What prospects and customers look for:
- Information on potential suppliers and their products
- Relevant comments and reports from other users
- Supplier independent discussion platforms
What B2B prospects and customers do not want is a sales pitch, for that they can go to the suppliers web site. Many groups in XING have mutated to sales platforms, which is not what social networking is about.
What B2B suppliers want:
- Background information on persons involved with purchase decisions
- Visibility resulting from discussions and comments
- Market background information
- Real-life contacts resulting from social network activities
These requirements are not incompatible, but there is a numbers problem. While individuals looking for information can research on a specific topic when interested, suppliers need permanently to monitor these activities. Also the number of people gathering information will always be considerably higher than the number of employees available for monitoring social sites. The effort involved in monitoring is immense.
Evidently, there is a need for automating these processes, which is where CRM software comes in. As may be expected. Salesforce as a cloud oriented supplier has announced several functions, most of which are still in development. Other companies, Pivotal for example, have announced plans for integration with twitter, linkedIn and facebook. The solutions offered are oriented towards gathering information, which is fine but is only a time saving function for sales and marketing personnel who would otherwise research the information directly.
After saying that automation is required, there are some major challenges to master. Firstly, the amount of information available is considerable and only a small part of the information available will be relevant. Secondly the behavior of people active in the social web world is changing rapidly and there is no reason to suppose that this will change during the next years. Finally, marketing gurus will say that there must be a dialogue between suppliers and the outside world. All this makes automation more a dream than a realistic aim
Common to B2B and B2C is the aim of steering people to the company web site, assuming of course that the web site offers support, forums, customer information platforms and order processing. At this level, processes can and should be automated. The message I am getting to is this. CRM B2B applications may be loosely linked to social sites, the really import interaction is that between the CRM solution and a modern, functional internet presence.
Tags: B2B, Social CRM
This is probably a fringe area of CRM. Many companies invite customers and partners to contribute comments and ideas for product innovation or improvement. I would see this as part of a CRM strategy though it appears that few companies link their open innovation sites to a CRM application. It is difficult to say if companies really use the information gained from customers, but take a look at some examples:
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Tags: Open Innovation
Take a look at this example.
[…] for several years, Xerox has polled 480,000 customers per year regarding product and service satisfaction using a five-point scale from 5 (high) to 1 (low). Until two years ago, Xerox’s goal was to achieve 100% 4s (satisfied) and 5s (very satisfied) by the end of 1993. But in 1991, an analysis of customers who gave Xerox 4s and 5s on satisfaction found that the relationship between the scores and actual loyalty differed greatly depending on whether the customers were very satisfied or satisfied. Customers giving Xerox 5s were six times more likely to repurchase Xerox equipment than those giving 4s.
This analysis led Xerox to extend its efforts to create apostles – a term coined by Scott D. Cook, CEO of software producer and distributor Intuit, describing customers so satisfied that they convert the uninitiated to a product or service.
Found in Putting the service-profit chain to work by JL Heskett, LA Schlesinger, Harvard Business Review, 1994,
No further comment required!
Tags: crm, Customer satisfaction
1) Know the interests of the attendees
2) Prepare an exact agenda, but keep it to yourself. Guide attendees carefully by questions and let them feel their ideas are guiding the show. Be open for suggestions. This may sound cynical, but it is critical not to allow attendess to go into a passive mode.
3) Give a clear timetable for the event and stick to it – allow time for creative chat and relaxed exchanges
One: Don’t look at him/her while you stretch out your hand and say Hi!
Two: Ask a question and keep on talking without waiting for an answer
Three: Answer you cell phone and keep talking for a while
These are all experiences of the last two weeks – could be the beginning of a long list.
The best sales persons are able to identify prospects with the highest potential out of a list of leads and are expert at concentrating their efforts on these. CRM Systems attempt to suport the process and allow some kind of customer/prospect valuation, but in most cases offer little more than an estimate of potential turnover or an A/B/C-rating.
Surprisingly, one smaller german CRM supplier has approached this problem and integrated an methodology developed by Walter Zimmermann and has included a field “Potential”. This misses two essential factors. Firstly, the fact that a customer has the means to buy my product does not in any mean that I have real potential – an iPhone fan is most unlikely to buy a Blackberry. Secondly, the valuation is only true for a limited period. Things change, and who is going to keep the CRM-Date up to date? Here is some scope for improvement.
Tags: Customer Value
Though governments tend to react to massive bonus payments by legislation, the real question remains unsolved. Why are executive incomes in that segment so high, and why do they only go in one direction? The banks concerned claim that they have to pay high boni or staff will leave. OK – let them leave. Firstly, there are not that many places to go to. Secondly, the real top performers leave anyway and set up their own business. Finally, there are many more qualified people around than highly paid positions. So why are the usual rules of supply and demand not working?
A small example may demonstrate part of the answer. A friend of mine at the Deutsche Bank in Germany asked if I could help him find a new secretary. He said he could not find anyone with the knowledge needed even when he offered 7000 Euro a month – for Germany a very high salary. On closer questioning it appeared that he wanted someone with experience doing exactly what his secretary would do – not surprisingly there are not that many secretaries in the investment bank area looking for that job. It seems my friend forgot that he had learnt how to do his much more demanding job within one year, without having previous knowledge. A competent secretary would learn their task within three months – he had lost that time anyway while searching and could have saved his employer at least 3000 Euro per month.
Maybe banks are no longer prepared or able to train their employees for new tasks and therefore pay exorbitant amounts to the few people who are lucky enough to be able to prove their ability. If universities would produce enough graduates with the required know-how and practical experience, the problem of overpayment could be solved. That could be a better investment for the government than supporting banks in trouble.
Further it is generally the rule, that people who have the chance of earning immense amounts run the risk of losing if they are wrong. Of course, if I could find a casino where I could only win but never loose, I would go there. But who would run such a casino? A bank executive with government subsidies?
This may not be a social crm issue, but it certainly is a social issue. A CRM question is: are investment bankers working for their customers or at the cost of their customers?
Tags: bonus, Investment Bank
Zitat aus Spiegel Online am 23. Dezember 2009:
Geradezu absurd, dass die Verursacher der Krise nun die dicken Gewinner sind. Sie profitieren von dem Notenbankgeld, das es für sie praktisch zum Nulltarif gibt. Sie sind es, die all die Schuldscheine der Regierungen an die Investoren weiterreichen und satte Provisionen bei diesem Geschäft einstreichen.
Die CRM-Frage lautet: Welche Kunden werden hier bedient?
Tags: Banken, Finanz, Investment
Nehmen Sie sich die Zeit und schauen Sie diese Umfrage an. Ihre Meinung ist wichtig!
Schon früh nutzte Obama sehr erfolgreich die nutzergenerierten Kanäle um Wähler (“Kunden”) zu mobilisieren. Obama entschied sich frühzeitig für die Strategie des “Permanenten Dialogs”, denn Obama tritt in den direkten Dialog mit seinem Kunden um die Kundenpartizipation bei der Produktentwicklung zu nutzen. Dieser Weg ist durch Social Media erst gangbar geworden. Diese Entwicklung zeigt, Den Rest des Eintrags lesen. »
CRM Auswahl