Abstract of Conference on “Implementation of CRM - Instruments” by Eric Gaynor, organized by The Organization Development Institute International, Latinamerica (2004) ”
Much has been said lately about CRM and it seems that in the coming years the amount of material about it is going to be increasing in a more than geometric way.
It is that in recent years many things have happened at the macro and micro levels, both economically and in health, education and the social, and these "contextual" factors have triggered what many have called "customer power". Of course, there is no direct correlation within this dimension between the real and the perceptual.
In order to face what we live today, we have to try to make a small review of where we were in the past and where we want to go. Well, all this has been done with people, and everything that remains to be done will also have to be done with people.
In order to deal with this situation as effectively as possible, the organizations initially concentrated their interest in thinking that they were in a total market, for which mass marketing represented a rather important solution at that time. But it turns out that globalization brings with it a series of situations where certain local protectionisms are eliminated and one already begins to not only have local contenders; anyone in the world is MY competitor.
To make things even more complex, companies began to "feel" that mass marketing was not a solution to the problem. And those within the organization who had become "experts" in "the product / service" protected him feeling like parents of a child… who no longer had the age, the needs, or a future as anticipated at the time of his birth. This has been extremely dramatic especially for small and medium-sized (pejoratively) misnamed companies.
This approach to the product - treating it as unequivocal - added to the orientation of those responsible for the different Marketing areas (Sales, Marketing, Public Relations, among others) towards mass marketing where the sales force “raised orders from Customers”, was insufficient for the organization to achieve the results to which it was accustomed. And the businessmen and company directors did not need any command board to realize that the company was "losing presence in the market" and the cash balances available for withdrawals or dividend payments for shareholders were reduced.
Entrepreneurs and directors began to dedicate some hours of their day to “learning to lead by walking around the company”, and - how many more hours did they spend outside of it - did complaints and objections come to their attention that they were not used to receiving. As one businessman told us: "I paid my General Manager to solve problems for me… and in reality what he did was hide the problems."
Or the CEO of a multinational subsidiary: "I spend a large part of my day with Marketing and Sales Managers when I have realized that those who really know about Customers are the sellers." Or the Sales Director of a leading service company: "This company started to do better when I eliminated steps and hierarchies within the sales and marketing area."
Naturally, both businessmen and managers cannot spend the day leading the company as a result of walks, and that is why the creation of new roles and positions naturally appears under the name of Customer Service - Customer Service - After-sales service.
It had been learned that most of the solutions in the companies did not necessarily come from the consultants or from the trainers; it was the Client who let him know "why he had stopped being a Client".
The next and quite natural step was to create other roles and positions (areas within the company) to contact Clients. The telemarketing service appeared as the solution and, together with the contributions of the Customer Service and Attention areas, it was possible to extend the life of the organization and recover some of the profits that they had been deprived of, a few years ago.
The organizations that carried out these actions found an additional source of oxygen that extended their lives by doing what they had to do, but the last word was not said.
The implementation of the latest advances in information technology and communications with direct application to the different industrial sectors (Banks and financial entities, commerce, industry, services, utilities, government, oil companies and laboratories, among others) together with a strong industrial robotization and Technification of the primary and also commercial services and financial sectors, along with other variables outside the business world proper, produced a reduction in Clients, which in turn had a direct correlation with the reduction of personnel with genuine work.
Entrepreneurs and company managers began to learn that it was better to work with fewer levels because in this way they not only reduced costs but also approached the needs of others (especially Customers and to some extent also suppliers). In turn at this time, mass marketing spoke of a product or service… but not necessarily the organization that "did" the advertising campaign was the "one that sold".
And from here two ideas emerged that became "Best Practices". The first of them is the use through the database (Data base marketing) and the second is the Development of Niches. Both approaches “made executives move in the company”, but they were not sufficient for the increasing competitiveness without any border. We all hear about the wonderful global market that can potentially be 100 times greater than what we have… but this is repeated in another part of the planet by (and for) our contender.
It is important to know this history and process for the survival and success of the organization since it has been accompanied and carried out by people, and now, in the face of this new confrontation, we have to know what we have.
The experience of The Organization Development Institute International in the implementation of CRM shows some characteristics that have been present in those effective situations (they are necessary, but not sufficient):
The commitment of the entrepreneur or executive director regarding the CRM project, which includes not only their approval to go ahead with the project but also provide the necessary allocation of resources (financial, human, technological, among others), to which must be added their active participation in the different phases of the project and an “open door” policy and practice.
A balanced accompaniment between Strategy and CRM - Marketing one-to-one. We do not yet have a single way to effectively implement CRM in organizations.
The implementing team must be “glued” (not close) to: a. the sales force, b. the telemarketing team, c. post-sale staff, and d. the service of "attention of complaints".
Training of personnel in contact with Clients in the development of perceptual capacities and strengthening of skills in dialogue and conversation. Training for back and front office personnel at KM.
Training of company management and supervisory personnel in personnel management under new non-traditional modalities: project management, coaching, advisor, change agent, facilitator, and trainer among others. Development of the intra and inter personal skills of the people who are responsible for each of the phases of the implementation project.
Application of the principle of “success breeds success”. No absolutely comprehensive project is known to have been as successful as expected at the time of approval.
Keep in mind that above the "Best Practices" and "Best Theories" the values expressed by the company must be endorsed in the day-to-day action at all levels of the company and by all people.
From Customer Portfolio (optimize portfolio by maximizing profit) to Business Portfolio (quality, quantity and frequency of interactions) - The Program in ACTION!
Unlike other “Best Practices” related to Marketing, the focus on a new conception of the “Client Portfolio” - Combat Marketing, presents some characteristics and differential requirements that must be taken into account if we want to ensure success.
At The OD Institute International we are characterized by being directly involved with the Client in projects where changes are implemented to DO things today in a different way than they were done yesterday… and we may also have to DO things tomorrow in a different way than the we do today.
We have learned - working together with our Clients - that there is a lot of talk about the Change but very little is known about it, especially how to carry it out in a context where aspects related to competing for scarce resources that appear and complement each other “win” complexity when encountering situations of uncertainty and chaos. And it seems that everything that is discussed at Harvard is of little or no use or is impossible to apply. And this adds even more uncertainty to the previous situation. Because of this we are going to share our experiential experiences taking into account what “has really happened in practice” in our work with Clients, regardless of what is written.
Combat Marketing, by modifying our conception of what the conventional Client Portfolio is, is characterized by a type of confrontation where its particular type or organizational arrangement is revealed, which in turn responds to a particular way of doing business. And, in general, this entrepreneurial orientation in turn bears the punctual figure of the Leader, with her special type of personality.
Just as the Leader who chooses Combat Marketing is distinctive, so is each of the days that he - and his people - have to live. Once this practice is chosen by you, it is very possible that your competitors will focus more on you than on your company, on your products, and on your brand.
So the first point to keep in mind is:
- Are you willing to use Combat Marketing? And it is not necessary that you answer immediately, because here it is not like in primary school where one of the teachers was rewarded for raising his hand first to answer a question.
If you are willing to use this practice and have taken the time to respond, the next task is related to your previous story on how to do marketing. It is possible that you have worked in a branch of a multinational, where you have learned about the multiple ways in which this organizational type does the marketing of its products.
Another possible option is that you have spent many of your years managing the marketing of a national business reporting to the business owner. It is also possible that he has used techniques, tools and methodologies of various kinds to facilitate the commercialization of products and services, and these were complemented by university studies where he has specialized in the area of sales and commercial strategies and tactics. And you may also be an entrepreneur, that is, the owner of your own business.
All these profiles, which are not necessarily the only ones, before this same "Best Practice" - and assuming that they have the same knowledge and material at their disposal - must surely decide to approach Combat Marketing in a particular way. And this is due to the “previous history” of each one, which in turn bears a strong relationship with the results achieved in our respective previous battles and combats.
This brings us to the second question:
- Do you really know who you are? Are you sure THAT is you!
Here we suggest doing some "exercise" related to learning the development of intra and inter-personal skills. The OD Institute can be of assistance in this regard. And be prepared to continue learning and exercising on them… because I assure you that you are going to change a lot with respect to your “starting position”.
Our experience tells us that the profile that the “sales force” needs in the new world of Alvin Toffler is a business profile, who knows himself much better than the profile of the professional who has been a Diploma in a prestigious University.
The businessman has no choice but to learn by force, in the "street", and under the method of trial and error, about who he is. The graduate professional has generally spent much more time learning about content, and also on what he or she had to answer about that content to be "approved". Many Latin American companies are learning at a high cost that universities do not always prepare people with the skills they need. And if anyone has any doubts about this, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the graduation speech made by the CEO of Oracle at the very prestigious Yale University (we have this material to share with you with pleasure).
The third question that we invite you to ask is related to a phrase that the famous Albert Einstein mentioned many decades ago: "Curiosity is more important than knowledge."
Here, too, the businessman has a great advantage for the professional, since his own survival is based on a permanent, continuous and sustained curiosity. There is nothing on the planet that does NOT surprise you. And the most important thing is the power that this “surprise” can be applied in a different way; that is to say, it does not have to continue in the same way in which the entrepreneur had “contemplated” it initially.
Well then ask yourself: How many creative, innovative, ingenious things have gone through your head and to what extent have you put them into practice?
You are going to need a lot of training and practice in creating, engineering and innovating, and it is something that should be done every day and more than once, like brushing our teeth! Various field work we have done has shown us a relatively “high” number of people in the area of creativity, but many of those people were not necessarily innovative. That is why we say that if you have good ideas and do not plan to implement them better, do not open your mouth and shut up; We have already heard too many times the pitiful phrase of "My ideas are always stolen". Nobody steals ideas, someone gives them away by putting them on the table. The old saying of closed mouths do not enter flies is in full force.
The fourth point has to do with the map we have in our heads in relation to our own formula of operating. We all have something or other on our minds. Extracting this from our brain is not an easy task. For us, and as long as you are still willing to move forward exploring implementing Combat Marketing, the word here is: Risk. And hence the question:
- Are you willing to operate at risk? This means, among other things, not being satisfied with the results we are achieving today. And if we are not satisfied with the results that we obtain, then some of the things that we have to do is observe the phenomenon from another perspective so that in turn we take our actions in other directions that allow us to achieve extraordinary results.
And the questions to answer, before getting involved in combat marketing, are not over yet. The previous question has to do with the Change, not necessarily yours alone, but that of the army that you are to form. And please do not pay full attention and reverence to consultants and trainers who consider themselves "kings of strategy": Napoleon won many battles and was crowned more than once as Emperor because he had an army made up of individuals who were tactically willing to do things better than the enemy… and could be tactically rearranged perfectly! Most of the strategic plans that I have seen in Company manuals and developed by Consultants… were not implemented many times,and in those cases in which they were implemented, they did not always achieve the expected results. And here the fifth question arises:
- Are you familiar with what it takes to build an army ready to fight? And with all the Changes to be made? Because here the triumph is going to have a lot to do with the training, education and preparation of its own personnel oriented to produce changes in each one of them. And because the tactical component is so important as it is accompanied by Individual Change, you may have to arm yourself with an arsenal of skills, abilities, abilities, and skills to hone your own army. Be sure of something: Your company will not do it for you. Furthermore, they are very likely to do many things against you.
They can send invitations to a couple of their employees to "attend" Courses, Workshops, Seminars and Conferences and to very prestigious trainers who may not have had much experience regarding how to implement Combat Marketing. There is always some money in companies to do things… that do not need to be done. I have a maxim for this corporate procedure: "There is nothing more useless to do efficiently… everything that is NOT necessary"
We have one more question (the sixth) that we always ask before getting involved with a Client in the implementation of Combat Marketing trying to move more and more in the direction of a "Business Portfolio":
- Are you willing to work long hours and under heavy pressure?
Here, too, the businessman takes an important lead to the Professionals. He has learned from a young age that the pot of gold is not always where the rainbow falls on the earth. The professional has a “typical” path where success is linked to the continuity of years of formal study. The businessman knows very well that "all that glitters is not gold" and therefore he has to comb the entire universe. The businessman shares the famous phrase of the number 1 inventor of the planet Thomas Edison: "1% inspiration and 99% perspiration are required." And you are willing to pay this price.
But for everything there is always a solution and also a reward. Follow this advice: “We will never be paid or rewarded for what we are worth. No one is willing to do it for us. So since we dedicate so many hours, efforts, energy and resources to work, let's do it In Freedom and with JOY! Joy is a very important reward to let go!
So if you opt for Combat Marketing - which implies confronting - keep in mind that the important thing is no longer "participating"; the important thing is to WIN! A portfolio of Clients MUST be TRANSFORMED quickly into a Business Portfolio.
And now get ready for the final lunge. Here, too, the Acts tell us something other than what is mentioned at Harvard. If you are still willing to implement and use Combat Marketing, take into account what we have said in the previous sentence. Yes ma'am). The important thing is to win!
So we suggest that you take into account what Stephen Covey and many other people who are world class gurus and consultants said. But when you have to DO, keep in mind that you are going to have to WIN. First and foremost, because the field of trench combat (that is why we link the new approach of "Business Portfolio" to one-to-one marketing) makes us all face each other; If someone tells you that this is not true, then they must be lying to you.
So all the win-win literature and the silver bridge and other herbs, are very good to say, perhaps to listen to… but NEVER to DO them under Combat Marketing, since if you do you will have a “Client Portfolio ”That can be extinguished as a candle is extinguished, instead of having a“ Business Portfolio ”. You want proof of how Combat Marketing conception is useful… even if it doesn't even reach its full goal:
“Our dream was simple: to get IBM back into the electric typewriter business with its characteristic balls. We were members of Apple Computer's Macintosh Division… It was 1984… and we had a mission to destroy our most powerful adversary, IBM. We work ninety hours a week and we loved it because we were engaged in a crusade to change the world and prevent the domination of the blue giant. Our powerful adversary aroused passions in us, but not in clients. Although we were excited by the idea of pleasing customers, we were excited by the idea of destroying IBM's hegemony. ” (1) And even if you do not reach your goal, who can doubt Apple's success!
(1) Later Guy Kawasaki (author of “How to drive your competitors crazy”) states: “Although it may seem ridiculous, we believed that we could kick IBM out of the personal computer business. Obviously we failed, but we did a great job, and made the Macintosh a success. ”
Thank you very much for sharing
“Commercial” change - Questionnaires. Tests?
How do you define the stage your company is currently in and what stage would you like it to develop?
In which stage do you understand that your superior is and towards which phase would you like it to develop?
In which stage do you understand that your subordinates are and towards which phase would you like them to develop?
In which stage do you understand that your peers are and towards which phase would you like them to develop?
How much enlistment for change is there within your work team?
How much resistance to change is there in your team?
How do people who relate to you perceive that they have more to gain or lose from the change?
Within your work team, to what extent are they willing to lead projects and assume “responsibility” for themselves?
To what extent can you define who are the Clients that add the most value to your company's profits?
To what extent do you know "quantitatively" how the Pareto Law applies to your company?
To what extent do you have defined the variability of your Clients' profiles?
To what extent has your company developed a system to attend to and reward Clients' complaints and claims?
To what extent does your company have a methodology to “attract Clients”
To what extent does your company have a methodology to “have Clients”
To what extent does your company have a methodology to “retain Clients”
To what extent does it have
Has your company defined a methodology to “transfer Clients” To what extent does your company have a defined methodology to “enlarge your Clients”?
To what extent do you know the Clients you lose each year?
To what extent do you know the Clients you earn each year?
To what extent do you know which are the main Customer segments in your company, taking into account their current and future needs?
To what extent do some Clients demand differential products and are we in a position to meet those demands?
To what extent is there a mutually beneficial relationship with your Clients?
To what extent do you have a distribution channel matrix (telephone, fax, internet, mail, live) by type of Client (Segmented Clients)?
To what extent do you know the preferred channels that Clients have?
To what extent and also to what extent are there conflicts between channels that are difficult to resolve?
To what extent do you know the costs per channel?
To what extent do they have a “knowledge management” methodology?
To what extent have you carried out a study on the new skills and competencies necessary to implement CRM?
Are the current marketing channels correct?
What is our “Client floor”?
By adding new products, will we be hurting the competition or other products of ours?
What will happen in our market from here until the next five years?
What internal transformations must we carry out to sustain the "necessary Client portfolio"?
What should be our pricing policy?
To what extent does the "economy of scale" principle apply to our products?
To what extent can we speed up the process of bringing a product to market?
To what extent can we extend the life cycle of our products?
To what extent can we fight against the obsolescence of our products?
To what extent are we prepared to make further modifications during the product development stage?
To what extent can we reduce the cost of our current sales channels?
To what extent does the company handle the conflict between its Production Management and the Wholesalers?
To what extent do you know the expectations and preferences of your Clients?
To what extent do you know how Clients' expectations and preferences will be developed in the future?
To what extent do you have a history of relationship with Clients?
To what extent do you know the number of interactions with your Clients?
To what extent do you know the volume of purchases of your Clients?
To what extent do you know the frequency of purchases of your Clients?
To what extent can you correlate types of purchases and characteristics of the Clients?
To what extent can you correlate payment methods and Customer characteristics?
To what extent do you know the life cycle of your Clients?
To what extent can you anticipate the life cycle of your Clients?
To what extent do you know the value of the life cycle of your Clients?
To what extent can you anticipate the value of the life cycle of your Clients?
To what extent have you developed an effective segmentation system?
Do you have a segmentation that differentiates customers at least into: multinationals, large nationals, small nationals, and households?
To what extent have you decided to direct the CRM program to all your Clients equally or to limit yourself to certain groups in particular?
To what extent have you decided to direct the CRM program to one or more of its phases such as: attract, retain, achieve loyalty, enlarge?
To what extent do you have a system to receive complaints?
To what extent do you have a system in place to respond to complaints?
To what extent do you have a system in place to reward “the best complaints”?
To what extent can you identify the current needs, wants and expectations of Customers?
To what extent can they identify Clients' future needs, wants and expectations?
To what extent do you know that Facts, Perceptions and Sensations (stimuli) can increase these current needs, desires and expectations of the Clients?
To what extent do you know that future Facts, Perceptions and Sensations (stimuli) may increase the future needs, desires and expectations of the Clients?
To what extent is there a CRM strategy (instead of a fad, for example)?
To what extent are the personnel trained to accompany the implementation of CRM?
To what extent is top management aligned with the CRM strategy?
To what extent is the company still an OJ (silos in the O.)?
To what extent is the IT infrastructure correct and appropriate?
To what extent are the systems, processes, and procedures attentive to the "sensitivity" of the Clients?
To what extent are the pre-sale services integrated with the actual sale and post-sale services?
To what extent do you have a CRM quality assurance system?
In what medium is there a stimulus system for CRM?
To what extent is there a rewards system for CRM?
To what extent do you have a CRM monitoring system?
To what extent do you have a properly balanced Balance Score Card system?
To what extent do you have good promoters to implement CRM and accompany you in the changes?
To what extent do you have periodic surveys of Clients in order to assess their degree of satisfaction? (the accountants ask for a balance at the end of the year).
To what extent is there a performance evaluation system in relation to the CRM person?
To what extent do staff share CRM values?
To what extent are CRM principles and values appropriately disseminated within the company?
To what extent is management philosophy aligned with CRM principles and practices?
To what extent are you interested in knowing the needs, wishes and expectations of current Clients?
To what extent are you interested in anticipating the needs, wishes and expectations of current Clients?
To what extent are you interested in meeting the needs, wishes and expectations of current Clients?
Add YOUR question.
