CRM - January 2008 - (Page 15)

SPONSORED CONTENT Infor CRM as a Strategic Differentiator By Mike Frichol VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL INDUSTRY AND PRODUCT MARKETING CRM’s evolutionary path is based on one simple, yet deceptively complex tenet – provide the customer with outstanding service while optimizing company goals such as growth and profitability. Due to the difficult nature of satisfying every customer, many companies have focused on how their CRM system can more efficiently handle basic customer interactions. In fact, many companies live through the following scenario everyday and do not realize something is missing: A customer contacts the company with a question, to request a product/service or submit a trouble ticket and, after sorting through various menus and prompts, finally speaks with a customer service representative (CSR) and their case gets solved. The interaction ends and the CSR moves on to the next call. Through this tactical interaction the issue is addressed, but the customer’s needs are never evaluated and the company has, therefore, gained very little. Instead, the interaction becomes a statistic of how many requests that CSR processed in an hour. This is where a shift is occurring as companies begin to change their mindset on the most strategic use of their CRM systems. Rather than focus on the raw number of processed calls, organizations now benchmark how a CSR can enhance the customer experience through every interaction with measurable goals such as increased wallet share. Enterprising companies across the globe are realizing there is more to CRM than a simple Q&A via phone, email, live internet chat, or kiosk; it is a means to grow revenue, increase brand loyalty, and decrease customer churn. As competition increases and product differentiation becomes vague, many companies are turning to programs to enhance customer experience and brand loyalty. CRM is a critical component to enabling this differentiation through three key strategies. Maintain a continuous customer dialogue. Customer experience is cumulative. All customer communication, regardless of channel, should be consistent and relevant to the individual customer. By maintaining an ongoing dialogue with customers, companies learn more about their wants and needs and are able to offer superior products and services. Customer experience is real-time. Real-time analytics allow companies to gather and analyze more information to offer tailored promotions within milliseconds. For this to be successful, the analysis and offers must occur in real-time, when your product • is top of mind. Real-time analytics allow companies to personalize websites based on individual profiles of contextual information such as clickstream as well as historical, transactional, and demographic information. Based on this information, the system self-learns, ensuring offers are specific to each and every customer, something that’s far out of reach with traditional marketing tools for customer segmentation. Make every interaction count. Blend service, sales, and marketing to provide a 360-degree view of the customer. With continuous customer dialogue and real-time analytics, you can make sure each customer interaction is related to preceding interactions and all the information is captured and used, regardless of channel. Imagine that a customer adds a product to a shopping basket that is then deserted. The company could capture that information, use it in a personalized email campaign or have a CSR ask the customer if they have any questions about the product during the next contact. • • Implementing these three strategies, companies are able to turn inbound interactions into crosssell and up-sell opportunities that increase wallet share and lead to higher customer retention. For example, a motorist contacts their insurance company to report an accident. Through the implementation of continuous customer dialogue, the CSR is able to pull up not only the customer’s file but their preferences as well. The motorist states the car is not drivable and will require a tow-truck. Through the use of real-time analytics, the CSR is provided an up-sell offer for a rental car. Knowing the customer’s current policy does not cover a rental car, the CSR is able to make a real-time offer to include that coverage at a onetime special rate for the next 12 months. In this scenario, the interaction counted. The customer need was anticipated, the CRM system responded, and the interaction was maximized. The insurance company realizes incremental revenue and holds onto the customer for an additional 12 months. This is a stark contrast to the original example and highlights the power and potential of CRM. In the past decade CRM has proven its worth at reducing keystrokes, processing more calls in an hour, and collecting more data then most companies know what to do with. Thanks to advances in computing power and the development of robust software, companies realize that CRM is able to balance that simple yet complex tenet to provide outstanding service.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - January 2008

CRM - January 2008 Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Facebook's About-Face On the Scene: Oracle OpenWorld 2007 CRM Market Set to Double Customers, Meet your Makers Required Reading Oh, Behave! Fine-Tuning the Channel Listen Up! The Master Piece Flying High on Customer Service Let's Get Digital The Big Rigs Get Revved Up Putting Asia in Your Pocket Secret of My Success Connect Re:Tooling Pint of View

CRM - January 2008

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