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CRM, or Customer Relationship Management

CRM is about the Customer and how you as a company relates and serves them. In an ideal world, serving the client is a company-wide business strategy which results in strengthening customer loyalty.  For CRM to be truly successful, on one side it must bring together what ever information is necessary to best serve the client and make them feel as if they are your favorite or even only client. On the other side, it needs to reveal to decision making management, those facts that will allow them to make the best decisions for taking advantage of opportunities. It facilitates cross-selling and up-selling.

Although many think of it as just a piece of software, in truth it is a philosophy that permeates the entire organization. Training is as much a issue in CRM implementation as the data connections and software that manages them. The acquiring of data to support decisions and fulfill customer needs must be so second nature that it is no longer a consideration. When everyone from the President to the Customer Service Rep has the proper information, there will be no problems, or when they do occur they do not repeat. The problem causing the breakdown can be identified and eliminated or resolved.

A proper CRM Implementation has buy-in from every single employee affected. This is true for every single organization who decides to walk the path, from the local small business to the largest Multi-National Corporation.

Steps For Implementation

• Scope Assessment & Documentation
• Concept Training of Implementation Panel
• Software Selection Assistance
• Installation,
• Database Conversion,
• Report Creation,
• Training
• Effectiveness Survey & Efficacy Reviews
  • Response Rate Evaluations
  • Customer Satisfaction Reviews
     

Example Implementations

Intellitech (now absorbed into a larger corporation) This company used Tele-marketers to schedule appointments and pre-sell solutions. They realized that the Field Rep needed complete information when following up on scheduled appointments. They had successfully enforced the use of contact management software and were on the way to CRM Implementation. They also had many ideas as to where the data trail needed to start and end. They also understood the need for conformity across the organization.

• Challenges - Contact Management data resides in 4 different databases, Act!, Outlook, GoldMine, and Maximizer.
• Successes - Data Flow was supported throughout the sales organization and the field computer hardware was stable enough to support all requirements.
• Lessons Learned  - early evaluations of software by client had already concluded when we entered the project. Client failed to consider all potential issues, including underlying stability of the database. This implementation should have been based on a SQL Server for greater stability.
• Missed Steps - Client had no interest in connecting into the ERP system and missed much of the management advantages for decision making afforded by an effective CRM Implementation. The client was however quite happy with the implementation.

Total Health Enhancement Inc. This Nutritional supplement company needed to develop a marketing database in several vertical markets (Equine, veterinary, longevity...) The data was either not available from normal sources or not economically feasible. Data was gleaned from internet directories and gathered into an CRM database. The data was cleaned and updated for proper postal addressing and mailings were done in groups. Protocols were established for the sharing of data with field sales reps. Personnel was trained in proper CRM methods and all mailing activities. 

• Challenges - Contact Management data needed to be available to Independent Sales Reps. They had a wide variety of computing equipment on different platforms, some of which were very out of date. Some data even needed to be supplied and received in hard copy then entered into the system manually. The budget for this project was very limited and so had to be done very economically. 
• Successes - Marketing program was totally integrated, allowing direct marketing program to blanket the entire market with an excellent response rate.
• Lessons Learned  - Even Small companies like this one who was on a tight budget can take advantage of CRM! Many of the software tools were simple cheap utilities that connected together to achieve the solution. Efficacy Review demonstrated that this client was highly capable of utilizing CRM to expand not only market penetration, but also improve the product utilization within current customer base.

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