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I view features as requests from narrowly focused end user communities who really don't understand what customer relationship management is all about. They are the sort of line items that come about from requirements gathering sessions (if this is the first meeting you have with your consultant, beware). Vendors will also surprise us with some cool new technology occasionally. Unfortunately, they never seem to come with a guideline for how they may fit into an enterprises CRM strategy. Sure, they're cool but....the vendor is just trying to keep up with the other vendors! There are CRM tools that dramatically enhance an organization's ability to act bigger or more efficiently, and this is an important part of implementing parts of your CRM strategy. But, too many CRM consumers get lured in by the bells and whistles used to sell a product before they are really ready to use it successfully. No single CRM feature is going to turn your business around. In fact, I believe that no group of features will turn your business around. If the purpose of Customer Relationship Management is to develop a better understanding of your customers, and use that information to increase customer loyalty (thereby lowering customer acquisition costs, etc) it has to start with a plan. Once you have a sound CRM strategy in place, and you know how you want your enterprise to engage its customers and prospects, then it's appropriate to look at CRM tools that will enhance your ability to execute. You've all heard "Ready, Shoot, Aim" before right? Well, sending your IT folks, or sales associates, out to find the best deal on CRM Software is completely backwards. And frankly, it's the easy way out because you're too busy to sit back and think about this from 30,000 feet. You should never be too busy to do things right; especially when there is a great deal of financial commitment (and hopefully success) involved! So once again, I'm driving home the need to develop, at a minimum, a meaningful customer database with data that will help you understand your customer, analyze that data so you gain a competitive understanding of your customers and competitor tactics, then write a plan for your CRM initiative. And you shouldn't forget that this is an ongoing process. So, your CRM strategy and CRM Tools need to help you continually collect information and provide the flexibility to make course corrections as they're needed.
Effective CRM Consulting from CRM Tools
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