CRM - A Mind-set Change Rather Than A Product
I have always been passionate about customer relationship management (CRM) and how it is used within business. I really enjoy working with a customer that have the 'treat your customers fairly (TCF)' attitude. I have personally witnessed contact centre agents getting angry with approval managers when issues and calls are not approved in time. This means that the customer at the other end of the line is kept waiting, which in turn means that the customer is not being provided with the best possible service.
The question is, how does it work within your business? Are you driving great customer service? Do your staff really want to help your customers? Its a bit of a tough set of questions to answer, because sometimes, as a manager or director, you need to be honest and really determine if your business is driving Customer Relationship Management.
Recently I visited a bank in the UK and I was amazed at how well I was treated. I was greeted and seated as soon as I walked into the bank. The correct people were alerted that I was there AND were expecting me. The agent at the bank had everything ready for me so that opening up my account was a total breeze. I received all my cards in the post and I had an account within minutes. That is an example of FANTASTIC customer service and Customer Relationship Management.
So what drives this type of thinking within a business? There are a number of ways to promote great Customer Relationship Management. Many consultancy businesses will promote CRM as a product and promote the fact that this will change the way your business works. Something very important to understand is that Customer Relationship Management is not just a product. It is a mind-set change and attitude change that is SUPPORTED by a product. The more dynamic the mind-set change, the more dynamic the product needs to be.
Without the Mind-set change and attitude change the product is completely useless as there is no drive for user adoption and no promotion for use of the product. Many CRM implementations fail due to the lack of preparation & internal marketing of the Mind-set / Attitude change and therefore, lack of adoption of the product.
I like to look at this from a 3 step point of view. Lets use the bank I visited as the example in order to highlight how great Customer relationships can be built and managed.
1. The Introduction
The agent that I dealt with, positively wanted to help me, he was enthusiastic, and he knew all about the bank and their strengths. That is all about attitude adjustment.
2. The Process & Engagement
Secondly he knew all the right questions to ask me, he followed a process, he never asked me the same thing twice and he even managed to cross sell me into taking a credit card out with them. That is all about the right CRM system in that can manage customer data and guide the agent in the right path and process.
3. The Result
I left the bank with an account and money in the account. I had a mobile application already installed on my phone where I could access my account. I had a credit card account and I had all my necessary information and cards posted to me. All in all a great experience.
The above detail is a small example of how successful a CRM adoption program can be within any workplace. I encourage all businesses to take a look at the way you are dealing with customers and the comments you are receiving from customers. Great customer relationships mean strength and growth in business.
Hopefully I will be walking into one of your businesses and writing a similar article about how great your Customer Relationship Management is, or even better, maybe I will have the privilege to implement a Customer Relationship Management program in your business.
Chris Huntingford
CRM Enthusiast
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