access all areasCRM = Customers (don't) Really Matter
CRM was supposed to bring companies closer to their clients. The basic idea was to find out what a client wants and needs, give it to them, and get them to be your client for life..
But as with all good technology, it hasn't actually
brought the sales teams, marketing departments, R&D, or customer service
departments any closer to the customer at all! Technology is a poor
substitute for the human voice and social interaction.
I really feel sorry for the companies that struggled with the software,
spent hundreds of man hours on design and implementation plans, dumped
thousands and thousands of dollars into consulting sessions, developed
training manuals and trained the trainers, held the meetings and issued
management memos only to find that the problem of customer loyalty was the
same if not worse.
First, there is a serious problem with the oxymoron Client Relationship
Management. If Intimate loving families and friends find it difficult to
manage their relationships how is a company that sees its clients only a few
hours each year going to manage the relationship?
At best, you can sustain, grow, and cultivate the relationship. At worst,
you will lose it due to changes in the client's circumstances or aging,
competition, economic and political factors, changing markets or (heaven
forbid) your own terrible customer service and shoddy workmanship.
Companies that have to fight for their customers usually have internal
problems. I heard that the CEO of a major insurance company said, " We
stopped advertising once, we lost 50% of our business that year." This is a
company that has trouble with client retention!
Retaining customers should never be a major struggle, and if it is, you are
doing something wrong. It usually stems from not understanding the customer.
Going to a computer program to improve customer relations, or find out what
the customer is thinking is, quite frankly, nuts.
Let me give you an example from my own shopping habits. There are four major
supermarkets within a five mile radius of my house. One has great produce
prices, the others don't. I usually shop at that market for produce only,
because their other prices are too high. I have a membership card with that
store. Do they know why I only shop for produce at their store? No! Will my
shopping habits change if their prices change? Yes. Do they know that? No.
Can they get that information from my membership card? No. Can they get it
if the guy at checkout asks me? You bet! As a matter of fact I have
volunteered the information. I have told checkers in passing on several
occasions I think their produce prices are the best in town...do you think
that information got to the store manager? Probably not! Am I going to seek
out the manager to tell him? Probably not! But if I do, is he going to go in
the office and make note of my comment somewhere so he can serve me better?
No way!
Now, do you think the other stores know why I don't buy their produce? They
have no clue, even though I have a membership card with them as well, they
have no idea why I never buy their produce.
In-house customer surveys and focus groups and even "Hi, how are you doing?"
conversations put the client and the company on the same side of the table,
working together as partners to develop better products, services, and
processes, and to cement relationships.
Here's another example of CRM failings, current gas prices are driving down
SUV sales. Can CRM software tell you that gas prices are going to hit an all
time high in summer? Can CRM software tell you that your competition is
coming out with a hybrid that will save produce 50% higher MPG. Can CRM
software tell you that your customer was in an accident that will make
getting into an SUV painful and difficult, and that for the next few years
he is going to buy sedans? No...but a single follow-up phone call by the
salesman will tell you everything you need to know if you ask the right
questions.
Building layers of insulation between the company and the client; software
programs, auto responders, marketers, voice mail systems, web sites, and
self serve check outs are the death of communication between a business and
its clients. Most people won't try to navigate the maze to tell you they are
dissatisfied, they will just leave...and you'll never know why because they
won't leave a message on your voice mail or tape a note to the self serve
register.
But if you see frustration on a clients face, you can act immediately to
turn a problem into a success. Some of the most loyal customers come from a
bad situation turned surprisingly good.
Case in point, At a fast food restaurant near my office I was carrying the
tray to my table loaded with food for four, all adults from my workplace.
Another customer turned suddenly in front of me and all the food was on the
floor. Frees and drinks everywhere. The manager immediately came over,
dropping what he was doing during the busy rush hour, asked for my receipt,
told me not to worry about it, to go sit down, he remade the order and had
it delivered to my table within 5 minutes. For months afterward we ate there
everyday, partly out of a sense of obligation, partly because we now trusted
this restaurant and liked the manager, and we often brought other co-workers
with us or brought back food for those to busy to leave for lunch. The
restaurant certainly got its money worth on that $20.00 investment. And if
we had had to replace that meal ourselves it would have had a totally
different outcome. CRM cannot be credited with the success of the managers
handling of this problem.
Hire a customer service team made up of people who love people, are
excellent listeners, and who genuinely enjoy their job! Hire a customer
service team of problem solvers, people who enjoy the challenge of
creatively solving problems for people, pay them what they are worth! Train
them to pass on all information from the customer to management immediately.
Then train management to act on that information immediately. A free service
call or product is a small price for retaining customers and gaining
referrals, and costs much less than CRM systems.
There is no better client relationship than the one that is face-to-face,
person-to-person. Your customer service employees are the front line. They
are your company image, they represent your company much more than your
logos or ads. It's a lot cheaper to pay your customer service people a
living wage and use them to get the information you need, than to squander
thousands of dollars and man hours on CRM software that cannot.
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