5 Tools to Enhance Your CRM

The new wave of CRM Tools live in the cloud with applications such as Salesforce.com, SugarCRM, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics and Oracle CRM.

And as a matter of fact, in 2015 Gartner ranked the Top 5 CRM companies by spend with Salesforce.com topping the list:

But with the complexities of integration, adoption and skilled resources, many CRM applications
can go only partially utilized which may cause investment and usage to drop. Furthermore, the core strength of a CRM application is, and should be, customer data management which may leave some desire for things like reporting and analysis.

With that said, I've used a few CRM applications and reviewed many over many years of working in Marketing and in all cases there was a need to utilize other tools to put the finishing touches on reporting and analysis. For instance, some of the older applications lacked in Dashboarding whereby all key customer and business metrics are summarized on one page.

For those of you who can understand some of the challenges of out-of-the-box CRM applications like dynamic reporting, dashboards, calculated metrics, matching logic or sharing, here are some practical tools I've used over the years to get projects across the finish line.

• Microsoft Excel - very powerful when it comes to calculating metrics, matching and pivoting data.
• Microsoft Access - a heavy duty data manipulator with the power of sql & macros for quickness.
• SPSS Statistics - my go to statistical package for various types of modeling and data analysis.
• Google Sheets - incredible resource for sharing spreadsheet data across internal/external users.
• Zoho Reports - quick and easy Dashboard builder. All you do is Table Format data and voila!

Excel and Access come with most work system configurations and IBM SPSS is relatively affordable. As well, licenses for each can easily be purchased for home based and small business use. Each respective application allows the end user to take control of the work process by having flexibility over how things get done.

CRM Guru...you got Skills!

In my past blog articles I've defined what I believe CRM entails and why companies need this department. The business landscape is changing a rapid pace these days and it's important to understand what skills are required to be the an expert at CRM.

To be the ultimate CRM person, one has to posses many qualities and be functionally cross-trained in many of the following areas:

• Customer Service

• Sales

• Marketing (Content, Digital & Social)

• Analytics

• Project Management

• Programming

• Story Telling

Customer Service

- This is a key touch-point in the customer journey.

- Understanding customer pain points or wow factors helps improve acquisition and retention efforts.

- Learn behavior and how to put the customer at the forefront of your work.

Sales

- Knowing how "Call-To-Actions" work and getting into the drivers of conversion.

- Learning customer emotions helps in crafting talk tracks improving sales.

- Gaining comfort in this area will help in driving acquisition and retention.

Marketing

- The 4's are obvious here - Product, Place, Price and Promotion.

- Be involved in the creative process to learn how analytics and the 4 P's come to life in messaging.

- Digital and Social can deliver tons more impressions and content than traditional Retail stores.

Analytics

- Drives decision making by systematic number crunching on sales & marketing activity.

- Reports, Pivot Tables, Charts, Dashboards & Info-Graphs build data patterns & crystallize thoughts.

- Modeling will help with driving predictive marketing and what-if scenarios.

Project Management

- Be prepared for new platforms, system integrations and business intelligence endeavors with IT.

Programming

- It helps to know SQL, R or Python when working with Big Data.

Story Telling

- A good story will bring everything to life and help less technical folks understand your work.

When well versed in the above areas you will become the "Guru" able to develop segmentation and scoring systems, programmatic marketing programs, contact strategy, optimization plans and help improve overall marketing systems & operations leading to improved return on dollars invested. 

Automated Email Marketing

Kissmetrics, the blog that keeps on giving! Check out their latest article on Automated Email Marketing.

Growth Hacker Marketing

I just read a good and short book on Growth Hacker Marketing. The premise behind it is not complicated...essentially doing more with less in Marketing in a ingenious way!

Why is CRM Important!

I wanted to touch on this topic in hopes of making the CRM picture more clear to those in business and marketing who may not understand it's power.

CRM systems and processes allow companies to cultivate relationships with it's consumers which ultimately leads to LOYALTY. Here are some key areas to help explain where impact is made:

a) Lead Generation - allows companies to catalog people interested in it's products or services.
b) Customer Service - having a full view of customers actions and activities helps improve service.
c) Marketing - knowing how customers want & consume information improves reach & contact.
d) Sales - combining all of the above with purchasing behavior can lead to increased overall sales.

And within each of the above key areas lies a multitude of tool-sets and processes that help to drive each. Some examples include database input and maintenance, segmentation and targeting, surveys, attribution, statistical analysis and modeling, optimization and behavioral analysis.

Focusing in on any of the above key areas and utilizing the tool sets and/or processes could easily generate a 5-10% or more lift in sales. And these sales increments can be multiplied over as you look to improve performance in each particular area.

Loyalty at Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza

I recently visited Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza in Clifton and really enjoyed the ambiance, service and food. They had a new bacon pizza that servers brought around for customers to try and it was delicious. We actually ordered the Margarita pie and it too was awesome.

I had such a great experience with them that I left my email address for follow up marketing. I've already received 2 emails; 1) on the day of my visit thanking me, and 2) on the following day with an invitation for dinner, store locator and loyalty CTA (Call-To-Action).

I clicked on the Loyalty CTA to check the experience and here are my thoughts:

> Sign up was quick and easy and required the following:
     - First and Last Name
     - DOB
     - State
     - Favorite store
     - Email Address and Opt-In
> Landing page after sign up was Account Balance with these sections:
     - Summary of Account
     - Welcome area with Loyalty Card #
     - Manage Card
> Landing Page navigation included the following:
     - Edit Account
     - Transaction History

I was really excited as I got through the process and received my Loyalty Card number, but there's 1 problem.....no links anywhere on the page detailing the program. Anthony, what did I just sign up for? How do I earn points? 

I wouldn't say this is a common mistake by retailers, but for Anthony's this leaves a lot to be desired in terms of creating awareness and excitement. Here's what I would recommend for Anthony's to correct this issue:

a) Create a landing page that details the Loyalty Program and add a link to sign up
b) Trigger an Email for customers who sign up and share high level Loyalty program information
c) Provide an incentive for initial sign up (e.g. welcome points)

In conclusion, having a successful Loyalty program must not only contain an easy and free way to sign up, but enough information and incentive to spark participation.

Here's a great article from Kissmetrics on utilizing CRM and Social Marketing to drive revenue and customer lifetime value:

http://bit.ly/2tfAkTu

It touches on these solid CRM, Marketing and Social techniques:

> Audience Segmentation and Targeting
> Return on Adspend (ROAS)
> Acquisition and Retention Rates
> A/B Testing
> CTR and CPC Rates
> Customer Lifetime Value

When all of the above are combined for the Baby business, success is derived to the tune of over 900% sales growth.

Advisers Lack CRM Knowledge

I came across this article (Advisers Lack CRM Knowledge) which is essentially a short factoid about CRM applications....and so true!

And I also believe the same to be true many other business systems outside of accounting since there's typically a resource for every function (treasury, cost accounting, accounts payable, etc.) within that discipline. And what's more is that with CRM, many can't translate it's value to the organization mainly because the data can be difficult to synthesize and interpret. This makes buy-in very challenge and leaves the CRM Manager with an uphill battle for obtaining resources and being a strategic priority.

Here are what I believe the keys are to overcoming the lack of CRM knowledge:

1) System Selection - Executives & Departmental managers must be involved in choosing the system.
2) Training - The entire "Business" must then undergo training so the benefits become more real.
3) Reporting - CRM Managers must identify critical system KPI's and disseminate them regularly.
4) Acquistion & Retenion - CRM must be involved in these at every level (Stores, Web, Social, etc.)

In conclusion, there is a lack of knowledge and understanding for many outside of CRM, but this can
be easily overcome through training and development and strong customer relationship managers.

Who Uses CRM?

CRM is used by a multitude of organizations in many different industries to drive customer acquisition and retention. The people who rely on CRM systems includes, but is not limited to, the following: 

a) Executives - want to understand the value of customers and set strategy 
b) Marketers - need to develop and execute marketing strategy 
c) Sales Personnel - require help with managing contacts and selling products 
d) Finance Departments - look for insights to sales drivers for planning 
e) Customer Service Reps - have a tool to help improve customer satisfaction 
f) Merchandise Teams - needs a deeper understanding of product purchases 

Customer Relationship Management Link

CRM Managers and Analysts work with IT professionals to better understand the customer journey and provide the reporting, analysis, strategy and tactics necessary to drive improved sales and customer loyalty.

What is CRM?

Wikipedia describes CRM as "an approach to managing a company's interactions with current and potential customers.....to ultimately drive sales growth" (see full article here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management).

And to put it more simply, it's using customer information and interactions to improve their experiences and drive sales! It's basic premise is to learn as much as possible about customers so that you can provide them with exactly what they want at the right time. And with predictive analytics, some will argue that you can serve their interests before they're even aware of the need. Of course, all of the information gathered to drive those experiences can also be utilized to gain new customers. 

CRM is part art and science that's theoretically utilized daily by brick and mortar sales associates as they learn individual customer behavior and combine it with POS data to bring about the ultimate shopping experience. And at a corporate level, the goal is to apply the same techniques across all customer touch-points (e.g. POS, Web, Social, Email, Call Center, etc.) to fully understand customers' channels, preferences, transactions and interactions then provide a wow experience upon contact. If one can master this process, it should bring about heightened customer loyalty and improved value.