This is an interesting question that I see cropping up of late, since the news about the arrival of the new kid on the block - Social CRM - is reaching new ears. Is it just old wine in a new bottle or is it something more disruptive? I have been asked this when I meet people & strike a conversation around Social CRM, mostly from the CRM folks, who have just heard about it. The technologists are fine with it, its just another channel to be integrated to CRM, like an email or a call center, and they are happy if you give them the specifics on the integration modules. But then people who are not too deep in CRM technology or who are involved with CRM from a business perspective (the later I have been interacting more only in the past couple of years), are not too happy with yet another prefix to CRM - it brings to them memories of the previous attempts like eCRM & mCRM. In a recent post by John Bell of Ogilvy titled "What Defines Social CRM?", Tim Sanchez, General Manager of ABIS Consulting Group, asks in the comments section:"The more I hear it, the more I don't like it. ... read more >>
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The title of this post is the same as the title for the Editors note in this February’s Inc. – The Magazine for Growing Companies – magazine. I found it to be a very interesting Editors note, and wanted to highlight the closing point from Jane Berentson: “Maybe we should replace “the customer is always right” with a saying that is more appropriate for the times that we live in: Customers and companies should do right by each other.” The paragraph before that is actually better: …customers, too, have a responsibility to make a commercial transaction easy and pleasant, and if something goes awry, they should make their feelings known in a way that’s considerate – and considered. It’s always been possible to complain about a sloppy salesperson or a slow waiter or aggravating help lines, but the Internet makes it possible to criticize in a public forum, which increases the string of that criticism exponentially. The web shouldn’t be a tool for cleverness or cruelty at the expense of someone else. Care should be taken.” Now I understand that in some cases, emotions get the best of us, but time and time again I have also recognized the way that some of our expectations have ... read more >>
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I was going to do this long post about something but I decided instead to accumulate a few things in a shorter format and lay them out to you. They are both industry driven and highly personal. So here we go: STOP Stop the Vendors-as-a-Class Beatdowns I’m tired of industry pundits and others beating on enterprise software vendors simply because they are vendors. When I was in Amsterdam/Arnhem last fall to speak, I had an epiphany when I saw how they treated vendors. They were treated as citizens, not lepers with money. Vendors are companies trying to sell services and products, pretty much like the people they are selling to – or like whoever it is you work for even if its yourself. They don’t deserve to be attacked because they are stereotypically presumed to be crappy because they are big or ponderous. Ponderous does not equal evil. If they do something wrong, go after them. If they do something right, praise them. But don’t launch a cynical attack on them because you presume their evil ways. “Ah, you say, but they have a history of being pushy, selling what they can’t deliver, etc.” Then attack the practice. You know that I’m not one to ... read more >>
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The Olympic gold medal hockey game last week between Canada and the United States was among the most entertaining sporting events I've experienced in a very long time. In fact, the entire tournament was highly enjoyable. What made it such an amazing experience were the very things that are missing from the major professional sports leagues, with the exception of the NFL and PGA. As a customer experience, the Olympic tournament excelled because it put the absolute best product in front of the fan every game. Every game meant something. And there there was a highly emotional connection between the fan and the experience. Pro sports leagues, on the other hand, have largely lost that emotional connection with their fans that is at the root of any superior customer experience. Sure, there are meaningful games. And, fans are generally loyal to their team. But, business decisions over the past twenty years in baseball, basketball and hockey have focused less on connecting with fans and more on short-sighted profit motives. Product lines have been overextended and the quality of the product has been degraded through geographic over ... read more >>
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Theres a great debate/discussion going on about Whuffie & Social Capital and how it applies to the social media & online networks/communities on blogs & twitter. It all started with a post by Brian Solis, a very well reputed leader in the PR world & social media, titled Social Capital: The Currency of the Social Economy. He deeply derives on the book called The Whuffie Factor by Tara "missrogue" Hunt. Venessa Miemis kicked off an animated conversation on twitter around the difference of Social Capital (as suggested by socio-politico-economists) & Reputation economy (as suggested by Whuffie). She topped it off with an excellent post titled: Social Capital is not the same as Whuffie that I highly recommend everyone to read before proceeding further. Worth every minute you spend reading & digesting it.
In the language of game theory, social capital is the excess propensity to play cooperative solutions in prisoner's dilemma games. Venessa deliberates in detail about the concept of Social Capital, so I will not write redundant stuff. Instead lets consider ... read more >>
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I had an excellent lunch with my friends at Simplybox (great company, killer idea, well implemented enterprise collaboration- not a client) on Wednesday and we had a sensational discussion on solving problems. They are going through a growth phase and are trying to position their product better based on their customers feedback. We discussed several things, but we ended up talking about the title of this post. As we began to discuss the different things that the product can and should do an idea came to me — which I’d like to get your input so I can understand it better and see if I am right or wrong. Software is not a solution, we all know that. Software is a tool, an aide to solving a problem. The question that always arises is what is the problem we are solving. The best way to look at this is to say that there are two types of problems: pain-points and inefficiencies. Bear with me for some definitions, it is important to distinguish them. Pain points is what we all think of when we think of using software: a very specific function or process that is not working well and it is either costing more than it should, or not yielding as much as ... read more >>
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James Cameron has written and directed many blockbuster movies including The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Titanic, and most recently Avatar. In this excellent TED Talk, James Cameron describes his childhood fascination with the fantastic — from reading Sci-Fi to deep-sea diving, and how it contributed to success of his blockbuster hits “Aliens,” “The Terminator,” “Titanic” and “Avatar.” Also listen to him on why he made Titanic. I like what he says about Curiosity, Imagination, Respect for team, Risk taking, Leap of faith and fear not being an option – rather than failure! After listening to James Cameron, I was wondering if he directs Avatar like movie on Enterprise 2.0 technologies and Social CRM, how the story line might play out? What do you think? Please do share your comments on what the story line might look like …. let the imagination fly! Link to original post ... read more >>
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I wanted to get out a quick post based on some great experiences this week. The interactions were on many different channels; Twitter, Email, Skype, Phone, Face-to-face, Groups, Blogs…all of which make for great engagement, learning and productivity. Or, with so many channels to watch, does productivity take a hit? My approach to work has changed, a lot, especially during the past year. That drives the question is will everyone be as willing to make the changes they need to, in order to bring your business into the future? A strong influence on my thinking this week came from two sources. One was a very simple tweet by @designthinkers (Arne van Oosterom) where he said simply “Change is synonymous to future”. A very insightful 5 word tweet. My response was “then why do people look forward to the future, but hate change”? I am far from a student in philosophy, I could easily get myself in over my head quite fast. This was my lead-in to the IDC Directions conference in Boston yesterday. Thinking on this topic during my quick jaunt from Vermont to Boston. The conference was very good, and for those of you on the west coast, you can go the 2.0 version next week. The subject that ... read more >>
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What follows is the unedited version of my latest post at AllThingsDigital… The Altimeter Group today released a new report on Social CRM and while analysts release reports all the time, this is different. The report is free to read and share under Creative Commons and this is a big disruptor, one that reflects the socialization of information and the spirit of social media. The New Rules of Relationship Management The essence of the new report by Altimeter’s R “Ray” Wang and Jeremiah Owyang is putting the customer first. While that seems like a simple principle, it’s easier said then done. The case the duo make is rooted of course in social media and the self-actualization of personal influence. As the report notes in the beginning: Rapid adoption of social networking enables users to connect with individuals and communities who share mutual interests, increasingly leaving organizations out of the conversation. Simply hiring more people to keep up with social marketing, sales, and support will not be sufficient, as consumers and their new channels will always outnumber employees. As a result, companies need an organized approach using enterprise software that connects . ... read more >>
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Just one angry customer can flat-out ruin my entire day. I know they shouldn't, but listening to their complaints sucks the life right out of me. It means we failed, not in the big picture sense, but we failed at something and a customer was affected... big time.
Benjamin Franklin once said,"...but in the world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes."
Mr. Franklin was certainly right, but I think we can add one more: the angry customer.
It doesn't matter how good your products and services are, there will always be someone who needs a little extra care. Someone that was overlooked, forgotten, mistreated, or maybe worse.
Please understand the reason they're angry doesn't matter. Not one stinking iota.
Your immediate responsibility is NOT to figure out if their anger is warranted. I've seen that too many times; everyone gets into a blame game about whose fault it is, or that the customer is being unreasonable, yada yada yada. It doesn't matter! You have a paying customer that is pissed.
They don't want a full-on investigation as to why they're pissed; they just want you to make it ... read more >>
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