How to avoid the CRM crisis
Customer relationships are on the cusp of a crisis, are they? And if this observation is correct, what can we do to avoid the crisis, or even get out of it in case we happen to have taken the step over the precipice? In this CRMKonvo – sponsored by SugarCRM – amongst other things, we talk about the results of the 2021 CRM and sales impact report. Core questions are what has a positive, or negative, impact on sales performance or customer loyalty. The report covers insight gained by 1,000 sales pros. We are discussing with Frank Tjaben, who moved on to sales after having gained considerable experience in various different roles in call centers and other types of organizations. Frank now uses his experience on the other side of the force and has a lot of interesting stories to tell about how a CRM helps or does not help, depending on its implementation. This CRMKonvo is in German language (the report is available in German and English language and definitely worthwhile having a look at)....
How to make CRM users happy
In this very vivid CRMKonvo we talked with Martin Schneider, head of corporate strategy at SugarCRM about why CRM systems still do not make their users happy. I mean, from its very beginnings, it is almost 40 years into the history of CRM. And. CRM. Systems. still. do. not. make. their. users. happy. What are the culprits? What are possible remedies? Listen to some CRM dinosaurs who discuss their learnings through the years and how market and demands have changed since the early days. As a bonus: Learn what custom motorcycles have to do with customer experience....Rising to Swift Challenges in App Development
You may have heard about The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, or the idea of an MVP (minimum viable product). These methodologies say only build what subscribers ask—and will pay— for. Business app development isn’t a one-way street; sometimes a customer will come to you with an idea for a product you wouldn’t otherwise have had in your cycle. When that happens, a responsive company with a close relationship to its customers will be able to deliver something new. Such was the case when financial advisory firm White Glove came to Fastcall with a request regarding Einstein Conversation Insights.Salesforce recently introduced Einstein Conversation Insights. ECI transcribes a recorded conversation, identifies keywords and records metrics (such as talk time per recipient) from phone calls, and provides recording shortcuts to quickly review the calls. Rob Lyons, head of technology for White Glove, identified a natural fit for ECI with his company’s existing use of Fastcall. “I saw this feature was available to us as HVS users,” Lyons says. “I wanted to see if this AI could give me insight into our sales calls beyond standard activity logging.”Such requests are part of the job for Fastcall founder Rich Rosen, and they often spring from curiosity. “Subscribers ask us for stuff they do not really plan to implement,” Rosen says. “We do the work, it does not get used, but is available for the next subscriber.” Even so, this is where innovation is born. “It was worth doing as this is a differentiator,” Rosen says. “Not many other CTI apps have the integration. And it gave us a chance to reach out to...
What’s hot and important in Customer Service
The Covid crisis had a profound impact on customer service centers, on sales and marketing processes. Personnel needed to be sent to home offices with infrastructure for this not being really in place. Coordination became more difficult, especially in environments that did not base on trust already before. Morale was affected, too. What did companies do to address the challenges that came up? With what success? Did leadership behaviour change? We talked to one of the foremost analysts who cover the customer service and customer engagement arena: Kate Leggett of Forrester Research. Lots of ground to cover in a mere hour. But Kate knows her stuff. Be informed and listen to what she has to say. It is worth the...
Ecosystem Play – One Game at a Time
It is not that uncommon that a software company creates new software based upon customer requirements. Actually, this is the way things should be done; not exclusively, but to quite an extent. Now, there are few software vendors who are truly independent. Most vendors are, and need to be, part of one or more other vendor ecosystems. This is simply a matter of scale, as there are only a few vendors who have the size and market power that are necessary to surround themselves with a good number of customers, ISVs, system integrators and other partners. And the number of these ecosystems is rather shrinking than growing. What this means is not that these few companies can implement and deliver what they want, but that the other ones need to carefully check two things. First, which ecosystem(s) to belong to, be it one or more than one. And as the CEO of 3CLogic, Denis Seynhaeve in a recent CRMKonvo said: It is important to choose wisely, which ecosystem to commit to. One of the fundamental consequences of this decision is the degree of dependency on other vendors that the smaller vendor has. This degree naturally decreases with the number of ecosystems it participates in, although they can never be truly independent – which is also not wanted when playing the ecosystem game. Conversely, participating in more than one ecosystem increases options and the potential reach. On the other hand, there are some other factors that come into play. The software architecture and the software itself will become more complicated when different vendors’ systems shall get augmented. Deep knowledge in...
How to do Customer Journey Orchestration
Customer Journey Orchestration is one of the hottest topics in the CRM/CEM/CX area right now. And it is a bigger one than you might think. It involves thinking about ecosystems, actors, outcomes, interactions, jobs-to-be-done and much more. To get into the thick of it, we wanted to talk with someone who really knows this topic from the inside out, and is independent at the same time. This person is Dr. Graham Hill, who has advised numerous companies across the globe for over 30 years now. As said, Graham knows his stuff and is a recognized thought leader in customer experience, interaction optimization and journey orchestration. So, let us hear what he has to say! Spoiler alert: You will not regret it! Join us in the discussion with Dr. Graham Hill, who has a keen eye on this topic from a services dominant logic point of view. Attend, participate, engage. You will not regret it....
The history and trajectory of CRM – an expert view
CRM, in various incarnations, has been around since the 90s. If one counts in contact managers like Goldmine, then we are actually talking about the 80s. Some consider it a strategy, but whether it is or not, is a discussion that has been closed long ago. Still, there is a lot going on. And I mean a LOT. So, it is time to talk to someone who accompanies the industry since it was immature, someone who also contributed to shaping the industry and some of the solutions around. So, we reached out to Volker Hildebrandt. Volker is a fountain of information about where it comes from and where it is heading to. So, if you are interested in the current state of affairs and in the trajectory that the industry is likely to take, then listen in. You will not regret...