thinking: relating- celebrating :-)

It may sound obvious, but not every CRM project has a plan or strategy in place.

Sometimes a business will ask its IT guys to implement a CRM program (they mean an application) when they should really be asking for a CRM programme of work.

If you are in the situation of being asked to investigate CRM for your business here are some of the things you might look for. 

1. What are the needs, objectives and goals for new business development? Customer acqusition is a key focus of CRM generally. The new business team will want as much help as they can get with managing leads, qualifying those leads into prospects and when the time is right transforming those prospects into customers. Acquisition=Growth

2. What does the business know about existing customers? How can your new system help with increasing “share of wallet” and improve levels of customer service so that you retain and keep customers (lower “churn” rate) sometimes measured as customer lifetime. (That is how long a customer stays with your business and what share of their Spend is directed towards your products and services.)

3. Is there a structure in place to recognise those customers who advocate for you and refer business to you? Referral business has a lower cost of sales and shorter time to profit so an effective CRM would want to look at this as well. 

The best fit system is part software and part culture - so the other thing you will want to do is to audit the company for supporting practises and customer centric thinking which would underpin any new system.

A CRM audit is best when it is completed in association with an outside party so that internal politics are minimised. This type of review is something we love to help you with. 

This post is part of series on CRM Made Simple. For earlier content please check earlier notes in this series.

• CRM as a Process Platform
• What is CRM Used For?
• CRM Thinking about Strategy 1a>

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On hearing the news that MTV are handing over control to viewers Ben McConnell remarked that - Control is really out of control.

“MTV says it will create thousands of new niche-oriented sites based on its programming and invite viewers to participate with shows and remix their content. Control is really out of control now”…..and later agreed this is a positive move

“This is exactly how big media companies should fight the third-party sites; not with lawyers but with vast amounts of free content, tools to play with that content and vast new forms of particpation. To out-do YouTube, big media should be encouraging joint ownership of content.”

I’d say that it’s about time. If the original yoof tv channel can’t work it out now it never will. According to a Pew Survey of Generation Next is made up of 18-25 year-olds (born between 1981 and 1988). Just 2 of the summary findings

They use technology and the internet to connect with people in new and distinctive ways. Text messaging, instant messaging and email keep them in constant contact with friends. About half say they sent or received a text message over the phone in the past day, approximately double the proportion of those ages 26-40.

They are the “Look at Me” generation. Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and MyYearbook allow individuals to post a personal profile complete with photos and descriptions of interests and hobbies. A majority of Gen Nexters have used one of these social networking sites, and more than four-in-ten have created a personal profile.

You can’t expect a generation that has replaced TV with broadband mashups to be satisfied with their current websites. And it’s not exactly rocket science to work out why myspace and youtube have been successful. 

It is not just younger people who like to slice and dice their media content. Engagement media has wide appeal - welcome to the web 2.0 world.

Back in February the Viacom Chairman was asked if they got Web 2.0?  in an interview. This was the viewpoint then.

“THR: Let’s talk about new media. There are some that say Viacom has missed the boat when it comes to the Web 2.0 revolution.
Redstone: Wait a minute, wait a minute. We don’t miss boats. Other people miss boats, and they may have missed the Viacom boat. The fact of the matter is, without copyright protection, there is no entertainment business. And so we instructed YouTube to remove 100,000 pieces of video from their site. Why? Because they were using it without paying for it. I don’t believe in that. If you want to use us, pay us. Or make a deal with us that is commensurate with the value of our product. We are the only totally content company, and our content has taken years and years to develop, with a lot of hard work. People who want to use it are going to pay us, or good-bye.”

In the news today there is a $1b lawsuit against Google based around the YouTube experience. This will certainly get people’s attention and ultimately it is another version of follow the money. MTV and Viacom are content owners and quite rightly want to leverage that value as directly as they can. Allowing some form of Web 2.0 engagement on their own sites , in a facilitated manner would seem a way to do that.

The impact on revenues won’t have escaped their attention - and sure enough at the end of the official story there is a note on how MTV owner (Viacom)  is expecting to double their digital business revenue this coming year.

Welcome to the second in a series of posts on CRM* (*Customer Relationship Management) made simple.  Each post on the topic is in response to questions I have been asked as a specialised CRM consultant over the past few years. The aim is to summarise some of the key issues and provide practical take away points that you can use now. You are welcome to offer comments and ask questions to expand or clarify any of the content.

Sometimes people ask for a definition of CRM. The reality is that the collective processes, systems and tools that are used to interact with customers are much broader than a piece of software or a call centre service.

CRM is really a process platform that allows you to model and structure customer facing processes in a way that suits your business.

A CRM system consists of a CRM strategy typically around new business sales, marketing and service delivery.  That strategy uses some CRM software as a framework to capture and centralise the corporate memory of a business into shared wisdom that can be used to benefit customers.

If you like - the example of the small town corner store where the shop keeper knows your history and can save you time and energy because of that. That style tends to work when customer numbers are small and when staff stays in roles for many years. However due to the pace of modern life that expert customer knowledge often dies when experienced staff move on. In a retail situation a customer loyalty system might be one way that a CRM approach can help.

Many years ago I was part of a team that designed management operating systems to help improve productivity for business. We tried to understand and analyse each key activity in the workplace and then to standardise the range of preferred responses which would be supported by training. Later this became part of the business process reengineering (BPR) wave all designed to try and template and replicate customer processes so that management could be more precise about forecasting and planning.

Both productivity consulting and BPR had their faults but they were correct in thinking that you can define and standardise key processes then it is easier to scale those businesses. An effective CRM project goes to the next stage and enables all of those key processes to be mapped and the consequent interactions to be shared across the company. Enabling those processes can now be achieved via CRM.

Here are 5 more summary points.
1. A CRM system is no substitute for effective management practices.

2. CRM is a strategy not a product or silver bullet.

3. Sustainable CRM is something that nurtures and energizes the culture

4. CRM is an extended conversation between your customers and your company.

5. CRM is part of your passion for customers. Listen, engage and satisfy those needs, desires and goals.

So what is your CRM process plan? How does it support your customers? How does it make the relationship and transactions easier for your staff, your partners and suppliers? 

The most successful CRM incorporates existing process workflows in a supporting role which is what I mean by CRM as a process platform.

If you liked this please check out earlier posts What Is CRM Used For? and Strategy of CRM in this category.

Send any questions or comments on through.

This is one of the questions I get asked often by people researching whether to invest in a CRM system for their business.  The benefits of each use will differ depending on whether you are a business employee, business owner, customer or partner of that business.

I have kept it to a list of the 10 most common questions and answers to save reading time. Here is a quick high-level  list of some of the common uses for CRM in business.

CRM is used when we need to:

1. Support staff with daily structured activities. This makes it easier to prioritise and timetable workflows based on key metrics important to your business. e.g. each activity is classified and sorted so that workloads can be managed.
2. Provide marketing support for campaigns & loyalty programmes. e.g.  by tracking the source and status of leads so follow up is timely.
3. Provide sales and services a consolidated view of the customer – sometimes called a single point of view. e.g show forecasts of sales pipeline with improved quality of information as prospects are “qualified” according to a methodology and process that gets you the best results.
4. Provide all management with key information to review processes and results e.g. this allows the business to determine where resources, including time is best spent and gives an objective framework for planning discussions.
5. Structure all customer facing activities e.g. this allows key processes to be templated and replicated to set and enable quality standards for each customer interaction.
6. Provide a platform for customer self service – e.g. customers can login and find out about status of their business as well as update records and view any specific news for them on a “one to one” basis.
7. Provide a partial view of joint processes to partners – e.g. Partners can supply visibility into shared projects for joint management purposes.
8. Centralise key information in a safe and secure place so that the company holds the “IP” rather than a staff member e.g very useful when staff leave the company.
9. Can be used to provide external view for shareholders and others as well e.g. an investors portal.
10. Create a culture of collaboration within and around the business .e.g. key information within the business goes from being private to being shared.

Each one of these points can be expanded, which is something we’d be happy to do if you are looking at how best practice CRM would work for your business. Please use the comments section or contact form to ask your own questions if we have missed an area that you are especially interested in.

This is the first in series of weekly features on CRM thinking learned over 20+ years of being in business and active engagement on many CRM projects. See crmthinking category on this site and also the applications category as well.