Robots vs. Humans
I came across this article and thought of my clients, especially those who are embracing automated technology and those who are considering an investment in such. Whether you’re a B2C or B2B like me, advances in AI are making these technologies available and affordable to more and more companies.
Yet, two of the top five factors for a positive emotional connection to a brand are personalized experiences and access to a knowledgeable agent when there’s a problem. So what’s the equilibrium point between the human touch and automated tech solutions? The answer is different company to company, industry to industry. But of one thing we can be certain: customized and aligned CRM calibrated to a business’s specific objectives and a single customer view are essential for delivering great and memorable experiences. This approach allows companies to effectively cater to what amounts to a target audience of one.
But it doesn’t happen all by itself. All CRM platforms are virtually useless right out of the box. Over the years, we’ve observed that most companies we encounter only utilize about 20% of their CRM’s capabilities. At MondoCRM, we help our clients remedy this by aligning their technology with their business’s unique objectives.
Takeaways:
- Poor customer service costs U.S. businesses $75 billion annually.
- Nearly half—48%—of consumers choose a phone call as their channel of choice when reaching out to a contact center, suggesting that frontline employees in the contact center will continue to be key to driving customer loyalty. Are they armed with a single customer view?
- It costs 7x more to acquire a new customer than to maintain an existing one. What’s your customer churn and what’s it costing you?
Re-engage Inactive Clients and Prospects Using CRM & Email
I found a good article on re-connecting with inactive clients and prospects, and it resonates with me because it’s a common request among my clients to use their CRM and tie it to an ESP (E-Mail Service Provider) to reactivate dormant prospects and customers. By the way, it costs 7 times more to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing client and the lifetime value is 10 times greater.
We’d like to believe one email blast with the same message to all contacts solves the problem; however, the author believes a win-back campaign requires precise messaging per market segment. Also, it should be rolled out incrementally so if you do get a high bounce rate, it’s easier to clean up for subsequent mailings. Acceptable hard bounce rates are less than 5% per campaign before ESPs take notice.
How are you engaging your inactive prospects and clients ?
The first thing we’d do is determine if your bounces and opt outs are in separate spreadsheets, and consolidate that in the CRM. Then filter the CRM’s to ensure they no longer get emails. In our practice, we hired a client retention specialist to call clients in addition to email. To help her out, I created a one click report that finds our clients sorted by account size. It takes her about 1 minute to find out who needs to be called.
How We Saved 8 Redundant Data Entry Steps in CRM
One of my clients needs an on demand method of getting contacts from Act! to the iPhone’s (or Android) native address book. He wants to make calls from his Apple CarPlay or iPhone and see caller ID. Currently, it takes 6+ steps.
- Sync 3rd party iPhone app to CRM database
- Open iPhone app
- Find the contact
- Go through the sandwich menus to export as a vCard
- Open iPhone file manager and search for vCard
- Open vCard
The business owner doesn’t want to do this, so he drives the iPhone back to the main office and allows the admin to struggle with the same steps. So, we are up to 8 steps plus windshield time.
So, I decided to make a button in WiredContact to export the current contact as a vCard. Then, I created an e-mail template that pre-fills the owner’s email address and attaches the vCard right in the letter. The video shows this about one minute, eleven seconds into the demo.
Now, it’s down to two steps for the admin:
- Click “vCard”
- Send E-Mail mail-merged template
For the owner, it’s down to checking email and opening the vCard attachment. The owner doesn’t need to learn anything new, and has zero down time.
In this use case, the contact doesn’t need to go back and forth to the CRM. It’s used for getting caller ID to work on the iPhone and making calls.
As a consultant, I used to cringe at this because I had to source third party apps or hire a coder. With WiredContact, I got this done in a weekend without learning more than .html and WiredContact’s merge codes. Also, it was about listening to our client’s requirement every step before jumping to a conclusion.
Getting CRM Work Done - From The Pub
Even though I haven’t played soccer in Europe since 1988, I still watch Champions League soccer. Due to the time zones, I took in the game during business hours at the local sports bar. So, how would I get work done ?
While checking email on the Blackberry Passport and making calls and checking e-mail, I used WiredContact on my Android (Alcatel Pop 7E) tablet.
WiredContact on the tablet lets me keep the same screen as my desktop so it’s an easy transition. I ran through my calls during half time. One of them led to a lead to consider WiredContact as their next CRM.
Within WiredContact, I pressed 3 buttons and mail-merge documented discussing WiredContact went out. I didn’t have to fire up Outlook or another mobile e-mail app. The email records to the contact history, and I can schedule a follow up in a week with one button after that’s done.
The notes were remarkably easy to enter. The Android’s speech to text tool allowed me to dictate the sales call’s results in a few seconds.
No sync needed, and it was back to watching Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.