Customer On The Edge

I had dinner with a battle scarred sales veteran last week. It was an introduction set up by a colleague and I did not really know what to expect from the engagement. This gentleman, as it turns out, had been around the block a few times, carrying the bag to literally all corners of the globe and back. If he couldn’t sell his products in some location or country, he established someone who could and he made them successful in the process. The stories flowed all night, along with a lot of wine, and the more I listened the more I saw a pattern, or more specifically, I detected a pattern and a theme.

The pattern within his stories was all about integrity selling. Building relationships with trust and doing what it takes to satisfy the customers’ needs – nothing was fast, nothing was manipulative. The customer never lost in the end or was a conquest. This was about being successful by being in for the long haul and as a true partner.

At no time did I detect that he was trying to make a point to me with his lore – he was just sharing his experiences and they got more interesting as the bottles got emptier. His success was measured in interesting ways too, like the time one of his distribution partners named his new yacht after the old man. I can only hope somebody names a dinghy after me some day.

This was all quite captivating and I wished for the dinner and the evening to just go on. I was in the presence of a master and truly wanted to absorb from this unique exchange, although the second bottle of wine was starting to catch up with me. Perhaps I was absorbing too much.

On the drive back to my hotel I reflected on what I had heard. Yes, the pattern was about selling through integrity, but the theme of the evening was that there was always yet another story. We did not talk about things that happened back in the olden days. Rather, these anecdotes mostly included events that had just taken place. This spry old salt did not simply have a few successes decades back and then slump into a coast, repeating stories over and over from yesteryear. He kept going! He went after new opportunities and expanded into new ventures, gaining the ability to tell more stories.

It occurred to me that this practice was also a component of integrity selling. It is not just being honest and trustful, it is also being fresh. To be really successful you have to adapt, be flexible, expand, whatever. You don’t just do things the way you did it in the past just because you had some success. You have to keep having the ability to tell new stories.

Yes, in case you were wondering, this has a connection to CRM – two actually.

First, I truly believe that CRM and the technology that enables the benefits of CRM can assist with selling in a way that is moral and ethical. Gaining trust requires being authentic, which software cannot mimic. However, gaining trust can be more steadfastly earned when you can keep up on all the details of the relationships you form. It can help you identify the connections in your network. It can remind you when you need to take an action to maintain confidence. It can alert you when an expected result is due and might require attention on your behalf. And as you become more senior in your tenure, it can help to prop up the memory that might not always be reliable when counting on grey matter alone.

On the other hand, I have to disclose that I am not enthralled with the integrity of the selling that happens within my own industry. It seems, in contrast, that selling software requires one to exclude honesty and authenticity from the selling process. Unnecessary pressuring for a signed contract before the end of a quarter, deceptively exaggerating the capabilities of the functionality, throwing the services partners under the bus to salvage a deal, the atrocities are endless and I prefer not to elaborate. Sorry if I offend anyone, but I don’t feel I work within an industry that exudes integrity selling; this is a travesty because many of the client industries we support hold this as a seriously high ideal.

When I operate within the role of sales person, it makes my job significantly harder because I have to overcome high barriers that have been erected due mostly from all the duplicity conducted before my arrival.

Getting back to my recent dinner partner, in conclusion, I sincerely wish more of my colleagues could listen to someone who can achieve honest-to-God success without stooping to tactics that ultimately degrade our value. And that brings up a thought. There is a special organization founded back in the 60’s, VISTA, initially a volunteer corps of those who have been successful in their careers turned to service those who need help to rise out of poverty. I wish we could establish a corollary organization that matches volunteers, who have been successful with their professional morals, together with those who need help to rise out of the poverty of their professional souls.

Posted by Matt Johnson at 07:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I learned something pretty useful as the result of a recent air travel issue with my daughter flying home at break from The U. She was unhappy with me at the length of time her connection was going to take in Atlanta. Then a flight change notice can to my inbox making the connection even worse, so I called to see what might be possible to improve things. Well, it turns out that airline policy allows for a certain degree of changes to occur (even to unchangeable tickets) if they cause issues due to a flight change. In this case, I was able to switch the segments to a much more favorable connection through Baltimore at no charge even though this was a more expensive option at the time of the booking.

It would have been awfully useful to know this sooner. I have encountered hundreds of itinerary changes over the years that I have never taken advantage of previously. Since that episode with my daughter’s flight I have been able to make a few ugly flight connections quite more tolerable (including the arrangement of a few non-stops here and there). How come nobody told me this before? I would feel much less animosity toward the airline industry if I had been able to pull these strings starting long before.

So, let’s use this situation to dig into the customer service function a bit. Much of the focus within the customer service center has traditionally been on the tasks performed by the CSR managing cases as they come in – how to effectively capture, assign, track and close them with resolution as fast as possible. More recently a greater focus has been given to the capabilities around managing entitlement. Many organizations had been casual or even lax in their enforcement of the provision of the correct level of service with the correct customer. Process improvements along with more sophisticated CRM software have enabled CSR’s to reduce the amount of free service given away. This may seem unpleasant as a customer, but it is much better for the bottom line.

If these two customer service capabilities are being managed well, the next area of focus should probably be given to Expectation Management, especially when the objectives include improving the customer experience.

Expectation Management is all about pretty much exactly what the name implies – setting and guiding the expectations of the customer throughout the customer lifecycle. This is also one of the more complex practices within customer service as it tends to involve, in some capacity, not only all capabilities within customer service, but also touches sales and marketing as well.

Expectation Management finds its origins within the commercial business strategy and the customer segmentation model that drives the service tier structure. Depending on their segment a customer should expect a certain level of service commensurate with their tier. You get better service in first class than in the cattle cabin and your expectations should be aligned with that. This location in the hierarchy impacts the degree to which the CSR can fulfill a service request. A quick check at your status and the gate agent knows how to work within the rules set for your class. But, Expectation Management goes beyond just the delivery of entitled service, it helps the customer be prepared and aligned with that level – the customer can be conditioned what to expect.

The best customer Expectation Management begins at the point of product or service awareness, either through branding and or campaign messaging. Expectations about service literally begin before the purchase, but they can be further influenced at the time of signing on the dotted line. I remember buying a sofa sectional specifically because of the store providing a lifetime stain removal. When I actually pulled out the credit card to consummate the deal, I was given a bunch of additional information and advice regarding how to and how not to get the stain removed. This proved useful later when the inevitable red wine decorated the furniture following a party. I am glad I knew what to really expect.

When it comes time for the actual service event, it is pretty late in the cycle for addressing an incorrectly reached expectation. This is a situation that will typically erode satisfaction and commensurate loyalty. If someone purchases software with the assumption that a live human being will help them on the other end of a phone line should the application fail to perform, they are likely to be dissatisfied should they be driven only to FAQ’s on the website for assistance. This is the reason why so much software packaging now includes explicit messaging regarding support right on the front of the box.

Incorrectly set expectations can also hurt customer satisfaction whey they are set too low. Just as the airline example at the beginning of this post, if an individual has a service need that they don’t understand can be addressed by a CSR, they may harbor ill feelings toward the product vendor or even though it could have been corrected.

Yes, the CSR does have some room to make incidents reached through incorrect expectations better. They can offer a one-time exception or they can offer some modest compensatory token to help recover some good will. More and more, CSR’s are given the ability to up-sell the customer to a higher tier of service, thereby immediately raising entitlement and satisfaction. This works especially well if the individual does not recognize they have purchased their way into the cellar. It works especially poorly when it appears like a bait and switch. Freeware falls into this latter category quite frequently. Training around proper messaging and timing is key for this to work successfully.

One final element of proper Expectation Management, which extends beyond the service incident, is the use of feedback mechanisms that monitor the customer experience through follow up assessment. Typically this is conducted with a brief request to the customer to rate their experience via an unobtrusive e-mail or a drop-in-the-mail-card. This can serve two key objectives. First, if the incident was positive it helps reinforce the expectation of future positive experience, which then drives up satisfaction and loyalty. Second, if the expectation was not met due to an incorrectly set expectation, it can provide a channel for remediation that may be otherwise lost, perpetuating dissatisfaction and eroding loyalty.

Without question, Expectation Management has a lot of moving parts and is interwoven into all aspects of the customer service function as well as throughout the customer lifecycle. It is hard to get it right, but there are means for optimizing satisfaction through correct processes and attention to the intelligence provided through well managed customer data. My only wish is that the airlines would get better at this aspect of customer service.

Posted by Matt Johnson at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A fairly sizable portion of my clients are medical device companies. They make aortas, blood diagnostic machines, replacement parts for just about every corner of the skeleton, and even those nasty implements of torture utilized by your favorite hygienist. They may produce a nearly infinite amount of items and consumables, but there is one thing they all seem to have in common. They do not want to become or be mistaken for a pharmaceutical company. Most of this sentiment seems to be focused within the sales function and there is one primary driver behind this. Many sales reps in the medical device industry are there having escaped positions previously as pharma reps.

This is a common dynamic within a number of biotechnology firms I have worked with as well, but it is so strong within the med device companies that this sentiment and culture even prevails within medical device divisions of pharmaceutical parent companies. This element of company culture and the beliefs and attitude it harbors is strong, and will influence far and wide.

One of the detrimental aspects of this anti-pharma culture has to do with the over-avoidance of things considered pharmaceutical in nature, but that are actually best practices. Of all these that I find is the most dysfunctional, what causes the most potential harm, is the belief that capturing key activities following a sales call is unnecessary or undeisrable. The fear is that this smacks of call reporting, the big pharma practice of keeping track of sales reps to ensure they are getting through to enough docs. This is such a prevalent practice that some SFA packages designed for the pharmaceutical industry do just about nothing but build call reports.

Keeping track of key activities that take place during a sales visit or phone chat is an essential element of sales force effectiveness. There are nearly an unlimited number of reasons for capturing information about what happens or is discussed when a rep meets with a healthcare professional. And there is a similar number of types of things that can be captured to satisfy all those good reasons.

Perhaps the biggest reason to keep track of things is to measure what is working. What product messages drive the most interest? What actions are best at progressing to the next sales stage? What assurances are best at overcoming objections? If the actual activities are captured and then compared against results, a sales team can use the feedback to improve its performance.

This is not big brother. It does not have to be an issue of control. Although monitoring call activity can help to understand why a sales professional is having troubles at certain sales stages, giving the sales manager an upper hand with coaching. But this should not be viewed as negative or counter-cultural. We are talking about best practices for driving effectiveness. Why would you avoid this just to avoid the perception that you are acting like big pharma?

I totally respect and empathize with those who have chosen a specific type of sales environment, and don’t want to work in the type of environment they have specifically avoided. But we don’t need to throw the baby out with the bath water. Preserve your culture but allow for a bit of discipline that can lead to success. No, we don’t want sales people becoming burdened with administrative chores. Capturing key activities does not have to be a burden – the technology can actually make it easy.

Sales activity and the ability to measure it is at the core of sales force effectiveness best practices. Do what it takes to be successful and you will find a way to preserve your culture.
After all this typing I seem to be experiencing some pain in my wrists. Can anybody leave me a sample of some pain medicine?

Posted by Matt Johnson at 08:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On my way to a customer last week while nicely making way through mid-day traffic, I noticed out of my side window another wind turbine had popped up. We don’t have that many in New England so they still make a strong impression when first appearing in a new location. Seeing the large white blades cycling through the blue sky got me thinking about all those folks who are against this form of green energy.

What was so glaring about this situation on that ride into Boston was the looming ugly smoke stacks towering over the power plant just less than a mile from the wind turbine. While I understand that the good people of London have a fond feeling toward their iconic Battersea smoke stacks (partially due to them gracing the front of a Pink Floyd album cover) I don’t think anybody around our parts are particularly fond of sour moke stacks. They serve to represent destruction. However, it does not seem that much energy goes into complaining about their presence. On the other hand, a wind turbine, which represents symbiosis, somehow creates all sorts of consternation.

What is up with that? This means of powering homes and businesses does not destroy our planet. It is nearly free. And I personally find the towers far more aesthetically pleasing than old brick spires that belch toxins into our air. Do these people really think we are going to hurt birds or fish? Come on, man! (sorry ESPN).

With that rant out of the way, I have to make the same observation about many of the client organizations I work with. I am mortified at the number of folks who want to hold onto their old clunky technology because they have a misguided belief that it will be better than the new, updated technology planned to support their business. Perhaps the old software fits like an old shoe, and the new software will need some breaking in. Never mind that the old shoe is causing a bunion.

Most of the new CRM software platforms today are much friendlier to the business, just like wind turbines and our Mother Earth. Typically the new technology costs less to operate, provides better individual benefits, and has the potential for much greater business benefits. It is possible there will be a trade off or two. Yes, the old clunky system probably has some customization that will be lost. But, there is a good chance that the process that has been automated by that customization is old and clunky too. It very well may be that the inherent processes built within the software are better. If it will only be given it a chance.

Yes, there is a trade off with wind turbines. They are large, and they will change the landscape they are erected within. I am fine with seeing them out my window overlooking the North Atlantic. I will accept that trade off against what the alternative is. I wish more people would take this attitude both with this new form of renewable energy and with their new CRM software.

Posted by Matt Johnson at 01:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If 2009 was the year of social media, I predict 2010 will be the year of cloud computing. To be honest, I will welcome the change. There were just too many newsletters and webinars on how to use facebook for lead generation. I am happy to change subjects. Of course, social media is not going away. If you don’t have this included in your CRM strategy, it is time to rethink that position. However, you are also going to be forced via the tech press to get your head in the cloud.

So, I am not planning on making this entry a treatise on computing in the cloud – you have lots of other places to go for an education. Instead, I think it would be useful to understand some of the ramifications around CRM technology, especially for those who are on the verge of making decisions regarding the investment of a new platform. The nature of the cloud is something to take into consideration.

Some of you out there are teetering back and forth on whether to go on premise or SaaS. Every day there are more reasons to go the path of software rental and it is all because of the cloud getting more and more populated with applications. Because so many software vendors are building their applications to be accessed via the web, the likelihood of finding a solution that snugly fits your business requirements is getting higher with every release.

Even if you do choose to buy licenses for an on premise CRM solution, there is a good chance you will be connecting SaaS applications to it because of this exact phenomenon. Somewhere out there is an app that fits what you need.

Perhaps more important is the selection to be made between SaaS CRM platform vendors. While all of these folks are up in the cloud, some are more connected to the cloud than others. Top tier CRM packages are like planets with gravitational pull. They attract moons into their orbit. However, these are not all created equally – some have more gravity and attract more moons, becoming more like a big solar system. This is to your advantage. The more vendors that write code to fit up nicely with a CRM platform, the greater the likelihood you will find one that fits your requirements with precision. You get a composite application that fits together seamlessly, reducing your implementation costs and driving up your adoption. This translates into higher success rates for CRM programs.

I prefer not to name names here, but with a little bit of research you will see for yourself which vendors have generated the most gravity. Back in the 90’s we used to talk a lot about having to make the choice between single vendor platforms versus best-of-breed approach. Well, that whole debate now goes away because you can get a best-of-breed galaxy and have it act like single platform. You just need to decide which vendor has the best options in their orbit to suit your needs.

If the transition from the atmospheric metaphor to the astronomical lost you, the connection is this. Vendors who write their software to be accessed via the web are operating in the cloud. This computing paradigm enables what can be seamless combinations of applications that are tailored to fit your business. In the universe of CRM some of these platforms have attracted many vendors to build their applications to play nicely together. If you are in the position of having to choose, I suggest that you consider the platforms with the most gravitational pull. Not only do they have the best chance of satisfying you now, they will likely attract more and more new apps – things are being built right now to satisfy needs you don’t even know you have yet.

Watch out for those asteroids!

Posted by Matt Johnson at 01:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I remember when the motion picture industry first came out with its movie rating system. At the time I was just a kid and it was the first time I encountered the word “mature”. So, one night while at the cinema I required my mother to explain to me the meaning. Rather than just tell me that some movies were for kids and some were for grownups, she attempted to explain to me the more elaborate definition (she was a career-long school teacher and every long car ride involved a lesson of one kind or another). What was strange about it all to me was that one would be required to reach a certain level of maturity in order to watch a movie. It did not help my full comprehension that my parents often let me accompany them to more adult-oriented movies, even as a pre-teen.

Thanks to my mother this lesson really stuck and, believe it or not, I think this whole maturity thing plays a critical role in managing CRM strategy and program planning. For example, a very common request that I typically field from a new client will be to help answer the question, “what should be next for our CRM program?” Naturally, as a consultant my answer is always the same – “it depends!” But I am not acting flippant with this response; it truly does depend on the maturity of the different elements within their program. The best things to focus on are commonly those that are less mature and most likely holding back the effectiveness of the whole program.

So, you are probably wondering, does this mean some CRM programs are PG13 while some are rated R, and then are there serious programs out there, which get the infamous X rating? Well, no, that is not exactly the right way to think about it. I prefer to think about maturity on a five point scale. At the low end of the continuum (I prefer not to use the term “immature”) are program elements that we might view as just getting initiated such as a first attempt at creating a customer segmentation model. On the other end of the continuum would be what we might view as world class capability – you do it as well as the best companies on the planet.

The next thing you are probably asking is what exactly is it that we are rating on this 5 point scale? Naturally, that gets another, “it depends”. Some of our clients want us to look at their whole CRM program to determine what is needed. Then, there are those companies that have a very focused need, they may want us to focus just on campaign management – where are they on that five-point scale and what do they need to do to advance just that one CRM element to the next stage of maturity? We can work at either end of that range, and everything in between.

When we focus on the whole CRM program we take a look at the full spectrum of CRM domains:
- Technical CRM,
- Functional CRM and
- Enterprise CRM.
Technical CRM is what many people think of when they consider CRM. It is the software that defines the industry. But there is more to it than just configuring your CRM package. You also need to consider the data, which may be in many places. Then you also need to include the integration and middleware that brings those disparate data elements together into something useful. And then supporting all of this is the infrastructure in place to make it wall work – servers, networks, portals, handhelds, all kinds of stuff that make up the backbone of our CRM technology.

Functional CRM is all about the customer touchpoints. How do you make your company known to prospective customers? How do you convince them to become customers? How do you keep them happy customers once they are through the door? These are the business functions that touch the customer. CRM is all about how those customer interaction processes work and how to make them as effective as possible. For example, are your pipeline management processes well developed? Do they need to become more mature? And don’t forget about your partners who sell and service for you? The channels you have established to reach and support your customers are also one of these functional components. Don’t leave them out of the maturity assessment.

Enterprise CRM includes all the other parts that can be overlooked. What is your customer strategy and how well is it aligned and executed across the customer facing functions? What measurements do you have in place to know how well you are doing relative to customer-facing objectives? And then there is your company culture – is it customer friendly? Finally, achieving higher levels of CRM maturity requires the ability to define and implement initiatives. How well do you manage programs – process improvement initiatives, technology deployments and the management of these organizational changes? Yes, this is all a part of the CRM capability.

If you are really focused on CRM software as the center of our program, there is a good chance some of the other elements are not as well developed. Often customers will ask us about what tools they should add as the next step in their CRM program. If all of the focus has been on the technology, our answer will probably be to focus on something other than a tool as the next step. Here is the reason. The least mature element of your CRM program may be the least common denominator to your success. If you have good software but weak processes or poor alignment with your strategy, adding more software is not going to make you more successful. You have to address the less mature items first. If you want to run faster, but you have a strong leg and a weak leg, don’t exercise the strong leg more – the weak leg is what is holding you back.

Improving your CRM capability can be managed at multiple levels. You can assess your maturity with the big picture as the focus or you can get up close and personal with targeted capabilities that you know need attention. If you are not sure where to begin, start at the broad level. If you are confident that you know your weak links in the chain, examine them in more detail. Improving those links then will make the entire CRM chain stronger.

Good luck with your maturity rating analysis, and don’t forget the popcorn.

Posted by Matt Johnson at 08:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It is basketball season again here in the states. Having come from Indiana, the home of Hoosier Hysteria – the epicenter of basketball madness come tournament time, the return of hoops always gets my attention. There is an amazing drama in a closely matched game. I have never seen so many people with their hearts in their throats when there is the potential for a buzzer beater to change the outcome. When I played bball as a kid in school I got butterflies before every game. It never happened to me on the football field nor did it happen on the baseball diamond. Something about basketball.

Today the sport is big business. University coaches make as much as top CEOs. High school stars hold press conferences to announce their choice of colleges. Each game is played starting long before the first jump ball. Coaches spend hours viewing scouting tapes. Offenses create new plays to surprise the opponents who have been watching those same tapes. And every game includes a defensive plan as well – how to handle the big guy, how to handle the hot shooter, who to double team. The game plan is comprehensive – both sides of the court are covered in order to maximize success.

The best teams make the best plans and execute best on those plans.

Time out - so, this is why I don’t get why so many of the organizations that I work with don’t want to include customer service in their game plan. Too often when I am asked to help build a CRM strategy or facilitate the development of a CRM program plan, the services end of the court gets left out of the picture. You can’t win a basketball game just on making baskets. Likewise you can’t get the most of your CRM approach focused only on business development. You must include the service element in the game plan to maximize the w’s in the win/loss column.

More often than not, the rationale I get is that the customer service folks have their own CRM system, so, they don’t need to participate in the commercial group’s program. This is like attempting basketball with three players on offense and two on defense, but not letting them help each other or have any interaction on or off the court. You can’t win that way – you will always be outnumbered. Everybody needs to be in the game on the same team and with the same plan.

There is nothing worse than a sales rep showing up at the client and finding out that there has just been a big service disaster, which they knew nothing about, and just when they were planning to have a conversation about a price increase. If there were a better mechanism in place for communication about account activities, these embarrassing client interactions would not happen with the frequency that they occur. And the communication flow needs to flow both ways. The services folks need to know the strategy for the account from the sales and marketing side of game plan. This helps them align services correctly and assure that top accounts get the right attention.

In the healthcare industries on which I focus a similar dynamic occurs with the field medical liaison team. They get left out of the CRM discussions all the time. Just because they don’t sell does not mean their customer contact is unimportant. CRM is meant to focus on all customer-facing activity and maximize the effectiveness of those activities to maximize the effectiveness of business outcomes.

So, the next time you get into a pick-up game, remember that you have to play both sides of the court. Then, let that be a reminder to you that you need your CRM plan to include both sides of the court as well.

Time in.

Posted by Matt Johnson at 03:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)