Giving CRM a CX Makeover, Part 2
In this series, Giving CRM a CX Makeover, we discuss designing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in terms a business strategy focused on the perspective of the Customer Experience (CX). The first post in this series discusses this in detail and highlights the primary business reasons for pursuing a CRM CX Makeover.
Giving CRM a CX Makeover, Part 2:
How to Get Started with a CRM CX Makeover
In Giving CRM a CX Makeover, Part 1: Does Your CRM Need a CX Makeover, we concluded that the concept of engineering the design of CRM based on the customer experiences within each persona’s customer journey is relatively new. It is. To date, few organizations have taken this approach to CRM.
As a first step, let’s briefly take a look at what we need to succeed.
Commitment of C-Level Executives and Senior Management
A project like this will impact nearly every aspect of your organization. It will affect the way you find, sell, and service your customers, and because your channel partners are a type of customer, it will affect them too.
To be successful, this type of project is likely to impact many of your business processes. It may require cultural changes within your organization. It could require revising some policies to be more customer friendly. One thing is for sure, it will require everyone in your organization to change in some way, including changing the way they think about and view customers, and how they interact with them.
Given the nature and scope of these changes, succeeding will require obtaining the sponsorship and support of your organization’s c-level executives and senior leadership. Without it, the required changes will not be made and the project will not succeed.
Effective Change Management, Communication, and Training Programs
Another factor critical to success is effectively managing the process of transforming the organization from the way it is now into an organization focused on the experience every customer receives with every interaction regardless for the purpose of the interaction or how and when that interaction occurs. From the customer’s perspective, it is important. Therefore, it is important.
Most organizations claim to be customer focused. But the fact is that the majority of organizations view customers from the organization’s perspective, not the customer’s perspective. Organizations have goals and objectives. They have pains and limitations, and they pursue internally-focused agendas. This can create problems because the customer is not interested in and generally does not care about your organization’s agenda, pains, or needs. Your customers are interested in their own agendas, needs, and pains and how they can address them.
A CRM CX Makeover project starts with changing the way every individual within the organization thinks about customers. Everyone, from the CEO down, must begin viewing customer interactions from the customer’s perspective rather than from the organization’s perspective. Focusing on the customer’s perception of the interaction needs to become our primary nature rather than an afterthought.
Succeeding with this transformation will require an effective change management program that includes a robust communication plan combined with a solid education and training program.
Commitment of Resources
Another key success factor is obtaining the commitment of resources needed for this project. Because the full scope and detailed requirements of your CRM CX Makeover project are not yet fully understood, it is not yet possible to determine the project budget, resource requirements, or duration that will be needed.
At this point what is possible is to create a steering committee – a CRM CX Makeover Task Force. It is important to establish a budget for the task force to complete this critical stage of the project. The goal of the task force is simple: determine the details of the project scope, including the resources required and timeline to complete it.
Once the CX Makeover Task Force is assembled, you are ready to move to the next step, which we will cover in the next post of this series.
If you need help with any aspect of your CRM CX Makeover project, just let us know.
