CRM initiatives that drive profitable Sales Optimisation Opportunities. Werner Hess

Transcription

1 Clients often remark that CRM initiatives should drive sales. We don t find anything wrong with that expectation. On the contrary, our CRM initiatives drive sales and margin. CRM initiatives that drive profitable Sales Optimisation Opportunities Werner Hess

2 Introduction Newcomers to the sales environment may perceive the sales CRM is often thought of as a tedious technology driven initiative, implemented by the companies need to keep tabs on sales people. We are often asked the question: Does CRM actually work? Will CRM help drive sales? Does CRM provide ROI? We always answer the question with a resounding YES, ABOLUTELY and BEYOND WHAT YOU EVER IMAGINED WAS POSSIBLE! In fact, we cannot today imagine a situation where companies operate without having a CRM system implemented in their business.. CRM systems keep track of your most valuable assets, your customers! Not only do you track changes in the key contact personnel in companies, your CRM systems also track key dates like contract renewals, follow up meetings, birthdays and other dates, which you would alternatively have to remember. Customer communications are all tracked and your CRM system becomes the key customer information repository in the business. How else would you be able to manage customers? It is impossible to imagine a functioning business today without some kind of CRM at work in the business.

3 CRM Interaction Campaigns. Most commercial CRM packages have a marketing automation or a campaign module where you can actively set up marketing campaigns on a 1:1 basis. You may have 500 contacts in your CRM data base and actively communicating with this data base enables you to have sporadic conversations with customers based on their interests. This communication can use normal snail mail, , SMS and telephone calls as interaction channels. An Approach to CRM Campaigns: A good place to start CRM campaigning would be to review of the business cycle. Are we in an upswing or a downturn, or are the market conditions in plain sailing mode? This review will help determine whether you want to be in customer growth mode, or whether a better strategy will be to harvest your existing base. Your decisions around campaigning in this regard would simply be around acquisition, retention and penetration strategies. Approach your campaign logically, and make sure that you don t simply Spray and Pray in other words send out standard communications to all the customers in your base. Develop a campaign strategy around the following: Identify your Top Customers 2 nd tiers and 3rd tier customers. This process is also called segmentation by value, and a valuable tool for this process is a Pareto Analysis. Differentiate these customer segments on the basis of what you believe their needs will be. Interact intelligently, regularly and specifically. Customize communication content based on the differentiators. CRM Interaction Campaigns enables you to stay in touch with 500 customers simultaneously, at the touch of a button. Customers who receive content that is specifically geared to their interests, are likely to be drawn into your offerings, and are far more likely to respond to clever offers made.

4 Campaign Management Strategy Your campaign management strategy should have clear goals and objectives around the following drivers: Revenue growth Market share growth Profitability Competitive advantage Organizational strategies Operational excellence MVC satisfaction & retention MGC development Acquisition Retention Penetration NPI X-Sell / UP Sell Select where prime focus for the campaign will be to help shape and direct the campaign.

5 Complete a customer base analysis To make your campaign execution even more effective you may want to analyse your customer base even further, and develop insights into: Customer Value Customer Needs The competitive landscape Value maximisation Campaigns directed at high value segments obviously are far more likely to deliver large sales, then customers who are at the bottom of the value tier. You may then with this insight, decide to develop campaigns that will drive spend, by targeting tier 3 customers to move into the tier 2 bracket. Once you have a clear view of customer need sets, it is easier to develop offers that tweak their interest, and more importantly move them to buy. Always be on the lookout as to what your competitors are doing. You don t want to be caught emulating them, and if you know what they trying to do, you may want to develop campaigns that can a minimising effect on their campaigns. Campaigns present an opportunity to maximise your value in the eyes of the customer and once converted, increases the value of your base (Sales!)

6 Designing the Campaign You now have a great foundation for your campaign management efforts. You are now ready to start the designing the campaign. The key elements of an effective campaign design consists of the following planning steps.. Define the campaign Define the process Define the approach Define the message Define the audience Define the channel Execute the approach Schedule to release the campaign Execution and Metrics Typical execution metrics include some or all of the following: Average revenue per campaign % Response % Interest % Conversion Sales / order Margin Sales / account Average cost / campaign CRM systems today have the execution capability to be able to serve as a sales campaign execution platform. Companies often view CRM and CRM campaigns as a bridge too far and perceive CRM to be an impossible task to execute. Mastering the systems capability is another key competitive differentiator (being able to communicate with the customer base!) and once you have executed one or two campaigns, the campaign activities become systemised and execution and conversion continues to improve. The sales improvement potential from these initiatives is what you make them to be. You just have to pose yourself the challenge: If my average sales per customers is X, a 5% conversion rate from a total population of 5000 campaigned, will produce another 250 orders! That is very positive sales generation!

7 About Carpedia Consulting Carpedia Consulting is an internationally relevant management consultancy firm, dedicated to assisting clients to improve sales and profits through the implementation of improvement programs. Our approach is what makes us unique. The way we design, develop and execute our programs is hands-on, solutions-based and excellence driven. Our programs are customized to the needs of your organisation and are designed to ensure significant and sustainable improvements are made both internally and externally by the sales team, for the customer. About Werner Hess Werner Hess has spent 20 years of his career in various sales, marketing and leadership positions with Bayer, Triad Electronics, GE and GE Plastics before serving as managing director of GE Plastics and Polymerland. Werner s first experience in the world of consulting came about when he joined Proudfoot Consulting as Director of Business Development, which included several international assignments in Europe and the USA, leading sales effectiveness projects for global clients. Werner s current company, Carpedia Consulting is a specialist niche consultancy focused on sales and profit improvement. Werner s latest book, The Science of Selling has just been published and reveals approaches, systems and processes that can be implemented to create a successful sales platform. Werner can be reached on: whess@carpedia.co.za

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