Customer Service King

Here are the most interesting CRM-related news stories from the past week:

• Salesforce.com Homes in on Wealth and Asset Management
• RightNow Delivers Tailored Solution for Higher Education
• GaleForce Solutions releases IndustryCRM add-ons for Microsoft Dynamics® CRM
• Oracle Increases Focus Across Verticals for SMBs 
  
• Oracle Application Express 3.0 Touts Access Migration
• Verticals onDemand Receives Series A Funding
• SugarCRM Aims Big with Developers
• SugarCRM Adds New Service Functionality
• SAP Reorganizes Executive Management
• Surado Names Enterprise Exchange Systems as Exclusive Distributor in North America
• FrontRange Solutions Upgrades CRM Software
  
• InsideView Announces Integration With Salesforce 
  
• Salesflow Helps you Make the Most of your Sales Team
• Kaleidico Launches Enterprise Edition of icoSales Lead Management System
• The Complex Sale Launches Follow-Up Coaching to More Than 20 Clients Through Count5® Technology
• SplendidCRM Offers Comprehensive, Easy-To-Use Open-Source CRM Solution
• Commit CRM announces Version 4.0 for Computer Repair and IT Services Businesses
  
• CRM Provider Infusion Software Announces Two Key Management Hires
• Sales Simplicity Gathers Notable Sales Momentum Among "Big Home Builders"
• DataFlux Accelerates the Path to Analyzing Customer Data Quality
• Microsoft Releases Tool To Link Office 2007 To Financial Back Ends
• Users Want More Integration From MS Business Apps
• Compiere Surpasses Key Milestone with 1.2 Million Downloads
• New & Expanded Training Labs at Tigerpaw Software
  
• AskMeNow to Debut New Semantic Search Technology
• Five9 Intros On-Demand Call Center Packages for Small Businesses
  

Here's an article that recently appeared in SmallBiz Resource, Six Things You Don't Know About Linux:

Love it, hate it, heard lots about it, but still don't have enough of a handle to form a firm opinion? Then we must be talking about Linux, the open-source operating system that's alluring because it's heavy duty and it's free. Simultaneously, it's intimidating to newbies because it's typically more difficult to install and configure than Windows.

So if you've ever planned on giving the open-source operating system a whirl, but, like the Georgia bride-to-be, got cold feet at the last minute, we've ferreted out six useful facts that'll ease your path when you decide to take the plunge.

1) How many versions of Linux are there?

Lots. At least 350, according to the list maintained by the enthusiast site DistroWatch.com. The site skews toward smaller distributions, with current flavor of the month Ubuntu listed as the most popular among the site's readers.

2) What applications are available for Linux? And what the heck is LAMP?

The open-source app that gave Linux PCs a raison d'etre -- and the one you need to set yourself up with if you expect to do anything useful -- is OpenOffice.org.

Based on Sun's StarOffice, OpenOffice.org is a suite that's positioned as a free alternative to Microsoft Office (indeed, a Windows version is available). It's outfitted with word processing, spreadsheet, presentation (i.e, Powerpoint-style slides), and graphics programs. OpenOffice comes bundled with many Linux distros, including those from Red Hat and Novell. For roll-your-own types, some CD-ROM versions are available, but the easiest route is to just download the software.

The LAMP acronym that's kicked around so often refers to a "stack" of packages. Along with Linux, LAMP encompasses the Apache Web server and the MySQL database. The "P" is variously taken to refer to the PHP, Perl, or Python scripting languages. However, with the exception of the OS itself (and possibly MySQL), all those programs are of interest to developers, not average desktop users.

3) How can I listen to some tunes?

For many home users, once you get past word processing, the most important app is a music player. RealPlayer, famous for burrowing its way deep into Windows systems, is one of the few major players to offer a version for Linux. (It would hardly be fair to expect the same for programs named Windows Media Player and Winamp, though an open-source clone of the former is in the works.)

The Linux RealPlayer is based on the open-source Helix player, which offers downloads here. (However, since the Helix page also points to the Linux RealPlayer, it's easiest just to get that.) Another free player is  amaroK from the KDE group.

4) What "desktop" environment should I use with my distro?

It's important to understand that when Linux people say "desktop," they don't mean your desktop. They're talking about your computer's user interface (UI). Given Linux's historical do-it-yourself culture, it's not surprising that the open-source UI was originally a separate element from the basic operating system. Today, nearly all distros come already packaged with one or both of the two main desktop environments for Linux: Gnome or KDE.

5) Linux on the server, Linux on the desktop -- which is it?

Honestly? The server. Linux on the desktop hasn't taken off to the extent its adherents had hoped for. Perhaps it never will. According to most authoritative estimates, Linux usage on the desktop hovers beneath three percent of all PCs.

However, that hasn't dimmed the expectations of the faithful, who predict wider desktop adoption is imminent.

6) You've given me lots of facts, but not much advice. How do I get started?

One pain-free way to go (OK, it'll set you back $19, plus shipping) is by reading Test Driving Linux. The book, by David Brickner, includes a CD that allows you to boot Linux on a Windows computer without destroying the Windows install. On the downside, the book's Linux is, like the title says, a "test drive" that runs only off the CD; it won't permanently install the OS to your hard drive. (A further caveat is the CD is a bit fussy; it won't run if you can't get your PC to boot first from the CD drive. It didn't like my old Compaq desktop, for reasons unexplained, but it ran like a champ on an HP Pavilion laptop.)

You can download an evaluation copy of Novell Linux Desktop 9 here.

Here's a summary of an article, Lack of Performance Measurement Leaves Online Marketers in the Dark, that appeared in Creative Match:

The marketing department’s performance expectations are based more on guesswork than evaluation, according to a report released by marketing performance management specialists WebTrends.

A significant majority (89%) of the 200 marketing managers surveyed claim to have met or exceeded expectations for the overall marketing strategy in the past 12 months. Only a quarter (24%) consider performance evaluation to be a major objective for the marketing function over the next year and beyond; revealing that few can actually demonstrate why their marketing strategy has been effective.

Furthermore, the ‘Marketing in the Dark’ report found this feeling of self-belief to be no short-term blip, with 83% of people responsible for Internet marketing strategy being confident that they will be able to maintain a similar level of performance over the next 12 months. The report goes on to question how much of this confidence is based on robust marketing performance metrics and an in-depth understanding of the customer, and how much can be attributed to the ‘feel-good factor’ brought about by a strong global economy.

Nick Sharp, VP and general manager EMEA, WebTrends said: “A significant number of organisations are not measuring marketing performance, which suggests that any confidence expressed in the marketing function is more likely to be based on strong company performance overall, than specific marketing metrics. In this respect it appears that a great deal of marketing strategy is effectively rudderless.”

85% of respondents to the survey consider an effective web presence to be of ‘moderate’ or ‘critical’ importance in achieving sales and marketing objectives, revealing an awareness of the opportunities that the web presents. But despite awareness of this opportunity a significant gap between the perception and the reality remains; only 35% build user profiles using web page registration information (a relatively simple task), while only 24% build user profiles via webpage utilisation.

Further evidence of this growing gap is demonstrated by the fact that less than 4 out of 10 can modify content as a result of traffic analysis. In addition just 27% can modify content for e-marketing as a result of user analysis, while only 19% can integrate CRM systems with Internet-generated customer data. This comes from a sample of businesses where over 80% place an importance on Internet presence and where all have Internet-specific marketing strategies.

Sharp concluded: “This survey shows that sophisticated web analytics is rarely deployed within business and as such golden opportunities to get a grip on marketing strategy and performance, and to gain genuine insight into the needs and demands of customers, are being overlooked.

“Marketers must begin to understand why their strategy is successful, as the marketing department that lacks performance insight during times of economic prosperity will be left marketing in the dark in leaner, more competitive times.”

The CRM Blog directed me to an article by Philippe Gaillard, President & CEO, Neocase, Emphasizing the “C” in CRM: Ingredients for Customer Service Success. Here's a summary of the article:

A fundamental goal of CRM is to improve long-term growth and profitability through a superior understanding of customer behavior. Here, CRM examines all aspects of the interactions a company has with its customers and involves the implementation of methodologies and technology to help an enterprise manage its customer relationships in an organized way.

And while CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, all too often for many companies, CRM is predominately focused on Customer Acquisition Management – moving customers and prospects through the sales and marketing process to land new customers or up-sell existing ones. This bias leaves a lot of meat on the bone for companies to get more out of their total CRM investment, and bring the focus back to the customer and good customer service.

The reality is that most organizations simply don’t do their due diligence when it comes to servicing their customers, or do so in a way that is tagged as being time and resource consuming. For example, in 2006 only 59% of contact centers reported that they had achieved their customer satisfaction KPI, down significantly from 79% in 2005 (Dimension Data, 3-1-06).

At a time when companies are under extreme pressure to transform customer service from a cost center to a profit center, how do we rise above this plateau of productivity in customer support and refocus our vision on the customer?

The key to successful customer service, and using technology and software to power the customer service operation, is to adopt a holistic approach that unifies all the different points of customer interaction.

At the heart of this approach is the concept of collaboration, bringing different elements together into a cohesive, working unit. As goes the old adage “the sum is greater than its parts”, two or more people working together to solve a problem are more effective than one.

When applied to CRM, this means involving multiple internal and external resources in the resolution of a single customer service inquiry. Here, collaboration goes one step further than simple linear processes (which make up the classic sales and marketing part of CRM) to encourage interactive communications that incorporate business processes into the complete service chain. Collaboration ensures that customer requests are handled not only in the context of the help desk or customer service department, but also allows smart agents to work in real-time with other departments such as sales, marketing, supply chain, accounting as well as with external partners to utilize their efficiencies and achieve faster case resolution.

A complete, holistic approach builds on collaboration to provide a complete ecosystem of tools for the agent and all stakeholders involved in solving customer issues. These must-have ingredients for a successful customer service operation include:

• Customer-Centric Strategies
• Shared Knowledge Base
• Self Service Center
• Partner Center
• Role-Based Experience
• Business Intelligence
• Cross-Sales Integration

In short, agents should be able to optimize the information exchange with internal and external resources to effectively improve operational efficiencies and pay stronger attention to customer detail. Redefining the customer service function by empowering the agent in such a way can serve as a key competitive differentiator and bring the focus back to the customer, resulting in higher quality service, new revenue opportunities, a substantial reduction in operating costs, and increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.

A post on Jill Konrath's Selling To Big Companies weblog, directed me to an excellent article, The Seven Levels of Preparation.  This article is by Michael Hyatt, President and Chief Executive Officer of Thomas Nelson Publisher and recently appeared in his weblog, From Where I Sit. 

In this article, Michael very informatively discusses the steps that one should take when getting ready for an important presentation. I too agree with both Michael and Jill's comment that "most of us never get beyond step one!"  Here's a brief summary of the article.  Be sure to check out the complete source article for much more.

Hi. My name is Mike, and I’m a prepaholic.” If there was a support group for people who over-prepare, I would be a charter member.

Much of my job involves making presentations—to boards, banks, investors, authors, agents, customers, employees, vendors, the media—you name it. Each one of these represents an opportunity to make a “brand impression,” for myself and for the company I represent.

I’m not sure where I learned to prepare for these meetings. I’m sure much of it comes from my desire to exceed people’s expectations or perhaps, negatively, out of a fear of being embarrassed. Regardless, it drives me to prepare relentlessly.

As I’ve thought about it, I think there are seven levels to preparation. Most people focus exclusively on the first level. In fact, few people get beyond this level. But if you want to be a better presenter, you have to get better at preparation. I don’t know of any shortcuts.

1. Prepare the Presentation. Though this is probably the most time consuming part, it is the easiest. Everyone does this to one degree or another. But the key to doing it well is to determine at the outset exactly what you want people to take away.

2. Prepare the Setting. The presentation setting will either enhance or detract from your presentation. The setting is to a presentation what a stage or a set is to a theater production. When you can control it, you need to think through the details.

3. Prepare the Audience. This begins by discovering what the audience expects. If you don’t know, try to do some research before the meeting. Ask the meeting’s organizer or sponsor exactly what they hope to accomplish.

4. Prepare Yourself. I don’t know about you, but I have to do serious mental preparation before every presentation.

5. Prepare the Collateral Material. Generally, I don’t like handouts. I especially don’t like to provide a printed copy of my presentation deck. I think it’s a distraction. I hate to see people flipping ahead and not paying attention to what I am saying.

6. Prepare for Questions. Many of my presentations are followed by a Q&A session. I do pretty good on my feet, but if the meeting is important, I like to write out every question and objection I can think of and then write an answer or a set of “talking points.”

7. Prepare for Next Time. The best time to prepare for the next meeting is right after the last one. You should do this when everything is still fresh in your memory. At the very least, I always try to jot down as many notes as I can. I consider this a sort of personal debriefing session.

Here are the most interesting CRM-related news stories from the past week:

• Oracle Sues Software Rival SAP, Claims It Stole Proprietary Data
• Oracle, Hyperion Customers Analyze Deal's Effects
• Siebel CRM software vs. Microsoft CRM software for the midmarket
• Landslide Technologies Receives 2006 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Product Differentiation Innovation in Hosted CRM Market
• 37signals launches Highrise
• Microsoft Offers Glimpse of Dynamics CRM
• Microsoft's Tellme deal may boost Live efforts
• Entrepreneurs Gather at Microsoft's Small Business Summit
• Review: New NetSuite Features Deliver
• Access Commerce Introduces Cameleon EasyQuote for Salesforce.com's AppExchange
• ShoreTel Announces the ShoreTel Salesforce.com Call Center Adapter for the AppExchange
• SpringCM Announces Contract Accelerator And Proposal Accelerator For Salesforce.com
• Analysis: Salesforce AppSpace signals major shift in SaaS
• MarketTools Announces the Appointment of Steve Cakebread, CFO of Salesforce.com, to the Company's Board
• SugarCRM Takes CRM in Project Mgmt Direction
• SugarCRM update due in beta next month
• Nextance Launches Proposal Management 
  
• Commit CRM Announces Version 4.0 Release
• Exact Software Announces Availability of Exact e-Synergy Release 370
• A Multi-user Network Edition of CRM-Express for Small and Midsized Businesses is Available
• Infor Delivers Mobile Sales Solution for Reps in the Field
• SEDONA Delivers the First Version of Intarsia for the Higher Education Market
• Insight Into Alternative CRM: On-Demand And Open-Source
• Aprimo Announces Release of Aprimo Marketing™ 7.6
• CallMiner Unveils CallMiner Eureka!
• New CellSell® Accounting Systems Technology Platform On-Ramp Program Unveiled
• Hosted VoIP Enabler Goes Web 2.0
  

Here's an interesting post from Sivaraman Swaminathan's Customer World weblog, What Drives Deep Engagement in Communities?:

People Engage More With Small, Branded, Well-Lit Communities!

According to Communispace, in this new era of "conversational marketing", the measure for engagement in a community isn't the number of people logging on. Rather, it's how actively people participate in the community.

New Communispace research, which analyzed participation behavior among 26,539 members of 66 private online communities, provides an initial look at member participation in communities.

The study evaluated communities along three participation metrics:

• Frequency - how often members contribute
• Volume - the number of contributions made by each member
• Bystander or "lurker" rate - what percentage of members are simply observing versus actively participating.

Key findings of the research are:

The more intimate the community, the more people participate -

• 86 percent of the people who log on to private, facilitated communities (average community size: 300-500 people) made contributions.
• Only 14 percent merely logged in and observed, or "lurked."
• In contrast, on public social networking websites, blogs, and message boards, this ratio is typically reversed, i.e., the vast majority of site visitors do not contribute. In fact, in a typical online forum (e.g., wiki, community, message board or blog), one percent of site visitors contribute and the other 99 percent lurk.

People get more involved when they know whom they are talking to and why -

• Branded sites showed a higher volume of participation.
• When potential members were considering whether to participate in a community, they were 30 percent more likely to log on when the welcome notice disclosed the company sponsoring the community. Branded sites had an initial log in rate of 71 percent, compared with 55 percent for unbranded sites. This suggests that transparency - being upfront about who's behind the community - is a key factor for companies that want to engage with customers in a community.

Why people participate: social glue, shared passion, having a voice -

• Communities of parents get the highest involvementDifferences between how men and women participate: based on analysis of single-sex communities, the research found that although members of women's communities participated more frequently than men, men seemed to have more to say when they did participate: 4.8 weekly contributions for men compared to 4.1 for the women.
• Homogeneity triggers participation
• Education and household income were not related to community member participation
• Having a voice, productive leisure: One of the implications from the research is that people may get more involved in private, intimate communities because they feel like they can have a say.Another implication is that people may view the time spent as "productive leisure."  They see participating as an interesting or fun outlet for communicating with other people who love what they love.

Here's a synopsis of an article by Brian Henderson, who overseas marketing at Prezza Technologies, Twelve Tips for Conducting Effective Surveys:

We've all been on the receiving end of far too many poorly constructed surveys that required too much time and energy simply to share our thoughts.

Here's a top twelve list of how to conduct surveys without losing contact with your customer:

1. Define the survey's purpose - Figure out exactly what you want your customers to tell you.
2. Keep it short and sweet - It shouldn't take a respondent more than 10 minutes to complete a questionnaire.
3. Keep it simple - Make sure that respondents will understand the questions.
4. Save demographic questions for last - Keep information that is less crucial to your surveys toward the end.
5. Keep it specific -  Don't ask open-ended questions that will give you a wide range of answers.
6. Make it consistent - If the first question asks your respondents to rate your customer service on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being highly satisfactory, make sure that in subsequent questions 5 always corresponds to being highly satisfactory.
7. Follow logic - Make sure that one question leads naturally into another.
8. Do a test - Give the survey to a group of employees or customers.
9. Avoid weekends - Best practices of email marketing apply here.
10. Send reminders - If you email the survey, set a deadline to receive the results. Make sure you give people plenty of time to answer the survey. A few days before, send a reminder.
11. Entice - Give your customers a good reason to answer your survey.
12. Share - Last, but not least, share the results with your customers and let them know what action you will take.

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Here's an article by Mark Hunter that appeared in About Marketing, 15 Tips to Voicemail Survival for the Sales Professional:

1. If your goal is to get the phone call returned, don’t leave information that would allow the person to make up their mind. Add a call-to-action to your message by providing a key date or something of interest that will encourage the person to return the call. You have to create a reason for them to call you back.

2. Repeat your phone number twice. If the person can’t quickly write your number down, you’ve given them a perfect reason to not call back.

3. Avoid asking ask the person to call you back at a certain time. This provides them with an excuse not to call you.

4. Never state in the message that you will plan to call them back. Again, this only gives the person an excuse to ignore your message.

5. Messages left on a Friday afternoon are the least likely to be returned. For most people, Monday mornings are very busy and, as a result, only high–priority activities will get their immediate attention.

6. Do not leave voicemail messages at odd hours of the night. Most voicemail systems offer a time stamp and the person hearing the message will immediately suspect you really did not want to talk to them.

7. The best hours to leave voicemail messages are from 6:45 AM to 8:00 AM and from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM. Aggressive people are usually working during these time periods, and the person receiving your message could potentially view you as one.

8. Wisely use time zone changes to make as many calls as possible during the optimal voicemail periods listed in the previous tip.

9. Voicemail messages are an excellent way to introduce yourself to a person. Be personable, yet professional, and link your message to something of interest to the person you are calling (such as another person or event). The recipient may view your message as a waste of time if you have no purpose other than getting your name in front of them.

10. When leaving a message with multiple points, be sure to immediately disclose how many you will be making. This will prevent the recipient from accidentally fast-forwarding or deleting it before it is completely heard.

11. If you can’t say it briefly, don’t say it at all. Voicemail is not “story time”. Leaving a long message is an invitation to have the entire message skipped. The optimal voicemail message is between 8 and 14 seconds.

12. When leaving your phone number, do not leave your website address as well. This will give the person an opportunity to make a decision about you without calling you back.

13. Leave a “PS” at the end of your message. A “PS” is a very quick, additional piece of information that will connect with the person.

14. Mention the person’s first name at least twice in the message, but don’t use their last name. Doing so comes across as very impersonal.

15. Refer to a mutual acquaintance in your message as a way of connecting with the recipient. (Caution: Make sure they think positively of that person!).