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Customer information is maintained for two purposes, operational and marketing. Operational database stores information that is used for generating periodic transaction statements, managing returns, charging credit cards, and tracking customer communication. The operational database is the primary database from which a marketing database obtains its data. The marketing database also gets information from customer profiles, records of promotions and marketing efforts, data from external agencies, and modeling for churn.

Operational databases can learn about the customer segmentation from marketing databases; this helps the operations team to arrive at different treatment strategies for customers for different groups. They are also in a position to take into account customer preferences and provide service accordingly. Operational data is current and covers customers who have made a purchase, prospective customers are not covered. Since there are legal and tax implications associated with operational data, it is audited by an external agency. This data is managed by the IT department.

The marketing database on customers is managed by the marketing department and contains information on present, past, and prospective customers. CRM databases that can store and process a huge amount of information on customers enable a company to look at a transaction from a customer’s viewpoint. However, a CRM database does not guarantee customer loyalty or increased sales; these are a result of persistent marketing efforts that use the information provided by the CRM database. A CRM database assists in the testing and fine tuning of marketing and sales techniques.

A customer-based marketing effort makes intelligent and creative use of the information provided by the CRM database. This involves recognizing the specific needs and preferences of a customer, knowing a customer by name if possible; offering customers the convenience of doing business from their home or office by having their names, addresses, purchase records, and credit card numbers at easy disposal; coming up with answers to customer queries; building up a business profile that customers look forward to identifying with.

Customer satisfaction surveys provide a company with information that they can utilize to improve customer loyalty and employee satisfaction. In order to achieve maximum benefit from customer satisfaction surveys, companies need to look beyond them as tools for comparing month-on-month performances. A customer survey, if it is not followed upon, will lead to a waste of the company’s resources and the customer’s time. Thus, it is important to have a program in place that helps to leverage the information generated by the customer satisfaction survey. Such a program should make use of clearly defined metrics, take steps to address customer concerns identified by the survey; introduce systems to ensure accountability of the customer-focused strategies; and review and assess the program.

It is important to have objective measures for judging customer satisfaction. This means that the metric used for measuring customer satisfaction should be owned by an individual who is responsible for the results thrown up by the metric. Personnel that cannot in any way make a difference to a survey result should not be held accountable even if it is the customer-facing staff. If the front-end is not apprised of customer grouses revealed by a survey, it will not be able to play its role in remedying it. A customer satisfaction survey throws light on the principal source of revenue for a company – the customer. Its usefulness increases if its treated as a KPI on par with financial indicators and the top management takes an active interest in reviewing it periodically.

Companies need to realize that customer satisfaction is dynamic and therefore it needs to pay attention to even those areas with which the customer is satisfied at present. Thus, a company should actively manage and promote customer satisfaction. One way of doing this is to link employee performance with the achievement of customer satisfaction targets. The speed with which issues thrown up by a survey are rectified has a direct impact on customer retention. In order to objectively assess a survey, one can take the help of an independent survey company. Also, a company needs to determine beforehand the triggers that demand an immediate response and be prepared to swing into action if trigger words such as “poor performance” and “disappointing” are detected in a survey.

Very often, a customer’s dissatisfaction stems not from slip-ups on part of the company but from a misunderstanding in terms of expectations and actual service. This can be resolved by explaining to the customer that the company is indeed fulfilling its obligations with respect to providing products and services and that the customer’s perceptions are unjustified. At the same time, this interaction with the customer can be used for discussing ways and means for providing an additional level of service. This scenario demands that the company staff interacting with the customers is fully aware of company policies as well as product and service details.

Many things, you can be sure, were discussed at Microsoft’s Dallas Convergence conference that were ‘extra-agenda’ items but the biggest headline and the most speculation centered around Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM products. Basically, the Dynamics product line will undergo a transformation over the next few years in two phases.

The first phase, going on right now, consists of the integration of making the various products in the Dynamics suite ‘look like’ and work within Microsoft’s Windows OS and their MS-Office suite. This integration will run right into the introduction of their new Vista Office product. As Dynamics is being integrated, new versions will, of course, be introduced. The idea is actually brilliant! Microsoft Office applications have become such a standard that most people are comfortable with them and are familiar with the interface.

Now (well almost now) the Dynamics applications will be able to operate behind the same familiar interface. As Steve Malme, senior director of Microsoft’s world-wide, mid-market sales is quoted as saying, "CRM is Office. I can’t tell whether I’m in Office or CRM." Many look at the integration of the Dynamics into the easy to use and intuitive MS-Office type scenario as a typical Microsoft ploy to freeze out the competition. Perhaps so! And, it will probably work up to a point, just has it has worked for these many years now but Microsoft certainly realizes that they are not and never will be the ‘only show in town;’ they just want to be the biggest and best.

No doubt about it, Microsoft plays to win, and who can fault them for that? The second phase of the transformation of the Dynamics product line is intended to make the various products work together under one ‘roof,’ with all four applications working on the same platform (an ERP version of MS-Office) or perhaps on two platforms, one for small business and one for the large enterprises. It appears that exactly HOW all of this integration and reconfiguration will take place is not down to an exact science but that it WILL, is almost a certainty.

iCarMagic is a CRM provider that has found its niche by providing CRM systems that are designed specifically for car dealers. They do it well, so well that iCarMagic has been awarded the Gold Award in the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) category of the Auto Dealer Monthly 2006 Dealers’ Choice Awards.

In 2006, for the second year running, Auto Dealer Monthly has asked auto dealers around the country to vote for their most highly regarded vendors in different categories of service. iCarMagic is understandably proud of their award this year, primarily because the Gold Award is an award for achievement that is essentially bestowed on them by their customers. Secondly, this award and the fact that it is a recognition award for a job well done, shows that they have achieved their vision of technology driving automotive sales.

The primary factor in iCarMagic’s winning of the Gold Award is, no doubt, their CRM solution – even without the details of the implementation it is obvious that their solution is user friendly and works to the satisfaction of their customers. A second factor probably has to do with the unique way iCarMagic does business; iCarMagic does business with dealers without a contract.

The car dealers no doubt appreciate that approach and instinctively have more faith in a vendor who doesn’t insist on ‘tying them down’ with a contract. Auto Dealer Monthly selects its winners by survey. Dealers and their employees get to speak out on the suppliers, vendors and lenders that they regard most highly. In the end, Auto Dealer Monthly selects 50 winners in 20 categories.

In 2006, almost 16,000 votes were cast. iCarMagic provides a variety of software for automotive dealers: from customer relations software, to online lead management solutions, to inventory management software, service retention software, lead generation software and even specialized websites for auto dealers.

William Zarbock has 18 years experience implementing CRM systems and in his article, he uncovers some truths about CRM and its implementation. His conclusion is that when CRM fails in an organizational setting it is because it had already failed in the minds of management and the users. Why? Because of unrealistic expectations.

The excuses for failure are often things like lack of management support and overly large projects and, while some of these things, in individual settings, may border on the truth – the whole truth may be something else. What Zarbock refers to as “CRM realities” are the facts that:

• CRM solutions rarely either completely fail or completely succeed but have some degree of success while not meeting other expectations – expectations that may not be grounded in reality.
• Most salespeople, especially the best ones, do not like using CRM systems — perhaps they feel that using CRM is like “cheating.” If the users of any system don’t use the system it will have failed (because it was forced to fail).
• User adoption methods (“adoption hooks”) need to be built into the system or the users will either overtly or covertly reject it.

Every interaction with a customer is a form of CRM – Depending on the size of the company, CRM can work as an Excel spreadsheet as well as with a full blown CRM solution. The reality is, CRM is and has been a fact of life well before those three letters, C, R and M were assembled to mean Customer Relationship Management. The biggest benefits from CRM may take longer than expected – there may well be some immediate benefit but time will tell the whole story. Installing a CRM solution and getting the users to use it is not the end of the effort. The CRM solution needs to change as your customer base changes and needs to adapt to your growth, your successes and your failures (may they be few).

CRM may be the answer to many managerial dreams but only if its used, and used well! Jim Stout, the CEO of Invoke Systems in his article theorizes that not all work groups (or individuals) in any given company will take full advantage of CRM, primarily because people don’t adapt well to change. What’s needed is a technique called “user adoption.”

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule) implies that 80% of what happens is the result of 20% of the causes. This is how most, if not all, businesses operate. Stout specifically refers to business development teams and states that there are three classes of employees: “the top 20 percent, the middle 60 percent and the bottom 20 percent.“ The top 20% provide 80% of the business development and, somewhat ironically, are the ones who feel they have the least use for a tool like CRM. Why? Because what they are doing and the way they are doing it has been successful; this may be the type of person who adopts least well to change. The middle 60% is the group who can derive the most benefit from CRM – they have the potential to be top performers and, with a tool like CRM they will move in that direction.

The three methods that Stout recommends to implement his user adoption technique are: the “K.I.S.S.” method, the “What’s In It For Them” method and the “Work The Way Your Business Does” method.

The “K.I.S.S.” method of user adoption involves not complicating your employees lives by selecting a CRM tool that changes virtually everything they now do; or at least find one that has the least effect on current procedures and one that integrates well with the software tools they are comfortable using.

The “What’s In It For Them” method of user adoption involves showing your employees, proving it to them, that the new CRM solution will benefit them by making their job easier and perhaps even by turning them into Star performers. The key is convincing your employees to use the tool every day and, if used properly, the company and its employees will all reap the rewards.

Another aspect of the “What’s In It For Them” method involves having the right CRM tool, one that will make the users feel informed and involved. One way to do this, Stout says, is to choose a CRM solution that allows your employees to access customer and sales data on their laptops and handheld devices – allowing them to stay involved in the process no matter where they are. The third method of user adoption, the “Work The Way Your Business Does” method simply shows your employees that the new CRM tool and the benefits it brings has not changed the company culture, it has simply improved the way the company does business.

The subtext of the three methods of user adoption . . . and especially the third message . . . is choosing the right CRM solution for your business; one that integrates, as seamlessly as possible, with your current software, with your current employee base and with the way you do business now. Stout sums this up very nicely by saying, “You should not be forced to manage your business using terms or objects that are not native or natural to your team.“ A CRM solution, even if it is a perfect fit for your business, will benefit no one if it is not used.

Microsoft’s VARs, re-sellers and enterprise end users now have access to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 through Echopass’ EchoSystem(tm) service integration platform. Echopass is a Microsoft-certified managed service partner, a participant in Microsoft’s early access program (EAP) and an acknowledged expert at delivering CRM and hosted contact center solutions to business and industry.

In a statement announcing this Echopass breakthrough, Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics CRM indicated that ever since Microsoft launched Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 in December of 2005, Microsoft’s enterprise-level users have shown a great interest in gaining access to it. Thanks to Echopass, that access is now a reality. Wilson did not mention whether other Microsoft partners such as Sprint, Genesys, Verizon, salesforce.com and RightNow Technologies would follow Echopass’ lead in bringing Dynamics CRM 3.0 to the enterprise community of users.

Graeme Wood, one of Australia’s most successful Internet entrepreneurs fails to see what CRM could possibly do to improve his business. Mr. Wood is the founder and owner of Wotif.com, a web site that books accommodations for hotels, motels, apartments, resorts, guesthouses and bed & breakfasts in 36 countries. Recently, while speaking at a conference held by the CRM vendor Teradata, Mr. Wood told the attendees that while he is, indeed, trying to understand his users better, he had no plans to buy into a CRM solution. "The whole CRM thing,“ Wood said, ”this might sound like heresy, but I’m not convinced!“ He pointed out that there are at least one million Australian users of his web site and they have no data collected about any of them other than what was necessary to make their booking. "We don’t try and understand what sort of deodorant you’re likely to use," he said.

The Wotif web site tries to keep things as simple as possible for its users and does not ask for more details than are necessary for confirming a reservation. This bare-bones approach is, in effect, Wotif’s culture and it has been very successful for them which, Wood said, mitigated against acquiring a complex CRM solution. The paradox is that Wotif is, admittedly, interested in its customer’s behavior and to satisfy that curiosity they survey their customers to find out what they like and dislike. The information collected from such surveys, however, is treated as a sampling that can help the company spot obvious trends.

Woods went on to describe what he called a “conundrum” in his business: Customers don’t trust purveyors of Internet services with their personal information as they would trust “brick and mortar” institutions with that same information; people, it appears, want privacy, but they also want personalized service. For example, typical Wotif return customers do not want to have to provide a laundry list of their likes and dislikes every time they make a reservation — they want Wotif to have that information stored . . . but they absolutely don’t want it stored on the web site. With an attitude that sounds heretical to the devotee of CRM technology, Wood and Wotif have managed to succeed on a grand scale and Wotif will soon be issuing an IPO.

FreeCRM.com has entered into an agreement with RatchetSoft that will allow users of FreeCRM to use RatchetSoft’s Ratchet-X software to link their application screens to any web-based application without the need for re-programming or modifying their FreeCRM setup.

The initial implementation of the FreeCRM/RatchetSoft partnership will be an integration of FreeCRM with RatchetSoft’s Contact Xtend. Contact Xtend is a free Ratchet-X plug-in that will allow FreeCRM.com’s users access to business services offered by the StrikeIron Web Services Marketplace. FreeCRM users, through StrikeIron, will have access to address and email verification services, commercial and residential phone number look-ups and reverse lookups and location mapping capabilities as well as the many other services offered by StrikeIron. Future releases, already being planned, will allow FreeCRM.com users to integrate their choice of services from any online source, including their own applications.

IntegraSys, a major provider of customer service products and services for credit unions, has selected SEDONA(R) Corporation’s new product, ProfIT360(TM) as it’s Member Relationship Management (MRM) offering for the more than 1,500 credit unions it serves. Marco Emrich, CEO & President, SEDONA Corporation noted that SEDONA has 30 years of industry experience that compliments IntegraSys’ clear understanding of the present and future MRM needs of credit unions.

Emrich feels that SEDONA’s ProfIT360 application will allow IntegraSys to provide their customers with a tool that will personalize the credit unions’ interactions with their members and increase “the effectiveness of their marketing and sales efforts.“ SEDONA is a leading provider of CRM and MRM solutions that especially fit the needs of financial service organizations of all types by providing them with a suite of business intelligence tools that enhance their view of their relationships with their members. SEDONA Corporation has also been selected as a Preferred Partner for MRM technology for the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) Services Corporation.

Go to: SEDONA(R) Chosen by IntegraSys for MRM Solution