CRM• What is CRM?

– Any activity in an organization that has one end as customer, apart from actual project execution– Any activity that helps the organization to contact customers and grow business– Any activity that helps to indirectly create awareness with customers about the company/brand

• Key Elements– Contacts – Accounts– Leads– Opportunities– Activities & history– Product catalogs– Quotations– Orders– Contracts – Email templates– Documents– Knowledge/FAQ– Incident/case/issue tracking– Customer Satisfaction Survey– Marketing Campaigns– Partner Details

Contacts

• Contact is an individual who can potentially give business to us

• All individual details must be managed (email, mobile etc)

• Status of contact to be maintained so that we know whether there is a continuous flow of business

• Contacts need to be assessed for their credibility• Any documents signed with contact must be maintained

in a repository like NDA, NC, MoU etc.• Every information that we store on a contact must be

useful at a later stage

Accounts

• Accounts are customers – includes potential customers as well as current customers

• All company details must be stored like locations, important contact people, nature of business, turnover etc.

• Subsidiary/financial information to be stored as well

• All details when a sales person approaches the account must be stored

• Status of account must be maintained

Leads

• Any information that can be a potential business opportunity

• Leads come thru known/new contacts• Leads may come thru email queries• Leads may come thru partners• Leads may come when we do road

shows/campaigns• Who needs product/work, when is it needed,

whom to contact in that account etc need to be maintained

Opportunities

• A lead that has been assessed and analyzed becomes an opportunity

• Leads must be followed up by phone or email or in-person or other modes and history must be kept

• So this must be tied up to tele-callers and others to update the follow-up status on a lead

• Lead qualification have several stages like initial touch, presentation, demo etc.

• Many new details on a lead may be obtained when we follow up (like allocated budget, timeframe, etc.)

• Typically at this stage, a sales value is attached to the lead

Activities & History

• One can assign action item to others• Status of an action and notes must be tracked• Every change in the action details must be

captured• An action can be associated with a contact or to

a lead, so that we know what happens at individual levels and at lead levels

• Individuals must be able to reassign actions and follow it up

• Auto alerts and reminders are key elements in action items

Product Catalogs

• The product or service offerings must be clearly defined

• Sub-Products, options, plans will be captured• Standard material that can be distributed to

customers must be stored• This is an inventory of he products and services;

they need to be attached to an effectivity period• If we use other’s products, then all manufacturer

details must be stored

Quotations

• When a specific opportunity matures to a level when we need to submit a quotation/proposal, that information must be stored

• Attachments must be supported• We must be able to choose products to the

quotation• Associate terms, price and validity to quotation• Status of quotation must be tracked• Standard quotation templates must be stored

Orders

• Order is given by an account (customer)• Order is based on some quotation or it

may be a direct order• Order must be tracked for its status, value

etc.• Attach an order to a contract and track the

status• Orders can be of different types like work

order, purchase order etc.

Contracts

• Contracts must be tied to accounts• Status of contract, period of contract, type of

contract, contract value, etc. must be tracked• One contract may be tied to multiple orders• Auto notification on contract expiry is required• One contract can be mapped to multiple

opportunities as well• Contract templates must be available in

repository

Email Templates

• When we need to generate leads and follow up leads, standard email content needs to be circulated

• Auto response to queries require standard templates

• Customer support issue tracking requires this• Email templates need to be customizable to the

needs of customers• Email templates will include standard news

letters as well

Documents

• Sales people may require many templates and checklist documents

• There must be a way to view historic quotations, contracts etc.

• Document categories and versions must be maintained

• Standard templates must be available• Search in documents is essential• Document management requires strict security

rights

Knowledge/FAQ

• Based on historic data and experience, many customer queries are already addressed and answered

• All this knowledge must be stored and must be searchable

• Keyword based search, category based search must be available

• This must be available from every screen• FAQ will be classified for customers, sales

people, support people etc.

Incident/case/issue tracking

• Essential part of customer support is issue or incident tracking

• There must be a way to create a new ticket and track its status

• Auto generation of tickets based on emails must be available

• Incident escalation and closure cycles must be configurable

• This is nothing but a structured defect tracking• Customer must also be able to see the status

from a web interface

Help Desk• Help desk is the one that handles customer

issues and complaints• Usually this will have L1, L2 and L3 – 3 levels• L1 is usually phone or email or chat• L2 is semi technical to further assist to resolve a

problem• L3 is the technical team that will definitely sort

out the problem• Every customer complaint must be tracked and

closed and it follows a cycle

Customer Satisfaction Survey

• Different survey calendars/schedules will be defined• Questions/answers to each survey will be defined and

approved• Customers who will participate in the surveys will be

communicated• Customers enter their answers to the survey questions

within a stipulated time• Sales department collates all answers and present it to

the management• Summary view and detailed view will be available for

surveys• Survey answers are kept as confidential content

Marketing Campaigns

• Companies must plan for campaigns• Email, road shows, demonstrations, job fair, tech

fair, banners etc.• Each campaign must be defined and approved• Each campaign must be tracked for the number

of leads that is generated by that campaign• Campaigns improve awareness and increase

brand name• Periodic news letters and advertisements in

media are part of campaigns

Marketing Vs Sales• Many times companies do some activities to a

big audience• They will not know who will be our definite

customer, still conduct the activity• Roadshows, emails, advertisements etc will fall

under marketing• It provides visibility, creates awareness• Helps in the minds of potential people to recall

your brand name• Once a contact or lead is known, after that it is

sales till the end of contract signing

Campaign Management• Every campaign must be tracked to ensure that it results

in business• Every campaign has many stages thru which a team

needs to work• For example, to conduct a road show we must do

– Print invitations– Send invitations– Confirm registrations– Arrange the meeting place– Arrange for food– Welcome the audience– Ensure the speakers are equipped well for the presentation– Etc

• Campaigns do help in creating visibility

Partner Details

– Different types of partners are tracked– Channel partner, marketing partner etc.– Leads, contacts etc. provided by partners

must be tracked– Implementation partners interface with

customer support– Beta test partners are also tracked– Partners based on territory and

products/services need to be tracked– Partners must be assessed periodically

Big Players

• Siebel

• Salesforce.com

• SugarCRM

• RNOW

• Oracle CRM

• PeopleSoft CRM

• SAP