External Collaboration Functions of CRM

An aspect of Customer Relationship Management that is
extremely important is the external functions. This
might include vendors, distributors, and suppliers.
These relationships and processes support the
customer’s experience in many ways.

When a company has a good relationship with a desired
supplier then they are able to offer the customer
certain items. If a business does not have a good
relationship with a supplier then the customer can
suffer if that is the only supplier that offers a
particular item. This will force a customer to go to
another business who can give them what they want.

The relationship with vendors and suppliers also
contributes to the prices a company might offer for a
certain item.

If a company can only purchase certain merchandise
from a supplier at a 5% discount then they may not
even shelf the item.

This is because they don’t stand to make much of a
profit once the item sells and it is a bigger loss to
them if the item doesn’t sell and they have to mark it
down as a clearance item.

If there is a good relationship with the distributor
and the company gets a 40% discount on everything they
purchase from them then they can offer the items at a
cheaper rate because they will make more of a profit
from the sale.

The external collaboration functions impact the
customer directly when they want to purchase a certain
item that is not offered or when they are offered an
item at one business significantly cheaper than from
you.