CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT & THE SME

1. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT & THE SME Michael W. Piczak Dipl.T., B.Comm., MBA OCCAM Consulting Associates Limited 905.730.1385 piczakm@mcmaster.ca

2. OUR COMPLEX WORLD… • Not enough customers • Too much competition • Pace of business getting faster • Demands on people increasing • Technology improving • Demand insatiable • Customers demanding

3. WHY CRM? • An impersonal age • Lean and mean • ‘Customerize’ • It’s all about relationship • Partnering • Have to be different • Make organization more customer friendly • Superior customer service • Your sales & marketing work as a team

4. SUCCESS SETS UP FAILURE • Your success is finding and keeping your first few customers • You maintain customers and grow • Referrals and more success • Seeds of failure already sewn • Cannot remember everything, there is more than one person and you are not always around

5. CRM IS: • Institutionalized remembering • A system of customer cultivation • A way of delivering on your customer service promise • About erecting exit barriers • About accessing customers through multiple channels • Getting intimate with customers • An opportunity for cross selling

6. CRM: A WORKING DEFINITION • Systemic approach for understanding & anticipating needs of current & potential customer base • An approach or tool that puts the customer at the design point • You to 1 marketing and moving away from a 1 size fits all mentality

7. A MESSY LOOKING PUZZLE

8. USING CRM TO ADVANTAGE BY: • Knowing your customer better • Turning contacts into relationships • Letting everyone in on where you stand vis-à-vis a given customer • Targeted and proportional response • Using it as an integrated customer location, satisfaction and retention plan • Making relationships more profitable • Selling the way your customer likes to buy

9. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMER? • How they like to communicate (e, cell, tel, mail, etc.) • What did they mention in passing about future product/services • How do they like to handle financial transactions? • Do they tend to move fast or deliberately • No for today or no forever? • Name of family members, dog, etc.

10. CRM IS NOT • Just software • Just about technology • Doing business the old way with new toys • Just following up using a tickler file

11. WHOM TO ‘COPY’? • Super car salesmen • Amazon.com • Beer companies • Car dealerships • Smaller banks • Corner grocer in the old days but with today’s technology

12. CASE STUDY 1:SEAVIEW TEA & COFFEE • Regular customer recognized • Rep knows “Tom” likes mug for bottomless plain Columbian • Has mentioned double espresso in past • “Can I have toasted bagel & cheese” • Yee knows Tom likes “everything bagel followed by poppy seed followed by plain • Yee also “knows” Tom likes cheese thinly sliced and no melting

13. THE RESULT? • Tom spends hundreds of $ there each year • Wife patronizes operation + friends • Does take-out for family • Tom does not share attitude with competitors letting them find out for themselves the hard way

14. CASE STUDY 2: BULLAS AUTOMOTIVE • 7,500 customer database • Collects data on recency of service, type of service provided, $ spent, snows, tires rotated/tune up/emissions check at, etc. • Queries database to send out letter or post card inviting customer in for particular promotion • Uses POS system to update database • POS does history, invoicing, inventory, accounting and more

15. CASE STUDY 3: • Database as part of direct mail campaign • Customer bought PT Cruiser 2 ½ years ago equipped with value package • Write personalized letter inviting customer back to see new SE unit with a variable graphic/data taken from database • Customer letter is upgraded based on database information • Get mass customized/targeted mailing

16. CASE STUDY 4: GOING TOO FAR? • Consumer touches a button on web • Database checked for customer • E-mail address taken • Sales rep contacts customer within minutes to assess needs, intention and move to purchase

17. WHO YOU GOING TO CALL? • Siebel Systems • Oracle Business Systems • People Soft • IBM • Ernst and Young Canada • Interchange Group • Jericho Systems • 500+ suppliers out there

18. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

19. CRM FOR SMEs • Cellphones • All in ones with Winfax • Database software like Access, Excel • PDAs like Blackberries, Palms, etc. • Personal information managers (Outlook, Maximizer, etc.) • POS systems • Specialized CRM s/w

20. CRITERIA FOR PICKING A SYSTEM • Ease of use • Does it solve the right problem • Customizability • Price with eye to total ownership cost • Ease of implementation • Future growth • Fit with other systems • References

21. AN IMPLEMENTATION PLAN • Do re-engineering of marketing and selling process • Look for ways and means CRM technologies can support efforts • Tie into performance management system • Don’t let IT guys design user interfaces

22. IMPLEMENTATION CON’T • Make system easy to access and use • Involve top management • Focus on strategy/process first, technology second • Train employees • Have adequate hardware for speed • Upgrade over time

23. CRM & THE SME

24. BABY STEPS… “First CRM application is like a 15 watt light bulb in a dark room – not very bright but makes a huge difference…” “This is not a slam dunk technology…”

25. CRM IN PERSPECTIVE: IT’S NOT EASY…IT’S NOT FAST…IT’S NOT CHEAP…ANDIT’S NOT AN OPTION

26. WANT TO KNOW MORE? • Customer relationship management into: • www.msn.ca = 102 hits • www.lycos.com = 1,387,428 matches • www.google.com = 1,400,000 matches • www.crmacanada.com • www.destinationcrm.com • www.crmguru.com • International Journal of CRM