Why CRM and SFA are yesterday – from Customer Relationship Management to Customer Engagement

2.8 million Emails per second, 400 million brand oriented tweets per day, 1 billion+ Facebook users. The rules of engagement have changed. Customers are Digitally Connected 24/7, Socially Networked in multiple ways and have access to information than ever before.

In this world, where 79% of customers spend at least 50% of shopping time researching products online, whether before or after entering a physical store or purchasing online, the old way of pitching solutions and wait for the customer to sign does not work anymore.

There is a huge opportunity to ‘engage like never before’ and offer a competitive advantage over the companies that engage with the ‘customer’ in the traditional way. Waiting for the next customer move in reactive mode may mean losing. With the digital revolution clients got megaphones in their hands. And it´s companies vital interest to have them as promoters.

But how to get there?

It is about listen to Customers, gaining the right insights at the right time, connect all your data resolving your consumer´s profile over time, pro-actively identify prospects, engage them early and meet them at their preferred channels – don´t expect them to come to your beaten tracks.

The companies who are selling products any more will not own the customer relationship itself. The industry is transforming, with some industries and brands spearheading. The question going forward is – how to automate customer service and engagement cross multiple Channels.

Gain customer Insights is the first step in a series of necessities. Leverage these insights to optimize targeting and customer segmentation. And ultimately execute personalized offers and promotions that will work: Cross business units, cross channels – in a network.

The customer needs to be seen and treated as exactly the same “person”, no matter if current mode is Prospect Purchase, Delivery, Service Engagement or Promoter.

A salesperson and a marketer needs to know, at minimum:  “What´s going on at my customer? Which deals are cooking? Which escalations do we have? What has been invoiced last month? Which campaigns have been directed at my contacts by marketing? Who recently joined my customer´s Organization?

They simply need to stay on top of customer engagement, shipping status, accounts receivable, orders and back orders, service and support until the customer is happy.

So the question is: what to change to get there? How do I leave behind the insufficient attempts to optimize the status quo with CRM or an SFA solution? One of the best presentations I did find on what needs to be done to address all of this is from my colleague Bert Schulze (@BeSchulze),

see it here:

http://prezi.com/s1rfgrv-txpk/from-prospect-to-promoter-how-to-engage-your-customers-like-never-before/

Sven Denecken (@SDenecken)