From CRM to CEM: Has anything changed?

There was a time when we had sales men, later it was changed to Sales Rep., and now we have Sales Executives. Initially, I thought there was a big difference in their responsibilities atleast in my country, but I soon found out that it was a mere change in nomenclature, their activities are still the same.
Same thing is happening in the Services industry, we now talk less of Customer Relationship Management and more of Customer Experience Management. Unfortunately, the change in name has not changed anything about how the consumer is managed.

What is going on here? Why is there such a big difference between the words and the reality? Why is it that whilst the words have changed from CRM to CEM, the indifference to building emotional bonds with customers continues? Is it a lack of understanding? Are people in business simply ignorant and so they need more education from the likes of customer experience gurus?

I say that a shift to an authentic customer orientation, one where the focus of the company is to come up with value propositions and customer experiences, that enrich the lives of their customers (and all the people who have to play their part in making this happen) requires transformational change. It requires a complete break with the past and operating from a radically different context. It is the kind of break that the caterpillar makes in order to show up as a butterfly. And that is a big ask for almost all of us especially large companies that are doing ok.

Read more at Customer Experience, “Being Managed Or Handled”

Briefly On Customer Experience

Spend a lot of time talking to customers face to face. You’d be amazed how many companies don’t listen to their customers.” -Ross Perot

If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.” Jef f  Bezos, CEO Amazon.com

Customer experience (CX) is the sum of all experiences a customer has with a supplier of goods and services, over the duration of their relationship with that supplier

 

The best experience a customer can have is when your products meets  his/her expectations. This can only be achieved when you make out time to talk to your customers, discussing about what motivates or disturbs them about your business. 

This helps you to understand how and what they feel about your product/service or business generally, and it also gives them that sense of belonging.

For the business, it helps you to build a better strategy, and a more customer oriented business.

What You Need To Know As A Business Owner?

As the CEO of your company, part of your responsibility is to know your business, your industry, your competitors and your customers. Frank De Raffele shared 4 things a CEO must know about his business in his article, “Four “Knows” to being a great small business CEO”

1       Know What is Happening in Your Industry Now

 Having this knowledge will help you determine how events in the industry will affect your business over time, as well as preparing your business for the future. You need to know what is trending and how it is relevant to your business. Not only do you need to know where the industry will be but you need to know how it is going to transition into the future.  

Don’t wait until everyone knows what needs to be done before you, else you will be playing ‘catch up’ or ‘keep up’ and that will be hard when they have a bigger budget than you do. Being current earns you customers trust and builds your credibility in the industry. Adapting is easier when changes occur in small than in big business.

2.     Know That Technology is Your Friend. 

A recent study showed that over 70% of small business owners are yet to adopt technology in their businesses. Successful businesses are leveraging on the huge benefits of technology to lower cost of operation, and at the same time, reach-out to more actual and potential customers.

Technology, whether in form of new software, smart phones, websites, internet marketing, gizmos, gadgets etc. If it can help you market, sell, run or manage your business more effectively then you need to know about it and use it even if it means engaging someone to keep you up-to-date on the newest trends in technology in your business.

3.     Know When Your Target Market Shifts.

 Do you know the demographics of your customers? Market characteristics are changing very fast. The set of target market you had maybe 10 years ago has changed. Even if they are the same people, their style of decision may have changed and even the factors that influenced them to buy years back may not be the same today. Make efforts to identify changing variables within your customer base. You must be strategic in your thinking and your decision making. Don’t always rely on yesterday’s sales record; know when the customers are moving.

4.     Know and be the leader that is needed.

Don’t just be “a” leader, be “the” leader that is needed.  As businesses grow, shrink, struggle and thrive, your employees are watching to know how you react to crisis.  

 As a leader, your employees will respond to situations in the business as you respond. Show them that you are capable of handling crisis, and that you can lead them out. The more respect, confidence and trust they have in you, the more influence
you will have with them. Be the leader that they need, not just who you think you should be. As the CEO it is important to know the pulse of what is going on with your people.

Culled from:

Four “Knows” to being a great small business CEO by Frank De Raffele.

March 7, 2011 Hudson Valley BUSINESS JOURNAL

Consumer's Need Still Drives Business

"From the start, our entire business, from design to manufacturing and sales ... was oriented around listening to the customer, responding to the customer and delivering what the customer wanted." Michael Dell

Every lost customer is an opportunity to learn more about how your company handles its customers' need.

Some businesses have been punished at one time or the other for neglecting core needs of the consumer while focusing on other distracting factors like profitability, quality of product, competitors activities etc. As a business grows, often, there is a tendency to change from dealing with customers' needs to reducing cost of operation and making profit.

While it is important to ensure that you operate your business at the most profitable level, keep the competitors from your market, its also necessary not to sacrifice customers need for that. Every customer has a reason for choosing to go with your product, and that choice should always be considered as a favour, and must be respected.

Companies like Dell were successful because of the direct customer contact business model they operated. They gained information through regular interaction with customers and designed their products to match each customers need and expectation. As long as it maintained this philosophy, there was no problem however, the moment Micheal Dell stepped down, and Dell changed its focused to profitability, customers complaint increased and the company lost its market leadership. It took the coming back of Micheal Dell to put the business in the right perspective.

 In the case of IBM, they were too confident that their customers will definitely remain with them irrespective of what the competitors are doing. When Gerstner took over as IBM's CEO in 1993, he identified that IBM's focus had shifted from customers to other activities aimed at increasing efficiency of the product, and reducing cost of operation. At the same time customer tastes were shifting from big mainframes toward networks of smaller desktops.

It is good to be confident of your product or service, and even improve on it, but only the customer defines what quality product or service is. Needs change with time, and consumers will not continue to stick to a product that doesn't meet their current need. Imagine that IBM detected the need from Mainframe computers to desktop computers, they may still continue to lead the market.

How about Coca Cola and Pepsi, sometimes focusing on the activities of the competitors can be very detrimental to your business. Coke wanted to change the taste of its flagship product because they felt that Pepsi was taking the market from them. But the outcry from the consumers showed that the original taste was still preferable. 

No matter how big or small your business is, if customers need is not the driving force, you are heading for a crash.