A New Way of Looking at CRM

HANDLING DIFFICULT COMMUNICATIONS: A new way of looking at CRM.

Dealing with clients during a crisis or in conveying bad news is all about making realistic promises and practicing open, honest communication. It starts with having a well thought out communications plan.

This is a big challenge in today’s call centre-driven society where the definition of “personal service” takes on a new meaning.

Frequently, businesses have a good product or service offering, but things go wrong at clients often due to ineffective or inappropriate communication. A classic case of over-promise and under-delivery is a good example.

The best service people I know of make a habit of overstating delivery times or lead times to completion of project, being realistic, with a view to surprising the client if or when delivering early.

For the purposes of this article, I have redefined the often-abused CRM acronym in line with sound principles of marketing communications common to all types clients: Communication, Recall and Media

Communication:

It is a sad reflection of the lack of customer care in many organizations that the time we worry about the most is when price increases come around, or there are delays in expediting orders, product stockouts and the like – the traditional bad news . It is perfectly normal to be uncomfortable with communicating bad news, but this need not be so.

Bad news can be used as an opportunity to revisit and reaffirm key strategic relationships with clients. As long as the tenets of realistic, open and honest two-way communication are adhered to.

An equally important aspect lies in hearing your clients and understanding their needs.
Effective communication starts with effective listening.

Experienced sales professions will tell you that client relationships break down often where there is a lack of consistent servicing of an account. For example, when there is a change in sales of service staff with little time given to handing over. This is a sensitive time in the relationship between any supplier and its clients. It underlines the importance of the personal selling aspect to any business. It presents a particular challenge to companies who have placed their frontline business (and corporate reputations) in the hands of call (often called customer service) centres.

Recall:

Recall is important in many respects in building enduring client relationships.

Recall the promises and deadlines you commit to. Set your cellphone diary/organizers to remind you. In other words, use modern technology to support your service !
Call or service centre-driven operations need to ensure that their database recalls the full client history relating to the issue at hand. This is far more important than the current fad of “remembering” client first names, birthdays, etc. Does your software package do this?
Document your progress on an issue so that the client does not have to re-state his or her case over and over again.

On the flipside, positive recall on the part of the client relating to a good service experience is the essence of brand-building – when the client recalls positive messages and associations dealing with that supplier.

Messages & Media

Use the full spectrum of media available to you, within budget, to make as much useful information available as possible to your clients, or potential clients.
This includes use of the company website, effective tagging and bylines on email messages and do remember to put things in writing - effectively - in words your customer understands.
Other written or visual communications such as PR activity, media releases, advertising and the like all need to back up your efforts in building a positive brand.
Say what you mean and mean what you say. Advertising and other communications are sometimes prepared by well-meaning creatives who do funky designs. But often due to a lack of understanding of the business, they portray inaccurate or incomplete marketing messages. For example, a website that has a really great home page but no real information beneath the surface?

Finally, be ethical ! Ethical marketers make a habit of painting the full picture for their clients in all their communications, warts and all. Ethical marketers can reap long term benefits of honest communication with clients in the building strong, reliable brand images, in turn leading to loyal customers.

Your customer expects no less.