Note: Today’s guest post is another in a series provided by Denis Pombriant of Beagle Research Group. Denis is a top CRM market researcher who advises end users in CRM selection, deployment and use while also publishing a steady stream of analysis on many of the industry’s most popular topics and emerging trends.
There is a limited quantity of data that any company needs to capture about its customers. This may sound counter intuitive in an age of big data because we seem to be drowning in it, but keep two ideas in mind. First, useful data has to contribute to compiling information that’s relevant to a company’s goals and directions and second, the needed data is limited to the business processes that the business pursues.
Many processes are common throughout business though the details differ significantly. Most do a good job of capturing data relevant to their sales processes as well as to supplementing it with vendor-supplied data. Many organizations will look to a third party to help with data cleansing and filling in the blanks in customer profiles because it is inexpensive and efficient. However, businesses frequently fall down when collecting data in the areas that should be duck soup for them, their customer bases.
Too often once a customer is in the fold, that’s it, the relevant customer data goes into a vault never to be touched again unless an invoice gets returned to sender. We see this most often in conventional businesses when compared to subscription operations in part because subscribers usually keep up a steady stream of dialog with their vendors. It’s a perfect pairing as subscription vendors know they have to earn their keep every day because customers are up for renewal all the time.
Now, admittedly, customer demographic data doesn’t change every day and even when it does the change might be innocuous; however, customer situation data changes more frequently and in unpredictable ways. For instance, in addition to doing regular business, your customer could be challenged by a hostile takeover attempt, a merger, a lawsuit or a sudden and unpredictable spike in the cost of a critical raw material though your contacts hardly change at all.
Not long ago this kind of customer data would have shown up on the inside pages of the business press and you would eventually find out. But information travels faster today and the need for support from suppliers is often critical because businesses are joined at the hip — or supply chain for manufacturers. This means there is a critical and unending need to collect data about customers and their places in markets.
Another way to look at this, the number of business processes you need to keep operating today is a bit larger than it was a few years ago and processes run on data. Not only do you need to run sales, marketing, and service, but you need to keep an eye on the customer base for both signs of attrition and indications that a new sale is in the offing. Sometimes the signal and the data come from the least expected places.
The good news in all this is that sifting data has become relatively easy and often the first pass can be done with automation leaving humans free to do what we do best, acting on the exceptions. A happy customer in mid-subscription is nice to have but from an action taking perspective, not as much fun as someone signaling a need for help. You might not want to disturb a customer happily enjoying the benefits of your product or service but you certainly want to cheerfully come to the aid of a customer who’s disturbed by something.
All of this points up the growing importance of customer marketing or installed base marketing — moments when your outreach can make a big difference in the trajectory of a relationship. It’s a virtuous cycle of identifying issues and the exact customers who need you, satisfying their need, and celebrating the enhanced bond that results.
The process goes by many names as different as installed base marketing and service. Whatever you call it, the idea of paying more attention to your customers is like opening up a new revenue channel if you do it right. But that implies clean and efficient business processes that identify customers most in need and that do not disturb those that are motoring along just fine.
That’s the promise of big data and analytics and as I have said many times, it goes well beyond purely numeric data gathering to encompass everyday data that might not seem to contain much information. But when combined with everything else you collect it can deliver that one thing we all talk about but that many have a hard time getting — the single view of the customer.
About the author
Denis Pombriant is a well-known front office analyst and thought leader. He is the founder and managing principal of Beagle Research Group, LLC and the Bullpen Group, LLC. Pombriant’s work appears in most major CRM publications in both North America and Europe. He is also working on a new book for publication this year. For more information, visit his website at beagleresearch.com.There is a limited quantity of data that any company needs to capture about its customers. This may sound counter intuitive in an age of big data because we seem to be drowning in it, but keep two ideas in mind. First, useful data has to contribute to compiling information that’s relevant to a company’s goals and directions and second, the needed data is limited to the business processes that the business pursues.