How to Avoid CRM Horror Stories
CRM Horror Stories - CRM1080
There have been CRM failures for more than one reason. The better prepared you are, the less likely you will have to deal with it. Here are some questions and points that should be addressed prior to making the leap:
1. What if you are unable to migrate your current system data to your CRM system?
2. What if the solution does not solve your business problem? How will it impact your existing operations?
3. Lack of ability to integrate seamlessly with 3rd party applications.
4. Lack of ability to create custom screens, fields and automated business rules that are specific to the way you do business.
5. Employee perception is not addressed and employees are unwilling to use system.
6. Lack of service received to implement the solution successfully. Services include configuring the system the way you do business and receiving sufficient end-user and manager training to be self-sufficient and not completely rely on the vendor for every minor adjustment.
7. Does your current computer system meet the minimum system requirements for yourCRM software?
8. Can you afford for your CRM system to go down? If not, how will operations proceed?
9. How easy is it to move to another vendor? Can you export your entire database? Can you upgrade your application to an enterprise level product without too much inconvenience and cost?
10. System security – this may not be a concern when you are small but as you grow, it will come to play.
Go evaluate and ask !
Business Opportunity Assessment
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Before you embark on any opportunity, you must be sure of the potential sales volume and the reasonable probability of securing the sale. The first thing an Account Manager must do is to qualify the opportunity.
Answering the following questions early in the sales process will eliminate unnecessary risks before embarking on an expensive sales project with little or no return.
• Do you understand the customer’s needs?
• Does your solution match the requirements?
• Is there sufficient funding available to finance the project?
• Are you going to be able to deliver in the time- frame requested?
• Is this project a high priority for the customer?
• Do you know your competition for the opportunity?
• Do you have a strong value proposition?
• Do you have the necessary know-how and resources to execute?
• Do you know the customer’s decision criteria?
• Do you know who the decision makers are?
Eliminate Unnecessary Risks -- CRM1080
When a sales opportunity presents itself, it is important to be able to build an intimate profile of the opportunity, including complete visibility of sales history, milestones, probability and account manager(s) responsible for the successful closing. Once this has been done, sales opportunities can be reviewed in powerful ways:
• Quickly forecast opportunities through pipeline visibility by sales stages.
• Review opportunities by Account Manager, Sales Groups, Product Lines, Time Periods, Probability and other custom fields.
• Analyze trends, cycle timelines and win/loss ratios.
• Management can review and compare performances by Account Managers and Sales Teams.
• Account Managers and Management can review quotas.
• Provide efficient collaboration between team members by providing a clear and consistent approach to sales methodologies and customer information tracking.
Go Capture the Opportunities!!!
Choosing a Business Solution
Today more than ever, companies are seeking to ensure that they will realize a valuable return on investment from their CRM system. To best achieve this, companies must first have a clear understanding of what information they want to gather and how the CRM system will be used to capture and analyze data to make further improvements in customer service.
Most companies understand at some level that CRM is not really about “managing” customers but rather about putting the customer at the center of the organization. And in providing additional value to customers, customer loyalty increases and business benefits accrue in many tangible ways, from increased sales to customer longevity.
Choosing a Business Solution - CRM1080
Companies should seek a comprehensive overview of how CRM can benefit the corporation, including how it interrelates with other initiatives. The planning and installation processes of a CRM system are of critical importance. All customer touch points and their supporting business processes should be incorporated into the system. This involves not only linking with the call center but also integrating with other applications, such as e-business and back office applications including financials, production, shipping, logistics, and corporate databases. Integrating with other applications provides the opportunity to leverage existing technology investments while promoting a true 360-degree view of customer interactions across the entire organization.
In selecting a solution, serious consideration should be given to how quickly, easily, and seamlessly integration with other applications can be achieved. Some CRM systems provide an easy means of integrating third-party back-office applications through an integration module. By using the module, integration time can be reduced by as much as 80 percent.
A module also allows system administrators to not only view information from third-party or custom applications, but also to create and modify records from these databases directly into the CRM system. A few simple steps are required – links are created by logging on to a database, choosing the unique fields (such as account numbers) that will be the same in both systems, and selecting the fields that users will see in custom folder tabs. Data can then be viewed and manipulated in real time, avoiding the need for cumbersome import and export routines or other costly and time consuming custom solutions.
By enabling the seamless linkage between applications and the CRM system, employees can click a folder tab to access information from integrated back-office applications such as order management, enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, financials, logistics, or other verticals. In addition, automated data set updates to back-office applications greatly reduce unnecessary duplicate data entry and facilitate data consistency with disparate applications throughout the enterprise.
The tight integration and real-time access to information has many benefits, from reducing data redundancy, user account management, and end-user training on multiple applications to increasing data integrity and improving efficiency, including decreased usage licensing costs for integrated applications.
Whether your customer service and support representatives are courteous, responsive, and accurate will influence not only your customers’ decision of whether to buy from you in the future but also the feedback and recommendations they provide to their friends and business associates. Every customer interaction is important and impacts customer attitudes toward your company and resulting buying decisions, so it is important to enable your employees to be knowledge-workers, providing the best customer service possible.
In order to be embraced by employees, the CRM system must make operational sense, fitting in with sales and customer care staff tasks and processes rather than requiring meaningless external predetermined business processes. However, CRM initiatives provide an excellent opportunity to step back and evaluate business goals, objectives, and the business processes that support them and to implement important changes to better meet your company’s changing needs.
Selecting a CRM vendor requires a clear vision and key metrics of what needs to be accomplished through a CRM initiative. Although not the only approach, an integrated CRM suite provided by one vendor will definitely help reduce the chaos of implementing multiple vendors with disparate solutions. Regardless of which approach is taken, an implementation comprised of well-integrated CRM components will best achieve the promises of a customer relationship management initiative.
7 Steps to Reduce On-going Costs with CRM
For Your Business - CRM1080
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Typically, as a Small Business owner or manager, you don’t normally associate purchasing software to reduce costs. However, CRM software specifically has some cost reduction advantages that are discussed below:
1. No More Looking for Documents. According to research by Delphi Group, a Boston consultancy group, 30% of all employee time is spent trying to find “lost” documents. Do the math and you will be shocked at how much wastage is going on in your company!
2. No More Spending on Advertisements that Don’t Bring in Revenue. With marketing automation, you will know exactly which advertisements bring in the revenue so that you can toss out the other ads.
3. No More Wondering What Activities took place When & Where. Since all communication is tracked in CRM software, all your employees will always have insights as to a customer or vendors history with your business.
4. Reduce Customer Service costs up to 70%. By using web self-service (a way for your customers to receive Client Specific information from your web site), you will be able to reduce customer service calls and staffing.
5. Reduce printing costs. Why print when you can distribute your brochures online. With CRM, you can automate distribution of brochures and other documents through email and web self-service access.
6. Consolidate Custom Databases. Because you can create custom screens, consolidating other databases in your CRM Software will reduce licensing and maintenance costs.
7. Layoff the “extra” Help. With CRM, each of your employees will be able to accomplish a lot more. So, it will allow you to review your staffing needs for all the “extra” help that you have from time to time. For example, new leads can come in through your web-site automatically into your CRM system and assigned to the appropriate sales rep – all through automation. You will be able to import leads from other sources as well – no more manual data entry!
Now, Go Save Money with CRM!
CRM Theory and the Art of Profit
The Secret Life of Your Customer
Economic and management theory teaches us to examine options with relative scientific objectivity to determine the most efficient and profitable processes to increase revenue. Simply put, we look for the quickest and most effective way to make a profit.
The Art of Profit - CRM1080
What does economic and management theory teach us about CRM?
In 1959 Frederick Herzberg, a psychologist, found that job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction acted independently of each other. The theory states that there are certain factors in the workplace that causes job satisfaction, while a separate set of factors cause dissatisfaction. The factors that cause job satisfaction are called motivating factors while the factors that cause dissatisfaction are called hygienic factors. Basically put, motivational factors tend to increase job satisfaction. Hygienic factors are necessary to prevent dissatisfaction, but only serve to de-motivate job satisfaction if these factors are not present.
If we relate this theory to CRM we can safely state that hygienic factors are those things that the customer expects whenever they purchase your goods or services; the phone is answered in a timely fashion, the bathrooms are clean, orders are fulfilled correctly, and the many things customers simply expect from your company every time they interact with you. Motivational factors can further be defined (in relation to CRM) as those factors that increase your sales; lowering your price, customer loyalty rewards, holiday specials, and so fourth.
In economic theory, the law of demand states that, in general, price and quantity demanded in a given market are inversely related. In other words, the higher the price of a product, the less of it people would be able and willing to buy of it (other things unchanged). As the price of a commodity rises, overall purchasing power decreases (the income effect) and consumers move toward relatively less expensive goods (the substitution effect). Other factors can also affect demand; for example an increase in income will shift the demand curve outward relative to the origin (increased demand leads to increased prices and vice versa).
Determine the Best Methods to Make More Money- CRM1080
So we can say that customers have a certain level of expectations (hygienic factors) and are enticed to purchase our goods and services through sales, marketing, and other factors (motivational and economic factors).
In other words, the customer is very complex. It is rarely only about price (unless you have a homogeneous product/service with an abundance of substitutes and a perfectly inelastic supply curve). Customers expect a certain level of service to accompany their purchasing experience. The key item here is what kind of experience, how much service, and what and how often they purchase.
So how can CRM provide us with the insight into our customer to determine the best methods to make more money?
It’s all about history. The ability to track your customer and review what they have done in the past can give you insight into their new buying behaviors.
Why is this important? The ability to review and analyze past behaviors and purchases allow you the ability to do two very important things:
- Ensure you have resources (product and labor) at the right place and the right time in anticipation of demand for your goods and services.
- Analyzing and trending information to predict future buying patterns.
CRM allows you to track a multitude of information about your customer, including personal information that allows you to build upon your existing relationship. It also ensures that your customer receives a level of service commiserate with their purchasing power by everyone who accesses your CRM. Most importantly, CRM is an essential tool, more so in a sluggish economy, that enables you to do what you do best – offer your goods and services at a price the market will bear.
Dr. Thomas M. Fryer
The Economy Sucks! ..So DON’T Lose Your Customers
Economy Sucks?!??!?!? -- CRM1080
The news is horrible, the weather is frightful, and you want business to be delightful.
What do you do?
During an economic downturn most business go through the usual motions of cost cutting and layoffs, and while that may help solve the immediate problem of too much expenditures. Additionally, slowing or cancelling projects, expansion, or campaigns will also solve the immediate problem of too many expenditures, but what do you do once you have done all of this and your sales revenue is still shrinking?
The good news, despite all of the doom and gloom, is that you can do something that will help you keep the customers you have and attract new customers; even in today’s economy.
The key is communication. Customers love it when you pay attention to them. How many times have we called a company only to end up in some automated version of semi-robotic purgatory without that ability to talk to a real human being? Did you think that experience was a satisfying solution to your dilemma? Neither do your customers. Ok, so if your customers prefer to talk to you (a real human being) and you don’t have the resources or the time to talk to your customers, what do you do?
Customers want companies to relate with them through meaningful and relevant interactions. To do so, companies need to adapt the organization to support current and future customer needs and then apply the right customer-centric people, processes and technologies that support those efforts. What is even more challenging today is that customers are operating at a lower level of income, debt tolerance and trust.
Fortunately, there is a solution that gives you the best of both – personalization and automation at a fraction of the time, allowing you to focus on the most important aspect of your business, increasing sales by leveraging your current customers while in quest of new customers!
The answer is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool. CRM provides the foundation for sustainable growth and enables your company to survive and thrive in these uncertain times. But perhaps most importantly, it’s the recognition that CRM is not about what your company wants; it’s about what your customer wants.
Dr. Thomas M. Fryer
The 10 reasons why EVERY SALES TEAM needs a business solution
A Business Solution for every Sales Team -- CRM 1080
The success of your business is largely dependent on your Sales Team‚ the lifeblood of any organization. In an increasingly competitive environment, sales teams need to skillfully manage a range of competencies and toolsets.
To successfully execute the sales process, a sales team has to secure a methodology that makes sense to the organization for the products and services they provide. It also must be flexible for dynamic changes in business environments. A CRM Solution that provides a robust Sales Module can not only help streamline Sales Processes but also provide insights into inefficiencies that can cripple an organization’s growth.
Presentations, literature fulfillment, revenue forecasting, sales follow-up, lead generation, cross-selling / up-selling and scheduling appointments and activities are all part of a day’s work. To achieve peak performance, Sales Teams need easy-to-master tools which provide consistent, accurate and effective results that translate into increased revenues and profitability.
Here is a comprehensive list of the top ten reasons why every sales team needs a business solution:
1. Provide a consistent and coordinated sales process across the entire team.
2. Identify and track the real decision makers, focusing energy on those authorized to make the decision.
3. Target resources toward highly qualified opportunities.
4. The team gets a 360-degree view of each customer.
5. Create and track proposals that provide cost justification and customer-oriented value propositions.
6. Know your competition before proposing your solutions and structure your presentation to emphasize your strengths.
7. Empower sales teams with powerful research and reporting tools.
8. Increase efficiency by integrating with effective third-party applications.
9. Learn from your mistakes.
10. Enable “Bottom to Top” reporting with ease.
A Web Self-Service Tool
What is Web Self-Service? CRM1080
These days, since businesses are expected to provide personal service and form relationships with thousands of customers, self-service tools are a blessing.
No matter how great your customer care is, if you’re not offering support on the Web, your customers are left wondering why. Many experts agree that having self-service is one of the cornerstones of establishing an e-business presence.
The Self-Service model is founded on the principal of enabling customers, partners and employees to obtain information or conduct transactions directly over the Internet, avoiding time-consuming and costly traditional processes involving multiple verbal or written interactions.
Self-service provides control, performance, convenience and efficiency. This is because customers can perform tasks themselves when they want to through a secure, customized self-service web site. This 24×7 coverage provides convenience to customers while reducing customer service costs to businesses.
Although it has been known for some time that a good self-service program can increase financial returns and maximize customer satisfaction, some businesses have even discovered self-service can have a positive impact on their businesses in areas beyond customer care, in particular marketing, product management and customer information access.
Self-Service clearly has become the norm these days for businesses to remain competitive. Companies that don’t provide consistently high quality service in all channels will find their customers returning to the faithful and expensive telephone or defecting to the competition. Interestingly, although a phone call can be as much as 22 times more expensive than a self-service transaction, an even bigger long-term issue is the lost revenue opportunity from customers that never return at all.
Benefits of Web Self - Service/ CRM 1080
Top 15 Benefits a CRM Software Would Bring to Your Business
CRM Benefits -- CRM 1080
Hello all!!!
Have you ever been frustrated because you can’t find your agreements? Or don’t know which of your employees last spoke to a client? Or which one of your sales brochure is the latest version? Or why don’t your employees realize that “Bob” is your high valued customer that requires special attention?
If this sounds familiar, you are in dire need of CRM. When implemented successfully, a CRM initiative will transform your muddled, messy, mis-managed and disorganized business into a lean, mean, tech-savvy machine!
Here is 15 benefits of a CRM system would bring to YOUR BUSINESS…
1. Enable everyone in your organization to achieve operational excellence with a single 360-degree view of the customer.
2. Facilitate successful execution of business performance philosophies such as Six Sigma, Lean, TQM, and the balanced scorecard.
3. Increase customer acquisition, retention, loyalty, and profitability with standardized and improved sales methodologies.
4. Automate redundant sales processes to better target resources, increasing the number of opportunities closed and accounts managed per sales representative.
5. Empower your sales team with real-time pipeline and forecasting to direct focus to the most profitable opportunities.
6. Keep in touch with your customers, even when you are on the road, with access to complete account information on laptops, even when disconnected from the Internet, and other mobile devices that are always in sync with corporate sites.
7. Quickly identify and provide prioritized response to your most profitable customers and prospects.
8. Utilize powerful business rules to automate tasks and target your best clients through up-sell and cross-sell marketing initiatives.
9. Enable marketing executives to quickly measure responses to marketing initiatives on a real-time basis, identify trends, and maneuver to leverage the most successful campaigns.
10. Increase customer satisfaction through not only decreasing customer inquiry response time but also through providing the right response the first time.
11. Provide customer self-service options to reduce costs, improve access, and increase customer satisfaction.
12. Provide timely customer service responses using sophisticated business rules based on questions or other content such as keywords.
13. Reduce unnecessary problem and inquiry escalation through the automated monitoring of customer interactions such as representative response times and frequency.
14. Increase effectiveness and reduce costs by routing customer service calls to the most appropriate customer service representative, such as by geographic location, specialty, or acuity.
15. Enable executives and management to be less reliant on IT to monitor the state of business through management analytics.
Customer Service Experience
Is customer the king? If we don’t take care of our customers, would someone else will? Does the quality of work depend on the quality of people? Is customer services an attitude, not a department? LET’S VOTE…..
To my customer.
I may not have the answer, but I’ll find it.
I may not have the time, but I’ll make it……
Know Your Customers — Keep Them for Life
