CRM - August 2008 - (Page 35)

can be a tough animal to tame. We’ve gathered a handful of tunes that actually soothe the sometimes-savage beast W hen searching for big CRM ideas that can stand the test of time, the phrase “easier said than done” comes to mind. Customers, analysts—even vendors—say there really is no “secret sauce” to CRM—and if there were, a business would be wise to keep that tucked away from competitors. Interestingly enough, “What works with customer service?” is often a more difficult question to answer than “What doesn’t work?” So we decided to work backward from there—and some solid strategies emerged. What is a strategy, anyway? Too many companies don’t seem to know, says Sean Combs, cofounder of Silverdale, Wash.–based Steelhead Productions, a supplier of corporate trade-show exhibits. It’s more than just a tip or a metric, he says, adding that customers, when asked what strategy they have in mind going into a conference, will often respond with nothing more than a puzzled look. The following eight sticking strategies—presented in no particular order—may not seem like rocket science, yet they all can be applied to any size business, in any location, and in any time period. Do these require money? Well, vendors and analysts might tell you so, but a lot of times a reordering of priorities is more important than a reorganization of the wallet. However, nothing really comes for free. “I still hear from companies that can’t say whether they’re customer-centric or not,” says Rob Bois, an analyst with AMR Research. “We’ve done research around [that] and spending for customer management and customer satisfaction—and there’s a correlation there.” Bois notes that there are inside and outside approaches to CRM strategies.“It’s hard to fix the outside problems before you fix an inside issue,” he says. Tactics for improving customer-facing situations often garner more attention, he adds. “If you try to expose best practices externally, but internally they aren’t in sync, it’s just going to be a horror story.” 1. BE TRANSPARENT This doesn’t mean letting your customers see every internal recipe and working part, but it has a lot to do with building customer trust and loyalty. For Combs at Steelhead Productions, being transparent means letting customers know ahead of time what they’re getting for what cost. Upfront invoicing builds trust, he says, especially due to the variable cost outcomes that are familiar to everyone in the trade-show industry—and which often led to budgetary haggling that ran counter to a trusting relationship. In the old days, clients had to leave wiggle room in their budgets for unexpected costs; with the upfront model, clients can be forthcoming about how much Steelhead can really spend. “We’ve realized when you look at the cost of prospecting and landing new accounts, it’s much cheaper to keep clients than to constantly pursue new ones,” he says. Bois addresses a different aspect of transparency: the notion of community. There are two kinds of communities, he says—captive and noncaptive. A noncaptive community is one created by a user or third party, which a company or brand participates in from a distance. A captive community is one expressly built by an organization to mine information and to listen to feedback and end-user comments. In the latter case, Bois says, “there’s a temptation, when someone writes bad things about you, to overstep or eliminate that because you don’t want people saying bad things.” That’s a temptation companies have to avoid acting on, he says. “In the long run, the goal is to demonstrate you’re open and you’re being transparent, and ideally you can follow up and get involved in the community.” Transparency also allows companies and brands to extend support or act as service providers. “It CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | AUGUST 2008 35

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

CRM - August 2008 Contents Front Office Feedback Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Maximum Security A Code Win Doesn’t Blow Forming the Platform CRM on Twitter CRM Class Is in Session Making CRM Mandatory for University Administration Required Reading Cover Story: Calling it Quits Wouldja Look at That? 8 Enterprise Strategies That Stick CRM Searches for Search All Lines Are Not Busy UC: As Easy as A-B-C Even Contact Centers Have Room for Improvement Money Lying Around? Secret of My Success Re:Tooling Scouting Report Pint of View

CRM - August 2008

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