Demystifying the ROI of CRM

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Trushit Buch | Permalink 0

Undoubtedly, the most common question I hear from companies is “How do I cost justify my CRM investment?” While project costs have come down over the past 12 to 18 months, this remains a key issue. What surprises me now, however, is that this matter frequently arises for the first time in earnest near the end of the evaluation–sometimes right before the project plan is presented to management for approval.

Higher-ROI-from-your-CRM

Higher-ROI-from-your-CRM

By this time the project team has the expense side of the equation nailed down: software license fees, maintenance, consulting support, hardware, administrative support, training, help desk, etc. The team can recite the dollars-out half of equation in its sleep, but what about the dollars back?

Often what the team wants to hear from me is how other companies have dealt with ROI. CSO Insights has surveyed several thousand CRM projects over the years, and has compiled a wealth of case studies. For example, a manufacturing company reduced its order error rate from 23 percent to less than 0.5 percent; a distribution firm cut the time it took to get new salespeople fully productive from nine months to four; and a financial services group increased the number of leads generated per day, per telemarketing rep, from 1.5 to seven.

crm_360view

crm_360view

These are all impressive numbers, but I caution the executive sponsors of a CRM initiative that the numbers only have meaning to the company that achieved them. In no way should sponsors infer that they will duplicate that level of performance improvement simply by buying a similar technology framework. CRM ROI is a personal experience–no two companies market to, sell to, or service customers exactly the same. So how do you go about finding ROI truth? Here’s a simple framework: Start by calculating what it is costing your company to not implement CRM.

CRM technology is a tool set designed to fix problems. You have to know what your problems are. The ROI calculation is the self-evident result of the process improvement that will take place through the implementation of CRM. We benchmarked the problem for a computer firm: 18 percent of the people calling its 800 number hung up before talking to a contact center rep. For a pet food manufacturer the issue was a 42 percent error rate in its sales forecasts, and for a distribution firm the issue was that voluntary rep turnover had soared to 48 percent.

Having identified their pain point, each of these firms calculated the business costs of letting their respective problems continue to exist: lost revenue from customers hanging up and buying a competitive offering, excessive inventory from buying the wrong raw materials to match inaccurate product forecasts, lost territory revenue from continually ramping up new reps.

Knowing the problem and the cost, the CRM evaluation goal was to determine if and how technology could help minimize or eliminate that problem. A company will gain X additional customers by minimizing prospects abandoning calls, will achieve Y dollars in savings by better managing inventory, and see Z dollars for having experienced reps stay in the territories longer.

The case of business improvement should drive CRM projects from day one. If you cannot quickly list the top-three improvements you expect to achieve by implementing CRM, you are making the error of looking to buy a solution before you find the problem. Reverse the order–first identify the problem, then find the solution–and CRM ROI will then become a much simpler matter.

CRM ROI , , , , , , , ,

CRM Investments – Is it Justified?

Posted on December 6, 2010 by Trushit Buch | Permalink 0

CRM investment is wasted if the intelligence it delivers fails to influence dispatched communications. How can businesses ensure that money spent on CRM analytics actually begins to benefit the messages that are delivered to customers and prospects?

While the importance of getting targeted communications out of the door has achieved mainstream awareness, there is still considerable potential for improved return on investment from CRM systems.
crm-software-system

crm-software-system

Too often, companies are compromising when it comes to communicating with customers and prospects. The lack of attention to the actual delivery of personalised messages to customers or enquirers is making a nonsense of many companies’ marketing strategies.
Arguably, the need for sophisticated mail has never been greater. Customer retention has become a major issue, with today’s multi-channel environment making it easier than ever for consumers to switch brand allegiance. Consumers are acutely aware that the balance of power has shifted in their favour. It is an accepted mantra that attracting new customers costs more than retaining existing customers, and suppliers operate knowing that bad service, or even perceived bad service, is more likely to be met with defection.
CRM Features

CRM Features

Today, businesses of every size are realising that intelligent marketing to existing customers can have a profound impact on customer retention and customer growth. High volume prospecting activity has given way to tailored, targeted communications to existing customers – the first line of attack in the battle to stem customer churn rates.
Building a relationship with the customer via the mailstream, therefore, is becoming an integral part of any business proposition. You need to make sure there are solid IT management systems in place first, however.
To maximise the effectiveness of these customer communications, it is necessary to integrate them with the appropriate business processes they connect with, however disparate these processes may seem to be.
It is the integration of key business processes and their related information streams into CRM that defines and drives Customer Communication Management (CCM). CCM harnesses the power of specific business processes and ties them to the CRM initiative – in order to create, develop, manage, and maintain more effective customer communications.
CRM is fundamentally customer facing and outwardly focused. CCM takes this to the next level, by capturing the external customer information and linking it to internal business processes in order to create a more comprehensive picture of the customer’s behaviour in relation to the company. The goal is then to stay in repeated contact with customers via a continuing stream of out-bound messages that are highly targeted to individual needs and structured to facilitate easy payment or customer action.
Analytical Dashboard

Analytical Dashboard

But, with so much channel-choice available, is mail still a viable channel? Undeniably, yes. The EU Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications, in tandem with local telephone privacy laws, places increasing limitations on unsolicited prospecting. Mail, however, is often seen as a non-intrusive and valued means of communication by both businesses and consumers. What’s more, response figures remain steady.
Any fears about email displacing mail have long since been dispelled. Contrary to popular belief, Internet users receive more mail than non-Internet users and the difference between the two groups is growing. The claim that a wired household is ripe for substitution is unfounded. Wired households include attractive consumers who will continue to receive mail along with other media from businesses eager to get a greater share of their wallets.
CCM can uncover opportunities for lower costs and higher revenues both by developing customer relationships that are more rewarding in every sense and by streamlining business processes so they are less costly, more integrated and more effective. Put simply, CCM is directly focused on determining the best and most cost-effective way for engaging in a continual and profitable dialogue with your customers.
Sophisticated data collection and analysis techniques are not enough. Businesses must ensure that this sophistication translates to customer-facing documents if the full value of the mail channel is to be realised.
customer_support_system

customer_support_system

While the importance of getting targeted communications out of the door has achieved mainstream awareness, there is still considerable potential for improved return on investment from CRM systems.
Too often, companies are compromising when it comes to communicating with customers and prospects. The lack of attention to the actual delivery of personalised messages to customers or enquirers is making a nonsense of many companies’ marketing strategies.
Arguably, the need for sophisticated mail has never been greater. Customer retention has become a major issue, with today’s multi-channel environment making it easier than ever for consumers to switch brand allegiance. Consumers are acutely aware that the balance of power has shifted in their favour. It is an accepted mantra that attracting new customers costs more than retaining existing customers, and suppliers operate knowing that bad service, or even perceived bad service, is more likely to be met with defection.
Today, businesses of every size are realising that intelligent marketing to existing customers can have a profound impact on customer retention and customer growth. High volume prospecting activity has given way to tailored, targeted communications to existing customers – the first line of attack in the battle to stem customer churn rates.
Building a relationship with the customer via the mailstream, therefore, is becoming an integral part of any business proposition. You need to make sure there are solid IT management systems in place first, however.
To maximise the effectiveness of these customer communications, it is necessary to integrate them with the appropriate business processes they connect with, however disparate these processes may seem to be.
It is the integration of key business processes and their related information streams into CRM that defines and drives Customer Communication Management (CCM). CCM harnesses the power of specific business processes and ties them to the CRM initiative – in order to create, develop, manage, and maintain more effective customer communications.
CRM is fundamentally customer facing and outwardly focused. CCM takes this to the next level, by capturing the external customer information and linking it to internal business processes in order to create a more comprehensive picture of the customer’s behaviour in relation to the company. The goal is then to stay in repeated contact with customers via a continuing stream of out-bound messages that are highly targeted to individual needs and structured to facilitate easy payment or customer action.
But, with so much channel-choice available, is mail still a viable channel? Undeniably, yes. The EU Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications, in tandem with local telephone privacy laws, places increasing limitations on unsolicited prospecting. Mail, however, is often seen as a non-intrusive and valued means of communication by both businesses and consumers. What’s more, response figures remain steady.
Any fears about email displacing mail have long since been dispelled. Contrary to popular belief, Internet users receive more mail than non-Internet users and the difference between the two groups is growing. The claim that a wired household is ripe for substitution is unfounded. Wired households include attractive consumers who will continue to receive mail along with other media from businesses eager to get a greater share of their wallets.
AquaCRM can uncover opportunities for lower costs and higher revenues both by developing customer relationships that are more rewarding in every sense and by streamlining business processes so they are less costly, more integrated and more effective. Put simply, AquaCRM is directly focused on determining the best and most cost-effective way for engaging in a continual and profitable dialogue with your customers.
Sophisticated data collection and analysis techniques are not enough. Businesses must ensure that this sophistication translates to customer-facing documents if the full value of the mail channel is to be realized.


AquaCRM Software, Sales Force Automation CRM , , , , , , , , ,

6 Strategies to Conquer the Chaos

Posted on November 1, 2010 by Trushit Buch | Permalink 0

Most entrepreneurs start a business because they’re looking for freedom. More often than not, this dream evolves into a nightmare.

All seems to be going smoothly — until you get your first customer. That’s when chaos moves in. Before you know it, you’ve been sucked in — and the chaos only seems to mount every time you add another customer.

multiple-system-nightmare

multiple-system-nightmare

You can’t possibly follow up with prospects or customers. Your database is disorganized (assuming you even have one, that is). Leads are falling through the cracks because there’s not a full-proof process that you can count on. You add a different system with each fire that needs dousing, and (again, before you know it) you have the chaos that comes with multiple systems. As the brainchild of the business, you’re the glue that holds it all together. And yet you can’t ever seem to cross anything off that to-do list, which only gets longer and longer.

Sound familiar?

Over the years I’ve talked to thousands of entrepreneurs, and they all share these same pain points. Chaos makes it impossible to grow a small business quickly and effectively. Plus, you’ll never win lifelong customers if you don’t fix your follow-up failure.

There is a six-step formula for getting out of the chaos — and it’s helping people take back their businesses and win lifelong customers.

  1. Build your emotional capital. You need to find a balance for yourself first. Emotional capital is the balancing of work, family, and emotional and physical health.
  2. Practice disciplined optimism. It starts with the undying belief that your small business will achieve the success you have envisioned, while at the same time confronting the brutal facts of your current reality — and attacking those brutal facts because you want to, not because you have to.
  3. Assert your entrepreneurial independence. You carve the path to your own success. If you don’t believe something will work, no one will.
  4. Centralize and organize your database. You have to centralize your operations. Most small businesses live in multiple-system chaos. They house customer information all over the place. These disjointed systems will block you from growing your business. Worse, it will prevent you from wowing your customers.
  5. Tap into the magical power of follow-up. Failing to follow up with customers and prospects is what kills most small businesses. When you follow up with every new lead, you will automatically close more of the hot leads that otherwise would have fallen through the cracks. And let’s face it: Some people just aren’t ready to do business with you today. However, if you nurture that relationship and provide value to the prospect through your follow-up, you can be top-of-mind whenever that prospect eventually is ready.
  6. Burn the to-do list and move from manual to automated. Even if you were a follow-up master, you couldn’t do as thorough and complete a job as an automated follow-up system can. If there are multiple steps in your marketing campaign, you’re bound to make mistakes at some point. How do you know which contact receives what information, and on which day? If we were talking about managing just a handful of prospects, then maybe you could handle it yourself. But once you have dozens, hundreds, even thousands of contacts to manage, no mere mortal can do it alone. With automation, you get the benefits of follow-up without any of the pain or mistakes. Plus, you’ll be building relationships that cannot be achieved any other way.

crm-software-system

crm-software-system

crm software
crm software

The bottom line? With automation, you’re making your business more scalable. Because things are set to run as needed, it really doesn’t matter how many prospects and customers you add. The system can follow up with them all automatically — but in a customized, highly targeted way.

CRM basic, Contact Manager, Sales Force Automation CRM , , , , , ,

Don’t Let a Weak Economy Go to Waste

Posted on October 5, 2010 by Trushit Buch | Permalink 1

Now is the time to re-evaluate pricing strategies, target the companies that are buying technology now, and invest in relationships with future buyers.

Let’s look at pricing first. Many technology vendors and their channel partners cope with a downturn by slashing prices. For companies that need cash right now, that may be their only hope. However, cutting prices will create a longterm problem. Unless companies position their price cuts just right, customers will expect these lower prices next time they want to buy. It may be a challenge to raise them again when companies really need to.

That is why vendors and channel partners may be way better off raisingprices instead of slashing them.

Imagine for a moment that a vendor’s channel partner is making a 20 percent margin. If either the vendor or the channel partner cuts the price by 10 percent — all other things being equal-that price reduction comes directly out of profits.

The partner will have to double sales to bring in the same amount of profit. However, how likely is it that anyone in the technology industry will be able to double sales with just a 10 percent decrease? Not very.

Now consider this: If channel partners increase their price by 10 percent — all other things being equal — that additional profit goes directly to the bottom line. One third of their sales can disappear before they lose the same amount of profit dollars compared to the lower price. And then vendors can make up the margin on the back end.

Will channel partners lose 33 percent of their customers with a 10 percent price increase? Probably not. Instead, they will establish value leadership in the market, critical for a profitable recovery.

Second is knowing who is either buying technology today or will be soon. Within companies, there are always departments that have budgets they must use.

Mission-critical systems for manufacturing, sales and customers service are required to maintain the business. In fact, service organizations often see an increase in demand because customers have time to follow up on open issues, choose to repair versus replace, and may not have in-house expertise because of staff reductions.

Aging infrastructure is another area. When system reliability is causing downtime, or products are at end-of-support life, vendors and their channel partners will find motivated buyers.

Look into data storage and archiving and disaster recovery requirements. After all, with disaster recovery, there’s a highly motivated management staff and an insurance check to spend.

Opportunities also exist with departments facing government-, industry-, or customer-mandated regulations. For these groups, waiting until tomorrow is rarely an option.

Certain industries also tend to continue buying throughout a weak economy. Healthcare is one of the strongest markets. People will always need health services, and it continues to be a growth industry with deep pockets. Other areas include the pharmaceutical industry, which takes a long-range view, and market sectors that provide the basic infrastructure services others need to run their businesses-such as legal firms, telecommunications (particularly wireless providers), and transportation companies.

Other markets are getting ready to spend funds as the economic turnaround begins to build steam. First are those taking advantage of government economic incentives, such as state and local education initiatives and civil engineering projects for road repairs, bridges, and other infrastructure.

Companies providing customer “must-haves” in green technology and services, entertainment, and cutting-edge communication are likely to invest in new technology soon as are start-up companies and entrepreneurs.

The third important component is cultivating long-term customers — after all, how can you be viewed as a trusted advisor if the customer hasn’t seen you for months?

If a customer says, “I don’t have any money to spend,” then ask, “When do you expect this to turn around?” If customers respond with an answer of less than six months, they have strong hope and are probably working out their next plans.

The follow-up question is one of the most powerful in sales. By asking “How can I help?,” companies open up opportunities to discuss options such as advantageous financing, trade-in towards purchase, manufacture refurbished items at lower cost, services contract consolidation, and off-season deals.

The magic of this response is that vendors and their channel partners can frequently find immediate sales opportunities during the plan review that the customer wasn’t even aware of.

The return to rapid market growth may be slow. However, through pricing strategies that strengthen value leadership, a strategic focus on markets current and emerging sales opportunities, and a commitment to cultivating long-term customers today, vendors and their channel partners can position themselves as leaders of tomorrow.

Customer Support, Sales Force Automation CRM , , , , ,

Why we need CRM for real estate industry

Posted on September 28, 2010 by Trushit Buch | Permalink 0

Following is a report on Industry issues for Real-Estate, before going on actual problems I have done some research on the industry in terms whom to target for this market segment.

Different kinds of real estate businesses include

1)      Appraisal: Professional valuation services

2)      Brokerages: A fee charged by the mediator who facilitates a real estate transaction between the two parties.

3)      Development: Improving land for use by adding or replacing buildings

4)      Property management: Managing a property for its owner(s)

5)      Real estate marketing: Managing the sales side of the property business

6)      Real estate investing: Managing the investment of real estate

7)      Relocation services: Relocating people or business to a different country

8)      Corporate Real Estate: Managing the real estate held by a corporation to support its core business—unlike managing the real estate held by an investor to generate income

Within each field, a business may specialize in a particular type of real estate, such as residential, commercial, or industrial property. In addition, almost all construction business effectively has a connection to real estate.

“Internet Real Estate” is a term coined by the internet investment community relating to ownership of domain names and the similarities between high quality internet domain names and real-world, prime real estate.

real-estate-CRM

real-estate-CRM

Real problems in real estate industry

1)      You don’t discover lead came in on Monday till Saturday.

2)      You lose email containing the features that new prospect gave you, which was absolutely essential for home search.

3)      You miss an appointment.

4)      Your prospective client has not called you recently so you forgot to check in on them.

5)      A great new property came into the market and you forgot to send proposal as you promised and now there is an offer on it from someone else.

6)      Your new website getting you leads faster than ever, and you keep forgetting to get them in your pilot or BB or excel.

7)      Sometimes it gets too much too keep handle on all activities.

8)      When you urgently need to know a contact and its details, you scroll though papers or maybe your outlook or maybe other systems and lose more time searching.

9)      You realize working by referral is best way to grow your business. You have initial list of relationships. You still feel anxious as calendar, excel your contact manager does not relate to each other and you end up with more unrelated data.

crm for real estate

crm for real estate

10)    You are moving all the time, before meeting prospect you need buying history or maybe related property listing and you feel hampered as you need to rely on your back office to get information and they in most of the cases take more time to find details.

11)   You face problem in controlling cost per lead, as sometimes you lose more money and time on cold ones.

12)     Sometimes you feel your competitors are doing the same thing as you are in terms of property offers and pricing, so then what is the differentiator?

13)   Your website is generating lot of interest, you have one property which has most number of views (Interests), but since you are not aware about it. You don’t have an open house and all that interest is lost along with losing those prospects forever.

14)   You spend your TOP dollars on different marketing efforts Like TV, newspaper, banner ads on website, online marketing, and still nothing concrete comes out of this initiative and you wonder why?. Now the scary part is all that marketing is almost worthless without a real system for documenting and following-up on each lead.

15)   You have heaps of papers in your office containing purchase agreements , contracts etc. When a customer walks in either you can’t trace the client agreement or you waste time in printing them again. In both scenarios customers needs to wait.

realestateagents use CRM

realestateagents use CRM

Now thinking from the broker or developers perspective I checked on the fundamental questions

  1. Why does someone buy home from me?
  2. What is my goal of real estate marketing?
  3. What is the most effective way to market to an existing sales lead?
  4. How does my sales team do what it does?
  5. How do I track what my sales team has accomplished?
  6. How do I manage my inventory?
  7. What is the best way to track each lead through the stages of purchasing their home?
  8. How do I relate to customers during the sales process or even after its completion?
  9. Where does a sales team’s accumulated knowledge go when the community’s sold?

In today’s competitive environment, real estate agents can leverage the power of technology to get more organized, focus on the right properties, and ultimately increase their productivity and sales. We developed AquaCRM, a sales and crm tool for small businesses, to help achieve these goals.

CRM in Real Estate , , , , , , , , ,

You don’t want social CRM, You want integrated customer intelligence.

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Trushit Buch | Permalink 0

Today, everything is social — social commerce, social business, social CRM. The list goes on and on.

social-media-CRM

social-media-CRM

Social CRM is one of the worst labels I’ve heard in the last few years. What’s disappointing is that it obscures a completely valid concept for helping businesses better understand their customers. Sure, it’s a way for software vendors to attempt to explain or differentiate themselves using the latest buzzword, “social.” Let’s set aside the fluff and define what this really means, because there is some real value here that shouldn’t be overlooked.

To a business owner, customer relationships are core to just about everything. CRM technologies are tools to help facilitate interactions with our customers. We need these tools so we, as an organization, can be better equipped to sell to and support our customers.

Today there are new ways to interact and engage with customers and prospects — online communities and social networking sites. But it’s important we make a distinction here: There are social networks and there are communities. The two are not mutually exclusive, nor are they identical.

  • Social Networks — Facebook, Twitter, and other similar online properties are designed to facilitate social interactions between people. For example, on Facebook you connect with friends, people you knew in school, and possibly even some coworkers. You may connect with some customers you know, too, but only as a nonwork-related relationship.
  • Online Communities — Many of the concepts found in social networks such as Facebook and Twitter apply here, but for the express purpose of solving specific business goals and objectives. For example, when Dell uses community software to provide support for its customers, the goals are to sell more hardware, reduce costs, and raise awareness of new products. There is some social aspect, but that is not the purpose of that community.
social-media-CRM-PROCESS

social-media-CRM-PROCESS

So how do you apply these concepts to managing relationships with your customers?

1. Monitor Social Networks
Social networks are important as you manage your customers. You should monitor and watch them for trends and feedback. They are a channel through which your products and services may be discussed. Use social media monitoring tools to keep track of any mentions of your brand, product, or services so that you can properly react or respond to those mentions. In fact, a great strategy here is to respond with a link back to how you are addressing or echoing the feedback in your own community.

2. Offer a Community
There are different types of communities that you can run for your customers. In some cases you may run a business community on a social networking site such as Facebook — though one challenge this represents is data management. Data, as you’ll quickly learn, is paramount to understanding your customers and their behaviors.

3. Own the Data
The data created for and by your customers is critical to understanding them. It is only through the data that you can derive value from your investment in this new customer channel. For example, Cadence integrated its online community with its CRM software, intending not only to use the community as a resource to help learn more about its customers but also to populate its CRM with that customer knowledge.

4. Customer Intelligence
If you own the data from your community, there is a new level of depth you can gain from your customer interactions. Customers will populate data about themselves, the products they use, and their successes and frustrations. Once customer analytics become integrated with a CRM system, you can gain substantial intelligence about your customers: what products they own, what questions they’ve asked, where they’ve contributed, and which customers are influential — that’s another list that goes on and on.

The answer for CRM vendors isn’t reflexively adding “social” in front of their offerings. Instead, these vendors — whose solutions already manage rich customer data — should integrate with community platform vendors that provide intelligence and analytics to complement that data.

Social Media Marketing CRM , , , , , , , , , , ,

Social Media – Too valuable for any marketer to loose

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Trushit Buch | Permalink 3

Social networks have unleashed a freedom and candor of communication never seen before. One can pull back and try to analyze the exponential growth of social networks using concepts such as The Network Effect, theories of information velocity, or collaboration theories — but the appeal is really just all about the passion people have to be heard and the desire they have to be free in doing so.

social-networking-guidelines

social-networking

The passion people have to communicate on social networks reminds me of the word Eleftheria (Greek for freedom), a word that reverberates with strong emotions of being able to do what others said you could not. Never mind if those who said you couldn’t were governments,  or merely bigoted people who judged you because of the color of your skin or your gender or even your appearance. Eleftheriasays those people don’t matter. It’s a beautiful word and one my Greek immigrant grandparents said with passion and reverence.

Eleftheria: Too Valuable for Any Marketer to Waste
The best marketers get it: They don’t waste or trivialize the Eleftheria bestowed upon them by social networks — the power to serve customers and enrich others. Instead, these leading-edge marketers capitalize on Eleftheria to enrich, serve, support, and strengthen their customers, and to help those customers realize goals. (You have to love the paradox of how the best marketers involved in social networks look to free, not ensnare, their customers.)

For any marketer looking to excel at social networking, the most important questions to ask are:

  • How can I free my customers from inconvenience?
  • How can I rid them of unnecessary costs?
  • How can I reduce or remove their problems by sharing more-relevant information?
  • How can I better listen to them?
social-networking

social-networking

Imagine how much more valuable many of the social networking sites would be if marketers asked themselves these questions rather than seeking out virtual bullhorns. Trivializing a social network as a virtual bullhorn is to throw away Eleftheria.

What Makes a Great Social Networking Marketing Strategy?
I’d like to suggest a contrarian thought to those companies and persons on social networks: The more followers you have, the more people you have to serve.

Followers are not there to serve you; you are there to serve them — with encouragement, insights, support, and, most of all, the chance to reach their goals. That’s what Eleftheria is really all about: freeing your customers (and followers) to reach their goals. Self-aggrandizement is nothing more than a distraction. Better to be part of customers’ passionate pursuits than to tell them how great you are.

Here’s what matters most:

  • being honest;
  • being real;
  • helping your customers (or followers) reach their goals; and
  • reorienting every social networking platform strategy to embrace these values.
social-media-traffic-comparison

social-media-traffic-comparison

Think of it this way: Instead of sending thousands of tweets to promote your brand (or yourself), think how powerful it would be to deliver Eleftheria to just one customer (or follower) through social networks? Freeing just one customer or lightening the load of just one follower — so much more worth it.

Yet it does not need to stop there. There are so many more ways marketers can use social networks to free their customers — from time drains, from annoying problems, from costly errors in the approach to doing business. Circumstances may vary, but no matter the situation trust is earned when you can deliver Eleftheria over and over again to your customers. Here are some ways to go about it:

social-media-marketing

social-media-marketing

  • Be very selective in choosing social networking platforms. Marketers who attempt to be on every single social networking platform often fail. Why? Because they can’t scale to support the conversations on and unique needs of each. Seeing social networking as a means to an end — delivering Eleftheria — is the real value. One of my favorite authors, David Meerman Scott, has used the analogy of a cocktail party, noting how annoying it is when you attempt to have a conversation with someone who keeps watching the door for interesting people to arrive. Don’t be that person. Actually listen to conversations.
  • Own your problems in public. Only a handful of companies — certainly not enough — are doing this on social networks today, but they’re the ones powerfully creating and extending credibility. Comcast comes to mind as one, and there are a few others. By owning even the ugly, messy problems online and striving for a solution together with customers, these are the companies delivering Eleftheria.

Bottom line: Think about those companies and people that really matter to you, the ones you are fiercely loyal to. Then consider the full meaning of Eleftheria — chances are, those companies and people are the ones that delivered Eleftheria to you over and over again.

In that experience resides the essence of how social networks can be used for marketing.

Social Media Marketing CRM , , , , , , , , , , ,

CRM Investments – Is it Justified?

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Trushit Buch | Permalink 4

You must have often heard through business circuits, media
and other channels that CRM is an important requirement for all
sorts of business sizes and segments. Well, in the tech-driven and
fast-paced culture and highly competitive business environment,
implementation of CRM initiatives is more or less essential for
increased profits and for many other reasons. However, as a small
and medium business owner, before you decide to implement CRM
systems, you would obviously be seeking answers to several
questions regarding Customer Relationship Management Systems. Here
is a list of few basic and most frequently asked questions and its
answers.

1. What is
CRM CRM is the acronym for Customer Relationship
Management. Broadly speaking, the term CRM applies to developing
and managing relations with the existing and prospective customers.
CRM involves processes to track and organize customer information.
In nutshell, CRM signifies customer-centric business approach.
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2. What is CRM Software Nowadays,
the terms CRM and CRM software are invariably used interchangeably.
In essence, CRM software is a computer program that is used to
support CRM processes. 3. Do I need a special
CRM software even if I don’t have many customers
Yes, if you want to sustain in the ever-changing
markets and have a leading edge over your competitors.
4. Why do I need CRM Software and CRM
Solutions Essentially speaking, you need CRM
software systems for ensuring better customer satisfaction,
increasing business efficiencies and profitability and for overall
growth of the business. For further details, you should refer the
next question 5. What are the
benefits of CRM • Qualify new leads
• Attract new customers • Analyze market trends
• Identify specific needs and requirements of the customers
• Reduce sales and marketing costs • increase sales,
revenues, productivity, and profitability • Decrease sales
cycles • Achieve higher rates of customer retention
• Effective data integration • Better customer support
• Identify new products and service areas 6. Is CRM too
expensive Answer to this question varies with what
type of CRM solutions your business requires. Generally, hosted
solutions are relatively inexpensive as compared to customized CRM
software installed on your servers. Nevertheless, if you are
looking out for affordable yet innovative and exhaustive solutions,
you should look beyond the leaders. Nowadays, there are numerous
CRM vendors in the markets, which have all the necessary expertise
and infrastructure to cater to the growing needs of small and
medium business CRM applications. 7. How to use
CRM Applications With on-demand and hosted CRM
solutions, you just need a PC and Internet to access CRM
applications from anywhere and at any time. If you are opting for
customized CRM software for your business, you can ask your CRM
vendor for training and support. 8. Is it too
difficult to set up, operate and maintain CRM No,
most of the CRM software programs available in the markets are
generally easy to install, run and maintain. Besides, many CRM
suppliers provide free training and support.
9. Do I need special IT staff to run my CRM
systems Generally, you may not need dedicated IT
support staff, as many CRM companies take care to train your
employees on all the aspects of operation and maintenance.
10. What about the security of
Data Yes, your data is secure regardless of whether
you use hosted solutions or CRM systems installed on your own
servers. 11. How should I choose CRM Systems for
my small business Many factors go into the careful
selection of CRM software for your business. Most important factor
is to ensure that the CRM provider is trustworthy and the system
can be easily integrated with your existing IT processes.
12. Can I customize CRM systems with my existing
IT systems and processes Yes, as a matter of fact,
it is generally not possible to design universal applications and
therefore, most of the CRM systems are customizable as per your
requirements and needs. 13. What are the
features of CRM Software Depending upon the CRM
solution, you can have numerous features, tools and applications
incorporated into your CRM software. Nowadays, many newer CRM
systems provide highly intelligent business applications for
varieties of industry verticals. Summing
Up: CRM is not just a phone book but it in itself is
a way of doing business and an intelligent business strategy.
Majority of the forward-looking businesses never give a second
thought when it comes to spending on CRM systems. With the
effective implementation of CRM software, the profits of small and
medium businesses can increase immensely. For further assistance,
you might get in touch with href="http://www.aquacrmsoftware.com/"
target="_blank">AquaCRM software, which provides
detailed information about CRM Software Solutions. target="_blank">AquaCRM Software is a Thailand based
software company and markets CRM software systems and CRM solutions
under the trade name href="http://www.aquacrmsoftware.com/"
target="_blank">AquaCRM.

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CRM Implementation – 14 point checklist to avoid failure

Posted on August 9, 2010 by Trushit Buch | Permalink 8

For any business organizations, purchasing and deploying CRM Software Systems and implementing CRM best practices calls for huge investment of time, money and efforts. If you know how to leverage your existing resources and how to implement the new CRM systems, you can be sure of its success. Here is a checklist to consider for strengthening customer relationship management and business development processes.

1. Based on the size of your business and range of services and products, it is advisable to invest in the CRM processes as early as possible.
2. Re-evaluate your organization’s marketing goals to assess how your existing technology and IT processes are contributing to the growth of business.

3. When you are on the path of growth, it is often a challenging task to stay one-step ahead of the competitors and to stay connected with the latest events and communications. Therefore, it is essential to keep track of customer relationships and business development.

crm

crm

4. Listen to those people who matter you the most – your employees. Employees at all levels and functions play a great role in the overall business development. Success of new initiates in marketing, CRM and IT systems depend a lot upon firm-wide efforts. If you involve your employees right from the initial stages of new CRM processes, it will be easier for them to adopt and adapt to the business development processes.

5. Make a clear-cut road map of what the new CRM system is intended for. Define short, medium and long term goals and objectives and try to pan out the exact picture of growth target, which the new CRM processes can meet.

6. Generally, CRM processes are initiated by marketing department but IT department spearheads it and hence ensure that IT is well-geared for the new systems and applications. Involve dedicated and skilled IT personnels starting from the evaluation process right through successful building and sustainment of the new CRM systems.

7. Hire and depute the right CRM consultants and implementers and select the best CRM vendors. Having done this, your half of the battle is won. Check out the references, credentials and testimonials of the CRM service providers through blogs and forums where you can learn a lot from the experiences of other organizations that have gone through the similar process.

8. Launch a pilot project where you should involve few appropriate user groups from different departments and then inform and prepare firm-wide end-users about the actual launch of the new CRM system.

9. Check out how smoothly the new system integrates with the other applications and tools such as Microsoft Outlook.

10. Plan rollout strategies in consultation with IT department and launch training programs to ensure that adoption rate is high.

11. Prepare the users with what they should expect so that the transition is painless. Apart from the training, give your employees sufficient time and confidence to learn the new CRM systems and to figure out how it can help the business processes.

12. First year of CRM implementation is the most crucial period during which you should keep on periodically arranging refresher programs and sessions that go beyond the basics.

13. Work out the analytics, tools and metrics to gauge the success of the CRM software system. Keep the key management abreast of how the system is performing and what the success stories are.

14. Over a period, you should consider to add new modules and expand the system so that the CRM system stays alive.

The above Checklist for success in CRM is not an exhaustive one; rather it is just a brief guide. For further assistance, you may get in touch with AquaCRM Software; a Thailand based Software Company, which is a reputed and trusted name amongst small and medium businesses. AquaCRM Software offers easy-to-use, quick to implement and cost-effective CRM solutions under the trade name AquaCRM.

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CRM Software – A buyers Guide

Posted on August 6, 2010 by Trushit Buch | Permalink 5

With the looming uncertainties about the global economic environment, businesses, especially small and medium, continue to look out for strategies to manage the ever-falling bottomlines. Although there are no sure-shot remedies for the sustainable growth and for ensuring competitive edge but Customer Relationships Management Solutions can definitely provide the foundation to survive and thrive in the adverse economical scenarios. Of all the information systems, business development processes and Computer Software, CRM Software is regarded as one of the most influential technology for the overall development of the business and hence it remains as the most popular CRM Solution.

crm_software_lifecycle

crm_software_lifecycle

Buying a CRM Software System is one of the most crucial decisions your company will ever make. Choosing the right CRM Solution can make or break the success of our CRM initiatives. However, with hundreds of CRM solutions in the market, it is often a daunting task to find out the right CRM Vendors and the right CRM Systems. Here is a quick guide to zero down your choices and make a smarter and more informed purchase of CRM Software.

• Explore the background of the CRM Vendor
This is the foremost and most important factor when you are shopping for CRM Providers. Try to get the maximum information about the CRM Company including the financial status, reputation in the market, numbers of satisfied customers, technical expertise and customer support standards. For the leaders in CRM and the publicly held companies, you will find it easy to dig the information; however, for small and medium enterprises, you might have to do some research on the Internet. Nevertheless, most of the CRM providers with a solid background and promising future would always be willing to share all the information sought by you.

CRM sales process

• Check out the features and capabilities of the product
Get the list of all the features, modules, add-ons, and technical details of the product. Carry out scrutiny and comparison of the product you are considering with the products of other CRM vendors. Get the list of likely future upgrades and extendibles for the CRM system that you intend to buy. Make sure that the company stays here when your business grows in future. Ensure that the product can deliver all the functionalities required by you.
• See a Demo and insist on trials and test run of the CRM Software
Seeing the CRM application in action can provide you a great insight into various facets of the product. Ask for demonstration and presentations that are customized as per the goals, objectives and requirements of your business. Customized demos will reflect how the CRM solution will work for you when it is actually installed and running with your business processes. If possible, see the product in a real-world scenario, by visiting the customers who are using the CRM Systems.

CRM software Demo

CRM software Demo

• Ask for authentic testimonials from the actual clients who have used the product
You should ask for the list of existing customers from the CRM vendor and speak to few of them so as to get an idea about how satisfied they are. When you speak to the existing customers from within your industry, you will also get an idea about how the CRM solution has influenced their businesses.

In the end if you are searching out for business intelligence solutions that can boost your business profits in today’s tough business environments and manage customer relationships before, during and after the sales, you may get in touch with AquaCRM , a Thailand based software company, which is a reputed and trusted name amongst the small and medium businesses.AquaCRM Software can deliver intelligent, cost-effective and easy-to-use CRM solutions when and where it is needed most. AquaCRM Software markets CRM Systems under the trade name AquaCRM.

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