Do you have a visual representation of your CRM system? I think companies have this early on, but that drawing gets put away as the work of implementation begins and is never seen again. That’s a pity, because a visual representation is a great way to see how your CRM is working, who it’s touching … Continue reading »
Filed under CRM Success …
Recipe for Success: Understanding Your Problems, Partnering – THEN Bringing in the Technology
By Chris Bucholtz What if someone told you they could free up 60 hours of your managers’ time each month to work on innovating the way your business finds new customers? I’m guessing your answer would be, “yes, please!” But most businesses never are offered such a boon – primarily because it takes self-awareness of … Continue reading »
The blog: the often-forgotten but awfully useful first step toward becoming social
By Chris Bucholtz We talk a lot about Social CRM (SCRM) and the potentially complex ways of using it. Sure, there’s value in collecting customer data from social, and from listening to sentiment. It’s very helpful to discover the right conversations and engage with your customers (or customers of competitors). It’s the right thing to … Continue reading »
The Secret Lesson Hiding in Nucleus Research’s ROI Study
By Chris Bucholtz Yesterday, Nucleus Research issued a paper (read it for yourself here) that made a fairly encouraging claim: for every dollar spent on CRM, companies were seeing a return of $5.60 in benefits. That’s a very interesting number, although it’s a number in an area of research that can be very hard to … Continue reading »
Does the term “customer” deserve a new definition?
We use the term customer a lot – but what do we mean by that? That seems like a fairly dopey question at first, but CRM can be reigned in by language, and language doesn’t get any more basic for CRM than the word the first letter in the acronym stands for. I know my … Continue reading »
CRM Selection Secret Weapon: Staying in Touch with Your Problems
My friend Hank retired from the Coast Guard after a 20-year career, and now he’s pursuing a second career of service as a director for the Alameda Food Bank, another truly worthy career path. During a Fourth of July party, we got to talking about work – me about CRM, him about the food bank. … Continue reading »
TCO White Paper: CRM Vendor Pricing: Fees, Subscriptions & Hidden Costs
The way companies use and pay for customer relationship management (CRM) applications is changing. Moving from a predominantly perpetual license-based system, where companies paid a large up-front sum and then smaller annual maintenance fees, CRM software providers are now moving towards monthly or annual subscription fees to access CRM software on the Internet. The various … Continue reading »
The Hazard of Buying CRM from Vendors Who Don’t Believe in CRM
I’ve devoted a lot of ink – well, I guess in this age, a lot of electrons – to the idea that there’s a difference between a CRM company and a CRM vendor (Here’s an example – from CRM Buyer). The distinction I draw is this: a CRM company embraces the concepts of the discipline of … Continue reading »
“Life is like a box of chocolates”…
stated Forrest Gump, in the 1994 Hollywood blockbuster of the same name, going on to add, “you never know what you’re going to get next”. But is that really true? Of course life itself is an unknown, that goes without saying. None of us has a crystal ball telling us what to expect next, when … Continue reading »
Groupon: the Opposite of CRM
There’s been a lot of noise over the last few months about Groupon, the noted group-discount-buying site. As befits any Silicon Valley company, the noise wasn’t really about the company’s product but instead about the size of the potential offer that a suitor made to acquire it. In December, Google reportedly offered $5 to $6 … Continue reading »
