| |
| |
|
Customer Service Information |
|
|
|
CRM = Customers (dont) Really Matter
CRM was supposed to bring companies closer to their clients. The basic idea was to; find out what a client wants and needs, give it to them, and get them to be your client for life. But as with all good technology, it hasn't actually brought the sales teams, marketing departments, R&D, or customer service departments any closer to the customer at all! Technology is a poor subsitute for the human voice and social interaction. I really feel sorry for the companies that struggled with the software, spent hundreds of man hours on design and implementation plans, dumped thousands and thousands of dollars into consulting sessions, developed training manuals and trained the trainers, held the meetings and issued management memos only to find that the problem of customer loyalty was the same if not worse. They had the right idea but they were listening to those lame marketing gurus again! The same guys who have been promoting direct mail postcards as the best choice for farming prospects at a whopping 1-3% response rate!! (Whopee! Where do I sign up?) Seeing technology as a cure all for customer service is a grave mistake. First, there is a serious problem with the oxymoron Client Relationship Management. Intimate loving families and friends can't manage their relationships, hence a 50% divorce! How in the heck is a company that sees its clients only a few hours each year going to manage the relationship? At best, you can sustain, grow, and cultivate the relationship. At worst, you will lose it due to changes in the client's circumstances or aging, competition, economic and political factors, changing markets or (heaven forbid) your own terrible customer service and shoddy workmanship. But you will never be able to manage your clients. As a matter of fact... it is the client who manages you. They tell you what products they want, and what your product is worth, how they want it delivered, and like green french fries and the Edsel, whether they want it at all! Companies that have to fight for their customers usually have internal problems. I heard that the CEO of a major insurance company said, " We stopped advertising once, we lost 50% of our business that year." This is a company that has trouble with client retention! Retaining customers should never be a major struggle, and if it is, you are doing something wrong. It usually stems from not understanding the customer. Going to a computer program to improve customer relations, or find out what the customer is thinking is, quite frankly, nuts. Let me give you an example from my own shopping habits. There are 4 major supermarkets within a 5 mile radius of my house. One has great produce prices, the others don't. I usually shop at that market for produce only, because their other prices are too high. I have a membership card with that store. Do they know why I only shop for produce at their store? NO! Will my shopping habits change if their prices change? Yes. Do they know that? No. Can they get that information from my membership card? No. Can they get it if the guy at checkout asks me? You bet! As a matter of fact I have volunteered the information. I have told checkers in passing on several occassions I think their produce prices are the best in town...do you think that information got to the store manager? Probably not! Am I going to seek out the manager to tell him? Probably not! But if I do, is he going to go in the office and make note of my comment somewhere so he can serve me better? No way! Now,do you think the other stores know why I don't buy their produce? They have no clue, even though I have a membership card with them as well, they have no idea why I never buy their produce. In-house customer surveys and focus groups and even "Hi, how ya doin?" conversations put the client and the company on the same side of the table, working together as partners to develop better products, services, and processes, and to cement relationships. Here's another example of CRM failings, current gas prices are driving down SUV sales. Can CRM software tell you that gas prices are going to hit an all time high in summer? Can CRM software tell you that your competition is coming out with a hybrid that will save produce 50% higher MPG. Can CRM software tell you that your customer was in an accident that will make getting into an SUV painful and difficult, and that for the next few years he is going to buy sedans? No...but a single follow-up phone call by the salesman will tell you everything you need to know if you ask the right questions. Building layers of insulation between the company and the client; software programs, autoresponders, marketers, voice mail systems, web sites, and self serve check outs are the death of communication between a business and its clients. Most people won't try to navigate the maze to tell you they are dissatified, they will just leave...and you'll never know why because they won't leave a message on your voice mail or tape a note to the self serve register. But if you see frustration on a clients face, you can act immediately to turn a problem into a success. Some of the most loyal customers come from a bad situation turned surprisingly good. Case in point, At a fast food restaurant near my office I was carrying the tray to my table loaded with food for 4, all adults from my workplace. Another customer turned suddenly in front of me and all the food was on the floor. Frys and drinks everywhere. The manager immediately came over, dropping what he was doing during the busy rush hour, asked for my receipt, told me not to worry about it, to go sit down, he remade the order and had it delivered to my table within 5 minutes. For months afterward we ate there everyday, partly out of a sense of obligation, partly because we now trusted this restaurant and liked the manager, and we often brought other co-workers with us or brought back food for those to busy to leave for lunch. The restaurant certainly got its money worth on that $20.00 investment. And if we had had to replace that meal ourselves it would have had a totally different outcome. CRM cannot be credited with the success of the managers handling of this problem. Hire a customer service team made up of people who love people, are excellent listeners, and who genuinely enjoy their job! Hire a customer service team of problem solvers, people who enjoy the challenge of creatively solving problems for people, pay them what they are worth! Train them to pass on all information from the customer to management immediately. Then train management to act on that information immediately. A free service call or product is a small price for retaining customers and gaining referrals, and costs much less than CRM systems. There is no better client relationship than the one that is face to face, person to person. Your customer service employees are the front line. They are your company image, they represent your company much more than your logos or ads. It's a lot cheaper to pay your customer service people a living wage and use them to get the information you need, than to squander thousands of dollars and man hours on CRM software that cannot. Meredith Gossland is owner of Lasting Impressions 2, a small business marketing service, specializing in greeting card marketing, custom gift baskets for clients, multicultural marketing and marketing seminars. http://www.lastingimpressions2.com Contact her at info@lastingimpressions2.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Court Staff Receiving Customer Service Training - Government of Jamaica, Jamaica Information Service
Customer-Service - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Customers - Hold Onto the Ones Youve Got You probably spend a great deal of your time looking for new customers or clients. However, are you sure your doing enough to hold onto the ones you've got. Marketing as a Spiritual Practice "Marketing as a spiritual practice." It sounds contradictory - how can sales and promotion possibly be considered spiritual? But the secret is, once you truly understand that marketing isn't all about struggle, jargon, tricks or gimmicks, spiritual practice is the very root of success. In the Villa of the Sick Cat -- A Lesson in Customer Care If you're a pet owner, you know the stress of having a sick pet and you know that having a great veterinarian is a wonderful thing. My cat, Zoe, came down with a nasty infection that had me racing off to the vet's office last week with an unhappy, howling kitty in tow. Call Center Services - An Ever Increasing Demand Are your company's call center services all that they could be? Even centers that were state of the art a decade or so ago might be out of date and inadequate today. As technology expands, so do clients' expectations regarding communication. Got A Consumer Problem? Millions of people, just like you, end up with a consumer problem that they just can't seem to get resolved. No matter what they do. 7 Bits Of Critical Information You Cant Afford NOT To Know About Your Customers If you think customer relationship management is just a piece of software, you're dead wrong. Customer relationship management is about understanding your customers. What Every Manager Should Know About How to Prevent Customer Service Conflicts There are five techniques that have been proven to be effective in resolving, minimizing, and preventing conflicts. And by conflicts I am referring to any of the following that may take place between two or more people: misunderstanding, miscommunications, arguments, disagreements, mixed messages, fighting, etc. I Wont Tell My Lawyer but I Will Tell You A general counsel of a large international consulting firm told us about his experience talking to an interviewer who had called to discuss his satisfaction level with his outside law firm. He had been using the services of a "high end, expensive" law firm out of New York. Breaking the Ice and Winning Over the Client! Wherever you turn these days you'll find articles covering every business strategy and tactic available to man, from how to make a great presentation to strategies for success all the way to negotiations and prospecting and getting a client to commit. But hardly anyone touches on the subject of breaking the ice with a new client and winning them over. Mastering Challenging Service Situations During the course of everyday business, many of you encounter unsatisfied customers. How you and your staff handle these situations, will shape your service image and ultimately your bottom line. Is your Online Business Customer-Friendly? Customer service is increasingly seen as one of the most valuable uses for a commercial World Wide Web site. Your Web site is available on a 24 hour, seven days a week basis. We Got It Wrong: Never Under Promise & Over Deliver You know how it is, you believe something for so long, everyone agrees with you, all the books tell you it's true and then suddenly you have a blinding revelation - we've all been duped! You know like my gorilla mates were? (If you're not sure about my gorilla mates then you really need to read the book - we've got a great offer on at the moment!)And you feel such a chump - how did I ever fall for that - the logic just isn't there - I must have been a fool. Let me explain. Are You Satisfying Your Customers? The latest report from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (Michigan School of Business) reports the following:Customer dissatisfaction with the quality goods and services offered in the marketplace is more than a nuisance. The US economy is heavily dependent on increases in consumer spending. Loyal Customers Take Commitment In today's competitive world of retail, many stores are implementing external marketing programs designed to attract new business.Unfortunately, the cost can be very high with little return on investment. Is Your Food Establishment Clean? Is your restaurant, bar or hotel clean? I mean really clean. I don't mean "do you stick to all the rules and regulations?". Dont Be Afraid To Give Problem Customers The Boot Q: In a recent column you made the point that the customer is always right, which I agree with. However, in the same column you also said that it is sometimes necessary give problem customers the boot. Dont Eliminate The Middle Man - Add One Today, there are situations when we actually add a "middle person" instead of eliminating one for increased service efficiency. If it's cost-effective and demand is high, then proper market positioning will make it a worthwhile endeavor. Client Appreciation - It Means Everything! Want to know the secret for keeping your clients forever? And what if you could keep your revenue growing by 25 percent every year, because your clients loved the way you appreciated them? In this article, you will learn how easy it is to develop a powerful client appreciation program. Once in place, an appreciation program will forever change the way you operate and manage your business. What You Need to Know About CRM 1. It's all about the customer. And The Difference is... Attitude I returned a rental car at an airport yesterday. As the person who was going to check me in approached, he smiled (which shocked me) and said, "Hello Mr.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
