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Avoiding CRM Failure

If you’re evaluating a CRM suite in particular, you may have heard a lot of horror stories about CRM investments going to waste. Rest assured, it’s not the technology; cases of outright technology failure are rare in e-business, and their heyday was years ago, when a lot of applications were in their early generations.

Much more often, CRM failure has to do with the old saying, much beloved of coaches, that goes, Fail to plan, plan to fail. This is the point emphasized by Mike Murphy, executive director of Siebel Global Services. Addressing his company’s CRM audience some months ago, Murphy remarked, “If you focus on technology as the only aspect of a customer-facing solution, you’re going to have a fairly high-risk project.”

This truism of CRM has been out there for years, but it seems not all adopters have paid attention. “People frequently do not take into account the lessons of those that have gone before them,” Murphy tells Line56. “They will ignore some of the warnings.”

It’s part of a larger pattern in which CRM adopters haven’t conducted due diligence about the state of their own company, or of customers. Take the case of Cisco, which bought hosted CRM from Salesforce.com but subsequently came to realize that user behavior rejected the tool in favor of existing applications. That’s something that the company should have known from the CRM get-go, either causing it to pass up Salesforce.com altogether or else paying increased attention to the change management needed to embed Salesforce.com.

That’s a case of not knowing how CRM users behave, but Murphy knows of plenty of other cases in which a customer strategy has been missing. “When we do a post-mortem on these projects, we see that a customer strategy is lacking, or isn’t linked to a corporate strategy.”

For example, a manufacturer might be tasked to use CRM to do order management in order to improve cross-sell numbers, but might not have segmented the customer base properly. The customers might be craving cross-divisional solutions, not the discrete products currently offered by the manufacturer. But you’d never learn this by implementing order management.

Murphy offers a simple, three-step guide to avoiding CRM failure: 1. Align IT and business about what CRM-addressable problems are, and what to do about them; 2. Articulate a customer strategy, and how it links to corporate goals as well as to the proposed CRM system; and 3. Define goals in a measurable way so you can track your progress.

That’s what you should have on your mind when you think about a CRM suite, or even a component tool. Otherwise, as Murphy says, you might end up with “the technology piece working, but no results.”

David Cowgill is a Senior CRM Marketing Manager in San Francisco.

Article Source: http://www.crmblogger.com/crm/2005/09/avoiding_crm_fa.html

For further information contact: David Cowgill CRM Blog Founder http://www.crmblogger.com

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Problems In CRM

Like all other things, CRM systems also have few shortcomings that they need to overcome. The technology is still new and has lots of areas of improvement.

Following are the major disadvantages that stops CRM systems from becoming a perfect solution for any business:

Customer Dissatisfaction

Although several businesses have implemented CRM systems to focus on customers, several clients are still dissatisfied with its execution.

They term CRM as “technology that delays” or “stops service”. For instance, lots of them find automated voice systems (or Interactive Voice Response) as a big headache and look for companies which have eased its use.

As per a recent study conducted by Accenture, receiving poor customer service remains the number one reason why consumers abandon one service provider and move on to another, be it a mobile service supplier or a credit card provider.

Other factors weighing heavily in consumer defections include lack of customised products and senseless corporate bureaucracies.

Authenticity of Remotely Hosted CRM Services

Lots of businesses these days tend to contract out CRM. At times, cost becomes the driving factor in outsourcing CRM systems and not the vendor reputation. In such scenarios, it’s possible that the CRM service provider can disappear overnight, along with all official records. It is also possible that information kept with the service provider might get used for other purposes.

A good CRM service always allows the company to back up/export data so that the outsourcing company has a control over the information. Also, in some cases corporate and government laws stops the businesses from keeping all client information (such as Social Security Number, Home Number, etc.) at an external location.

Cost and Complexity Involved In Setting Up Locally Hosted CRM Software
Frequent technical expertise required for setups and upgrades of CRM systems, makes the businesses pay for ongoing support of the application.

Security becomes company’s responsibility, which can cause a few headaches – especially as is the case with many applications, security patches are rolled out and one needs to install them very quickly.

As the business grows, needs from a CRM package also changes and adding these extra features can be quite expensive.

Improper Vision For Tomorrow’s Needs

Bottom line is that salespeople are only interested in things that help them sell more now.

A sales representative’s only resource is time; their most important goal is meeting quota or budget for this month, quarter, or year.

Yes, they are concerned about the long run, but if they don’t make quota now, they know that they probably won’t be around to worry about the long-term.

It’s not completely fair to say that CRM doesn’t benefit a salesperson in meeting short-range goals because in some respects it does, but most sales representatives feel that they can be just about as effective in selling in the short term without it.

In other words, the benefits of CRM don’t seem significantly greater than the investment of time and effort required to use the system each day.

Training Sales Staff

As the CRM is still evolving, businesses are required to devote enough time and revenue in training sales personnel. The workforce should be able to judge how to use the stored data in best possible manner.

If they don’t use it (or the information they do put in is out of date, inaccurate, or spotty) then they can be of little value to the company who “rolls up” all this “junk data”. Inept call center employees can further worsen the situation.

Essentially, companies that don’t provide service representatives with sufficient training or information, or forms that make people fight their way through repetitive, fruitless support systems are going to lose more customers. That’s no big surprise.

In a nutshell, bad CRM is sometimes worse than no CRM at all.

For more information visit CRM Software Center
– All the general information and resources for everything CRM – Customer Relationship Management. Visit http://www.crmsoftwarecenter.com
for more articles and info on CRM.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Casey_Gollan

Microsoft CRM Implementation: Employee Time & Billing – Notes for Consultant

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 1.2 and now 3.0 could be considered as extremely flexible platform, suitable for small, mid-size and corporate businesses, it is easily customizable via C# or VB.Net in MS VisualStudio, however you can deploy MS CRM as is for sophisticated task, such employee timecards, consultant billable hours tracking, contract management, etc. Assuming that you as business owner have IT department or even Microsoft savvy consultant ? you are ready to launch employee timelog process right away, without annoying customization and custom reporting.

? Procedure. MS CRM is flexible in the sense that you can create and attach activity to virtually any object ? Account, Contact, Lead, Quote, Order, Invoice, etc. If you have your consultants do just that ? it will help (all the documents and info will be in CRM), however it would be no structure and you would be spending your time digging CRM in the search of historical information. Remember Lotus Notes Domino? Where you could also keep attaching and expanding lists and tree-like structure? You need the procedure and the procedure will help you structurize the data in MS CRM

? Structure. The structure, deployed for employee time management should be like this. Customer (Account) should have Contracts. Each Contract should have contract lines (where you can allocate the budget per line), then each line should have Cases (when you fulfill the contract ? you assign your consultants to the cases, such as install software, fix bugs, replace old server with the new one, etc.). And finally, consultants should log cases, such as appointments (if the date and time is known) and tasks (if the date and time is now known, however you know the deadline)

? Scenario. Customer ABC has ERP Implementation contract. This contract has two lines: Software Installation (24 hours budget) and User Training (40 hours budget). You activate contract, open two cases for Installation: SQL Installation and Client installation. You assign SQL case to John and Client case to Bill. You book John for Monday onsite visit (appointment, from 8am till 4pm) to install SQL, for bill you create task ? install clients for Nancy and Marilyn (you ask Bill to stop by next week, but you leave him to schedule and decide on the date). When John finishes installation, he opens MS CRM, appointment (either web or outlook client), goes to the appointment->action->close appointment (action Close Applintment->Completed) and 8 hours are logged toward SQL Installation case. When finally you close the case ? you decide on the number of billable hours (you will be shown the actual and budgeted time).

? Reporting. You will probably need two reports: consultant/employee time, were you should be able to see budgeted, actual, written off time ? here you evaluate consultant performance. The second report is Project status.

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Great Plains Integration Example – Importing MS CRM Hours to GP Service Invoice

Microsoft Dynamics GP customization tools selection changed with the introduction of eConnect. If you are on version 9.0 or higher (current GP version is 10.0 – August 2008), we recommend you to deploy eConnect in GP integration routines programming. In this small publication we would like to orient you in Microsoft CRM consulting hours capturing and moving them into Great Plains SOP invoice for billing out to your customers. This example allows MBS consulting practice to build their time billing and accounting systems virtually for free, as Microsoft Dynamics certified partners at this time enjoy GP and Microsoft CRM licenses for free

1. Service Activity in MS CRM. You can schedule, assign your CRM users and resources, associate with Account, Contract, Contract Line or even case. In our example we have case, created on contract line level as future Service Invoice in GP

2. Account contract and contract lines. In MS CRM you budget your time and assign hours (more precisely minutely) rates on the contract line level. Then you invoice contract to enable creating case, associated with contract line and toward this case your consultants log their time in the form of tasks.

3. Closing the cases and transferring them to your custom time log table. First of all, you should know that in MS CRM database you should not create custom objects, such as table, view, stored procedure. Instead you should create new database and place your custom objects there. Having time log table, you should create nightly SQL job, which will move closed cases and their tasks into time log table and mark these cases as transferred

4. Creating Service Invoices in GP. This job is done by eConnect application. You scan time log table, and create SOP Invoice with non-inventory item lines simply by placing consultant name as item number and description as task title. Finally, when your eConnect routine creates Sales Invoice for the case, you should mark case as integrated in your time log table

5. Dexterity nature of GP tables and fields. Great Plains Dexterity places some limitations on the length of GP SOP invoice line records. Please, read about the field descriptions in GP tables in Tools->Resource Description->Tables

Andrew Karasev, Alba Spectrum http://www.albaspectrum.com

help@albaspectrum.com
1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918, serving Great Plains USA and Canada nationwide. Local service in Chicago, Houston, Dallas, San Diego.

Please visit our information portal Pegas Planet: http://www.pegasplanet.com

If you need custom programming for GP, we are happy to help you with Dexterity, eConnect, VBA/Modifier, SQL Stored Procedures, Crystal Reports. We also provide instant support to new and existing clients via web sessions for the customers in CA, IL, WI, NY, FL, IN, MI, TX, GA, NE, NM, AI, NC, SC, OR, WA, DC, DE, PA, VI, AZ, LA

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How CRM Software Works — Creating Customer Satisfaction with a Click

The Web has certainly revolutionized how consumers shop. It has enabled an entirely deeper CRM capability and speed in delivering messages, special offers, transaction data, etc. In fact, marketers have prophesied that the next step in CRM is near total abandonment of traditional consumer advertising, both print and broadcast, and almost total adoption of real-time targeted marketing, a.k.a. inbound marketing, via the internet. An example would be as you enter a Web site, you will be presented with personalized messages, based on data the advertiser has stored on you regarding purchase history, online activity, and promotion participation, along with financial and demographic information, as well. And this will trigger true shopper bliss.

Now, as an obsessive marketer myself, I have to say I?m ready to jump on the bandwagon, emotionally. However, as I step back and analyze what is truly meant, here, I have to question the validity of such a claim. Perhaps it is not the objective that troubles me, but the premise. And the reason is simple: to shop is a comfort to real shoppers. It is a safe activity, meaning that you are participating in an activity that you control, you direct, and you make decisions for what you will shop. Oh, and you might want some degree of help at different points in the process.

Four short years ago we were working with a company that was attempting to sell an in-store, in-lane system that would provide real-time, personal marketing. The client worked very hard on all presentations, yet failed to achieve adoption with a single retailer. My marketing instinct tells me that they would meet the same fate, today.

Why? First of all, because of human nature. After all, part of the human experience is shopping. Most people don?t want to be told what they want. They just want you to have and deliver it when they find it. In fact, some enjoy the experience of the hunt, not even knowing what they want before they set out to discover it. The Web site, then, provides a new world in which to experience this new discovery. However, the value of the experience is relatively unchanged.

Secondly, because of human nature. Consumers feel as though technology is greatly responsible for unwanted intrusions into their private life, already. With out-of-control spam, strange targeted messages that include their names and seem to read their minds, and telemarketing calls that appear to coincide with recent online activity (and often do), consumers are likely emotionally negative toward more of the same, especially as it relates to shopping, online or not.

Finally, because of human nature. Consumers are inundated with information. The internet has given them the ability to search for information that is highly targeted more quickly and efficiently than ever. Generally speaking, those consumers will not tolerate additional information being pushed at them. Remember how I described the shopping experience; it is about an activity that the shopper controls, at their pace. It is unlikely that the mass of online shoppers will eagerly relinquish that control to strangers, especially those that they cannot see.

All my evaluation is not meant to deny that there is great opportunity afforded the marketer seeking greater online CRM. But, the ones that are successful are the ones that can enhance, not detour, the shopping experience, which is truly human.

Opportunity: To find out how Danskin Creative Communication can improve the efficiency of your marketing, advertising, brand identity and development, web design or web strategy, broadcast ad spots, video production, graphic design, copywriting,public relations, etc., contact us at http://resources.danskincreative.com/index.asp?isFunction=contact
.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mick_Danskin

When people ask, ?What is CRM?? the literal answer is, ?Customer Relationship Management,? but that doesn?t really convey much in terms of what all CRM does for a business. This CRM definition is too narrow to really explain everything the system does if it is working to its fullest potential and is user-friendly enough to expand and grow as a customer-client relationship changes and grows.

CRM in the broader sense encompasses not only customer relationship management itself but how customer relationship management is handled and the most important elements of a CRM program that are essential to its being successful. The range of CRM software options vary from those that provide simple customer tracking and live chat capabilities to the more complex CRM solutions that can integrate all of the customer relationship data an enterprise has on each client past, present and future in a dynamic information data network.

What should I look for in a CRM software package?

If there?s an ideal CRM software package that works for every company and every situation, it hasn?t been discovered yet, simply because every company has slightly different needs for their customer relationship management needs as well as software implementation.

In general, however, when you are looking for a strong CRM software package there are a few things to keep in mind. If you are shopping for a CRM package, try to forget about the initial price tag at first (as difficult as this may be) and focus on the adaptability, usability and integrity of each system you evaluate as it relates to your particular needs. A few things to consider:

? What are the most important facets of customer relations are we looking to address, and does this CRM software support tracking and updating all aspects of this? For example, if your company wants to customer service to have ready access to changes in customer spending habits and an opportunity to offer new product options based on these records, make sure this capability is built into the software. Customization down the line will be time-consuming and expensive — if you have a primary goal, make sure it is standard in your CRM software package.

? Will the CRM software package integrate smoothly with all platforms currently in use at your company? If you will have to re-enter all databases such as client names, addresses and phone numbers, this will significantly increase the amount of money you?ll spend in the long run. Make sure that you can either integrate smoothly or import all information needed flawlessly.

? Is the product more than you need? An enterprise solution that offers fifteen functions you don?t need and never will isn?t a bargain if you will never expand into that market niche. Just because it?s available doesn?t mean you have to have it. Selling custom-sewn hats? You won?t need a CRM software package for tracking million-dollar overseas accounts.

? Has this CRM software package been used for a company of your size before? If it has been used for companies up to 10,000 and you have 150,000, the system may simply not be able to sustain the volume of data and crash or develop glitches. Look for something more powerful with a support system capable of understanding the size of your company.

Can you build me a dream CRM software package?

Hmm?let?s see. The best CRM software package would be optimally functional across all platforms and have its own customer support backing it, and ?. Well, let?s take a look at our own list of what we?d really like in a CRM software package if money was no object and we could ?have it all,? so to speak:

? A CRM software provider that has partnerships with other vendors for support in the event you need it for integration of platforms.

? Extensive training from certified CRM software technicians who will walk your people through the process of setting up, using and training others on the system.

? Full data migration capabilities to and from all programs in current use to the new CRM software.

? Offsite server storage backup for all information in the CRM system for added security.

? A toolbox for company programmers for customizing templates for company use — this will save huge amounts of time by eliminating the need to write custom codes from scratch.

? Either in-house consultants or a choice of contracted consultants they recommend (try not to be at the mercy of one consultant when there is a problem).

? A CRM software package designed by a company familiar with our specific industry and its structural needs.

The best CRM software packages enable customer service representatives to review the account information of each client or customer when they are talking to him or her and immediately understand something about that person?s needs, wants and spending patterns.

For banks, CRM software can indicate their banking patterns — are they investing through the bank? Have they recently looked into a money market fund? Do they have substantial funds that could be put to better use than languishing in a simple CD?

A mail order company can note your shopping tendencies and make Christmas shopping suggestions based on past purchases by seeing that you buy a lot of kids? clothes and that you spend about $200 each holiday. Used correctly, a toy company can steer you toward some bargains and suggest alternatives, enriching your shopping experience and building customer loyalty.

Why does CRM software fail so often after it?s put into place?

You?ve heard the stories about a company buying a CRM software package and then realizing it hasn?t really changed anything. The big-wigs are disappointed, customer service is frustrated, and the clients are aggravated with the new changes that don?t seem to show any improvements in customer service or client relations. How does it happen?

Because CRM software was purchased that wasn?t appropriate, was purchased too soon, or wasn?t implemented properly. If you don?t purchase CRM software that specifically addresses what your customer concerns are, you may have software that is very detailed in an area you don?t need and somewhat lacking in exactly what you do need.

Purchasing too soon means you bought the software before you had evaluated what you really wanted. Many companies by CRM software with a goal ?to improve customer relations,? which is not a clear business goal! You should have a very specific, well-defined objective that your CRM software solution can address, and you company should have developed a formal objective before you went shopping for a solution. Retaining customers? Improving the size of current customer portfolios? Penetrating a new market niche? Reduce customer complaints? Improve customer repair response? Determine what it is you want to focus on as a goal, and then choose your CRM software solution based on how it will address it.

Finally, implementation of a new CRM program requires proper management support and effective training. That means that management must be behind it one hundred percent, and not have ?head in the sand? approach where they determine that ?that?s for customer service, I never did understand that stuff,? and avoid learning how the CRM software works. It is an attitude that will pervade the company.

Second, training is essential and must encompass the company to ensure that all levels of personnel will embrace the new system and understand the genuine need for it and the real goal of what you are trying to achieve with your new CRM software solution.

Some CRM software options for small and medium sized businesses

For small and medium businesses, the most common customer relations management software request is for anything that enhances online communications and improves the time between a customer complaint or question and resolution of the issue for them.

For many companies, there are software solutions that can be purchased or downloaded to be used through their Internet website for basic services such as online customer support through live chat and customer assistance with online purchasing that is both efficient and relatively inexpensive. If your need is primarily to improve sales volume, improve response to customer questions and complaints and to make your company website more personalized, look into these solutions that are at the lower end of the price spectrum while providing solid CRM products:

? LivePerson offers two different versions, Basic and Enterprise that provide live chat, email and a variety of interactive forms customized to meet companies? needs for customer relations. This company has developed live chat solutions and online forms for everything from universities to financial services firms. This company provides a wide range of services, including online marketing, case studies, and software designed to improve online shopping cart capabilities.

? LiveHelper offers many of the same features, and adds real time traffic monitoring and other data assessment features as well. For the price, LiveHelper is a very good CRM software value.

? GroopZ includes customer routing software so that you can transfer entire chat strings from one customer service rep to another if you need be, along with an efficient filing system for chat transcripts and customer records. For improving customer relations, the software support suggests pre- and post-service questions for all customers who contact you.

Also included are templates you can set up with specific, pre-scripted answers to frequently asked questions in online chat to save customer service representatives time and make the process clearer and more efficient. This company does a bit more customizing on the front end to fit your needs, and pricing is adjusted accordingly.

? SupportWizard gives you three CRM options that give you some flexibility — you can buy, lease or let them host your customer service/relations solutions. Interactive FAQs, live chat, standard answers to frequent questions, and Boolean search capabilities to review past interactions all make this package extremely effective. SupportWizard also has more customizable features than some, including an ?escalation alert? that can be tailored to specific situations when a supervisor would be notified if a customer service situation exceeds certain parameters.

This is one of the more expensive packages available, but rather than a monthly fee you are paying for lease or outright purchase options, so factor this into the cost. You will also get spectacular customer support and constant upgrades and patches when necessary. The integration of email, live chat and telephone information into one database is also a plus with SupportWizard.

? BoldChat offers free CRM software for online customer service chat that you can use for a limited time, and offers a $9.95/month and a $39.95/month customized version of their CRM software. Both offer live customer service chat, but one adds customized windows and more options on buttons and the number of available customer service reps you can add.

? CSLive offers the most comprehensive CRM software solution available for small and medium businesses, with live chat, email, and the usual customer service features you expect from a small business CRM solution, but with plenty of extras. CSLive also offers an extensive tracking and filing system, an Internet server site where you can upload and store files of customer help articles that customers can be referred to that can by emailed directly to clients by your reps. Throw in the message center and online meetings, and this is practically an enterprise sized solution at a small business price of $29.95 a month.

CRM software, whether on a monthly user basis or purchased outright and downloaded onto your own server, will make serving and understanding your clients and customers a more productive experience, and you will all be happier for it.

Implementing CRM – What’s the Price?

As Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems move from being “nice to haves” to essential tools in keeping businesses competitive, their implementation is growing at a rate to match. And of course, price and cost play a vital role. However, the price of a CRM system is more than just the cost of the software and IT.

When budgeting for a project, assessing quotes from a solutions provider, or just trying to get a realistic idea of how much you’ll need to spend, here’s a guide to some of the key factors you need to consider.

1) Software Costs :

These usually consist of:

the price of software licences

the price of software maintenance.

2) Professional Service Costs:

Professional services refer to what you need to get done to get your CRM system up and running. They can include the costs of everything from scoping the project to software configuration, hardware and training. They include internal costs (such as the time of your own staff) as well as the price charged by your solutions provider.

3) Support Costs

Support costs generally refer to the price of assistance to keep the system going. They will usually include the costs of technical support, administrator support and user support, such as access to a help desk. Sometimes support costs include CRM software maintenance costs: it depends on wording and the vendor.

Building a system from scratch?

If you decide to build or implement a system yourself, you’ll need to include several other factors in the price. Probably the most significant costs will be developing or acquiring the wide mix of business, administration, management and technical skills. Do not underestimate how important these skills are to a successful CRM project. And if you go down this route, you’re well, quite literally, on your own.

So, assuming you intend to employ the help of a solutions provider, here’s a look at each of the three main areas of project costs in more detail:

The Price of CRM Software

Working out the price of software licences is usually straightforward. There will be a price for a single user licence, number of users or multiple user licences. Remember to allow for expansion with the number of software licences you buy: the number of users can quickly grow as the benefits of using it become apparent. It can also be useful to have extra licences on hand ready for new staff.

When buying CRM software there’s sometimes the choice between named or concurrent licences: most businesses prefer concurrent. Note some vendors only supply software licences in batch quantities, so you may have to buy 5, 10 or 15 etc.

Maintenance costs are to cover when the software manufacturers update, alter or modify the product to correct faults, improve its performance or adapt it to work under new conditions. This is usually charged as a separate line item per software licence, as a set annual fee (a bit like insurance). Some resellers make maintenance charges compulsory – meaning you can’t buy licences without maintenance. If it’s not a separate item check it is included in the licence or support price. Don’t buy CRM software without maintenance.

The Price of Professional Services:

Here’s where working out the cost of a CRM project starts getting more involved. Unlike software licences, which have a clearly identifiable unit price, professional service costs are not directly user-based. What’s more, professional services costs can be the largest expense – mainly because they encompass such a wide variety of different tasks. They also vary due to installation type, degree of customisation, business, solutions provider, level of integration with other office systems and so on.

A good starting point to estimating the price of professional services is by producing a project-scoping document. Once you’ve identified your business requirements, a project scoping document will help show what needs to be done to realise these requirements. It’s recommended that you use an experienced project manager or consultant to produce this, which may of course incur a charge in itself. However, you may be able to negotiate on this if you choose to work with the CRM solutions provider who produces the scoping document.

Depending on the nature and complexity of your CRM project, the project-scoping document may include:

Business process analysis

CRM project specification

Sales, marketing, and customer service systems design

Internal resources required (you’ll need high levels of input, and hence staff time, from several key areas within your company)

Project Management

CRM system design

System build and configuration

Data import

Data cleansing

System installation

Various levels of training

Internal procedure rewrite, updates

Hardware installation and upgrades

Additional software requirements

Depth of system integration to other office systems

There are identifiable issues that affect each of these elements, the complexity of a CRM project and hence the level of professional services you require.

For example, the price of your project will be affected by how much ‘out of the box’ software functionality you intend to use and the level of system configuration required. The sophistication of your reporting requirement will influence system design, while the number of staff, their existing skills and the system complexity will affect the levels of training. Existing IT infrastructure will dictate whether you need to buy additional hardware and software, and degree of change to your current customer facing procedures will also influence overall costs.

Data is also an important consideration when determining the price of professional services. Depending on what you do with it, it can take up significant internal resources. Usually your own staff are the best people to work on your data because they work with it day in and day out. You need to think hard about the value of existing data: how much of it will you use, what format is it in, how much reformatting is required and how much cleansing is needed. Data that’s taken years to build up may be heartbreaking to part with, but similarly it can also be over-valued, particularly if it’s going to take up skilled staff time to assess, cleanse and reformat. Do you really need to keep details of contacts from web-enquiries four years ago? Or even six months? It depends on your business. If you’re going to clean your data, a new CRM project is the ideal time, but don’t underestimate the work involved.

Once you’ve identified the professional services you’ll need, you can cost each factor – usually by working through the scoping document with your CRM solutions provider.

Costs of System Support

The price of CRM system and software support will depend on what’s offered by your solutions provider and the level you choose to take.

CRM solutions providers vary in terms of what they offer and how much they charge. However, most will be able to offer some level of support. If they don’t, or you prefer not to pay for a support contract, then if a support issue arises it will probably be priced as a professional service.

A typical support structure may include:

User assistance and support – ideally via a dedicated support line. Make sure it uses trained support staff who can answer questions from all levels of user: from ‘How do I…?’ to technical details.

Administrator assistance and support – again this should be via a dedicated support line to address issues connected with the running of the system.

Supply of software corrections and revisions (may be included as maintenance).

“Bug” reporting and control.

Remote intervention and remote diagnostics – web dial-in, with controlled access.

Self Service – some of the better CRM solutions providers offer 24/7 access to an online support centre. These will typically allows you to find out how your issue is progressing and provide access to a knowledge base.

Other CRM support costs to consider are system administration, additional user training, on-site visits, system developments and additional licence installs.

So How Much does a CRM System Cost?

It depends on your business requirements, what you want to do and how you’re going to do it.

Make sure you involve key staff from marketing, sales, customer service, IT and finance. The factors which need to be taken into consideration when pricing a project can be quite subtle, particularly because of the different requirements between businesses. This is where the input from experienced CRM specialists can be invaluable.

As well as costs, an independent CRM specialist can advise the best software to suit your business needs – what you want to achieve from it, your sector, your customer requirements, how it will fit into your existing systems and processes, how it will integrate with other business software, and of course your budget.

Concentrix is a leading UK Independent CRM Specialist
. Formed in 1999, Concentrix
provides a full range of CRM Software
and related services, working closely with key providers including Microsoft, Sage and FrontRange.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Elgar

Measuring Customer Service Performance – CRM Metrics

The headlines scream about another CEO or CFO defrauding the company or being disgraced. Why is it happening so often? Believe it or not what you are seeing might be reflected in the Customer Service given by the front line personnel to the company’s clients.

Consider this. Executives’ compensation packages are often based on salary and bonuses which are paid out in stock options. The stock options are often so lucrative that the salary looks infinitesimal by comparison. The executive is then motivated to, above all else, see the stock prices go up even if it means alienating customers or even bankrupting the company. When the stock goes up the Executive sells it. Some companies have tried to curtail these practices by disallowing the sale of stock by employees. Of course then the motivation becomes to inflate the stock as much as possible, even temporarily, quit, then sell the stock.

So how does this reflect in Customer Service Performance? A company whose KPI are primarily incentive based will usually infuse that philosophy throughout the corporate structure. Thus Customer Service becomes as incentive based as the CEO’s stock options or the commission paid to the sales staff.

An order comes down from the executive offices that no call should take longer than 7 minutes to complete or that Call Center employees’ bonuses are based on clearing the maximum number of calls quickly and ?efficiently.? That’s fine until a major issue comes up that takes longer than 20 minutes and then, suddenly the previously helpful call center rep is doing everything possible to hustle the caller off the line. Soon the call center reps are hanging up on customers in order to inflate their calls/shift ratio.

As long as Customer Service Performance KPI are based on the quantifiable rather than the true level of satisfaction of the Customer, these scenarios will continue to frustrate the buying public. That’s why some companies have introduced more reliable systems of measuring Customer Service Performance. These new KPI more accurately reflect whether or not the Customer actually feels that they’ve received a level of service that meets their needs. These models look something like this: When the clients’ questions have been answered a series of questions are asked by the Customer Service rep. ?Are you satisfied with the responses to your queries?? ?Were your questions answered adequately and professionally?? ?Is there anything else we can help you with today?? Sometimes these questions are asked by the rep themselves and sometimes a follow up call is made by a supervisor or another rep. The Customer’s response to those qualitative questions becomes the primary Customer Service Performance KPI. By shifting the KPI from quantity to quality personnel are more inclined to leave a Customer truly satisfied.

If you are interested in customer service metrics
, check this web-site to learn more about CRM metrics.

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Measuring Customer Service Performance – CRM KPI

?Thank you for calling XYZ Widgets. Can I help you?? CLICK.

How many times has that happened? A person works through a myriad of push buttons that would puzzle the most obsessive Sudoku junkie and then, after 15 minutes of finger exercise when they finally reach an actual person the line inexplicably goes dead. Who’s to blame? Is it the fault of the telephone company? Has technology once again run amok? It’s more likely that the caller has been the victim of a poorly thought out Customer Service Performance KPI.

It works something like this. Call Center operators are largely unsupervised, sitting in a cubicle answering hundreds of calls a day. Even though the calls are occasionally monitored the vast majority of the time the operator knows that no one will be listening in. So what motivates the quick hang up? Because the operator knows that the monthly performance bonus is based on one thing and one thing only: how many calls are processed in a given shift? Whether the customer is actually satisfied or not is practically irrelevant. That only relevant factor is the number of calls ?processed,? not whether or not those calls are effective.

A similar scenario takes place when the order comes down from the executive offices that no call should take longer than 13 minutes (or some other arbitrary number) to complete. The call center employees’ performance bonus is based on clearing calls quickly and ?efficiently.? That’s all well and good until a major issue comes up that takes longer than 20 minutes and then, suddenly the previously helpful call center rep is doing everything possible to hustle the caller off of the line.

As long as Customer Service Performance KPI is based on the quantifiable rather than the true level of satisfaction of the Customer, these scenarios will continue to frustrate the buying public. That is why many companies have introduced a more reliable system of measuring Customer Service Performance. These new KPI more accurately reflect whether or not the Customer actually feels like they have received a level of service that meets their needs. These models look something like this: When the clients’ questions have all been answered a series of questions are asked by the Customer Service rep. ?Are you satisfied with the responses to your queries?? ?Were your questions answered adequately and professionally?? ?Is there anything else we can help you with today?? Sometimes these questions are asked by the rep themselves and sometimes a follow up call is made by a supervisor or another rep. The employees` primary KPI is based on the customers` answers to these questions.

The more often primary Customer Service KPI is based on mere quantity, the less true Customer Satisfaction is going to take place. The only accurate KPI for Customer Service Performance is the actual perception of the Customer as to whether or not they received adequate service.

If you are interested in crm kpi
, check this web-site to learn more about customer service metrics.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sam_Miller

The Gist Of CRM BSC

The world of yesterday did not experience customer relation management basic or CRM BSC as we do today. From a business standpoint, customer relation management is a philosophy that deals with managing a business and expanding it through customer satisfaction by meeting the customer’s expectations and giving higher quality than what is normally expected.

In a nutshell, customer management is focused on its customer not only in terms of end consumers but also customers within an organization. Many people do not realize that fellow employees can be customers too. What this approach focuses on other than the customer satisfaction rating is knowing the customer, what the customer wants, and how potential customers can be lured into becoming part if the business strategy. But then, people should beware that this is not just about technological infrastructure. Many companies have spent so much money on technology and yet failed to manage customer relations because they did not hear the voice of the customer.

One way of doing this is through the Affinity Diagram. An Affinity Diagram is a tool used in organizing a large volume of data. Mostly, and Affinity Diagram is used in quality improvement. This normally happens when there are hundreds or even thousands of data at hand that needs to be organized.

Once the voice of the customer or VOC is gathered, the people involved with dealing with the customer should also set up a meeting and categorize each customer comment into major groupings. This way, potential causes for customer dissatisfaction are organized in way in which there will be accountability in each department. Once these data are organized, the team can then begin work on areas of improvement in each department concerned.

After constructing the Affinity Diagram, the team can start working on their tools and manage the way they relate to their customers. The very foundation of this is through building a customer database. This database shall contain customer information such as full name, address, product bought and when, etc. This will help the company profile their customers and know which products or services are selling high and which are not. A study may be done to figure out if there is a certain geography that brings more business or what age bracket the product is sold highest to.

In general, a customer management tool is used in call centers or BPO industry. This is applied through the tools used by the associates who deal with the customers. These associates are often referred to as the front line agents. This makes the agent’s tasks easier and faster in pulling up records. Just imaging, if these records are pulled up through literal folders from file cabinets, the service will take eternity.

In summation, CRM BSC is the customer management tool of the millennium. This is the most basic need of a company if it intends to survive the business of customer satisfaction. Without this, one cannot effectively improve performance and much less develop KPIs and metrics that are aligned with what the customers want.

If you are interested in CRM BSC
, check this web-site to learn more about customer relationship kpi.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sam_Miller

CRM: Culture or Technology

I was recently asked to present on the impact of technology on sales, has it helped, in what way, or has it had a negative impact?

After examining the issue with some colleagues and experts in the field, it became clear that technology is an enabler, and as such amplifies what is already there, and what is not.

I don’t think that that there is anyone in sales today that has not heard of, used or been impacted by a CRM package of one sort or another, be it a simple contact management application with some added functionality, to a top of the line CRM that fully integrate with other enterprise applications. Many companies will tell you of the disasters they have encountered rolling out a CRM, in fact an article in the February 1, 2002 Harvard Business Review : Avoid the Four Perils of CRM, stated that “55% of all CRM projects don’t produce results” , and went on to say that “According to Bain’s 2001 survey of management tools, which tracks corporate use of and satisfaction with management techniques, CRM ranked in the bottom three for satisfaction out of 25 popular tools. In fact, according to last year’s survey of 451 senior executives, one in every five users reported that their CRM initiatives not only had failed to deliver profitable growth but also had damaged long-standing customer relationships.”

Yet by November 2004, one of the same writers in an article entitled CRM Done Right stated: ” Senior executives have become considerably more enthusiastic about CRM. In 2003, Bain & Company’s annual Management Tools Survey of 708 global executives found that firms actually began to report increased satisfaction with their CRM investments. In 2001, CRM had ranked near the bottom of a list of 25 possible tools global executives would choose. Two years later, it had moved into the top half. In fact, 82% of surveyed executives said they planned to employ CRM in their companies in 2003-a large jump from the 35% who employed it in 2000.”

While the piece went on to suggest a number of factors, we’ve experienced a number of key things in our work with clients that are worth noting.

First, we very much believe and have seen numerous examples to support the view that Customer Relationship Management is a way of doing business. Most of our successful clients have a consistent view on Customer Relationship Management.

To them CRM is part of their culture, part of their corporate DNA. They see CRM as the proper alignment between software and process to effectively manage their relationships with their customers. The alignment is based on objectives:

Corporate objectives drive the sales organization’s objective; which in turn are the foundation for regional/territorial objectives, and client objectives; when properly executed, these objective form the basis for each client/prospect interaction.

It is as much about process as it is about software. If you don’t create a balance and alignment between the two, you will fail to manage the relationship with you key customers, and not derive much benefit from your investment. In fact we are working with a company that has spent in excess of $13 million dollars over the last 5 years implementing a CRM software with little tangible results to show in improved sales, increased productivity or understanding of their clients and how to mutually improve their relationship.

A study I read recently showed that over 80% of the CEO’s surveyed said their sales organization had a process that was poorly defined or a process that wasn’t being followed. A sales process is like a good map or a GPS if you will. Used properly it helps you determine where you are, if you are in heading in the right or wrong direction, also helps you plan what your “next step” should be to get to your destination. A well defined sales process gives a sales organization the same advantage. It should have logical and defined steps that allow both parties to develop a better understanding of each other and a set of questions that help you qualify or “disqualify” an opportunity.

When we meet with a new client we always enquire about their sales process. A VP we recently met responded: “why yes of course, we use XYZ” (name change to protect the innocent, us). Yet he openly admitted that he struggles with forecasting, prospecting, and his people were spending too much time with unproductive activity, in the little activity he was able to glean from the system. (Unfortunately no software will pick up the phone and do a cold call, I’m working on it.)

The clients who do use the software to support their process tell a different story. Activity is focused on the client experience. It is still true that getting new business from an existing client, is much more cost efficient than from new prospects. No I am not saying you should stop prospecting, but don’t ignore those that have rewarded you with their business, show them some love, make it easy for them to deal with you, and hard to leave you.

A good CRM (software and process) provides you with a complete view of the client, allowing you to align your resources to best serve them. Reducing service calls, reducing time to respond, reducing the effort to take orders, reducing the cost of sale, increasing their satisfaction level and creating a mutual economical value add relationship.

The data available to you will also help segment your clients better, allowing you to decide where you want to put your focus, and which clients you may want to off load. Remember that some 30% or your lowest margin clients suck over 50% of your resources. A CRM done right can assure that you are retaining the right clients.

CRM system can also break down hierarchical communication barriers allowing everyone, not just sales to focus on the customer relationship, allowing top executive to get involved in meeting client expectation and driving revenue. Of course this will only work where the CRM culture is present. And in many companies that have rolled out the software without the process, with out the training, without the internal value proposition, it is not. As stated earlier it in fact diminishes the client relationship. Many companies are experiencing push back from the front line because they failed to show the ROI to the users. Like the clients sales reps want to know what’s in it for them. There is a lot, if there is a supporting process focused on everyone’s success, the company, the rep, the client. This can be achieved with a sales process that aligns around key objectives.

One last thing to consider, CRM systems are usually associated with sales organizations. But client satisfaction is the function of the whole organization. A truly successful CRM extends beyond sales to all groups with in a corporation, and as such, a key success factor is the alignment of the sales process with other processes impacting the client relationship.

Tibor Shanto , is a Principal with Renbor Sales Solutions Inc. , Renbor Sales Solutions Inc. enables companies achieve sustained growth, by focusing on critical aspects of revenue growth. By recognizing that an outstanding sales force is THE differentiator in today?s environment, our clients with our help, focus on the development of both strategic and tactical initiatives to foster a winning team that will out think, out sell and out perform competitors while consistently gaining market share.

Renbor?s Objective Based Selling (OBS) is a structured approach to delivering ongoing results and improvement by focusing the entire sales organization on a key set of objectives. The overarching objective for any sales organization is to achieve exceptional and sustainable revenue growth. This is accomplished by creating a culture of sales excellence built around the principles and processes adopted by world-class sales organizations.

For more information on helping your team sell better, write to: info@sellbetter.ca
, visit http://www.sellbetter.ca
or call 416 671-3555

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tibor_Shanto

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