Most of us in business are keen to grow our businesses. One of the most important issues to manage is customer expectations. –If you say you will call back next Monday, make sure you do. If you have supplied a quote to deliver a product or service make sure you follow up to see if the Customer is keen to go ahead or if not, why not.

Following up is easier said than done in our busy hectic world of business. There are just too many distractions; staff, phone calls, emails, tweets, blogs, Facebook, paperwork and others –Phew!

What to do?

What you need is a Customer Relationship Manager. No, this is not an extra Senior Staff Member! It is a software application to help YOU manage Your Customers. They come in several different forms –some may be integrated with your main business application, some are sold as independent online services, some are standalone applications. All have different levels of detail and tracking…

What’s Important?

Integrating with your main Customer Database is essential as maintaining multiple customer lists is inefficient and a waste of time. Then the Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) should allow for events to be set against any Customer so you can keep a summary of each conversation, phone call, visit or even email. Reminders are essential too and these should be linked to an event so you can set the next event, e.g. –Phone back on Monday, and then be able to assign it to yourself or one of your staff to action. Once the reminder has triggered and the task is completed, this is recorded. Then the details can provide a Key Performance Indicator for your staff as to percentage completed on or before the due date versus those overdue.

The ability to set multiple reminders based on a “Customer Type” or similar classification can be very handy when launching a new product or service that may only appeal to a specific category of Customers. By creating a reminder event you can ensure that you have contacted ALL the selected Customers to advise of your new line.

Searchable

A key function is the ability to search your CRM system. Beyond a simple Customer search, for example a phone number, you need the ability to locate Customers that you have not contacted for some time so you can make contact, be fresh in their mind and ensure you are meeting their needs.

Likely Repetition

I built an integrated system with CRM for a local service business that included a “Likely Repetition” function. Once the service was completed the Likely Repetition was entered in days, weeks or months. The CRM would check the service date, add the repetition amount and automatically create a reminder before the due date, to see if the service needed repeating. –the Customers loved the follow up, and once when their business was overloaded with work and too busy to follow up, they had customers ringing in and asking why they had not phoned as usual!

A Custom Solution

Of course ProcessIT can help you with a new CRM system or maybe just help to sort out how to better use your existing CRM system. We offer a free initial consultation and are always happy to have a quick chat on the phone. Call us now…

 

Tech Tip

Measurement with your smart phone.

One application that I use from time to time and am impressed with is Smart Measure. This clever design uses both the Camera and the Tilt meter of your phone to calculate a distance without using a tape measure!

How does it work?

By knowing the height that your phone is above ground and the angle of tilt to the base of an object on the same flat plane as you, simple trigonometry can be used to calculate the distance. You start by measuring how high you hold your phone. It is suggested that you use the tip of your nose as a reference. Measure the height from the floor to your nose and enter this in your phone to calibrate it. Now hold the phones camera lens at the same height as your nose and point the cross hairs (shown over the camera image) at the base of an object. The app will calculate the distance! Lock this distance in then point to the top of the object and the app will calculate the height!

For Android, click or search for Smart Measure

For iPhone click or search for EasyMeasure

 

Regards,
Brian Henderson

ProcessIT Limited
Phone:   06 876 0312