All Things CRM

Trends and Technologies In The CRM World

Social CRM

Interview Featured On eCRMGuide.com

Sunday, July 17, 2011 by Sidney Angelos

Connecting with your customers online is mandatory to compete in today’s business world. Our socially driven world is not separate from business, but rather integrated into it. Companies that fail to incorporate social media into their CRM are missing out.

Below we’ll examine 13 tips to using social media to improve CRM, seen in the industry as the most successful by experts in the field. Find the original post on eCRMGuide.com.

Social Listening Tools

Do you currently use free listening tools? Set up auto searches and when you have time, check out what others are saying about your brand, about your industry, about your keywords, etc… Tools like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck are popular and the most well known. Via – Genuine Media

Lists

Twitter lists can be one of the easiest ways to see what your customers, clients, vendors, and competitors are saying. Keeping your audience on Twitter organized can help keep redundancy and wasted efforts at bay. Via – Jillian Koeneman of Freshlime Marketing.

Bank of Tweets and Posts

Set up a list of tweets, FB posts, and helpful blog posts for use in the future. Much like a to do list or creative brainstorm document, this bank of tweets or posts can help you when you get in a bind. These can be set up in your CRM system and pulled out for easy use. Have an intern put together a bunch of tweets and posts to keep handy.

LinkedIn

Use LinkedIn! You can generate sales and network with others in a few simple easy steps. Integrate it into your normal and usual routines and you’ll soon find that you’re connecting with people you never thought possible. Just take the time to do it! Via – Patrick O’Malley.

Exclusive Discounts

Make your Twitter followers or Facebook Fans feel important. Give them exclusive discounts, coupons, contests, or even content tailored to them. Via – Rosena Sammi of Rosena Sammi Jewelry.

Varied Messaging Strategies to Increase Engagement

Thought provoking and interesting questions will illicit an interesting response. Asking funny questions help increase engagement as well. Carefully gauge your audience to find the right technique in messaging that will work for your brand. Via – Paul Draper of MentalMysteries.com.

Pay Attention

Some social media experts suggest paying careful attention to what your customers, vendors and client’s have to say online. Are they going to happy hour tonight? Why not surprise them with a free drink by arranging it with the restaurant prior to their visit? Via – Wally Bronner

Be Timely in Your Responses

No one likes to be forgotten. Act like a friend rather than a foe, this often will exude a personal feel to your communications and is likely going to be received well. Via – Carolyn Goodwin

Use Social To Help Customers Find Your Products

Using social media to help your customers can translate into a more personalized service offering, as well as help your bottom line. If your products sell out, aren’t in all locations, or only in one specific area – try your hand at helping others find what you have to offer through the use of social media. Via- Courtney Luck of Cape Classics.

Use Social As Market Research

Improve customer relationships by asking customers what they want. Allow them to be a part of product research, revamping service, or changing an existing service. Give recognition to the customer who helps you make the final decision. Via – Scott Bradley

Frequent Tradeshows? Use Twitter to Engage Before/During/After

If you’re constantly going to tradeshows, why not connect with existing customers before you go. Do your research using social media and connect with them before, during and after the event.

These are just a few tips to using social media to improve customer relationship management. Have some insider tips to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below!

Examples of Social CRM Done RIGHT!

Monday, July 11, 2011 by Sidney Angelos

During the past few years we have seen the evolution of CRM into Social CRM. Essentially, this has meant a significant increase in the role of the customer in a company’s marketing as well as sales and service departments. The creating of a much more bidirectional model has seen many benefits, including cost savings and an increase to the bottom line.

There have been a number of success stories that any business considering the step to Social CRM should be aware of as they can act as both an example and a template of what Social CRM can do for a business and its customers.

Linksys. One of the key ways in which Social CRM can benefit a business and its customers is through the way it creates a whole new dimension to support and customer service. One of the companies to lead the way in this is Linksys who have combined online support platforms already in place with an innovative decision to remove its email support. They have replaced it with online chat on which customers interact. The result has been a reduction in the number of calls received and significantly, an increase to satisfaction with customer support.

Enterasays Networks. Taking advantage of Salesforce.com’s Chatter to create a supportive platform for customer service concerns, Enterasays Network has used Social CRM to significantly increase sales. They have done this by using their records of customer interactions to evaluate the current situation with any ongoing customer dialogues and alerting colleagues when opportunities arise. This cross-department cooperation and interaction is the bedrock of their Social CRM success.

FedEx. One of the biggest names in the Social CRM evolution, FedEx can nevertheless act as an example to both large and small businesses in the way in which they have successfully adopted Social CRM. FedEx monitor social networks such as Twitter to keep a clear eye on how/if they are being discussed. If they see anything that needs addressing (for example, a late/non arrival of a parcel) they engage with the customer directly and suggest ways in which the situation can be resolved. The key point here is that when something goes wrong, businesses that have engaged in Social CRM understand that customers will not necessarily contact the company involved, but will rather discuss the problem on social media platforms. These discussions can quickly have a negative impact on the company’s brand reputation. Using social media to track such discussions is key; but what is important is not to try to defend actions, but to become part of the conversation and look for a solution. The ability to create a real-time dialogue with their customers means that companies such as FedEx can maintain their reputation and achieve a much higher level of customer service.

Chordiant. One of the very best examples of what is possible when a company fully embraces everything Social CRM has to offer. They have created an online community that takes in product managers along with developers and of course users to create a dynamic environment in which customers can have real impact through blogs and forums. The end result has been a much more defined idea of what customers want which has directly influenced the products produced. Over a dozen products have been created and released based on this process, which is a real indication of what can be achieved through the interaction that Social CRM encourages.

Best Buy. Taking the idea of staff evolvement to a level that probably could not have existed before Social CRM, Best Buy have created a community that has responded to in excess of 12,000 customer queries by having over 2,000 members of staff as part of its community. The results have been superb, with customers receiving quick and efficient responses while feeling part of the process.

Harley Davidson. The iconic motorcycle company have created a large social community where members post photos of their bikes and talk all things Harley. The company’s grasp of the possibilities of Social CRM has meant that they ensure that there are always Harley mechanics available to answer queries, as well as staff to offer advice on new models and ownership queries. Combing the fun of an owners’ club, with practical sales, marketing and service the site is a template for what Social CRM can offer for both companies and their customers.

Know of any examples we can add to the list? Let us know in the comments below!

Evolution of Social CRM

Friday, July 8, 2011 by Sidney Angelos

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has now been established as a valuable tool for today’s business for a number of years. The advantages it can bring have been well documented and its combination of sales, marketing and customer service have made it a game changer for many companies. But like all such tools in the modern business world, CRM has started to evolve.

Over the past year it has become increasingly apparent that the future of CRM is Social CRM. What may at first seem to be a subtle shift is in fact a revolution in the way in which companies address sales, marketing and support services.

CRM itself was a significant step forward in the way in which it helped companies collate disparate information on their customers (for example, address details with purchase history and shopping trends) and make this available to their key departments. This led to a much-improved level of service for the customer and increased profitability for many companies.

As good as CRM was (and still is), the evolution of Social CRM is a real game changer for many companies. The move from CRM to Social CRM takes in many areas and any company that has not yet made the move or is considering whether it is worthwhile, should consider these areas carefully as they stand a real chance of being left behind by their competitors should they ignore all it has to offer.

Where CRM was a strategy, Social CRM can be seen as a mixture of strategy with a whole new philosophy. It is this new philosophy that makes it such a revolutionary concept. Essentially, Social CRM puts the customer in a central position. Not as may have happened before when businesses talked about the customer being at the centre of what they do in a vague, PR-based manner; but in a real, practical sense. Social CRM does this by creating a two-way dialogue in which customers’ comments and feedback actively play a part in a business’s strategy and its key players engage with the customer base.
Social CRM has evolved away from the idea of specific departments being responsible for CRM into a worldview in which all departments and all staff play a role in what is a much more symbiotic relationship.
The role of the company in dictating what information is released and what products are developed is being superseded by a much more customer-orientated process through social media channels.
Key messages that would have once been sent from the business to its customers are now bidirectional. Via social media platforms, customers comment, debate and engage in discussion about products and services with each other and with members of the business involved. For example, product developers may blog about what he or she is working on and use the comments feature to get feedback and suggestions. This process can open up a dialogue that makes the customer a much larger part of the company’s marketing and development process.
The evolution of Social CRM does not only affect the interaction between company and customer, but has practical implications such as business hours. In the past these would have been set by the business, but the advent of social media means that the customer is increasingly setting them. There is little point in hoping for vibrant discussion if business representatives are only available between 9-5 when most users will not be online. By having staff available outside these hours, companies are much more likely to be able to engage in mutually beneficial debate and discussion.

There is no doubt that as with all evolutionary processes, the move from CRM to Social CRM is a step that some may baulk at making. However, on closer inspection, companies should realize that just because they have done something one way for years (even decades) does not mean it is the right way for the future. Their customers are in many cases a massive untapped resource that they would be foolish to ignore.

The evolution of Social CRM is a mutually beneficial step forwards for both customers and the companies involved.

How have you seen social CRM evolve? Tell us, in the comments below!

The Future of Customer Relationship Management with Social Media

Wednesday, July 6, 2011 by Sidney Angelos

Most businesses have the common goal of maximizing their ability to generate revenues. With this goal in mind, companies large and small tend to focus on producing quality products and services for their customers to purchase; hopefully again and again. The adage that it costs more to obtain a customer than to keep one generally holds true regardless of the type of customer, and as such, managing relationships tends to become paramount within most business organizations.

Technology, specifically the development of online communities and an area known as social media marketing, is providing traditional brick and mortar business marketing the tools required to compete in the new online world of the Internet. The future is sure to hold some interesting surprises for both the companies selling products and services as well as for the consumers buying the same.

Corporations have been around for a few hundred years. But older than both is the concept of the customer. Even simple trading practices saw one or both sides of the transaction from the view point of the client who was receiving goods or services for their money or barter items.

As the company grew in complexity of structure and offerings, layers of executive management, boards of directors, middle management and workers also expanded to fill the needs of the business entity, but all with the same focus.

That directed effort was nearly universally about providing a paying customer with a product or service. Scales of efficiency have been implemented over the past 100 or so years in order to allow a business to do more with less.

Even today, this mantra is heard around many board room tables, upper level management meetings, and all the way down to the shipping departments.

For much of the early part of the 20th century in this country, the concept of managing the company’s relationship with its customers was unheard of; not because of a general lack of concern for those who purchased from the business, but because previous history had left no precedent for the company to have cause to worry about who would spend money for what the company sold.

During the 1980′s, the concept of database marketing became a familiar axiom in the business world. With the promise of speaking individually to countless customers, the prospect of using new and ever powerful computers to aid with the increase of a company’s bottom line held quite an allure.

The challenge, as history is showing, was in the difficulties of using this new marketing tool. It was very costly for any business daring enough to invest in the tools. The computers and required knowledge and experience to use the data for advancing sales through marketing efforts was simply more than most companies were able to manage.

As it turns out, knowing just a few key demographics about their customers recent purchases greatly simplified the process of keeping tabs on the paying clients.

In the 90′s, the concept of relationship marketing took root in the business culture and customers now had to deal with the likes of airline rewards programs. One of the biggest challenges businesses faced in this new paradigm was the expectation of their implementing whatever relationship program was put into place by the competition.

Many man-hours and millions of dollars were spent in the keeping up with the business Jones’ during this period of time. At the end of the day most businesses had invested far more than they would ever see in returns in the areas of relationship management.

Early at the beginning of the 21st century, the Internet began to provide a number of tools and channels that enterprising, experienced professionals realized could be put to good use in a new area that was coming to be known as Customer Relationship Management, or CRM.

At first, much like the past few decades, the idea was grander than its implementation. The Internet would change everything was the new mantra of the day. The reality was there were 3 major areas preventing the effective use of technology in the arena of providing the best service to customers.

3 Keys Social CRM Must Address For Successful Implementation

Cultural Challenges: Unfortunately, study after study has shown that many of the larger companies maintain and even promote a corporate culture of showing little regard for its customers. Overcoming these challenges is compounded when considering the implementation and use of any sort of CRM solution.One of the most effective ways to surmount the attitudes of the old guard within the business culture is by the use of social media marketing, the communities which grow up around the various online social sites, and dedicating individuals within the company with the authority to speak on behalf of the business directly to the social communities and the individuals making up those groups.
Economic Hurdles: While the Internet has greatly lowered the cost of doing many aspects of business, there are still a number of tools and services the company will have to dedicate operating budget for. In the past, cost of implementing the computer systems, database applications, hiring and maintaining the employees who look after all this could quickly become not so cost effective.With many corporate structures failing to look past the next quarter of the businesses future, finding the investment on unproven and even harder to justify technologies such as social CRM applications or even active participation in the communities where the company’s brand is most often talked about was an extremely hard sale.
Good news here is the cost of entry of using a great number of social sites and their built in tools is drastically lower than some of the legacy applications once sold to a business.
Linguistic Frustrations: The jargon of acronyms, definitions and various other terms required for understanding CRM seemed to provide the proverbial camel’s back breaking with each straw of knowledge necessary for a decision maker to give the green light for buy in.While many of those terms are still in place, and even required for effective use today, social CRM limits the need for in-depth understanding on the parts of those least familiar with the intimate aspects of customer relationship management.
What is required is a willingness on the part of the company’s decision makers to green light the use of social CRM tools and access to social communities by its employees.

While the tools and technologies evolve to provide businesses with even more powerful channels to reach the consumer, the age old truth is still as prevalent as ever. Either use it or lose it. The future of customer relationships management with Social Media is rather clear cut: the brand must be monitored within the various social communities.

Dedicated members of the company must interact in the various conversations being held within the social community networks. This talk is going to happen regardless of whether there is someone from the company there to defend, explain or apologize. Wise money indicates those businesses who invest in participation and use of social media will benefit in both the near and far terms.

What are your predictions for the future of customer relationship management with social media?

SearchCRM.com Social CRM Report Review

Friday, June 17, 2011 by Sidney Angelos

We had a chance to sit down with Angela Stone, social media and brand strategist. She discusses SearchCRM.com’s social CRM report. Check it out!

Social Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is one of the most useful tools available to today’s business. Its ability to embrace the new social media customer along with the way it can embrace the desire for greater interaction between business and customer already has a proven track record. The only downside is that for some there can seem a lot of information from disparate sources and it is easy to feel overwhelmed.

The solution for any business wanting to get to grips with all social CRM has to offer is to take just a little time to read a social CRM report. The one produced by SearchCRM.com is an excellent example of a document that draws together a number of areas to give a highly useful overview.

The report is split into three sections that cover social CRM software, how to get the most out of social CRM and finally expert opinion and advice.

For anyone who wants to maximize the potential of social CRM, the report is a must-read. It stresses that while the right tools are important, to get the best out of social CRM the importance of a well-developed strategy cannot be over stressed. Helpfully, the report provides a link to 10 steps to a practical social media business strategy, many of which can be adopted for businesses in a wide range of sectors.

Importantly, the report does not get sucked into the “old is bad, new is good” school of thinking that all too often blights otherwise helpful documents. The report stresses that while social CRM is a forward-looking platform, it is important that the past is not forgotten. Indeed, the report points out that the enterprise value chain should still form a vital part of any new strategy.

Perhaps most welcome is the manner in which the report engages with one of the main worries that businesses encounter when considering the move to social CRM – namely, the logistical concerns involved with such a venture. The report acknowledges that some companies dive headfirst into social CRM without fully thinking through the consequences. It then addresses the best way to remedy an over-enthusiastic approach through some superb tools (some of which are even free).

The coverage of software throughout the report is strong, with the first section concentrating on the options available across a range of budgets. These range from Facebook apps to dedicated suites. Perhaps the report’s strongest element is its refusal to adhere to unthinking approval that spoils some reports. This is evident in the way in which the report engages with the ongoing debate about the overall usefulness of social CRM. While its writers clearly see the potential social CRM has, they do not avoid the pitfalls that can sometimes affect adopters.

For all the excellent coverage of software and CRM strategies, the report’s central point seems to be that the most important of element of any social CRM strategy is the people involved. Whether this be the level of training a business gives its employees or the user-friendly level of software, the report helps underline the pivotal role that people should play in any business’s social CRM plan.

The final section of the report offers advice on how to get the best primer for anyone unfamiliar with social CRM. It covers not just social media, but its role in an overall marketing strategy. It touches not just on general apps such as Twitter and Facebook, but dedicated CRM software such as Socialtext and Jive.

Finally, the report offers some examples of where things have gone wrong. These should prove an invaluable aid to businesses, as there are few better ways of learning which mistakes to avoid than seeing the results of such errors.

Interview Series Continued – Dealing with the “New” Social Customer

Friday, June 10, 2011 by Sidney Angelos

As we progress in the age of social CRM we’re slowly learning how to deal with the “new” social customer. We sat down with CRM strategist Rebecca Levin of Rebecca Levin Consulting Group. She discusses this “new” social customer.

No one likes to be forgotten. Yet as we move into the second decade of the twenty-first century, businesses that have prided themselves on knowing their marketplace and its key demographic are forgetting their key customers.

How is this happening? Surely businesses invest heavily in market research and other methods to get feedback on products and services?

Many businesses do just that. The problem is not that they are no longer doing this; but more often that this is all they do. The bottom line is that they may not have forgotten yesterday’s customer, but they are in danger of forgetting today’s customer who is likely to be very different.

What businesses need to understand is that there is a new social customer on the block and his or her shopping habits as well as they way they discover and discuss a business’s product or service has completely changed. This means that the old ways of marketing a product (such as the glossy brochure) plays anything from a much smaller to non-existent part in they way they interact with a business.

For this reason, any business wanting to remain successful needs to take into account some key facts about the “new” social customer:

The process starts a lot earlier. One of the key concepts today’s business needs to grasp is that they are no longer in charge of the flow of information. Previously, a company could surprise its customers with a new product and choose which details and/or features to publicize. Those days have now largely gone. Even a company that is as media/social media savvy as Apple finds it almost impossible to surprise its customer base. The reason for this is that customers know as much (if not more) about products and services before they buy than the companies themselves can seem to do. This is because social media has completely changed the business/customer relationship matrix. Customers discuss products and their features before they are released and are thus much less likely to be swayed by glossy marketing, as they are much better informed.
Great marketing still works. It would be a mistake to suggest that there is no place for marketing; the difference today is that marketing has to be better and more accurately aimed at its target audience. If this is the case, then social media will work in the business’s favor by getting consumers to discuss the product and by creating a much greater awareness that would have been possible in the past. A good example of this is when Apple ran a series of commercials that featured actors as a Mac and a PC. They were very simple and yet became huge internet talking points. They created a buzz by getting consumers talking about the product. This is an interesting example, as Apple sells a product (a computer, for example) that can be bought cheaper elsewhere. However, by creating a new social customer aware campaign, they shifted focus from price (not mentioned) to other areas (reliability, features). Understanding how the new breed of customers discusses products, Apple utilized social media to create a strong marketing campaign.
Lifestyle. Related to Apple’s success, is that their new social media campaigns tap into the importance of lifestyle issues. Mac computers have a “wow” effect that is only increased by discussion on social networks. Of course, not all discussion will be positive, but by creating the platform for debate, the company ensures that whatever an individual’s opinion, their products are being discussed.
The liberation of the best staff. Perhaps one of the biggest revolutions that the new social customers have helped create is that the most forward-looking companies understand that their best staff should be allowed to become more customer facing. For example, if a business has some experts on its products in a traditional position of being hidden away in an office complex beyond the reach of customers, they are being given the opportunity to interact with the customer base. It could be that a product expert blogs on the company’s site therefore enabling customer to comment and interact. This leads to a much greater level of customer interaction in both product development and a business’s future plans.

The “new” social customer is well aware of a business’s products through online discussion, forums and a whole new level of social metrics. A business now needs to be accessible to customers and instead of the old business/customer divide, look to its customer base as an intrinsic and valuable component of its new business model.

Want to Empower Your Customers? Do it with Knowledge Management Software

Friday, October 22, 2010 by Sidney Angelos

How to succeed in business without really trying? Put your customers to work.

I’m only partly kidding. Stop and think about it for a minute—people love self-service. They like self-checkouts in supermarkets, they like pumping their own gas, and they love buffets (although, come to think of it, that might be more about the all-you-can-eat aspect). Even if you sell products on a Web site, you too can put your customers to work in order to empower them while cutting costs and streamlining operations.
Continue Reading: ‘Want to Empower Your Customers? Do it with Knowledge Management Software’

Not on the Net? How and Why To Do Business Online

Wednesday, October 13, 2010 by Sidney Angelos

Your business is not on the Internet? What the heck is wrong with you?

OK, I’m kidding, of course—but seriously, if you’re not on the ‘net, you are losing opportunities and sales. Period.
Continue Reading: ‘Not on the Net? How and Why To Do Business Online’

Get Your Community and Customers Involved By Making Support Social

Friday, October 1, 2010 by Sidney Angelos

The traditional way of providing customer service? Supply your customers with a telephone number keyed into a bewildering variety of voicemail forward options with only marginal specificity to their problems and concerns. Make it very difficult for your customers to connect with a real, live customer service representative. If one customer does manage to connect with a service agent, make sure that service agent is operating out of a call center located in an analogous location and that he or she has very little personal investment in helping your customer solve their dilemma.

How satisfied do you think that customer will be by the end of this interaction? How long before she bails?
Continue Reading: ‘Get Your Community and Customers Involved By Making Support Social’

Blogging and Your Business: What You Need to Know

Friday, September 3, 2010 by Sidney Angelos

Blogs were a bit of a self-indulgent fad not that long ago. You signed up with a service like Blogger or TypePad, and started writing about whatever you wanted to: your kids, your pet salamander, your volunteer work at the soup kitchen, your low-carb recipes. It was a nice way to share information with your friends, but a lot of people thought that blogs were a flash in the pan.

And then businesses got involved.
Continue Reading: ‘Blogging and Your Business: What You Need to Know’

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