Strategy

Tools for Crafting Social CRM Connections
July 09, 2012

Adaptu serves people in all stages of life, from young people just getting married and buying a home, to more mature investors planning for their children's educations or their own retirements. "Tracking our more public users allows us to create content, crowdsource ideas, and offer solutions that we wouldn't normally get the chance to talk about," said Jenna Forstrom, Adaptu's community manager.

Banks and Travelers: What Sends Customers Packing
July 05, 2012

Travel always seems to elicit great customer service stories -- that is, great stories from my perspective as a person who writes about CRM; not great as in "my experience while traveling was wonderful, stress-free and restored my faith in humanity." As fodder for columns, they're great. They're object lessons in how to sabotage customer relationships.

Opportunity Costs, Sunk Costs, and the Emotions Driving CRM Failure
June 28, 2012

About a year ago, I heard a great story on NPR's "Marketplace" that illustrated the concepts of sunk costs and opportunity costs using baseball players as a sample group. While fans marvel at the enormous contracts paid to star players, there are thousands of younger players who toil away in the minor leagues for very low salaries.

5 Signs Your Small Biz Is Ready for CRM
June 07, 2012

There's a lot of opportunity for CRM vendors seeking to reach small businesses. While there are 15 million seats of CRM in action today, there are a lot more than 15 million customer-facing workers out there, and the vast majority of them are in small businesses. That's a big opportunity for CRM vendors -- but what does it mean for potential CRM users?

CRM Gamification - a New Team Sport
June 05, 2012

Last month, open source CRM provider Zurmo released a beta version of a new app that staked out new ground in this mature software category: The app was built with gamification techniques and a game-oriented user interface in the hope of spurring user adoption. "It is a direction that is a bit contrarian to typical CRM product development," admitted Ray Stoeckicht, cofounder of Zurmo Open Source CRM.

Are Lookouts Guiding Your CRM Journey?
May 31, 2012

In a past life, I was a bosun's mate in the U.S. Navy. A bosun's mate's job is best described as "sailor stuff" -- running small boats, tying up and casting off in port, steering the ship, maintaining things, and lots and lots of painting. Bosun's mates also stood lookout watches, monitoring the environs day and night for signs of other ships, aircraft and things that were important for the crew to know about.

Blame Change for Social CRM's Plodding Pace
May 24, 2012

I remember being an impatient kid when something I really wanted was on its way. The first time I was aware of my parents mail-ordering something for me -- I think it was a baseball jersey I especially coveted -- I can recall bombarding them with a chorus of the phrase, "when is it going to get here?" I realize now that hearing a six-year-old ask that question 300 times a day for three or four days was genuine torture for my parents.

People, Processes and Standout Service Experiences
May 17, 2012

Customer service is a crucial part of the customer experience. That seems immediately obvious. And customer experience is the big buzzword right now, so companies are going bonkers revamping their customer service operations. Right? Would that it were so. Almost paradoxically, many businesses are still stuck in the mode of tweaking with utterly defective customer service processes.

CRM Conference to Showcase the Retail Experience
May 14, 2012

CRM Conference is being held May 29 to 31 at the Chicago Hyatt Regency. This annual event offers a unique agenda for retailers, said Devon Wylie, CEO of CRMC. "It's specifically focused on case studies from topnotch multinational retailers. With this approach, attendees can get actionable learnings they can take home with them."

When Your Business Goofs, CRM Can Be Your Best Friend
May 10, 2012

There are three things certain in life. We all know the two cited by Benjamin Franklin, but there's a third certainty that we all face regularly and have to cope with constantly. That's the certainty that we'll make mistakes. Everyone makes them; if it hasn't happened to your business, you haven't been in business long.

3 CRM Traits Shared by Good People and Great Companies
May 03, 2012

I just wrote a note to a friend of mine thanking him for his participation at a conference I recently helped organize. It was a thank you note, and he's a CRM industry influencer; I won't divulge names, because it's not important to my point, nor do I want to seen like too much of a suck-up. In any event, I was grateful for his participation in the show -- not just for his session, but for his behavior at this and every other CRM event he goes to.

Penetrating the Vast, Untapped Reaches of the CRM Market
April 26, 2012

CRM is not a small market. Nor is it a niche sequestered away in a corner of the larger CRM market. CRM is a $13.045 billion industry in 2012, and it will grow to $16.694 billion in 2015, according to Gartner. No matter how you look at things, that's a lot of money. With a projected growth of nearly 30 percent in three years, it would be easy to assume that CRM has achieved significant penetration.

Customization on the Cutting Edge
April 20, 2012

Every day, I meet retailers who are eager to learn how they can add a co-creation, customization, or personalization feature (collectively "Customization" with a capital 'C') to their existing offerings. They often start the conversation off with an overview of their current products and quickly move to a discussion about which of them cater to the "customization" demographic.

Social, Mobile and Collaboration: 3 Tips for Getting on the Road
April 19, 2012

"You can't get there from here." That's the classic gag about New Englanders giving road directions -- that somehow, the route that needs to be taken is so convoluted and confusing that there's no way to negotiate between two points on the surface of the Earth. Logically, we know that's not true. You can get anywhere from anywhere these days -- especially if you can rely on transportation that doesn't need to stick to the roads.

Sussing Out Your Customers' Relationship Styles
April 12, 2012

At last year's Dreamforce event, the word "koan" was used quite a bit, thanks to CEO Marc Benioff's Buddhist proclivities. The word means "a paradox that is to be meditated upon," typically used to train novice monks to abandon dependence on reason to achieve enlightenment. Most of the applications of "koan" at Dreamforce didn't apply to paradoxes, nor is it wise to abandon reason when dealing with any CRM vendor in the hope of finding enlightenment.

Unforgiven: Customers Need to Show Some Common Sense Too
March 15, 2012

In the UK, supermarket chain Tesco is being pounded right now in social media channels because it's refusing to honor an erroneous online advertisement offering new iPads for about $65. The offer went viral, and now the backlash is viral, too. How Tesco responds will tell the tale. I'd recommend a sincere apology, a few well-phrased jokes poking fun at itself -- and an offer to make it up to those who still want to buy an iPad from them.

CallCopy Scores With Columbus Blue Jackets
March 09, 2012

The Columbus Blue Jackets are a team in the National Hockey League, which means their revenue stream thrives -- or dies -- on how well they can sell tickets. The team has an extensive and sophisticated sales operation that fields nearly 300 calls per day. However, the team wanted tech support for its operations -- specifically a new call-recording technology that was flexible and customizable enough to back up its own sales methodology and ongoing training requirement.

Feature Ignorance: Fast Track to a Wasted CRM Investment
March 08, 2012

A friend of mine bought a car that is, to be honest, a lot more than he really needs. It has all the bells and whistles, wrapped in a lovely paint job and a plush leather interior. Yet every time I ride in it, I discover something that he's overlooked. Yes, Randy -- this would be where you plug in your iPod. Did you know you had a second glove compartment? This button's how you lock all the doors at once.

One Customer Relationship Style Does Not Fit All
March 01, 2012

In this era of social media, the Dunbar Number has been the subject of considerable debate. For those of you who don't run in evolutionary anthropology circles, the Dunbar Number is a concept created by Robin Dunbar, the director of the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford University. Dunbar's theory is that there are only so many meaningful relationships we can manage.

Growing Into Social CRM
February 16, 2012

The volume of oversized clothing I received as a kid from aunts, grandparents and family friends was astounding. Over time, I did actually grow into those clothes. Social CRM, for a lot of businesses, is like those gifts: It may not be a perfect fit immediately, but given time and the evolution of your business, you're likely to grow into it.