CRM - February 2009 - (Page 15)

Insight a look at the resurgence of Web conferencing as a means of bridging distance—but travel is still necessary to the successful conduct of many businesses. What’s changed over the past year, says Hervé Sedky, vice president and general manager of advisory services at AEBT, is that chief financial officers are forced to see travel as an investment rather than a cost. As such, companies are forced to look for ways to save money without reducing the number of trips. Waste is often found in noncompliant travel, such as purchasing flights, hotels, or rentals from unapproved suppliers, or spending beyond an allotted travel budget. AEBT implements pointof-sale tools and technology that enforces company policies, putting benchmarks and triggers in place so companies understand what and how they’re spending, and best practices around improving it. Coming out of the recession, Sedky doesn’t advise companies to overly scrutinize travel spending. He argues ing American cars irrespective of the that large-scale customer events, em- value equation…. [Instead, they’ve] ployee incentives, and travel rewards are demonstrated they’d be perfectly happy important to drive revenue and achieve to import a [Toyota] Prius from Tokyo over protecting American jobs.” (See solid return on investment. For the most part, Owen says, con- Market Focus: Automotive, page 18, for sumers are sympathetic to cuts made more on that industry’s woes.) What gives Owen hope during the during lean times. Customers like to current recession is that, unlike belie ve their vendors are those in the past, companies behaving ethically, but are also “[Corporate finally understand that success highly appreciative of a free leaders are] is predicated on a strong cusmarket. tomer relationship. As consumers, Owen says, choosing “Companies that culturally “we don’t quite make the moral between very and philosophically got this leap to be concerned about the unpalatable going into the recession will welfare of our vendors. We continue to execute,” he says. don’t really even respect our alternatives.” “If you were lost in space vendors’ right to make a profit. It’s more like, ‘Best Buy’s going belly up. before, arguably you’re more lost in space [now]. Winners and losers get Let’s go and get some sale prices.’” The condition of the domestic auto- increasing separation in a recessionary motive industry, he says, has really environment…. These are very chalserved to illustrate this psychology. “If lenging decisions, very complicated Americans as a group really cared about factors. [Today’s corporate leaders are] the long-term fate of Detroit employ- choosing between very unpalatable ees, they would have had a bias choos- alternatives.” —Jessica Tsai THE Recession ISSUE CRM on The recession—and its impact—provided fertile ground for the thought leaders (and complainers) on Twitter even before the “recession” handle became official. Some recent tweets, in honor of The Recession Issue. To follow CRM magazine on Twitter, head to www.twitter.com/destinationCRM. Tweet us directly by using @destinationCRM at the start of your message. hollisthomases: Vertical Response survey of small biz: 80% see economy as primary concern for new prez; 66% have already felt negative impact of recession WayneHurlbert: Recession biz tip: When your competitors cut back on sales, customer service, marketing & PR, they are handing you their clients for free. calebhays: “Recession is when a neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours ” joerawlinson: @kevinstirtz Recession may worsen customer service at large companies that lay off workers but is an opportunity for small biz to shine stiennon: Yipes, my biggest client just let their entire marketing team go. Is that an appropriate response to a recession? mizrik: @stiennon absolutely NOT. Your marketing team should be GROWING during a recession or at least redesigned buzzbishop: @leelefever but here's the rub: we need people to spend, not save. saving just takes money out of the system deepening the recession. twgonzalez: one way to solve the oil crisis, kick the global economy into a deep recession and reduce demand. iidxgold: CNN reports the porn industry needs $5 billion in bailout money too? What, is our recession so bad that we stopped having sex? MadameSoybean: Many businesses that are successful today, were started in the last recession. This is a time of opportunity. Go for it. www.destinationCRM.com CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | FEBRUARY 2009 15 http://www.twitter.com/destinationCRM http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - February 2009

CRM - February 2009 Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Express Service CRM on Twitter Breaking Customer Service Tradition Outsprinted That’s (Not) Entertainment Running on Empty Required Reading Up Against the Downturn The Numbers Tell the Tale Make Marketing Your Megaphone! Hold Onto Your Customers! Spend Your Way Out! Constructing a Virtual Customer Experience Next Customer, Please! It’s Showtime! From A(erospace) to Z(oology) Secret of My Success Re:Tooling Scouting Report Pint of View

CRM - February 2009

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