CRM 1080

CRM is first and foremost a strategy and corporate philosophy that puts the customer at the center of business operations so as to increase profits by improving customer acquisition and retention.

It involves identifying high-value customers and automating processes so that sales, marketing, and service efforts will be more efficient and effective. In its complete form, CRM provides a 360-degree view of the customer and integrates all necessary information about the customer at every touch point – be it traditional voice, Internet-based, or wireless.

 A CRM software solution is the vehicle that enables the 360-degree view. The major integrated system components that make up a CRM system include account and contact management, sales automation, marketing automation, customer care (service and support), and integration with back-office applications.

Like many technologies that have profoundly changed the way we do business, CRM is here to stay. Just like e-mail, once embraced by all your employees you will wonder how you ever survived without it.

The key is to spend the necessary resources to identify your needs and partner with a CRM Software vendor that will support you today and help you grow into the future.

With your CRM strategy and software in place, you will be able to win more deals, have a better relationship with your customers, vendors and suppliers and you will have a better handle on the health of your business.

Better Manage Your Business -CRM 1080

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!         

Although there are many ways how CRM Software can help you better manage your business, I have limited our discussions to some of the popular ones below:         

1. No More Messy Desk – Track & Manage Information in One Place. Stop buying post-it notes for reminders. All your contact information and reminders will be available in your CRM System.         

2. No More Lost Documents, Contracts, Images, Music, etc. CRM Software will allow you to attach documents, images, etc. to each contact. So, to review a document, simply bring up the contact and look at the document attachments.         

3. Don’t Waste Time Looking for Past E-Mails. Because e-mails are synchronized automatically, your history folder will always be repository of past e-mails sent/received to a particular individual. No more having to search through tons of e-mail for a particular attachment.         

4. Leverage Individual Expertise through Knowledge Management. Every organization has a few individuals who know a lot about the business. CRM software allows you to track various information, documents, brochures, etc. in a knowledge management area. Because this is a searchable knowledge base, anyone in your business will be able to search and access policies, brochures, industry information, business documents, HR documents and more.         

5. Automate Business Processes to Set Action into Play. So, you want to make sure that when your sales reps complete an introductory call, they get a reminder to send a thank you e-mail. Or how about sending a “friendly reminder” to your contacts one day prior to your appointment to make sure that all parties show up for the meeting. Automated business rules, when done right will save you time, money and lots of frustration.          

6. Know Which Marketing Campaign is Bringing in Results. You spend hard earned dollars to advertise in the Yellow Pages, local Newspaper, Direct Mail, Internet, etc, but do you have a clue as to which campaign is really working? CRM will change all this. You will be able to focus your marketing dollars on campaigns that clearly provide the results you are looking for – sales!         

7. Improve, Automate and Be on Top of Sales. Standardize your sales process with automated reminders, to-do’s, follow-ups, best practices that you know work. Review and be on top of activity logs, top opportunities, forecasting, quota and much more. CRM’s sales force automation features will help your sales team excel to new heights.         

8. Track & Provide High Levels of Customer ServiceGood service is no longer memorable. Great service makes all the difference. With CRM, you will be able to track each and every customer service call and the steps taken to resolve them in a timely fashion. With Automation, Knowledge Base and standard processes, your customers will be rewarded with Great service which will result in return visits and referrals.           

9. Use Dashboards to gauge Key Performance Indicators. So, you have 5 minutes before you dash off. But how is your business doing? Meetings? Sales? Marketing? Customer Service? With CRM, you can create customized Dashboards that will give you a quick graphical overview of all the things that are important to you and your business. Dashboards can also be extended for all your employees so that they can better focus in their area of specialty.         

10. Consolidated all your various database silos into your CRM solution. Most small business have several different databases – all have name, address and telephone numbers of your customers, vendors, prospects, etc. Over time, frustration begins to set in as you realize that one database telephone number was updated and the rest were not. Before too long, people are calling the wrong number and accounting is sending invoices to the wrong addresses and you know the rest. The point here is that you can consolidate all disparate databases into your CRM software.       

Recognizing Strengths and Weaknesses  

With Competitor Intelligence, identifying competitors is simplified.  

Track  

• Competitor strengths,
• Weaknesses,
• Ratings and
• Past performance while monitoring win/loss statistics to better position you and your team in the future.

Competitors??? CRM1080

Whether an opportunity is won or lost, standardized reason codes and descriptions can be established to track the results.  

Knowing your competitors, including strengths, strategies and solutions proposed for specific projects can be critical in helping you develop a winning proposal.  

It is not enough to have a good product and a fancy presentation–you must be able to address how your solution is a better fit to the customer compared to that of your competition.  

Reports monitoring won/lost opportunities help ensure optimum on-going results.  

Go outperform your competitors!

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!!!

 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: 

1. Ensure you have resources (product and labor) at the right place and the right time in anticipation of demand for your goods and services.
2. 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

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.

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……

I trust you had great holidays — Happy New Year!   

There are probably tons of articles for what the CRM world is going to bring to the market this year…  Perhaps you should read the ones from 2009 to see if the “predictions” were just a great wish list by analysts.  Instead of predicting what CRM features are going to be popular or should be popular this year, I am going to take a different approach.     

So, here is my take on where we are headed…   Let’s just say the keyword is Contact Intelligence.  And what do I mean by Contact Intelligence?   What if pertinent information about your relationships is fed to your CRM system automatically and what is the point?  The point is that building a business is not purely based on the quality of your products but rather based on the relationship you form with your customers.  So, the more you know about them, the more you cater to their every unique need.    For example, Let’s say you have 50 prospects in your pipeline;  Now,  what if your system automatically provided you with the latest content relating to your prospects region, industry, organization or even personal accomplishments.   And what if you could use this information as a “gateway” to a deeper conversation and/or providing kudos for an accomplishment to your prospect.   This level of relationship touch builds trusts and may just be what is necessary to close the deal.   

The technology that can provide this level of sophistication and intelligence is already in R&D.  In some lesser way you are already seeing the beginning of these “features” when companies and/or analysts talk about CRM integration with Social Networks.  But integration with Social Networks is just part of the picture…  Integration without intelligence is like having a car and not knowing how to drive it.   There is vast amount of data with the various Social and Public Networks — the key is to integrated these networks with CRM in a manner than can provide value to both the user of the CRM solution as well as the recipient — in this case the prospect or client.   

As the year progresses… I will be sharing more about the technologies that are making headway in Contact Intelligence the way I defined it.   In the meantime, it is critical that you review the usage of your CRM solution to ensure that each customer touch point is optimized for the highest possible results.   Also, make sure you review all automated processes to adhere to changing business processes and/or focus.   

Happy New Year – May the force of your CRM solution continue to drive your business towards the goals you have set!   

Regards,
The CEO

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