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I'll never forget my days in banking. I worked for one of the largest banks in country, and I was part of a number of due diligence teams during the acquisition surge. Hundreds of people trying to figure out how this bank would fit in. But the scariest thing had to be the strategic planning process we went through, the sole stated purpose of which was to improve the efficiency ratio. Guess what. A year after I left the efficiency ratio hadn't budged! While I was working on projects designed to integrated credit cultures across new acquisitions, in effect an internal relationship management program, the executives were on the hunt for quick stock up ticks. To date that, they spent millions on an army of consultants leading to everything from the removal of free coffee to layoffs across board. I'm not going to mention the tie-in to the last real estate market crisis because that would be too obvious. But not to the strategic thinkers. So, my experience with a strategic planning process leads me to see shallow opportunities to cut costs, when the real problems are deeper and elsewhere. I respect consultants that work in this field. Especially the creative ones. The problem is that too often, the pressure on everyone is short term in nature, like the stock price. Tell me, what is strategic about short term improvements? The strategic planning process for CRM is about creating better long term relationships with your customers. Developing a CRM strategy is critical form CRM success. So don't let the fact that the typical strategic planning process is ripe with failure deter you from developing the plan you need for a successful CRM initiative. Follow some simple steps and you will have great success. Create a CRM Strategy - Without a CRM strategy, there is no guiding corporate wide vision for how you will interface with customers. This is a key component which works in conjuntion with your functional CRM initiative (the technology). It takes both to succeed. Perform a CRM Analysis - You need to start by understanding where your company is today. To do this you need to throw out the baggage and be realistic or you won't be doing your company and favors. Identify CRM Benefits - Clearly identify the knowledge you will gain and how you will apply this knowledge (about your customers) through its collection in your CRM software and customer database. Quantify CRM Benefits - Once the benefits have been defined, you must determine what the economic impact will be to your bottom line. Without this, you will not know the appropriate level of investment to make. Quantify CRM Costs - Your CFO will be far more likely to write a check if you can detail the financial benefits as well as the financial costs. The return on investment is critical in making a major go/no go decision. Manage CRM Risk - Any investment done right is underwritten. This is the process of assessing and mitigating risk. If a plan to manage risk is not detailed, your ROI justification will lack substance...and most likely be wrong. CRM Implementation - The last thing you must address is how you plan to implement your CRM strategy. I'm not just talking about implementing the software! Their is a human process that factors into a successful CRM initiative as well. Actually, it's bigger than the software in my opinion. CRM Metrics - A high level view of CRM metrics that will help you better understand success or failure and also areas for opportunity going forward Effective CRM Consulting from Strategic Planning Process
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