinavian services marketing group, named The Nordic School, emphasizes on supplier-customer relationship. It identifies the triplet of relationship marketing as −

Interaction − As customers and suppliers interact, each one provides a service to another. Customer provides information and supplier provides solution.

Dialogue − Communication is bilateral and is essential for the survival of the relationship.

Value − The business needs to generate something that is perceived as value to the customer.

5. What is Value through Product Leadership?

It involves the engagement of the business in continuous product innovation for improvement, large share of investment in product research and development along with the risk. The business creates value by providing the best quality product or service solution in adequate time.

6. How much should I plan to spend on a good solution?

That's always a tough question, given that applications vary widely in price based on whether it's a hosted or installed delivery model, user-based or organization-wide subscription model, or a per-gigabyte or other data model. I would use the cost-per-sale and cost-per-lead values to help determine what a system is worth to a business. For most customers, services are going to be anywhere from $20 to $350 per month per user.

7. What are Cost-Oriented Customers?

They concentrate on products with least costs and are ready to compromise on efficacy, performance, and quality. They are ready to blame the supplier on the occurrence of fault in product without thinking that they are responsible for choosing less quality product. Some customers tend to fix problems with a local, less-skilled dealer or by themselves without taking a supplier's direct help as it is cheaper. These customers also at times buy second hand products and expect it to perform as efficiently as a new one. The suppliers always find themselves arrested in payment-related issues with these customers.

8. What would be your strategy for turning around a non-responsive customer?

Here, the interviewer is looking to gauge your engagement skills. What lengths would you go to to make sure that you leave no stone un-turned to retain a customer. I usually pick a live situation and elaborate on that. Make sure you talk about the size of the deal, it's impact on your overall base of accounts, and the exact steps you took to turn the account around.

9. Where do you see yourself in next five years as Customer Relationship Manager?

By this question an interviewer wants to google how much you're ambitious, career-oriented, and committed to have a future with their company. So instead, of saying about your dream for an early retirement, or you can say or give them an appropriate example on your future plans and growth with this company also by this question you can say that how beneficial you can be with this company in a future period of time.

10. What is Theory by (Guanxi) Asian School?

This theory is based upon the teachings of Lord Buddha regarding social conducts and acts of reciprocation. This theory states that people from a family, friendship, same-clan fellowship are connected to each other due to informal social relationships which impose them to follow reciprocal obligations to acquire the resources by exchanging favors and cooperation.