The CRM Product Management Checklist

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	The CRM Product Management Checklist *top-search.shtml* *top-ad-collapse.shtml* *tier3square.shtmlAs we watch our customers change, and yes they are changing, how do traditional CRM vendors need to adapt their products to remain competitive? I'd love to answer that question. But first, I need to get another question answered... Did they ever adapt to the concept of customer-centricity in the first place?* Do CRM vendors collectively believe that they've built best practices for complex front office processes into their software? Just install it and work backwards until you've got a strategy! I think maybe they're caught up in a dilemma and have convinced themselves of this, even though there are a lot of smart people in the industry that know better. After all, they've got a product to sell, and their marketing generally proves my point. On page 126 of Paul Greenberg's CRM at the Speed of Light, Fourth Edition , he gives us an answer to this question… "So even when the vendors would say, 'CRM is not about software; it's all about people.' let's just say they weren't trying to sell you people the following morning." So, we all have our checklists when we're looking to buy CRM Software, or when we're selecting a product to utilize as consultants. Here's my checklist for CRM product management teams and it can apply broadly to CRM or Social CRM, whatever sends a tingle up your leg. I'm looking for products that can operate in the middle market, and do at least 2 of these things well. Some can do one of these well. Many do absolutely none of these well. Where do you (or your vendor) fit on this list? Can your tool create, and integrate with, a community where customers can be engaged, have a conversation, resolve issues amongst themselves, find information about your products or find information about their relationship with their vendor (your customer)? Have you built this, or formed a partnership with one of the many social support communities out there today like some of your competitors have? Does your tool allow your customer to identify who their disloyal customers are so they can proactively enhance margins in the most cost effective way? Sure, you have a Dashboard, but does it do anything like RFM scoring and analysis so you're customers' relationship marketing people can make critical decisions; like what to say, who to say it to, and when to say it? Does your tool allow your ultimate customer to build effective email follow-up campaigns, the kind that are smart enough to automatically move people to different tracks based on their clicks or purchases, etc? Do your ultimate customers have access to sales intelligence tools that take advantage of collected data to build comprehensive views of their prospects and customers through mashups with external sources; or do you just have a Google Map button? Do your ultimate customers have the ability to manage communications and sales through multiple channels? Does your ultimate customer have channel sales planning tools, channel lead distribution management or anything that a channel manager needs to be effective? Do you know what percentage of your customers have a reseller or distributor channel? Do your customers have access to basic integrated cross-functional workflow design tools that allow them to build effective business processes that make the customer experience better? Does it look like an email client? The above points assume technical capabilities exist, such as robust email integration, otherwise none of them could be done, but all of you have robust email integration, right? I thought so... Am I the only one that looks at CRM this way? When you make decisions about your product, is the business case internally focused or is it customer focused? Do you get the two mixed up when your really trying to satisfy your own desires, or the needs of an "inside-out" corporate culture? Do you really get what CRM is, or did you think you could just make a product and capture enough of a market to survive? Do you have the tools internally to run your CRM company in a customer-centric way? Yes? No? Being a CRM company, do you have a compelling internal story to tell about your customer-centric journey and how you used your own product to take it? If not, how can you expect anyone to take the journey with your CRM software? Do you know what a customer-centric business looks like? Anyone else want to add to the list? I wrote this pretty quickly, so I'm sure I missed a lot. *C2_invitation_22427242* *bottom-ad-collapse.shtml* *SOCIALIZEIT* Back to CRM Software from the CRM Product Management Checklist Return To Effective CRM Consulting Link to Effective CRM Consulting	*gadgets.shtml* *tier3skyscraper.shtml*
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	The CRM Product Management Checklist *top-search.shtml* *top-ad-collapse.shtml* *tier3square.shtmlAs we watch our customers change, and yes they are changing, how do traditional CRM vendors need to adapt their products to remain competitive? I'd love to answer that question. But first, I need to get another question answered... Did they ever adapt to the concept of customer-centricity in the first place?* Do CRM vendors collectively believe that they've built best practices for complex front office processes into their software? Just install it and work backwards until you've got a strategy! I think maybe they're caught up in a dilemma and have convinced themselves of this, even though there are a lot of smart people in the industry that know better. After all, they've got a product to sell, and their marketing generally proves my point. On page 126 of Paul Greenberg's CRM at the Speed of Light, Fourth Edition , he gives us an answer to this question… "So even when the vendors would say, 'CRM is not about software; it's all about people.' let's just say they weren't trying to sell you people the following morning." So, we all have our checklists when we're looking to buy CRM Software, or when we're selecting a product to utilize as consultants. Here's my checklist for CRM product management teams and it can apply broadly to CRM or Social CRM, whatever sends a tingle up your leg. I'm looking for products that can operate in the middle market, and do at least 2 of these things well. Some can do one of these well. Many do absolutely none of these well. Where do you (or your vendor) fit on this list? Can your tool create, and integrate with, a community where customers can be engaged, have a conversation, resolve issues amongst themselves, find information about your products or find information about their relationship with their vendor (your customer)? Have you built this, or formed a partnership with one of the many social support communities out there today like some of your competitors have? Does your tool allow your customer to identify who their disloyal customers are so they can proactively enhance margins in the most cost effective way? Sure, you have a Dashboard, but does it do anything like RFM scoring and analysis so you're customers' relationship marketing people can make critical decisions; like what to say, who to say it to, and when to say it? Does your tool allow your ultimate customer to build effective email follow-up campaigns, the kind that are smart enough to automatically move people to different tracks based on their clicks or purchases, etc? Do your ultimate customers have access to sales intelligence tools that take advantage of collected data to build comprehensive views of their prospects and customers through mashups with external sources; or do you just have a Google Map button? Do your ultimate customers have the ability to manage communications and sales through multiple channels? Does your ultimate customer have channel sales planning tools, channel lead distribution management or anything that a channel manager needs to be effective? Do you know what percentage of your customers have a reseller or distributor channel? Do your customers have access to basic integrated cross-functional workflow design tools that allow them to build effective business processes that make the customer experience better? Does it look like an email client? The above points assume technical capabilities exist, such as robust email integration, otherwise none of them could be done, but all of you have robust email integration, right? I thought so... Am I the only one that looks at CRM this way? When you make decisions about your product, is the business case internally focused or is it customer focused? Do you get the two mixed up when your really trying to satisfy your own desires, or the needs of an "inside-out" corporate culture? Do you really get what CRM is, or did you think you could just make a product and capture enough of a market to survive? Do you have the tools internally to run your CRM company in a customer-centric way? Yes? No? Being a CRM company, do you have a compelling internal story to tell about your customer-centric journey and how you used your own product to take it? If not, how can you expect anyone to take the journey with your CRM software? Do you know what a customer-centric business looks like? Anyone else want to add to the list? I wrote this pretty quickly, so I'm sure I missed a lot. *C2_invitation_22427242* *bottom-ad-collapse.shtml* *SOCIALIZEIT* Back to CRM Software from the CRM Product Management Checklist Return To Effective CRM Consulting Link to Effective CRM Consulting	*gadgets.shtml* *tier3skyscraper.shtml*
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