And that all thinking has left me reflecting on that obscure sport of Curling in particular. This one does not get the attention of the downhill or figure skating, but I suspect it is growing in cult popularity. In fact, NBC had a page on their website dedicated just to the screaming associated with the sport. You may think I am reaching here, but I think there are things we can learn from Curling that apply to the effective management of CRM programs.

The first connection is strategy. If you slide on a luge you have one objective – go fast. If you push a big stone toward a bull’s-eye painted beneath a slightly course sheet of ice, your game plan just involve much more. You have to think about your blockers and you have to think about your scorers, plus you have to anticipate the other team’s moves. CRM also requires strategy. In fact it is one of the big three predictors of program success – CRM programs with a solid, well thought out strategy have a better chance of achieving objectives. I have encountered some programs that have attempted a luge strategy – get it done as quickly as possible – poor outcomes invariably.

Perhaps more importantly, a champion curler will make modifications on strategy execution based on how the match develops. Should you knock out an opponent’s stone with your next stone or wait? Should you hit hard or stay conservative? How much curl should you attempt to avoid a blocker? The execution constantly changes based on the current configuration of stones. When you make your second slalom run the consideration of execution is simple – go faster.

Adapting the CRM program plan is also a requirement for effective results. Things change. Funding can shrink. Events can be rescheduled. Sponsorship can wane. A champion program manager also has to adjust the execution of the plan to adapt to the changes in the environment. Just like the unexpected ricochet causes an unplanned blockage in the ice, CRM programs are constantly encountering obstacles to execute around. Changes to the plan also require discussion, which is so critical to Curling that a time out is permitted so the team can reach consensus before the next stone.

If you had the chance to watch much of this growing ice sport, you might have also noticed that the curlers wear some unique footwear. One shoe is designed to slide and the other shoe is designed to grip. They are quite ingenious. I think CRM requires something similar to achieve sure-footed fleetness on such a difficult surface. A CRM program manager has to wear two different kinds of shoes, figuratively, to be successful. On one foot is needed a tread that has a good grip on the business. On the other foot a sole that can maneuver deftly through technology is essential. Navigating both at virtually the same time is critical for success.

There is one significant difference that I should mention about how CRM is not like this frozen sport. Every good program manager has a team that is doing what is needed to advance the metaphorical stone across the ice. The rigorously swept broom heats the ice for speed when needed. Sweeping at an angle to the trajectory bends the path and creates the curl. The sport cannot be played effectively without the team performing these key tasks – in this the analogy continues. However, in the sport of Curling it is expected to scream instructions maniacally at one’s team mates as the stone approaches the bull’s-eye. Communication is essential within the CRM program, yes. But I am certain that the screaming is where the analogy pretty much ends.

Stay tuned for the next entry, which will examine the similarities between the rapidly growing sport of Beer Pong and effective lead generation.

Now, I have to disclose that I have been doing work sessions like this for a quarter century and I can smell when a question of this variety is really a set up. These questions are usually a front for the individual to declare what she or he believes is all important, and he or she is most likely testing whether I agree (which typically also means they are testing whether I am as smart as they are). For this particular individual, the capability that we have titled Opportunity Management was in fact his favorite. For him everything revolved around the ability to manage deals through the pipeline successfully – the mark of a master sales person.

I probably should pause to mention that the five sales capabilities being referenced include:
- Sales Force Leadership
- Territory Management
- Relationship Management
- Opportunity Management
- Sales Force Measurement
Over the years I have noticed somewhat of a pattern with the companies I have engaged. Some like to focus on account planning (a Territory Management best practice); some like to focus on forecasting (a Sales Force Measurement best practice); some like to focus on coaching (a Sales Force Leadership best practice); and some organizations informally put their effort into call planning (a Relationship Management best practice). The individual from my workshop believed it was all about the pipeline, a normal focus for those who have a centrism toward Opportunity Management. It now seems normal in my experience that sales functions naturally gravitate toward a centrism of one capability or another.

OK, so you are being patient with me but you are asking yourself, why could this possibly matter? And my response is that this centrism thing is both good and bad, and anything that is good and bad simultaneously matters to people who write blogs.

Centrism toward something like an emphasis on the sales pipeline is good because it causes focus. Everybody on the sales team knows what is important – moving deals toward the close. It makes measurement easy and it makes learning the process easy – everybody knows what to do. Focus truly drives results. But there is a downside in this situation. Focus on one of only five capabilities can also mean that four important categories of sales effectiveness are being under attended – and this is a bad thing. If everything is about the deal that means you may not have much focus on accounts that don’t have a deal going, but should. If you were focusing on account planning (a Territory Management capability) you might also be attending to accounts that should have deals being worked but don’t. This more balanced focus will drive new business better than a focus on existing deals alone, which ultimately translates into even more revenue. Being balanced with a focus on all the capabilities is what drives bigger success versus a narrow focus.

This is a lot like skiing at a large resort that offers multiple peaks and bowls but you choose to only ski the runs serviced by one chair lift (even though there are 19 others to choose from). The variety of the terrain and the experience of the different mountain views are a part of the experience (and the $90 lift ticket). Why limit yourself to just one small portion of the experience? The answer is simple – it is because you like the runs from that chair. That is your preferred focus, but you limit what you get from the mountain. And most importantly, you are likely missing out on something else that you would truly enjoy – maybe even more.

The analogy is not perfect, but to be successful with your sales function you do need to truly attend to all five of the sales force capabilities. You cannot run your team just on the forecast. Without coaching you will get nowhere. You cannot build a great territory plan but ignore actions needed during the actual sales visit. Setting goals without measuring your progress toward them is pretty much meaningless. Each of the five capability areas needs your love and attention.

Just in case you were wondering what my answer was to the gentlemen from the workshop, I am willing to share it. Once he disclosed that his preferred capability was Opportunity Management I wholly agreed that this was a great one to choose. It is quite possible given their sales culture that a focus on the pipeline was a great focus for them to drive results. He beamed with pride that his was the right answer. But then he sulked when I went on to state that if they were nigligent in the other four capabilities (they were actually weak in three of the four) that this was putting them at risk, which we went on to identify with specific examples provided by his peers. We did eventually build a great plan to help them achieve more balance and with that more success.

Good luck with your balancing act!

However, this week I had an experience that reminded me that all of the most effective marketing automation in the world cannot replace the need for positive human contact when it comes to winning over a new customer. There are some elements in the rainmaking equation that simply come down to good people skills. If you are uncomfortable with the person or people you are dealing with it can really get in the way of the purchase.

I enjoyed the role of the customer this week, for a change. We were investigating two prospective vendors that we believed had similar products to offer, but needed to dig a bit deeper to understand which of the two would be the better fit. One simply outshined the other and it was totally because of the people we encountered as we were performing our comparative shopping. We focused on these two vendors as a result of excellent marketing that each performed well. But one of them dropped the ball when the true selling started. But, this left me a bit dissatisfied – I was worried that we would fall into the position to make our decision without fully understanding the pros and cons of each of the two offerings. The selling process was so poor due to the people from one of the vendors that they literally short-changed themselves. We did not get a full appreciation for the product and its virtues.

So, I reflected on this a bit. Buried deep within the proprietary framework we utilize to assist clients with Sales Force Effectiveness is the recognition that a successful selling process requires strong fundamental people skills. Reflecting on this a bit more, I now believe this gets overlooked too often. We get so focused on process and technology we forget that good selling is very much centered upon the ability to develop rapport and trust.

I ran across a study a while back that identified those behavioral skills that help to delineate effective sales reps from those that are less effective. Some of these skills are to be expected, such as the ability to develop comfort with the prospect and possess the competence to explain how the product satisfies the prospective customers’ specific needs. Others that were identified might not be as expected, such as honoring the buyer’s purchasing process (instead of the seller’s process), helping to address problems for the buyer (outside of the sale), and not being perceived as aggressive in pushing for the close.

Interestingly, we encountered negative examples of these skills with the vendor who performed poorly. They did not take the time to understand our needs; they followed a standard process rather than working within our buying approach; and they totally failed at developing rapport or demonstrating competence with the product. Ironically, the vendor who bombed with the human contact was actually best with the marketing.

If I were to use my experience this week to sum up these behavioral sales competencies from the study, I would conclude that it is all about confidence – confidence in the individual as representing the capability of the vendor and its products. You have to feel confident that the individual will help you be successful as a result of the sale. Anything that erodes this confidence reduces the likelihood of the sale. While this probably all seems pretty obvious to everyone, I believe we don’t give enough attention to this foundational component of sales force effectiveness. In my line of business there is an underlying assumption that someone else is attending to this necessary capability, such as the training function or the sales coaching process. However, a solid focus on SFE needs to have a focus on sales competencies, especially as they pertain to human relations.

So, the question is whether anyone is keeping an eye on this within your company. Does the training function know what skills are needed to be successful and do they have programs that really assist the individual develop them? Do your sales managers have the ability to assess individual strengths and do they have the tools for proper coaching? If not, these fundamental skills may be getting in the way of your further success.

Back in 1977 I went on a buying spree for the same thing. It was a lot of fun and I ended up picking Tulane, but at the last minute I changed my mind and fell into a school at the other end of the Mississippi. As I think back on that period I am finding some things to be quite interesting now, 33 years later.

Last week as we were making our final preparations for our trip that will span Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and a brief spell in Idaho, we were contacted by the schools. They wanted to make sure that everything was on track and we were ready. Prior to that point there were e-mails with interesting stories, maps and brochures that came via postman, and just a lot of contact. We were being courted just like any prospective buyer of a big purchase.

That summer so long ago when I changed my mind and backed out of a trip down to New Orleans, I had never once been contacted except to learn of my acceptance. I never got pictures of the campus or an offer to come and visit for a day to sit in on some classes. They never sent a decal for my parents’ car. They assumed that I was going to buy and they spent their attention on shoppers who were perhaps more elusive. As a result the good folks in the admissions office lost a customer.

Things are pretty different today, at least with some of the schools we are looking into. For example, in Montana we registered for our visit on line. Since that time we have been in contact via newsletter with regularity. We were reminded of our logistics as we approached our visit date and the whole process has been surprisingly easy. They are using CRM (or at least a college recruiting version of the software) along with modern marketing techniques to nurture their buyers. The nice thing about these software packages is that they tie into other university systems just like any other good CRM platform is integrated to ERP or MRP. Ironically, a recent customer of mine just happens to be in the business of selling this nifty software.

I think there is a very good chance that I would have not ended up at Valparaiso if my original selection had been using this same CRM orientation. They did not have the software back then, but they could have been more focused on me as a prospective buyer. They could have communicated much better. They could have kept me interested. This vicarious college shopping has been a learning for me in that I have been reeducated about the pervasive value of CRM beyond its core application. Managing customers correctly is fundamental. If you know who your customers are, you can improve your success with them. Tulane did not view me as a customer or if they did they were not very customer focused.

Naturally, I want my son to pick the school that is right for him but I secretly want him to choose Montana State. Not just because it is strategically positioned between world class skiing resorts, but also because it has demonstrated the best CRM on our list.

Go Bobcats!

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.

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.

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?

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.

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!

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.

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.

Now, it is obvious what this is all about, and then again, you have to wonder why. Yes, it could be beneficial for tourism to claim that the Pilgrims officially started things off in your town. But, historians are fairly confident that the first Feast of Thanks happened at the site of what we now know as Plymouth. Nothing is going to change if those turkey celebration wannabees win their argument. If the Mayflower first stopped off in current day Provincetown, refreshed their water tanks and emptied the scuppers, who really cares? We will still end up with a very feeble seaside rock and historical landmark getting all the attention.

This smacks of a similar argument that I often hear between feuding business functions – who gets credit for the lead? I have visited more than one company where the dispute goes something like this. The marketing function performs a lot of effort generating leads and then hands them off to the sales force. Some individuals within the sales team pursue the leads they receive, but they get creative with how they capture these opportunities in their CRM system. According to the paper trail within the technology, they reject the lead from marketing and enter a new opportunity in the system, as if they found the lead themselves.

Unlike the situation going on here in New England regarding the seafarers aboard the Mayflower, it actually does matter where a lead originates. There are two issues at play in this situation.

First, and foremost, it is very important to track what marketing activity generates a lead. More critical is the ability to then connect that lead to the opportunity pursued. If the business is won, we want to then track which types of leads bring more business. Likewise we want to track which types of lead generation activities spawn the best leads. All of this requires that we link all the activities together. When a good lead is pursued and tracked under an opportunity that is not linked to the original lead we don’t have the ability to determine if the money invested in generating that lead is good money spent.

I hear many reasons for why this degenerate lead management activity occurs; mostly the rationale is centered around the thinking that the original lead was bad and the sales person had to do work to actually create an opportunity that was good. I don’t have hard statistics to quote on this, but I suspect this is nonsense.

The second issue to raise is the use of rewards that are in place and how they influence the behavior. I have witnessed many companies that remunerate sales people with a higher commission for deals they find and close versus deals they get handed to them from a marketing lead. On the surface this could make sense, but with a bit of understanding you will see that this too is total nonsense.

The reward causes the bad behavior. If you are investing money in marketing campaigns then you need to do everything you can to ensure those campaigns pay off. Don’t reinforce your sales team to circumvent those marketing investments. And don’t give them an incentive to cheat the system and mask the efforts of your marketing function.

Rather, be thankful for your marketing function. Give them credit when they find a good lead. Let them know when their lead is not good and for what reason. But, don’t break the chain and make it impossible to measure campaign effectiveness. And whatever you do, don’t make your sales folks thankful for the ability to get a lead for free and then turn it into a better deal once they make it their own.

If you visit the Bay State in November, please enjoy all the historical sites, but you may want to make your plans for a Cape Cod visit when the weather is a bit more oriented for a trip to the beach.

Happy Thanksgiving

When we were flying high we were able to get a lot of stuff accomplished. We identified business needs and we got the funding. If we could make a good argument for what we wanted to go off and build, we were given the investment capital. Following each of the two aforementioned tumbles, that investment funding got really scarce. If you wanted money you had to build an extremely solid business case.

As a consultant I see a clear correlation between the health of the general economy and the effort put into the development of the business case in order to justify investments. When money is tight, some programs still move forward, but they are the ones with the best chance of producing results. If we take this logic a bit further, we might deduce then that when things are good and money easier to come by, projects that are not as sound will also get funded. This bugs me.

So, I would like to offer up a couple of things. First, when times are good, and we could be heading in that direction again, I think we should push to have the business case become a standard. We don’t need to get lax on this just because funding is easier to come by. Let’s stop bad projects in good times – it hurts us in the long run. When we go for funding in bad times the people with the checkbooks will not be timid in reminding us about those bad investments.

Second, I have a suggestion for approaching the business case effectively, especially now while things are still a bit tight. There are multiple approaches to building a case for getting the funding. I am not talking about the different ways of calculating ROI such as the concept of net present value and other financial terms that I don’t really understand. I am referring to a more fundamental set of approaches. We can take a spreadsheet orientation, a very sterile, financially oriented, cell by cell calculation of where the value derives from regarding the money invested in programs. I don’t really like this approach because I am not an accountant. Also, I don’t like this approach because I think these types of financial modeling don’t appeal to people all that well because they are sterile and hard to fathom. We see a lot of numbers but we have to trust they are derived in a way that is real according to the way the business actually works. You can show me a rocket fuel formula, but it does not make me believe I can fly.

The second approach is the political orientation to business case development. It can take a little longer, involves more people, still relies on tables of calculations, but in the long run there is less math theory and more reality within the calculations.

In the world of CRM we typically make changes to the way work is performed. We deal in the world of emotion and perception. Acceptance of change is as critical as the logic of the change. Millions in investments can be lost because of irrational reaction to the approach taken. The business case needs to take this into account. Those who are going to take on the change, and sign up for the potential gains, need to define what they will be before they are held accountable for achieving them. So, I like to build my business case with the key stakeholders and thought leaders of the targeted business units and not the financial analysts assigned to support them.

First, have them identify very clearly the areas that a program will improve, such as pipeline management, for example. Second, explore what the improvement in the pipeline management process will produce – is it something like faster deal closure or higher probability of conversion? Next, ask your stakeholders to estimate what the improvements could realistically amount to. Is it an extra deal per rep every month; is it an extra deal per week?

Finally, once you have this list of quantified business benefits it is time to march into the finance department and request that they calculate the financial values according to whichever formulas they will accept. If you follow this path, you will satisfy the business and the bean counters and produce a business case the folks will believe and sign up for.

So, my proposal is that we build this into the standard program scoping process. Develop a business case even if you get the funding ahead of time. This will drive stronger sponsorship with your management team and that will always be good for adoption.

Sadly, this is the way it works with many CRM programs I encounter as well. For example, we have worked with one client that has insisted on changing its CRM platform three times. Each need for change was blamed on the software. Believe me, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the software. There was, however, a serious problem with patience.

I think there are a couple of important lessons here.

First, if you have been tasked with the job of investigating the prospect of changing out your CRM system, stop! Take a really close look at some telltale factors. Is it really the software that is failing? The statistics would indicate otherwise. I would be willing to place a huge wager that you are more likely hampered by a combination of weak management sponsorship, lackluster adoption, and a poorly designed data structure. You don’t need new software to remedy this. In fact, if you bring in new software you will likely encounter the same issues, just like the example above. Address the issues, don’t make the CRM package the scapegoat.

Second, if you have been tasked with the job of investigating the prospect of introducing a CRM system into an organization that does not truly have one; please consider this one piece of advice. You will have many detractors across the organization, just like we are witnessing across the US of A today. The one way to quiet the crowd is to score early. As you build your program plan, find a way to produce a quick win. The financial stimulus package may or may not turn out to be the quick win for our current package – historians will eventually be the judge of this.

You absolutely cannot afford to have historians evaluate your CRM program success. Find a quick win that everyone will recognize as a quick win, at the time that it happens. Where is the pain? Can you alleviate it quickly, even if only partially? Nothing beats failure and naysayers like success. Plan the earliest possible success you can practically produce.

Patience is not an easy thing to manage. If you can find a quick win you will then be playing its game – feeding the beast. Who cares? If you can overcome impatience by satisfying it, you will win in the long run (and in the short run). Don’t confuse this with the action of inappropriately reinforcing a bad behavior in a child. Go for the success and forget about B.F. Skinner. You will never teach the organization to be patient. So, be impatient yourself and build a success into your plan as soon as you possibly can, even if it adds a bit of extra cost. You may not be able to buy happiness, but you can buy success.

Actually, there are quite a few reasons that have been offered up as justification for this reluctance. I would like to debunk some of them, as I feel they are rationalizations and excuses and need to be exposed.

The Sales Force Does Not Need Help
There can be a misconception that the sales team has the bases covered. They have the relationships and they know the accounts. They are on top of what the customer needs and are handling communication in a face-to-face approach. There is no need for the marketing function to disrupt this stable situation. This all assumes that you have enough sales resources to always be present when the customer chooses to take an action. I have never found an organization where this was actually the case.

Long sales cycles demand a significant amount of touches and the sales rep cannot possibly be present for every single one. The ability for marketing to share in that burden is critical. Communication coming through supplemental channels ensures that your company stays front of mind. Eventually the customer needs to pull the trigger on the purchase – the last thing you want is for this to happen when the sales rep is in between visits.

Likewise, many accounts demand a long-trail of relationship maintenance. New purchases spring up in a hard to predict pattern. When a new need arises will your sales rep be the first to be there to remind the customer that you have the ability to satisfy? Don’t leave this to chance. Keep a steady stream of communication with the client supplementing the sales call. This comes from a steady flow of targeted marketing programs, not chance.

Marketing Has Other Priorities
What is more important than bringing in new business? Sure, we need to develop product literature and, yes, we need to drive brand equity. But we also need to drive prospective customers to hard working sales reps. Marketing is a support function. It should guide the sales force to push the correct products with the right accounts. But it also needs to help the sales force identify accounts that want those products. Where I come from these are called leads. Let’s do things to get those leads into the hands of the folks that know what to do with them. Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore!

Customers Are Finite And We Know Who They Are
This is probably the most common rationalization I hear. Many of the industries I work with have a fairly definitive customer list and they know them all. However, they don’t always know when they change their mind. They don’t always know when a new need arises. They don’t know every interest or every potential interested contact. But, if you have a sufficient reach to the customer using supplemental channels you can raise the probability that customers who know you will turn to you when a need arises. This is not just direct mail we are talking about. This includes a strong web presence and participation in the appropriate social media where your customers reside. This is the realm of lead generation as well. Even with customers with whom we are already intimate. Marketing can play a huge role here, if only we were not overcome with the myth that we already know the customer.

Our Customers Are Too Sophisticated For Promotions
I hear this from my B to B customers all the time. Lead generation is something for consumer marketing but it does not apply here. This is what I know. No matter what industry you are in, your customers read their e-mail every day, all day. Your customers are on the web right now. They are conducting a search about the kind of products and services you provide. They are even looking at your products and sharing their opinions about your products to others (whether they have used them or not). And you truly believe that they would ignore a call to action if you were to offer them something while they are out there looking?

Your customers and prospective customers want to be reached when they are ready to be reached. Do you know when that is exactly? The marketing function has the ability to keep tabs on that kind of thing, if we would let them. Your industry is not exempt. When there is a prospective buyer out there exploring, let’s give them an offer – even if it is only to come over and check us out. You don’t need to give coupons or 2-fers. You need to reach out to them when they are interested in being reached and when those two things come together magic happens, they buy.

I am not asking for an overnight change. Let’s start small. If you don’t currently generate leads for your sales force, identify a small and modest program that could uncover prospects. Build a means for capturing that interest and transporting the interested party to the right place for the next step in the pipeline. A small success will breed more interest. Soon more regions will clamor for the new leads and eventually you will be sitting on a bona fide lead generation engine. But let’s not get carried away. Start with a pilot that you can control to be a success.

Maybe we do need leads after all.