CRM 1080

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

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.

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……

Capture, Route, Follow-Up and Close Leads from the Web!

You work for an office automation solutions company.   You are one of 100 sales reps but you specialize in selling high end copy machines — you know, the ones that does pretty much everything except pour coffee…   

It is a busy day and you are on the road when your PDA sounds off  — you have mail.  It is a new lead that was just routed to you by your CRM solution.    The lead was a result of the prospect visiting your website and filling out a web form. 

So, why did you receive the lead and not any one of the other 99 sales reps?  Well, it is because based on the type of solution requested by the prospect and other infographics, your CRM system was intelligent enough to route the lead to you.   And here is the best part!  Your CRM solution already contacted the lead on your behalf and provided with initial brochures, case studies, benefits, etc.   Now, you just have to follow-up with a phone call.  And just in case you miss that step — well, you won’t!  Because, your CRM system is intelligent enough to keep bugging you until the call is made! 

Next, your CRM solution makes sure that you utilize the best practices established by your organization to ensure that you close the sale.   The system also informs sales engineers that they will have to work with you to demonstrate the solution to the prospect.   All of these activities are being scheduled and/or taking place at precise intervals. 

The above capturing of leads and automation is a must have tool in today’s competitive landscape for sales representatives.  Companies no longer can rely on static web pages with basic telephone numbers or email address for prospects to call or to send a question.  With web forms, leads are captured from the web and routed to the appropriate sales rep based on criteria that you set up.   Automated triggers can also send out acknowledgements, follow-up reminders, drip marketing messages, etc.   The system also can automatically create a contact record as well as a sales opportunity record.   So, now, this opportunity is in the Sales Rep’s pipeline.  This pipeline is visible not only to Sales Rep but also to his supervisor, his regional manager as well as the VP of Sales.  All of this happens in seconds form when a prospect clicks on the submit button requesting the information on the corporate web site. 

Your marketing folks will be really happy too!  Because, your CRM system will automatically associate the sales opportunity to “corporate web form” as the marketing source.  So, on a realtime basis, marketing folks will be able to tell the impact of various web pages and/or web forms. 

So, welcome to the world of CRM and capturing leads from the web.  It is the only way to improve response times, associate the right rep to the right deal, follow-up in a timely manner and close the deal based on the science behind best practices. 

Now… go close the deal! 

Regards,
THE CEO

Configure, Automate and Deliver Literature when requested!

Ever wondered how companies are able to send you the exact information you are looking for when you have visited their web site?  Welcome to the world of Literature Fulfillment using CRM automation.    

One sure way to reduce operational cost is to create a knowledge management database that supports the constant needs of your prospect or customer base from product brochures to annual financials to credit application forms to contract templates.   Why should you dedicate any human capital when this can be done so much more efficiently through the right CRM automation?  You shouldn’t! 

So, how can CRM solutions help again?   Well, when you visit a website, they often ask to your create an account or login before you can view certain information or before you can request to see a demo of a product.   Once you do that, the CRM system immediately tracks your every move and at that point is able to match your request or your web page visits to information that you may find useful.   This information is then automatically emailed to you in a timely manner in the delivery method that you have selected. 

That’s it… pretty simple for the prospect or customer since they had to do little to request the information they need to make a decision.   

Literature Fulfillment using CRM can handle a multitude of activities including ongoing communication relating to product offerings, updates, recalls, cross-selling and up-selling opportunities and more!   You can also schedule drip marketing relating to literature fulfillment. 

Of-course Literature Fulfilment is not simply limited to someone visiting your website.  It can also be used to fulfill request that comes through your customer service or sales department.   The goal is for the agent to quickly search for the information being requested and quickly send it to the person requesting the information with minimal effort.  

The best part about CRM is that every activity is tracked — regardless of how it was requested or how it was delivered to the end user.  This allows for historical audits when necessary for certain industries. 

CRM automation and Literature Fulfillment has come a long way… but you will start seeing more and more use as CRM automation intelligence continues to stride forward towards continued innovation. 

If you have a CRM solution, make sure that you have configured it to deliver Literature to your audience when requested around the clock! 

Have a great weekend,
The CEO

Hello there Marketing Enthusiast,      

By now, you must have heard about email marketing… and if you have not, there is a good chance that you have received mail from an email marketing campaign. eMail marketing is one of the fastest growing marketing strategies right now.     

Email Marketing — CRM 1080

  E-mail’s ROI in 2008 was $45.06 for every dollar spent on it, according to the Direct Marketing Association’s Power of Direct economic impact study. This compares to $48.34 in 2007, and a projected $43.52 for every dollar spent in 2009.   

 So, its about time that your business realized its full revenue potential using email marketing campaigns.  Still not sure why it may be right for you?    Here you go…. my Top 10 Reasons why Email Marketing may be the right for your Business:   

1.  Cost Less than Traditional Marketing.   Let’s face it, mailers and other forms of advertising can put a real dent in your pocket.  With email marketing, you reach thousands of prospects at minimal costs.   

2.  One Marketing Campaign Does NOT fit all. Consumers tend to respond to communication that they can relate to.  With email marketing, you can do just that — Target and Personalize your communication with your audience.   

3.  Schedule your Delivery. Unlike traditional advertising, with email marketing you can make sure that prospects get the message when you want them to get it.   

4.  Ability to Get Consumers to Act. One of the unique power of email marketing campaign is that you can provide a link or a button that allows your consumer to act immediately.  We all know how we have bought things on an impulse.  The right solution with the right incentive and easy means to purchase always works for the business.   

5.  Know the Truth Immediately. Because email marketing is as Real Time as it gets, you will be able to see results within hours and sometime even minutes of sending email.  The truth sometime hurts, but there is even some good news even if your campaign is failing — you can quickly change it (message, time-sensitive discounts, target, etc.)   

6.  Provide Opt-In/Opt-Out Options. Today’s consumers want to control when and how they want to communicate with you.  By providing personalized opt-in and opt-out options, consumers are more likely to engage in receiving marketing content because they are in control of what they want to receive and when they want to receive.  And with Online solutions, the entire management of who gets what is managed by your audience — so you don’t have to worry about it.   

7.  Easily create Drip Marketing.   If you have been in business long enough, you know that it takes at least 6 touches before consumers are comfortable with a particular product line.   

8.  Know which Marketing Campaign works! By that I mean, brings the best ROI.  So, that you can continually improve your delivery for the campaigns that don’t work as well.   

9.  It’s more than just a Sales & Marketing Tool. eMail marketing is fast becoming the method of choice for both business and consumers to communicate… whether it is Upcoming Events, Tips & Tricks, Business Update, Guides and more!   

10.  It’s Integrated with your Customer Database.  An Online CRM Solution (there are plenty of them out there) that supports email marketing with easy to use templates will manage not just your email marketing activities but also all your other communications including sales and customer service tracking.   So, one great solution that integrates all key components for success.   

Now, it’s time for you to act — start using an email marketing solution that is part of a broader CRM solution to help you achieve all your marketing needs.  In just a few steps and a few days, you can reap the many benefits thousands of companies are already experiencing…  Btw, here is a video on YouTube that may provide further clarity on the subject:      

Email Marketing Overview.       

On your side,
Zeynep

Why CRM, Why Now? CRM1080

What almost seemed like a fad in the mid 90s is now a way of life… or is it?   If you read some of the recent pundit analysis on CRM usage, you will find that most companies have not completely adopted CRM — and those that have, not all of them have done it successfully (which is a whole different subject for another time).   

So, for those on the sidelines, why CRM and Why Now?  Here is the simple answer:   

Why CRM?  CRM technology, when combined with Strategic Execution has proven to increase Sales/Revenue, Reduce Customer Service Costs, Increase Efficiencies, Improve Customer Loyalty, Increase Retention, Standardize processes and the list goes on and on…   

Why Now? Now… this is an interesting question…   My first thought was, if you have been educated about the value of CRM, then why not now?   It’s like saying,  “I am going to wait because I don’t need all that CRM offers.” So, that in itself should be enough.  But just incase you are not convinced, let’s add a few more reasons:   

• The Current State:  Heck why not?  Everyone is talking about how the economy and its negative impact on their business.  So, why would you not invest in changing the state of your business for the better? Small price to pay and perhaps…. just perhaps the key to keep your business alive!
   
• Affordability:  The common excuse: I simply can’t afford it.  Well my friend, you can.  CRM is no longer for the big boys – the playing field is now level — you too can utilize automation to provide the best value for your customers.  Credible CRM software are available for as low as $40 per user per month.   Like the old saying goes — you pay for what you get.  So remember not to be sucked into Free solutions or Fire-sales!
   
• Reach:  I remember doing business with companies within 50 miles of my business.   With the Internet, the entire world is within 50 miles of my business.  The proof is in the pudding — just sold to a company in Estonia, Saudi Arabia, Ireland and in talks with a company in Madagascar.   Wow!  Madagascar — never thought that the movie I so much enjoy watching with my kids would actually be a place that could use my products and services!  
   
• Easy Deployment: I want to do it but I don’t have the technical know-how.   Okay, we have heard that one too…   So, do you use Gmail or Hotmail or Yahoo Mail?  In many ways, you can start using CRM — like opening up a new Gmail account.   (I am just talking about opening the account — don’t forget the strategy side of things).   With Online CRM, securely hosted somewhere else in the Internet Cloud, you can start using CRM today without hiring a full-time IT person or consultant.  Just find the solution that is right for you (another topic for another day), and get cranking!  Hey the best part about online CRM is that you won’t have to worry about Software purchase, installation, maintenance, upgrades and backups because all reputable online vendors include these features as part of the monthly cost.  

As Winston Churchill put it so well, If you mean to profit, learn to please.   Learning to please in today’s world requires the right tools.   So, what are you waiting for? Search for “Small Business CRM” or “Online CRM” or “CRM Software” and start looking at the many solutions available to help take your business to the next level.     

Regards,
The CEO