CRM: What Clients Really Want

I was reminded this week of how much fun this business can be working with clients. As I met with three different clients on their Dynamics Roadmap for the next few quarters, it reminded me of why I am in this business of strengthening customer engagement.
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Each of the clients has been with us for some time and each understand the value of CRM to the organization’s profitability and growth. However, it was good to hear that they also view CRM as a tool to strengthen a deeper relationship with their clients for all the various touch points that they have with the client.  CRM is a tool to guide existing and new users in their behaviors while getting everyone in marketing, sales and customer service on the same page with the client needs. 

While each has a high interest in reports, it is not for tracking activities like “big brother” but rather to monitor and improve their processes.  These clients want measurements to tell them how effective their processes are running and where next they should be focusing their attention. Their questions are around issues such as how long it takes for a lead move through each selling stage, who all touches a lead and why, or how responsive are they to customer requests.  Through this approach they recognize that CRM as a tool is a journey. These clients will always be looking for ways to improve their processes and want to tweak their Dynamics customer engagement information system to support their growth plan. 

This reminded me that what customers want from InfoGrow is not just CRM configuration and support delivered as requested, but actionable insights.  They don’t want us to just react to their requests but rather help guide their thinking about what they should be considering, what they are missing. These clients recognize that they don’t know what they don’t know and expect our help to fill that gap.  Our partnership with them is to know their business well enough in order to provide them guidance.  The strategic insight we provide will be leveraged to give the competitive advantage.

Of all the work we do I enjoy this role the most. 
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-- Bob