CRM - February 2009 - (Page 35)

THE Recession ISSUE FIGHT SMARTER— AND HARDER— FOR BUDGET SPEND The typical recession-era challenge involves innovation in the face of shrinking budgets. There may come a time, however, when a C-level executive will call upon a line-of-business manager to inquire about current return on investment for strategies already unfolding. For customer service projects, nothing’s more important than stressing business drivers when proving your worth in the boardroom, according to Howard Lax, senior vice president and senior consultant at Rochester, N.Y.–based advisory and research firm Harris Interactive Loyalty. Hint: it’s not satisfaction, delight, or delivering on the customer experience. “It’s about driving customer loyalty and value in terms of real cash,” Lax said during his talk at the recent North American Conference on Customer Management (NACCM) in Anaheim, Calif. “Loyalty is talking about behaviors, not attitudes.” This means customers may claim a commitment and an intention not only to buy more, but also to recommend you to others. Still, that’s hardly etched in stone. “Intentions don’t pay the rent,” Lax said. Instead, use metrics that reflect a change resulting from the new strategy, such as share of wallet, number of new accounts, account share, or estimated lifetime spend. “[It’s] major work, integrating customer data to quantify this value, but it’s absolutely necessary,” he stressed. Lax also stressed that customer satisfaction remains important, but that it’s just one piece of the pie. Another NACCM presenter, Michel Cubric, director of post-funding and call center operations for First Line Mortgages, a division of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, clearly stated that there are three things that matter in banking—or any for-profit organization: employee satisfaction; customer satisfaction; and shareholder return. What ties them together? Cash. “They all bring you the money, and everyone in your company should be busy fulfilling one of these three areas,” Cubric said. “If you’re in a for-profit business, don’t be afraid to say you’re focused on the dollar.” demand. “We say leverage technology through the Web; that way you don’t have to make additional hires and can deliver responses to your customers immediately,” he says. “You’ll satisfy and—most importantly—keep the customer.” This is exemplified in the case of IGN’s Henderson. Citing a tremendous boost in the amount of end-user support needed—77 percent—for its e-commerce business in 2007, her outfit only had to increase staffing by 30 percent. Why? IGN was able to automate processes such as help tickets, surveys, forums, and email-to-ticket conversion. “That was huge for us,” she explains, adding that if her company didn’t utilize Parature’s automation offerings she would have had to boost staffing by at least 75 percent.“I now know my company isn’t looking at my department with concerns about what we may need.” LASTING LESSONS It’s undeniable that many contact centers will be forced to learn some hard lessons and dig deep into the basics to find efficient ways to bolster production during this difficult economic time. One question that remains—and likely cannot be answered until the recessionary period ends—is whether or not companies will keep the same mindset or revert to throwing money at technology and not properly optimizing the offerings. Looking ahead, Alban sees a rubberband effect for some companies. “When this situation does get better, some organizations will go back to their previous strategies but others will learn from the experience,” he says.“One lesson that persisted after the last [downturn] was that companies demand more justification from vendors on what they can expect in terms of ROI. In the 1990s, organizations bought millions of dollars worth of CRM without requiring ROI and got burned. Many realized this, and have learned their lesson for the most part.” Ryan says that, in good or bad economic times, the way to determine quality, cost-effective contact center strategies will lie largely with the particular company in question. “The trick is to understand what a company needs to do with its CRM technology, what the end user will need, and then figure how to proceed from the cost-effectiveness angle,” he says. No matter what your industry vertical or current situation, McGeary believes it is best to put a positive spin on things. “Companies are in different states of disarray, but there is an opportunity here for customer service executives to buckle down on refining how they’re interacting with consumers,” he stresses. “Instead of looking at how [you] can cut as many resources as possible, keep in mind that you don’t need to spend more money to fix many of the broken processes in the contact center that can bring great benefits.” Assistant Editor Christopher Musico can be reached at cmusico@destinationCRM.com. www.destinationCRM.com CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | FEBRUARY 2009 35 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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