A MODERNALTERNATIVE

- to drive -

BETTERBUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS

CRM

for HUMANS

Long-term personal relationships formed and nurtured with customers are

your biggest competitive advantage in a service-based industry. Taking care

of those relationships is hard work, and it’s made even more challenging be-

cause today’s customers expect fast turnaround and informed responses.

If you’ve looked at a customer relationship management system, you’ve seen

how it’s traditionally designed for high-transaction businesses — breaking

down, capturing, and managing bits and bytes of data in order to run reports

to tell you how your business is doing.

But what has happened to the relationship component? Your relationships

aren’t made up of required fields or data points; they’re connections with

real people. Shouldn’t managing customer relationships be a fundamentally

human-to-human interaction, not a robotic one? And that’s where CRM for

Humans comes in. It’s a human-centric alternative to traditional CRMs.

The most important thing you can be in today’s business world is human.

CRMs need to provide insights and intelligence to make us more human in

our relationships with customers, employees, partners, and suppliers. That

information, and related processes, should work in the background to grow

revenue and improve satisfaction, not dilute the customer experience.

READ ON TO LEARN MORE ABOUT:

• The market challenges driving change for relationship-based businesses.

• Why sticking with the CRM status quo doesn’t foster the human component

or the relationships that drive business.

• How relationship management needs to be approached for business success.

BULLHORN | CRM for Humans | bullhorn.com 2

HUMANS ARE UNDERRATED: MARKET SHIFT ONEAlthough machines make our lives easier, more efficient, and far more con-

nected, they cannot replicate human empathy and collaboration. In an article

based on his book “Humans Are Underrated,” Fortune editor Geoff Colvin says

that even as technology advances into every aspect of our lives, the qualities

that make us human are more valuable than ever.

As Colvin argues, “It is precisely because technology is playing an increasingly

pervasive role in our lives that we must tap into our most fundamentally human

skills and traits to succeed in the workplace.”

“We are social beings, hardwired from our evolutionary past to equate personal

relationships with survival. We want to work with other people in solving prob-

lems, tell them stories and hear stories from them, [and] create new ideas with

them,” Colvin writes. “This desire to work alongside people — not machines —

to solve problems or build relationships has contributed to a more human side

of technology, one that allows us to better coexist and adapt together.”

The future’s most valuable skills are not analytical or left-brained skills that

computers or robots handle well. When Oxford Economics asked employers

what skills will be needed most in the next five to ten years, employers’ top

priorities included the most human skills: empathy, relationship building, col-

laborating, and problem solving.

Human

Skills

Valued

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THE MILLENNIAL MINDSET: MARKET SHIFT TWOMore than one in three American workers today are Millennials, making that

generation the largest in the workforce, according to new analysis from the

Pew Research Center. Art Papas, Founder and CEO of Bullhorn, argues that

Millennials are more than an age group — Millennial has become a mindset.

“The Millennial mindset is a way of looking at the world and, regardless of

age, declaring, ‘there has to be a better way…easier, faster, more flexible and

efficient,” says Papas. As the first generation that grew up almost entirely

with modern technology, Millennials expect to be able to use technology in all

aspects of their lives, including at home, in their community, and on the job.

The Millennial mindset is driving a continuous improvement in technology for

every user. In his Fortune article “How Tech-Savvy Millennials Humanize Your

Workplace,” Papas describes how “technologies borne of the Millennial mind-

set give us flexibility, agility, mobility, and a personal touch. These qualities

improve life for all of us, regardless of our age or generation.”

New

Technology

Mindset

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THE AGE OF THE CUSTOMER: MARKET SHIFT THREEThis year, Forrester defined a new era: The Age of the Customer. Thanks to tech-

nology, today’s customers know more about you and your company than any

previous generation. It takes just a few quick Google searches to learn about your

products and services, your pricing, and your reputation. Those same few clicks

will locate the exact same information about your competition.

“Today, your company might have a lot of information, but your customers control

it. Your customers now not only have opinions, but also a voice,” says Danielle du

Toit, SVP of Global Services at Bullhorn.

This Age of the Customer brings heightened expectations. Customers want quick

responses to questions or problems and up-to-the-minute knowledge about their

preferences and relationship history. And thanks to this always-on mentality, that

information needs to be accessible anywhere and at any time, by employees,

partners, and suppliers.

According to Cindy Elliott, Vice President of Product and Industry Marketing at

Bullhorn, “There is a continuous forward push. As general consumers interact

with technology in their everyday lives, those same technology experiences will

be expected in enterprise relationships too.”

.

Increased

Customer

Expectations

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HUMAN-CENTERED TECHNOLOGIESThese three market shifts — the increasing importance of human qualities in a

technology-dominated world, the Millennial mindset, and the Age of the Cus-

tomer — are bringing about what Papas calls human-centered technologies.

“Unlike the technology that was born in the 1990s and the earliest days of the

21st century, we are now seeing the emergence of technology that adapts to

humans, rather than forcing humans to adapt to it. Think smart thermostats

that allow you to save energy by monitoring your house’s heating and cool-

ing from your phone, online music platforms that know which song you want

to hear based on prior listening, client relationship management systems that

know what your clients want before they do.”

Papas goes on to explain that, “at its best, technology should make us more

human by channeling the incredible intellectual power we naturally and intui-

tively possess, and allowing us to live and work more efficiently, collaboratively,

and creatively.”

“Unlike the technology

that was born in the

1990s and earliest days

of the 21st century, we

are now seeing the

emergence of technology

that adapts to humans…”

- Art Papas

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THE STATE OF CRM TODAYTo understand what these market shifts mean for managing customer relation-

ships, let’s review the history of CRMs.

The first systems were designed purely as contact management databases —

they were essentially electronic Rolodexes. They weren’t even officially called

CRMs. Their primary purpose was storing and organizing basic customer con-

tact information, a core tenet still present in systems today.

As time passed, contact management systems continued to evolve and CRM

— “R” for that important word, relationship — became the proper name. Large

vendors entered the market and began including more features, applications,

and automation. But the focus remained on requiring users to enter data in

a set path and in static fields (many of which were required). Even though

“relationship” made it into the technology’s name, there wasn’t a focus on how

users could utilize the information to build relationships. And while the launch

of cloud-based CRM systems brought big changes in accessibility and usabil-

ity, the robotic component of data entry and reporting didn’t change.

But that’s not how people work today.

We’re now entering a new era of CRMs that aren’t transaction-focused. Ser-

vice-based businesses still depending on CRMs that require their relationship

managers to act like robots and enter fields of data might survive, but they will

most likely struggle to grow and create long-term profitable relationships. Busi-

ness success today is tied to managing and understanding the best customer

relationships, which requires time and hard work by humans, not a database.

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WHY ROBOTIC CRMS ARE UNDERUTILIZEDCRMs have become big business. According to Gartner, in 2014, the worldwide

CRM market was $23.2 billion, up 13.3 percent over 2013.

Bullhorn customer research shows that, in regards to their CRM usage:

• More than 80 percent of users said “My CRM keeps me organized.”

• 59 percent said “saves me time.”

• 54 percent said “gives me insights.”

And yet “63 percent of CRM initiatives fail” — meaning they’re underutilized.

Why? CRMs have been built for robots, not humans.

• Many CRM systems are just glorified databases, engineered with only

reporting in mind.

• With no easy way to capture unstructured data, legacy CRM systems

marginalize key information that’s vital to maintaining and growing

relationships.

• If your process doesn’t fit a pre-programmed (and frankly, outdated)

data model, you’re forced to change to fit a CRM’s discrete data fields.

• According to direct Bullhorn customer research, manual data entry

is the most common frustration for 34 percent of CRM users.

Reducing complex relationships to simple data records forces employees to

act like data robots, and that process doesn’t capture the essence of informa-

tion needed to build relationships with real people. Human relationships are

built through unstructured data points like emails, phone calls, and texts. Most

robotic systems were designed without the ability to programmatically handle

unstructured data.

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In today’s fast-paced business environment, who has time to remember to go

back and enter information? “If you were to ask any salesperson what he or

she would do with one extra hour each day, would that time be spent provid-

ing value to customers or entering CRM data? Hands down, interacting with

customers would always win,” Bullhorn’s Elliott says.

Sadly, Bullhorn’s direct customer research found that 59 percent of CRM users

combat these issues by using an Excel spreadsheet to supplement their CRM.

THE HIDDEN COST OF STICKING WITH THE STATUS QUO

Customers demand that inter-

actions be more personal.

Companies face pressure

to grow and innovate.

Employees want to be more

human in their relationships.

Robotic data fields alone don’t

deliver quick responses and

superior customer service.

Traditional CRM systems

don’t give insights into

profitable relationships or

general account sentiment.

Manually entering information

turns salespeople and customer

service into data robots.

Relationships waver and crack,

and fed up customers eventu-

ally leave.

New opportunities stagnate

or, worse, decline.

Employees quickly burn out

or quit.

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CRM FOR HUMANS IS MOBILE-FIRSTThe more human-friendly your CRM is, the more people will actually use it.

Unlike CRMs built around transactional sales models, CRM for Humans is

built through a relationship lens. Instead of just showing all of the contacts

at a company, CRM for Humans translates captured information into intuitive

insights organized into simple, straightforward visuals, showing things like

your top engaged contacts and the best time to connect.

.

CRM FOR HUMANS

Build Better Relationships

RadicalEase of Use

RelationshipInsight

ProactiveIntelligence

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CRM FOR HUMANS MANAGES RELATIONSHIPS BETTERFor relationship-driven organizations, what are the guiding principles needed

today to make us more human in our relationships with customers, employees,

partners, and suppliers?

1. Radical Ease of Use Improves Sales Productivity

CRM for Humans is radically easy to use and built for today’s high-volume,

multitasking business environments, keeping your employees focused on

customer interactions and not on database management. Solutions built on

a single infrastructure (rather than a combination of platforms pieced to-

gether ad hoc) fluidly manage the entire customer lifecycle.

CRM for Humans is built for mobile first. Users can be productive anywhere

and at any time by working seamlessly across smartphones, tablets, and

desktops.

CRM for Humans is also completely automated to capture customer interac-

tions. Instead of requiring you to tell your CRM what you’ve done already,

CRM for Humans improves staff efficiency by scanning and recording inter-

actions for you. No more brow-beating users to enter data. While they’re off

focusing on being human with customers, the CRM does the work for them.

2. Relationship Insight Improves Customer Satisfaction

Unlike CRMs built around transactional sales models, CRM for Humans is

built through a relationship lens. Instead of just showing all of the contacts

at a company, CRM for Humans translates captured information into intui-

tive insights organized into simple, straightforward visuals.

More importantly, CRM for Humans captures customer sentiment to

flag issues that need immediate attention before they escalate. Robotic,

data-driven systems only record an issue after it’s happened. Rather than

using historical data to analyze the present, CRM for Humans provides

insight into what’s happening right now and gives you a true picture of

your real-time customer satisfaction.

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3. Proactive Intelligence Helps Grow Revenue

What do your employees need most? Recaps of emails sent or calls made?

Or maybe they need intelligence about what to do next, what call to make,

and what relationship requires their direct efforts?

Rather than just serving as a repository for data that lives in the past, CRM

for Humans is predictive and enlightening, telling you what to do next. As

customer interactions unfold in real-time, CRM for Humans reprioritizes and

proactively anticipates new opportunities to help you close the next deal

more quickly and easily.

DON’T LET THE ROBOTS RUN YOUR BUSINESSYour business relationships are your most critical business assets. Don’t let

them fall victim to the robots. To retain customers and win high-value new

business in today’s competitive marketplace, a new approach to managing

customer relationships is needed: a CRM for Humans.

Contact us or learn more by visiting www.bullhorn.com/humans

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ABOUT BULLHORN Bullhorn provides cloud-based, human-friendly CRM solutions for companies

in service-based industries. Bullhorn CRM is built for the way businesses work

now. Its data capture and customer insight technology puts the most up-to-

date and powerful information at users’ fingertips to give them everything they

need to win customers and keep them happy. Today, Bullhorn serves more

than 10,000 clients and 350,000 users, and its software solutions are used by

some of the world’s most prominent services enterprises to help increase sales,

improve service delivery, and streamline operations. Headquartered in Boston,

the company has offices in St. Louis, London, and Sydney, with 500 employees

globally. The company is founder-led and backed by Vista Equity Partners.

33-41 Farnsworth Street, 5th Floor,

Boston, MA 02210

www.bullhorn.com

(617) 478-9100

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