People in Service

images1 I’ve been bitching about use of CRM technology to destroy CRM promise on a number of occasions. It is great to learn about people of Enterprise, seemingly stepping out of established CRM shadow and using social media technologies instead to provide real service to real customers.

The marketers, most enterprising members of business community, are usually first to try any new shtick to push their wares. However bi-directional nature of social media made a lot of large companies to feel vulnerable.

Many businesses are reluctant to participate in social media because they fear negative comments. Guess what? Those comments are happening with or without your involvement. You can ignore them, or you can use them as an opportunity to engage in a dialog. Customers aren’t looking to pick a fight, they’re looking for acknowledgment that their complaints have been heard and are being considered, or addressed.

Ann Handley writes about positive examples of such technology being used by people who care, as oppose to mandated by employer. I’ve had a lot of problems with Comcast’s Customer Service, and blogged about it, but here is what Ann says:

Comcast is a company often referenced in lists of businesses that are successfully incorporating social media. Their Twitter handle is “Comcastcares,” but the account bio lets us know that Frank Eliason and his team are the real Comcast people managing the account. Frank not only provides his followers with a list of links and email addresses to reach Comcast, but gives them links to his personal bio, his personal blog, and his family’s website. One click and you’ve established a personal relationship with a company rep who seems open, honest, and eager to help. For his trouble, Frank has aggregated nearly 13,000 followers for Comcastcares, just about the same number of Twitterers that he follows.

I in fact was eventually helped by a Comcast employee to resolve my problem, who contacted me on his personal time after seeing my complains on Getsatisfaction.com. Unfortunately it was too late, by that time I’ve had enough and left for competition.

Perhaps it is the time to retire “CRM” moniker from software marketing lingo, and start applying it to Strategy only, to avoid the confusion, since you cannot buy strategy, but can waste money for software. The true gift of Web 2.0 (whatever you think it is) is enabling the people who want to be empowered to assume power, to execute without blessing and constrains of corporate elite.

CRM worst practices

images I think it was Tom Siebel, who funded first serious efforts to document, develop and publicize CRM Best Practices, I am aware of. Over the years many companies and practitioners engaged into this very meaningful exercise.  It is unfortunate that many people prefer to re-discover and re-invent them on their own, unaware of existing wealth of knowledge and experience, and repeating the same mistakes over and over.

One of the best and most lighthearted CRM Best Practices materials are created by John Cleese of Monty Python Flying Circus fame. It is very funny, and extremely meaningful, but I don’t need to belabor on value of other people experience –

“there are three kinds of people:

1. people who learn on other peoples mistakes – there are very few of these;

2. people who have learned on their own mistakes – it is a larger group, and

3. people who never learn.”

What can one possibly do to completely undermine the company investment in CRM technology? So one of the CRM primary goals is to create consistent customer experience and communications with the company that foster loyal and subsequently profitable relationship. Well, that is a theory, but consider the experience of this Comcast customer – 10 days after installation of their promotional Internet service I still cannot make my wireless router work. I have wasted hours of Comcast support personnel, my own and my, less technologically challenged, friends’ time trying to troubleshoot the problem; I have driven to purchase, and then to return, a new router on suggestion of clueless support technician, I have wasted my wireless minutes listening to Comcast sales agents opinion about the problem. At the end I just found out that Comcast has decided to promote their Home Network product, which offers integrated modem/router, at home installation and different rates. So they blocked dynamic IP renewal for new customers to force them into higher priced new offering, but did not tell anybody.

I do not pass a judgement on the value of their products here. I just want to point out that none of the Comcast employees knew anything about it, and still don’t because nobody bothered to communicate it in concise and meaningful fashion.

It must be even harder punishment to work for company like that, then to be it’s customer. Here is your lesson in CRM worst practice – disrespect your employees, hide information from them and throw them in front of angry customers. How much loyalty does it create? Not much – I just moved my TV service to the Direct TV. Internet goes next.