Coffee Bean Technology Social CRM Use Cases for Mid Size Business

8/8/2019 Coffee Bean Technology Social CRM Use Cases for Mid Size Business

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Soc ia l CRM Use Cases forMed ium-Sized CompaniesCoffee Bean Tec hnologyBy Ma rcio Sa itoSep tem ber 2010

Social CRM Use Cases for Medium-Sized Companies

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Tab le of ContentsExec utive Summa ry 2

Soc ial CRM is the Future of CRM 2What is the Soc ial in Soc ial CRM? 3

The Use Ca ses for Soc ial CRM in Mid -Sized Co mpanies 4

1. Sa les and Ma rket ing Insights 4

2. Soc ial Med ia Monitoring and Soc ial Lea d Generation 5

3. Custom er Ad voc ac y and Soc ial Custom er Servic e 6

4. Inte rnal Co llaboration 7

Conclusion 8

About Coffee Bea n Tec hnology 9

About the Author 9

Ab out the Co ffee Bea n System 9

Referenc es 10


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Exec utive Summary

As a leader in a sma ll or mid-sized compa ny, you are focused on running

and growing the business. Any ac tion and investment in p roc ess or tools

needs to have a direc t imp ac t on the bottom line.

At the same time , you ha ve heard about ho w b usiness is c hang ing (1) as a result

of the ad op tion of soc ial techno log ies and the em ergenc e of the Digital

Ge neration as c onsumers and business dec ision ma kers.

The Digital Generation refers to c hild ren bo rn and raised in a d igital world

that are c reating cha nge in the workplace.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is evo lving towards Soc ial CRM in

response to those c hanges. But how is Soc ial CRM d ifferent from c lassic C RM?

How c an it help to increase the performa nc e o f my c om pa ny? Is Soc ial CRM

only for the e nte rprise? How d oe s Soc ial Med ia a ffec t my b usiness?

This doc ument p rop oses to a nswe r those q uestions. It is no t abou t the theory of

CRM, it is about the p ragm a tic effec ts of its adop tion by m id -sized c om panies.

As a business leader, you know transition is going to take yea rs to c omp lete. We

ac knowled ge tha t as we ll but will p resent the c ase tha t the time to invest in

resea rc h and find the right pa rtners for the journey a hea d is now .

Soc ial CRM is the Future of CRM

CRM is a set o f proc esses (and assoc ia ted too ls) meant to ma nage the

relationships of a c om pany with the ir custom ers. It a ffec ts mo re d irec tly the a rea s


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interac ting with e xterna l pa rtners and c ustom ers (typica lly sa les, ma rketing ,

customer service).

Soc ial CRM see ks to add ress the same sc op e of p rob lems as Classic C RM.

Why do we need a new nam e for the sam e solution? Bec ause the re a re

signific ant c ha nges in the b usiness environme nt a nd CRM is evolving in responseto them. Until tha t evo lution c onsolida tes, Soc ial CRM is the future of CRM.

But wha t are those c hanges?

Changes in the business env ironm ent. Custom ers have g a ined ac c ess to

informa tion throug h the Internet. They c onne c t and interac t with their

pe ers, and a re emp ow ered and in c ontrol.

Emergenc e o f New Tec hnology. In the pa st dec ade soc ial techno log ies

have d ec rea sed the fric tion and c ost of collabo ra tion. The ad op tion of

those te c hno log ies by businesses p romises to sc a le persona l touc h andchange engagement with customers.

Generational c hanges. The d igita l generation b orn a fter the 1980s grew

up using the Internet and a re now c onsume rs and wo rkers. They o perate

d ifferently than m ost o f the business lea ders and will forc e c om panies to

adapt .

If you see those c hanges d riving business in the ne xt dec ade a nd agree tha t

they w ill req uire a dapta tion in p roc esses and too ls, rea d on.

What is the Soc ial in Soc ial CRM?CRM ha s excelled in c ap turing the transac tiona l aspe c ts of a c om pa ny

op eration (e.g. c onta c t information, lea ds and opp ortunity da ta), enforc ing a nd

autom ating p roc ess to o b ta in qua lity (e.g. wo rkflow s, rem inders and events),

and p roviding m anage me nt visibility (rep orts, da shboa rds).

But C lassica l CRM ha s no t b ee n very suc c essful in he lping sa les and c ustome r

servic e rep resenta tives in c ustom er eng agem ent. Sa les peo p le will tell you how

CRM fee ls like a c hore instea d of a too l mo st of the time.

Why is tha t?

The last mile of c ustom er engage me nt has a lwa ys been soc ia l. You ha ve

hea rd this befo re: Sa les is based on relationship . Peo p le buy from p eop le .

The m ost imp ortant fa c tor in a buy de c ision is pee r rec om me ndation . The sa les

proc ess is not linea r and c annot b e c ap tured in a linea r wo rkflow .


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Business have a lrea dy rec og nized tha t b y, for examp le, b uild ing Custom er Ca ses

as a me c ha nism o f pe er-influenc e a nd using b usiness lunches or go lf outings to

esta b lish p ersona l rela tionships. But those a re e xpensive and d ifficult m ethods to

scale.

Classica l CRM to ols a re b uilt a round da ta bases, forms and wo rkflow s. Those a re

exce llent te c hnolog ies to m od el struc tured p roc esses and rep orts for

ma nag eme nt. But they c anno t effec tively model conversations and

relationships.

Soc ial CRM too ls leverage Soc ial Med ia and Tec hno log ies (som et imes refe rred to

as Web 2.0, inc lud ing Strea ms, wikis, unstruc tured search, soc ial filte ring ,

rep uta tion metric s, tagg ing , boo kmarking , etc ) that em erged first on the

c onsumer web and promise to he lp sc a le huma n touc h so tha t co mp anies c an

bette r eng age with custom ers and p rovide a sa tisfying c ustom er experienc e.

The same tec hnique s c an a lso b e used to p rom ote internal com munica tion a nd

c ollab oration so tha t c ustom ers see one c om pa ny and have a sea mlessexperienc e e ven if their point of c onta c t mo ves ac ross d ifferent d ep artments

over the ir lifec yc les.

The Use Cases for Soc ia l CRM in Mid-Sized Companies

CRM is both about the processes and tools. For an in-depth exploration of Social

CRM me thodo logies, we rec om mend the b ook CRM at the Speed of Light (2)

by Paul Greenberg.

The m arket referenc e for selec tion of Soc ial CRM too ls is Altimeter Groups report

The 18 use c ases of Soc ial CRM (3), whic h is free ly ava ilable a s a reference .

Here we w ill foc us on the ones that are most imm ed iately relevant to me dium-

sized c om pa nies.

Soc ial CRM intend s to solve a ll p rob lems c urrently ad dressed by Classic C RM

too ls, but it a lso leve rage soc ia l tec hnolog ies to bette r ad d ress c ertain use c ases.

1. Sa les and Ma rketing Insights

With trad itiona l me d ia , c om panies c an broa dc ast their me ssage (pub lish pa pers,

post a dvertisem ent, e tc ) b ut listening is rea lly d iffic ult. Co rporations have bee n

using a nec dota l fac e-to-fac e interac tions and too ls suc h as surveys, foc us

group s, custom er ad visory boards to c ollec t ma rket input.


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Soc ia l CRM tools leve rage soc ia l me d ia to a llow c om panies to listen to wha t

their custom ers, p rospec ts, pa rtners, and c om petitors a re a lrea dy p ub lishing.

Most b usiness peo p le have a Linked In p rofile and tha t is the first p lac e they

anno unce any c hang e in their job status. Many a lso po st update s abo ut their

c urrent a c tivities and interests on soc ial networks suc h a s Fac eb oo k or Twitte r.

If, for examp le, you sell IT eq uipme nt and yo ur c onta c t a t BigComp any

announc es a p rom otion to VP of Data Center Infrastruc ture on Linked In, tha t is

proba bly a go od time for you to c all her bo th to c ongratulate on the job

promo tion a nd lea rn a bo ut her plans in the new role.

News about your business c ustom ers a re ava ilab le both from their ow n soc ia l

me d ia p resenc e, a s well as from industry news sourc es.

You p rob ab ly do n t need to follow eve ry news item for every c ustom er, but you

do wa nt to know a bo ut certain events (chang e in manag eme nt, merges and

ac quisitions, op ening o f new o ffic es, etc ) that m ight trigge r an ac tion from you.On the other hand , right b efore you pic k up the p hone, you want to know wha t

are the most current anno unce ments of any kind relate d to b oth the c om pa ny

and pe rson you are c alling.

Soc ial CRM tools ac tively c onnec t to Internet resourc es (be it Linked In, Goog le

Ma ps, Twitter, com pany web sites, new s sources) to b ring yo u sa les and

ma rketing insights whe n you need it and in the c onte xt o f your business

operation.

So it is not a bout spend ing a ll da y wa tc hing Twitter or Fac eb oo k fee ds, but

having a system tha t b rings tha t informa tion a t the right time, in c onte xt of thebusiness ta sk so tha t soc ial informa tion is an em pow ering tool, not a d istrac tion.

Figure 1 - Soc ial CRM c an b ring e xternal insight in c ontext

2. Soc ia l Med ia Monitoring and Soc ia l Lea d Generation

Trad itiona l me thod s of lead gene ra tion rely on b roa dc asting to a la rge list

co mp iled by a nd rented from med ia co mp anies and hoping that a very sma ll

numb er rea c ts to it and bec om e lea ds.


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Tha t sta tistica l relianc e on serend ip ity (ca tc hing the suspec t a t the exac t time

she is sensitive to the me ssage) is not enough a nd c anno t susta in a m ed ium-sized

business in a c om petitive spac e.

The new funne l is not in sta tic lists, but in online c om munities, whe re p rospec ts

c an g ive o ut the signa ls of read iness without d ep end ing on sta tistic a l

c oinc idenc e. Soc ia l CRM tools a llow the m onitoring of tho se soc ia l venue s and

dete c tion a t the exac t right time (both fo r the seller and the b uyer) to estab lish

sales contact.

As an expe rime nt, if you ha ve no t tried Twitter yet, go to the the ir site and type

the name of your co mp any (or another well-known c omp any, ma ybe the lead er

in the spac e you a re in) in the sea rc h box. Spend a c oup le o f minutes studying

the results. If you a re luc ky, you w ill see posts from users tha t look like this Hi, I am

c onsidering buying the X solution from BigComp any but looking for a lterna tives.

Any suggestions? .

Don t you think tha t loo ks like a lead ? With Soc ial CRM, you don t nee d to b eluc ky, the tool will help you to eng age w ith the releva nt c om munities so tha t you

don t m iss those signa ls of read iness .

Figure 2 - Soc ial CRM c an he lp to prospec t using Soc ial Med ia

3. Custom er Advoc acy and Soc ia l Custom er Service

Any sa les person know tha t one of the m ost pow erful too ls to c onvinc e p rospec ts

are c red ible c ase stud ies. Ma rkete rs ha ve stud ied it. Psyc ho log ists have stud ied

it. They a ll ag ree . Peop le fee l mo re c om fortab le b uying wha t their pee rs a re

buying.

Why is it tha t c om panies a re a lwa ys strugg ling to g et ha ppy referenc e c ustom ers

to influenc e the ir pee rs? Why do we b ring non-d isc losure a gree ments into tha t

p roc ess? Bec ause c om panies wo uld like to c ontrol pee r-to-peer influenc e.

Soc ia l CRM to ols assume c ustom ers em pow ered by the Internet and Soc ia l

Med ia will conne c t a nd c om munica te w ith their pe ers whethe r we like it or not. If

we c anno t c ontrol, we b etter at least pa rtic ipate in the c onversa tion.


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Soc ial CRM tools help you to c ultivate c om munities and c onnec t happ y

c ustom ers so tha t they c an influenc e, help, a nd nurture ea c h o ther. They a lso

c onnec t you with unhapp y custome rs, so tha t you c an reac t fast and ma ke it

right. Sa tisfac tion surveys a re no longer enoug h, you nee d to dete c t and fix

p rob lem s in rea l time , so tha t you m ake your c ustom er hap py be fore they sta rt

talking to pe ers ab out a ba d expe rience .

Leverag ing Soc ial CRM to ols for rea l-time response w ill req uire c ha nges in the

c ulture o f co mp anies, with increased op enne ss and transpa renc y. But the

bene fits a re rewa rd ing .

Figure 3 - Social CRM allows the inclusion of customers in conversations.

4. Internal Collaboration

Com pa nies have inc rea singly seg mente d wo rk to a c hieve effic ienc y. We ha ve

been ta ught tha t the best way to run a business is to b rea k big ta sks into

inde pend ent sma ller ones until they ca n b e a ssigne d to func tiona l area s and

pe op le a nd tied to a n MBO sc heme.

For exam ple: Ma rketing b roa dc ast m essage s and c ap ture lea ds, Sa les c lose

dea ls and c ap ture revenues, Custome r Service d ea l with a fter-purc ha se issues.

Two side-effec ts of excessive seg me nta tion are tha t the c om pany do es not o ffer

a c onsistent c ustom er experienc e (w hic h a ffec ts its c om petitivene ss) and ma ny

op po rtunities are lost for lac k of eng ag em ent. If we believe pe er

rec om menda tion is a ma jor source of lead s and purcha se influenc e, then

ma rketing , sa les and c ustom er servic e should be tightly integ ra ted .

Seg me nta tion c an work relatively well in som e e nvironm ents, and has wo rked

partic ularly we ll in sa les, but we ha ve see n ma ny dea ls lost for lac k of it. Soc ial

tools low er the c ost of co llab oration and enab le people to wo rk tog ether

without losing e ffic iency, but ga ining in effec tiveness.

Prod uc t Ma nagers and Custom er Servic e rep resenta tives know things tha t c an

ma ke or break a dea l. Loo k at your organiza tion. Does informa tion flow w ell


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be twee n functional areas? When I prep a re to c all a c onta c t, I wo uld like to

have new ma rketing informa tion from produc t ma nag eme nt, upc oming

softw are updates from eng inee ring, sta tus of c ustom er servic e c a lls a ll on my

sc reen so tha t I ca n p rovide the best p ossib le servic e to my c ustom er.

Does tha t happen in a typ ic a l orga niza tion, even sma ll one s? No.

Soc ia l CRM to ols b ridge the gaps betw een func tional a rea s. This is not about

dep loying Sha rePoint and hop ing p eo p le will b rowse sta tic file rep ositories. It is

ab out bringing the right up-to-da te informa tion to the right pe rson when it is

nee ded and in conte xt. Tha t is usua lly do ne using a c ollaborative p latform tha t

leverages the use o f inte lligent informa tion Streams.

Figure 4 - Soc ial CRM a llows peop le from d ifferent area s to c ollaborate.

Conclusion

The shift from Classic CRM to Soc ial CRM will happen over the next several

years, but the time to invest in research and selec t the right pa rtners for

the journey ahead is now.

If we c onvinced you o f that, we hop e you w ill sha re this informa tion w ith othe rs

and c onsider pa rtnering with Co ffee Bea n Tec hnolog y, one o f the first

c om panies to d esign a Soc ia l CRM p latform from the ground up.

As mentioned befo re, Soc ia l CRM is the evo lution of C RM a nd no vend or has theperfec t solution fo r eve ryone . We b elieve the use c ases above c an serve as a

go od starting point for you to loo k at w hat your current C RM tool lac ks and wha t

ea ch vend or can o ffer.


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About C offee Bea n Tec hnology

Co ffee Bea n Tec hno logy offers Soc ial CRM fo r mid-sized c om panies.

We integra te sa les and m arketing w ith soc ia l med ia a llow ing com panies to

prospec t new business and nurture c ustomer relationships to c ross-sell and up -sell

more.

Website http:/ /www.coffeebeantech.com/

Twitte r http:/ / ww w.twitter.com / CoffeeBea nTec h

Fac eboo k http:/ / www .fac eb ook.co m/ CoffeeBea nTec h

You Tube http:/ / ww w.youtube.co m/ user/Co ffeeBea nTec hnology

About the Author

Ma rc io Saito is President o f Co ffee Bea n Tec hnolog y and draws from his

combined pa st experienc e as a p ioneer of the Open Source Softwa re

movement, which gave him the first insights on collabo ration and

community engagement, and a s a p rovider of solutions for Change

and Configuration Ma nag ement in the enterprise spa ce. He b log s on

Soc ial CRM, Soc ial Business and Soc ial Med ia.

Blog http:/ / co mmunity.co ffeebea ntech.com / blogs

Twitte r http :// twitter.com/ Ma rc io_Sa ito

About the Co ffee Bea n System

The Co ffee Bea n Soc ial CRM System is offered as a

sub sc rip tion servic e (SaaS) and is built from theground up o n a co llab orative p latform ba sed on

Streams. On top of the Soc ial Layer, it inco rpora tes

business app lic a tions supporting t rad itiona l CRM

functionality.

Product http://coffeebeantech.com/solution


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References

The shift from Classic CRM to Soc ial CRM will happen over the next several

years, but the time to invest in research and selec t the right pa rtners for

the journey ahead is now.

(1) The C lic k Com pany Ad apt to the Digital Med ium o r Die John

Lima and Marcio Sa ito 2010 ISBN 978-0-9826645-6 http://

www.coffeebeantech.com/booklet

(2) CRM a t the Spee d of Light Fourth Ed ition Paul Greenberg 2009 Mc Graw Hill

ISBN 978-0-07159045-7

(3) Altimete r Rep ort: The 18 Use Ca ses of Soc ial CRM, The New Rules of

Relationship Ma nag eme nt - http://www.altimetergroup.com/2010/03/altimeter-

rep ort-the-18-use-c ases-of-soc ial-crm-the -new -rules-of-rela tionship-

management.html


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Coffee Bean Technology Social CRM Use Cases for Mid Size Business