Centrist
How do you define the concept of Customer Relationship Management? I have discovered in my travels that CRM is defined in many ways, and I have concluded that there are some variations that I particularly dislike. Those that know me might conclude that my least favorite is a definition that equates CRM to technology. While I do find that definition particularly bothersome because it gets companies into loads of trouble, this is not my least favorite because it is one that can be confronted and overcome fairly easily. Organizations that take a techno-centric approach to CRM eventually come around to recognize that technology is only a small piece of the overall CRM formula.
What I find as a greater challenge to effectiveness is a CRM definition popular with a number of prolific and well respected business authors. You may think I am crazy, but the customer-centric definitions are the ones that I think cause the most problems. These definitions espouse the need to advance the organization, through the use of CRM, to the ultimate end state of placing the customer in the middle of everything that is done. At this point you may believe I have flipped my wig. Of course CRM should drive toward customer centrism. Not.
Most of the companies I have worked with harbor some form of centrism. It is a part of the business culture. I have seen marketing centrism, sales centrism, patient centrism, engineering centrism and even creativity centrism. I have always considered these centrisms as just a given – something that may require some compensation to achieve balance, but not necessarily something to battle. Yours may be a customer-centric culture by its design. However, declaring that all CRM programs should place the customer at the center of the picture is limiting. It is a flawed academic concept. It is a pendulum swinging counter attack to the product-centric approach (which is also limiting). But, it swings the pendulum too far and causes just as much imbalance. Customer centrism is not practical and it will sub-optimize your business strategy. Here’s why.
Building a strong CRM program relies on building a strong CRM strategy - the foundation of which should be laid upon the business outcomes targeted for success. Each organization needs to define their targeted outcomes to fit their business strategy at the time. Depending on market factors and the developmental stage of the organization, the outcomes should be some combination of growth, efficiency and customer experience. There may be periods where growth has to be the focus and there may be periods where efficiency takes over. There may be periods where the focus must drive toward better customer experience. Seldom should all three be equally focused and seldom can you aford a total neglect of two in favor of one.
The problem with customer-centrism at the center of CRM is that it expects that customer experience is the dominant outcome and this is its downfall. There may be times when growth is king and there may be times when efficiency is king. Our CRM programs must enable the organization to achieve the defined strategy for the business, which may change every few years as things in the market change. Customer-centrism limits that flexibility.
I will disclose that I have not necessarily been a fan of the whole centrism thing. It smacks of political or religious ideology. Let’s just accept that ideology thwarts flexibility and not get into a big discussion about the merits of having strong ideological convictions. However, I will also disclose that I have recently considered a moderation of my own view of the benefit of centrism. There is a centrism, when it comes to CRM, which I now believe does have some merit. This would be an engagement-centric CRM approach.
Let’s start with a definition of the term engagement. I offer that an engagement is any interaction that your customer has with your organization. These touch points serve as the core reason for your organizational being and they include:
- Reading an e-mail that has been sent from anywhere in your organization
- Searching for a white paper on your web site
- Yelling at a customer service representative
- Participating in a focus group
- Filling out a feedback card
- Watching their mobile phone being repaired at one of your franchise outlets
- Paying a bill
- Standing in line
Customer engagements are not limited to a sales visit or a call into a customer service 800 line. Additionally, the engagement involves more than just the customer. Also involved in an engagement are potentially:
- Someone from your company
- A representative from one of your partners
- The product or service
- The task needing to be performed
- The medium utilized for conducting or enabling the engagement
- The outcome of the engagement, which ultimately leads to:
* Buying more or less from you
* Costing your more or less
* The customer becoming happier or unhappier with your organization
Engagement-centric CRM cares about all of the above, not just the customer. Focusing most on the customer – customer-centric CRM – is too narrow of a focus. It leaves out too many critical elements of the complete engagement. To be successful with CRM requires that you attend to all the engagement elements. Engagement-centric CRM will drive a focus on each element, and therefore, increase the likelihood of positive outcomes. If you leave an element out of your focus, such as the engagement medium, you may not be uncovering that one medium is costing precious resources while not delivering the same results for a type of engagement versus another less-costly medium. Success demands that you keep a watch on the whole package.
If your culture is one that is customer-centric, that is great – you should not go out and change it because customer-centrism is bad. Rather, you should as a rule not conclude that driving your business to become customer-centric is the best way to be successful. But, if you want to center on something, if you have a need to hone into the bulls-eye, focus on the engagement.
Gee, maybe we should call it Customer Engagement Management.