The New Cost-Effectiveness Argument
You don’t buy size 12 shoes for size 9 feet. You don’t get a Bugatti Chiron for grocery store runs. You don’t swat flies with field artillery. And you don’t buy more contact center technology than your business can reasonably grow into.The customer service neighborhood of CRM was the wrong side of the tracks for many years. The contact center could only cost the company money (so it was thought), so the responsible strategy was to cut costs to the bone and never spend anything there unless forced to. Asking for more staff or better equipment was like getting the state to renovate the prison library—impossible without somebody of the calibre of Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption. That attitude was changing by the dawn of the 21st Century. Research proved that better customer service led to better retention, loyalty, and advocacy among customers. These led to a strengthened brand and increased revenue in the long term. New integration technology meant the contact center could save and even generate sales in its own right. The rise of online communities and social networking showed the strength of the motivated and well-connected customer. A shout of praise when a company went the extra mile for a customer in need could be amplified. So could a howl of outrage when one was treated callously, with potentially disastrous results. Spending in the contact center was not only necessary, it was the smart thing to do.The freedom to make decisions based on results rather than thrift was never license to burn money, but it meant that customer service had a stronger voice at the...
How to enable Sales Operations
This CRMKonvo was supposed to be with Thomas Verly, a highly experienced Sales- and IT leader. We wanted to learn from his experience how to enable sales operations. What is important, what to measure? Do you really need a CPQ system? Unluckily he could not participate due to the heavy snow storm in Texas that caused major disruption. The good news is that Thomas and his family are safe Now, the CRMKonvos team has more than 70 years of CRM experience. We are coming from very different angles. So, we decided to tackle the topic, making some good points. Enjoy this episode and look forward to another one with Thomas Verly. Coming...
CRM, CX and the future of privacy
The CRMKonvos gang hat an intensive conversation in the intersection of CRM, CX, customer experience and privacy, which by default makes for a highly interesting one, because of all the conflicting goals that are involved. Our guest was Michael Hoos. Michael is a highly experienced specialist in the area of security. With his experience in various industries, using numerous CRM solutions, building compliant customer experiences that respect customer privacy, he has navigated many pitfalls for and with his customers. Now he shapes new solutions with...
How to leverage The Power of Ecosystems
Ecosystems are a big topic. What makes an ecosystem successful? What hurts? Are there any key elements to ecosystems to make them succeed? Does it differ from communities? Can a vendor survive without one? Or even better: Can customers succeed without? There are lots of questions to be answered in the times of platform play. The CRMKonvos team had a vivid conversation with Alan Berkson, Global Director of Community Outreach and Analyst Relations at Freshworks, who, as part of is job works with, and builds ecosystems – pretty well, in fact. He has a lot of interesting things to say, also about the current rage, which is Clubhouse – will it succeed? Is there any good to it? Enjoy the...