DAEMON QUEST - Flor de Esteban

The example of McDonald’s

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 13:46:23 +0200

We often underestimate our customers’ opinions because we don’t like to admit that we might be wrong, or that we’ve left a certain area of our business unattended. The consequences of this behavior are frequently disastrous, because while correcting a mistake on time is a great victory, doing it too late can translate into losses of millions. And if you don’t think so, tell it to Ford. In the 90’s, several of their 4x4 models were victims of design failures that caused spontaneous combustion. It took the company five years to admit there was a problem with the steering column, and when it did, it found itself in the position of having to assume the costs of the largest vehicle recall in history.

Managing Channels and Manufacturing Opportunities

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 12:38:26 +0200

Whenever a company’s sales force is mentioned, we tend to mentally recall the old techniques of classic manuals. However, that course of action is dead and has given way to a new strategy based on scientific intelligence, which transforms the sales team into not only an efficient, accurate instrument, but also a true opportunities factory. In what way? It’s very clear: the salespeople are the ones that have their fingers on the pulse of any organization’s customers, and therefore they receive the majority of the information customers transmit: their needs, their interest in other products, their changes and evolution. They are consequently the ones that should identify the opportunities for carrying out the majority of sales initiatives.
This factory of opportunities is built with an appropriate Sales Intelligence strategy. I have the product, the services, the available investment, and the sales team. Now, in the next step, instead of assigning customers randomly or by volume, personalized visits, mailings, or any foreseen initiative in the sales development, the proper sales force management will include five basic steps that are essential to achieving effectiveness.

Knowing the Customer

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 13:45:55 +0200

Do you know your customer? Do you really know them? Could you say which ones are the most profitable? Most likely the first instinct of any company director is to answer yes to these three questions. However, there are very few that could accurately list their company’s 20 most profitable customers (not the ones that generate the most revenue, obviously, but rather the ones who best fit into a relationship between revenue and effort/costs for the company). Fewer still would successfully answer the question, “what customers do I share with the competition?”; and even fewer still would answer accurately if asked what market niches have the highest potential and are not being taken advantage of by the company.

Advanced technology versus scientific knowledge

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 13:38:11 +0200

The failures associated with CRM are inevitable. The key: an in-depth knowledge of the company and its customers

A study carried out by the American company Bain & Company, author of the largest annual survey on the use that American companies make of management software, reveals that in 1989, not one communication medium alluded to CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Eleven years later, media references to CRM had shot up to over 14,000. 72% of the company directors that Bain consulted assured them at the end of 2000 that their company would implement a CRM program the next year. According to the research company Meta Group, the market for these solutions is duplicating annually, and it is now over 60 billion dollars.

CRM: Harvesting Mediocre Results

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 13:35:36 +0200

“That’s it. I can’t take one more argument with the customer service girl. It’s been months of fights and excuses. I can’t stand feeling badly treated and misunderstood if I’m paying for a service. I’ve explained a thousand times what I need, and they ignore me. Today, I left my telephone company for another one.”

This is a CRM victim’s story. A successful small businessman who one year ago signed a contract for a service package for pymes from a well-known telephone company: voice and information. Since then, the failures have multiplied. The ADSL line constantly goes down, the Internet site is a disaster, the operator’s customer service never transmits the customer’s complaint to the salespeople and, when they come to visit, they don’t even know who their customer is. Our small businessman didn’t want to change providers, but the poor service he received forced him to. That happens too often, don’t you think?

The deception of CRM

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 13:33:00 +0200

One of the most recurring myths in the history of business is that of resounding successes led by entrepreneurs and visionaries who were able to see what others couldn’t, and which are usually linked with the use of and trust in technological advances. Being able to take advantage of the possibilities that technique offers businesses before the competition can truly offer an advantage the market can appreciate.

Businesspeople now are very aware of it, to the point that use of and trust in technology has even been abused. It seems that with the simple acquisition of a tool, our problems will be solved. But that’s not true. One of the latest deceptions in this sense has been CRM. Spanish companies have invested more than 700 million euros in recent years in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools. On average, 70% of them are resulting in complete and total failure after implementation.