What We Need In Customer Service

We all are aware of what a customer service representative of an organization should do to keep the organization in the good books of the customer but the biggest gap is in the form of:

• 
  
  Customer Awareness. Most often, the customer (be it internal or external) is not aware of the products and services and their usage leading to nightmarish experiences of the Customer Service workforce of an organization. At times, the organizations form their functional strategies based on this gap, but this only leads to the added expenditure in revamping and elaborating their Customer Care Services which becomes a lost cause with the front line executives becoming the spent force, as they are always in the line of fire juggling between the company policies and the customers, who always feel they have been cheated by the organization. 
  
  

  
  

          This requires the organization to take the initiative to make the customer aware of the benefits of the organizations products and services considering the unique requirements of the customers. This calls for consumer education initiative (Educating the customer of how to use the products and services and its entailing benefits.) This proactive effort will definitely go a long way to have a happy customer service force and customer too.

• 
  
  Catch Them Young it may sound more like a far cry but it is a fact that most of us are not aware of our social responsibilities and social systems and this unawareness always makes us feel insecure eventually making us prone to the fear of being misguided or misled through wrong information. This needs holistic approach of making the consumer aware of his or her social benefits and responsibilities so that when availing any products or services of an organization, is fully aware of what he or she needs and what information to seek from the organization helping him to fulfill his requirements. 
• That Extra Mile we are all aware of who is an irate or angry customer and the objective of the Customer Care Department is to keep such a customer at bay and should be treated like a pariah. We also are aware of the fact we should not have angry and irritable Customer Care Executive. What we all ignore is, why do they exist. Attend to the symptoms and not the cause. This is where we need to walk that extra mile to make the customer as well as the Customer Care Executive (The facade of the organization) to make them aware of their responsibilities and the consequential benefit to both conscientious customer as well as the organization. This is no philosophy and not rocket science either. It is merely the initiative of the organization as microcosm of the society at large to proactively share knowledge and information thus educating the segment of the society it is catering to. Subsequently, completing its fair share of responsibilities to the society at large.
• Shared Identity. the relationship with the customer is not merely of give and take but of perpetuation hence the term customer "relationship" and customer "service". We usually refer to the term "Word-of-Mouth" and most of the business enterprises believe that customer's reference is vital to perpetuation of business and beneficial relationship with the customer leads to more avenues for business. This is possible when the customer feels that he or is valuable part of the organization's clientele and this is possible only when a genuine relationship of shared identity is developed with the customer. What we mean by "shared identity" is that both the customer as well as the organization are able to identify with each other and is able to synthesize the progress to be mutually sustainable. This is the key to success of the business enterprise.

This to a great extent can make the organization benefit from the customer through a wise and knowledgeable customer.

  

Writing Using Idioms with Numbers

We use idioms to speak our mind with wit and a dash of humour to accentuate the message we intend to convey. So, let us try to use some of the idioms that use numbers in them to convey our message garnished with humour:

Have one over eight:     Someone who is tipsy due to drinking too much alcohol
At the Eleventh Hour:    Just at the final moment
Five o'clock shadow:    Someone who has not shaved and stubles appear on his face
Have Forty Winks:          Take a quick nap (sleep or rest for a short while.)

Now let us try to form a sentence using the idioms we have learnt the meaning of and listed them above.

Waiting for his project to complete successfully, Will had one over eight at the eleventh hour, so decided to have forty winks only to find five o'clock shadowing his face. 

[This means: While Will was waiting for his project to complete successfully, at the final moment he was was influenced by the alcaholic drink he had and decided to take a short nap only to find that he had slept long enough to grow beard on his face.]
So, are we ready for some more after the warm up session?

Let us take a few more idioms:

A chance in a million:           Rare and much awaited opportunity
Feel like a million dollar:      Feel extremely good
Never in a million years:     That which does not happen at all
Nine day wonder:                  Excitement lasting for a short time

For Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, it was a chance in a million making him feel like a million dollar, a nine day wonder that never had happened in a million years.

[This means: For Astronaut Neil Armsrtong, the first man to land on the moon, this was a rare opportunity he much waited for; he was proud of his achievement, though it was an excitement of short visit that has not happened at all.]

Let us now try to form a sentence using some of the eight idioms listed above:

At the eleventh hour the hare had forty winks making his excitement a nine day wonder giving the tortoise a chance in a million to feel like a million dollar.  

Refer to the meaning of the idioms to see what the sentence means.

Shall we have you use the following idioms to form a sentence or two:

A drop in a bucket:                                  a small part of a bigger whole(entity).                          
A penny saved is a penny earned:     saving money little by little
A picture paints a thousand words:   image impresses more than verbal description
A dime a dozen:                                       Anything that is in common

Happy time making sentence by combining one or more of the idioms to discover your creative potential!

An Experience of Cross Culture Blending

I was once asked, "Where are you from" to which I replied, "My Father is from West Bengal, Mother hails from Punjab. my birth place is Orissa and have lived in most of the major cities of India. I hope I have replied to your question."

As a resident of Bangalore, I preferred and also found the public bus service to be within my means to travel length and breadth of the city. As a commuter, I was impressed by the bonhomie the women commuters shared among themselves. A woman would leave her seat for an elderly woman and students, who would be seated would offer to hold the heavy bags of their friends who had to travel, standing in the vehicle.

In Calcutta, I found men eagerly offer their seats to the women: fellow travelers while the bus conductors helped the women to easily board and alight the bus.

My Mumbai experience is also quite impressive as I found the commuters stand in a queue and wait for the bus. They even board the bus in a queue. It is a remarkable sense of discipline and self-restraint.

The migratory birds like me, who live in various cities and experience unique cultural ethos, can help in blending the myriad hues of culture and enable the homogeneity of myriad cosmopolitan hues thus making India a truly nationally integrated country making our lives worth living in the country we call our Motherland.

Anukaran kaa Anusaran (Emulate to Follow)

पथ पर राही ने पायी नहीं  ठौर
चलता रहा, चलता रहा
पथ पर अडिग निरंतर.
पथ पर राही  ने पाई नहीं ठौर
बढ़ता रहा, बढ़ता रहा
वह मंजिल की ओर.
पथ पर राही  ने पायी नहीं ठौर
समझता रहा, समझता रहा
वह इस सफ़र का दौर
पथ पर राही  ने पाई नहीं ठौर
निरंतर, तत्पर
वह बढ़ता रहा अपनी मंजिल की ओर.
पथ ने कहा, 'मैं हूँ बहुत कठिन, यह तुमने है जाना
तुम हो तत्पर, यह मैने  है माना.
क्या है तुम्हारा उद्देश्य पर यह तुम मुझे बताना.
राही ने मुस्कुराकर कहा पथ से, "मेरा मकसद है जीवन,
पथ है माध्यम जीवन के निरंतर क्षण भंगुर से आगे बढने  का
पथ है माध्यम चिरंतन विचरण सुघड़ भावनायों का
पथ है माध्यम आत्म मंथन कर जीवनकाल चक्र से मुक्त होने का.
पथ, तुम हो आशा, प्रत्याषाहीन
यही है मैने जाना.
मैं राही एक अंश तुम्हारा, येही है मैने माना.
तुम्हारी प्रेरणा से प्ररित होकर बढ़ रहा हूँ निज जीवन मैं
तुम्हारा अनुराकर्ण कर कर रहा हूँ, कर अनुसरण जीवन का."

Top of the House 100

There once lived a monk in a monastery in the Alps with only a St. Bernard as his companion. The dog also did the job of rescuing the travellers stranded in snow storm or buried in snow. The monk called him “GOD”. When GOD would rush to the monk and bark aloud raising an alarm to rescue a poor soul fallen prey to the treacherous Alpine weather, the monk would quickly follow him and get the victim to the cosy confines of the monastery.



One cold, dark morning, when snow blizzard was raging outside the monastery, GOD rushed to the monk and tugged at his habit. The monk, who was praying at the alter immediately got up and rushed to follow GOD, who led him to the spot where a weary traveller lay unconscious, buried under a thick pile of snow. GOD immediately began digging up the snow in a frantic gesture to help the monk. To revive the man, the monk poured a few drops of brandy in the traveller’s mouth, wrapped him in a thick blanket and brought him to the monastery where he nursed him back to health.


While the traveller was recuperating in the monastery from his rough encounter with the fury of the Alps, he often found the monk ask GOD to go to the "top of the house" and have his “Hundred”. Curious to know what it meant, the traveller asked the monk, “Father, you often ask the dog to go to "the top of the house" to have his ‘Hundred’, what does it mean?”


The monk smiled at the traveller and said, “Son, the creature you call dog is a God Send for weary travellers like you who fall prey to the nature's fury,  that is why I call him GOD. I ask him to go to "the top of the house" to have his "Hundred" is to go out of the monastery to see if anyone needs our help.


(Foot note: The Numbers or creatures don’t always mean their face value, they also mean the purpose they serve in the grand design called the world at large we live in.)

BAKER'S DOZEN

Once upon a time, there lived an old baker named Barkis, who hardly had any customers visiting his bakery. So, he gradually began losing hope of selling the bread loaves he used to bake every day to sell.



One winter morning, a stranger walked into his bakery and said, “Barkis, I am new to this village and I have no family too, but I still want you to bake me a dozen loaves of bread every morning and I shall buy them from you.”


Happy with a sudden turn in his fate, Barkis baked a dozen loaves of bread and completed his work by daybreak.


True to his words, the stranger visited the bakery in the morning and asked Barkis for his ware.


Barkis eagerly picked up the wicker basket he had packed  for the stranger and handed it over to him.


The stranger quietly took the basket and opened each of the brown paper packet to check the bread loaf. After having checked all the loaves he produced one to Barkis and said,” Barkis, this loaf of bread is partly burnt, can you replace it with a fresh loaf  along with the dozen loaves you will deliver to me for tomorrow?”


Quite amazed at how he could overlook the burnt loaf, Barkis quietly took the loaf of bread from the stranger and agreed to replace it with a fresh loaf the following day.


The following day too, the stranger pointed out to a partly burnt loaf of bread and requested Barkis to replace it with the fresh loaf the following morning and this continued till such time that it became habitual for Barkis to bake thirteen loaves of bread instead of twelve for the stranger.


One day, the stranger visited Barkis’ bakery with his friend who requested Barkis too, to bake a dozen loaves of bread each day.


Habitually, Barkis baked thirteen loaves of bread each for the stranger and his friend and packed their wares in two separate wicker baskets.


Next morning the stranger and his friend visited Barkis’ bakery to collect their loaves of bread and the stranger’s friend was the first to open the basket to check the loaves. After having seen them, he returned one loaf to Barkis and said, “Friend, I had ordered for twelve loaves but you have given me thirteen.”


Barkis smiled and replied “So, after all, no more burnt loaf of bread.”


So friends, to be habitually proactive is what Baker’s dozen means, to avoid any eventualities.




(Foot Note: Especially quality compliance.)

Learning English the Easy Way - I (for Working People)

Let us see what is:

SINGULAR ~ ONE

PLURAL ~ MANY

First Person Singular "I"

First Person Plural "We"
We can learn the language in a very simple way by using Color Cards that will represent the important parts of a sentence and help us in understanding the relevance of each part in forming the sentence.

• First, we will make three color cards for "Subject", "Verb" and "Object". Subject to represent the person or object that does the action or activity denoted by the "Verb" card and the "object"  is the objective or result of the action.

E.g. Girl makes tea. Girl = Subject, makes = Verb, tea = Object.
Subject is person or thing that does the action denoted by Verb.
So, Subject can be Noun (name of person or any living thing, place or non-living thing.)
E.g Girl = Noun and makes = Verb.
Object is the result of the action (Verb) of Subject
So, Object often Noun (name of person or any living thing, place or non-living thing.)
E.g. The result of Girl's action of making is "Tea" = Noun.

Note:

Pronoun is a word that represents noun.

Person	Noun	Pronoun
First (One:-Singular)	I	I
First (Many:-Plural)	We	We
Second (One:-Singular)	You	You
Second (Many:-Plural)	You	You
Third (one:-Singular)	Boy	He
Third (Many:-Plural)	Boys	They
Third (One:-Singular)	Girl	They
Third (Many:-Plural)	Girls	They

Activity:
Display the following sentences and ask the learner to display appropriate colour card to identify the Subject (Noun/Pronoun), Verb and Object component of the sentence.

1. Navin learns French.
2. Baby drinks milk.
3. Students do home work.
4. We have dinner.
5. You know him.

Job Hop and Attrition: Individual and Oranizational Perspective

According to Khuram Shahzad, in terms of Job Hop:“There can be multiple reasons, as explained by Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory. Employees want to move to other departments/teams when they feel that they can get better personal growth, self esteem, salary or better relations with manager/peers in other team as compared to their existing team. ” He feels that Attrition happens: “when employee feels that the overall environment of the company is not according to his required standards then employee thinks to go in some other company which is more aligned with his future goals and plans”. 

This is what Suhasini Sahakare thinks about Job Hop and Attrition, “The first typically happens because of “short termist” priorities at the top leadership level, which impact organizational culture.

After all, retaining people yields benefits only over the long term. Only when leadership is focused on the long term does it make the sacrifices necessary to retain people.

The second may happen for any reason under the sun really. I mean, a number of employees move because their spouse got transferred. How do you control that?” 

About Job Hop and Attrition, Steve Sutton says:”I not so much believe in "Human capital" as in humans.

People are not just one of the four types of fixed capital as Adam Smith wrote ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_capital ), but the base of any organization.

You can have machines, instruments (tools) of the trade and buildings, but without people you still have nothing.

On the other hand, people without machines, tools or buildings can and are capable of making a difference and earning profits.

A company who "cuts costs" by reducing staff is either making a big mistake now, or made one in the past by hiring the wrong people in the first place. If they have the right people, getting rid of them will cost more in the long run than any perceived savings in the short term.”

This is what Abhijit Sinha has to say about Job Hop and Attrition, “People don't leave organisation they leave their bosses. this statement is true in majority. I firmly believe and have seen that people who shift or change job of course think and say that they are moving for growth,but the question is if they get opportunity and growth in their own organisation why the will they shift and start from scratch.,

As there can be vision of organisation and scenario in various phase plays an imp.role.”

regards

abhijit

Milton Rivera Manga says, “Individual and organizational level are of course related.

It seems that a large proportion of individual job changes are due to a bad relation with the superior or boss.”

Zach Jonson says, “Employees are constantly moving within companies, sometimes outside factors like completion of college leads employees to a different employer and higher pay. With high turnover it basically means people are leaving the company fairly quickly. When people leave the company normally someone else changes positions to fill that vacant position leaving their position open to another person or a new employee.

The key for great companies is finding talented people and being able to retain those people within the organization for a long period of time.”

Christine Hueber opines:

“More enjoyment in another position.

Links:

[ http://ChristineHueber.com|leo://plh/http%3A*3*3ChristineHueber%2Ecom/HRT6 ] “

The discussion makes it clear that an employee can change job within the organization for the following reasons:

1. Lateral movement from one department (functional area) to another functional area.
Benefit to the employee: Employee gets opportunity to acquire knowledge, skill and experience of different functions of the organization and this gives twin benefits to the employee in terms of becoming more valuable to the organization by acquiring more comprehensive knowledge and experience of its activities and secondly, the employee gets an opportunity to move into the functional area of better comfort level, which helps in his/her career development objective.
Benefit to the organization: Through such movement, the organization is able to develop employees internally for its functions use their talent, skill and experience on the long run in decision making process at the management level  as part of the organization's management or skill succession plan to groom its people to plan and perpetuate its vision on a long run. This is also useful in technology intensive organization as they can help their employees to upgrade their technological know-how while developing their cross-functional skills and experience.


2.Vertical Movement: What we all generally know as internal job posting or addressing the vacancies through the existing resource within the organization, who has the required expertise to handle the portfolio, instead of hiring an external resource for the function. it is similar to lateral movement only that movement is up on the functional hierarchy ladder.
Benefit to the employee: Employee is able to utilize the opportunities available within the organization in career advancement. He or she can avail such opportunity to showcase and exploit ones multifarious talent to mutual benefit and this will also provide scope to the individual to enhance know-how and experience in mid and long term planning and preparing the road map with clearer vision gained from the experience gained from various levels of functional  hierarchy.
Benefit to the organization: The organization is able to groom and retain talent who can align their career objective with the vision and functional objective of the organization and can help it in fortifying and successfully executing the long term plans and objectives.

3. Geographic movement: from one location to another. Usually, an employee can move from one location office to another location office of the organization.
Benefit to the employee: In case an employee has to join his or her family or work from home town or country. This also gives the employee an opportunity to gain experience of the unique functionality of various geographic locations and this is of benefit for the marketing and media development professionals as well as those in research and development activities, who need to be aware of the ground realities at various geographic locations.
Benefit to the organization: Have employees comfortably positioned at its location offices so that they can help in executing its functions effectively. Have employees placed at locations who are aware of the place and the ground realities to effectively implement the organizations policies and functional objectives. Especially, when an organization is opening a new location office, it can relocate its employees who are from the region to do the pioneering activity of setting up base and establishing the organization in the region. Most of the MNCs are in the practice of giving home transfers or home relocation with promotion to their employees.


External Movement in terms of an individual and attrition or manpower turn over in terms of organization can be due to various reasons. Let us see what they are:


External Movement: Individual:- It is true, people do not leave organizations, people leave people.

1. No more career advancement prospects with the current organization.
2. Unfavourable working conditions.
3. Lack of recognition and functional motivation.
4.  Office Politics or derogatory work pressure.
5. Fallout with the immediate superior.
6. Disagreement with the policies or the functional objectives of the organization.
7. Better opportunities available outside the organization.
8. Personal reasons viz. family pressure, health conditions, etc.
9. Move to better matched job opportunity if available.

External Movement: Organization:- High employee turnover experienced by organization.

1. Challenge from its competitors who body snatch its employees.
2. Poor working conditions.
3. Lack of functional motivation to its employees.
4. Flawed work policies and regulations.
5. Improper planning and implementation of its vision in terms of resource management.
6. Lack of proper alignment of its vision with the functional objective of the employees.
7. Over-emphasis on short-term objectives leading to improper remuneration and compensation policies.
8. Improper leadership at various levels of functional hierarchy.
9. Improper hiring and training policies.

It is quite apparent that what ever may be the reason for job hop and attrition, proper hiring of  resource supported by proper HR policies and working conditions giving opportunity to an employee to align his/her career objective with the vision of the organization will address job hop and attrition in a positive way.

In case you are curious to about the reasons employees resign from their employ and leave, then  read "Why Employees Leave..."

Three Pronged Approach in CRM Projects - II

Some of the popularly used automated CRMs are SAP, SIEBEL, BAAN, ORACLE, etc.
CRM is a way for an organization to survive and prosper. This is only possible with its vision and mission translated into a road map. The organization can achieve this through realistic, strategic and tactical planning to achieve its objective in the days to come. This requires proper study of the external and internal environment including the competitors in order to draw up its ethical and value system in the form of specialization through better CRM technology support. This will improve the product or service and give the organization edge over its competitors. Eventually, the organization should concentrate on its core content with the help of its Centre For Excellence. This is where the automated CRM can go a long way in clearly defining its process, build its infrastructure to the benefit of its customers, partners, suppliers/vendors, employees forming beneficial values, thus synergizing the efforts of each entity to each others benefits.
Similarly, according to the Three Pronged Approach, the functional strategy has to be drawn on the organization’s core competency that is transformed into the organization’s ethics and Centre for Excellence, where the organization concentrates on its core competencies in relation with the internal as well as its external customers.
The Strategic functions are taken care of by the middle management and this is where the strategic functional planning is formulated,
The Tactical or the executive level planning is done by the executives in sync with the strategy and they prepare themselves for the market and the competition too.

Project Vs. Program:
As mentioned above, projects are tactical plans while Programs are strategic plans. Projects are always at a micro level and are a defined set of activities that must be completed on time and within the allocated budget; but the program are always in the form of change management giving a holistic definition of a product or service to be provided to the customers with the optimum utilization of time and resources. It also encourages innovation while maintaining harmony with external as well as internal environment. This is where complete integration of automated CRM takes place.
Projects are an essential part of a programme. The sub modules delivery should be well defined and measurable.

Program Management	Project MAnagement
Focus is on delivering benefits based on a business strategy at macro level	Focus on single objective usually tactical at micro level
An organizational and management framework (A vehicle) through which one or more projects are delivered	Focus is on delivering a single project
Focus is on delivering a single project,	Objectives are clearly defined at outset.
Can lead to organization level change management	Can lead to specific team related change management
Benefits are delivered incrementally by projects and other change vehicles during the life span of the program	Capabilities are delivered through a single undertaking and are generally delivered on completion
Main deliverable tend to be many	Main deliverables tend to be few
Strategic planning, considering external factors has larger time marginsStrategic planning, considering external factors has larger time margins	Time scale rigidly defined
A program is designed for scope changes	Scope changes are managed as exceptions (e.g. scope creep)
Programs may be inter-relatedPrograms	Sub projects are related to project outcomes and themselves.
Generally applicable to division level or at higher levels of an organization	Applicable to any level of the organization
A program can assist in prioritizing projects and activities	Projects can only prioritise activities within itself
Program support the concept of portfolio management	Time scale rigidly defined

Programs are the realistic road maps of the business strategy and its sub-modules, the projects are the tactical plans of how to deliver the goods, service. CRM plays a vital role in laying out the road map and controlling the execution of the tactical plan. Therefore, the main objective of a plan is to align the organization’s internal environment with the external environment in order to appropriately deliver what the external clients deliver from the organization.
Project management is capability based and net benefit based. It focuses on delivery and not the process, which is the crux of quality, which highlights the focus on the quality of product or service delivered and the actual benefit provided. This means that, in terms of program, an organization endeavors to align its process to match the end users’ expectations with the help of innovation and change management.
According to Three Pronged Approach, The Management responsible for overall strategic planning and the executives responsible for translating the strategic planning to water tight tactical planning should share adequate market and competitor knowledge and past experience from the point of designing or revamping the product or service to the to meet the market demand to the pricing function so that they maintain the vision and mission of the organization well aligned with the changing market trends in order to create their market niche and also effectively respond to the market competition, The organization needs to realize, they are not the market, but they are for the market.

According to the table above, the Prong One states that Management and Executives need to align themselves and the market demand and for that, the role and responsibilities of each individual should be aligned with the changing market trends and the functional objective of the organization. For instance: To beat market competition, the organization may need to make some strategic functional change resulting in challenging delivery time of the product or service to establish ones credibility in the market/ For instance, Domino Pizza promising to home deliver pizza within record half an hour. This therefore is the management focus to see how the strategic change is working to the benefit of the organization, its customers as well as its employees.

< Feature Project Program Endeavours Management focus Delivery on time Strategic Change Competitive Advantage Breadth Function boundary Across Enterprise Complete External and Internal Environment Manages Cost/risk Corporate cost/benefit Stake holder returns Scope Easily identified Evolving Shifting Justification Return on investment Competitive Initiative Survival Timeframe 3-15 months 18-36 months Many Years Leadership Motivate team Influence Enterprise Lead enterprise Change focus Reduce Ambiguity Thrive on Ambiguity Create Ambiguities Links Departments Multiple Projects Programs

The above diagrams show the proper blend between the strategic and tactical planning in terms of market the external environment and the internal environment to tactically prepare the resources in order to effectively cater to the existing market demand and establish a positive customer relationship. Starting from the client to the executive catering to the client's needs to the organization planning both on the long and short run to keep pace with the changing market trends.

What to do to Write an Impressive Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Rejection is the method used by recruiter for short listing CVs for interview. Just a small error in your CV is enough for the recruiter to reject it.

Use the following mapping method to logically structure your CV:

Following is an introductory Personal Map which can be placed as an index of your book called "Your Curriculum Vitae":

The most common error is incorrect spelling or typographical mistake(s): It implies the following about you:

1. You cannot spell

2. You are inattentive

3. You are lazy

4. You are not serious about the job.

You have only 60 seconds to grab the attention of the reader and get your message across. So, begin the CV with the Map and make your CV easy to read. Write short sentences to make your CV readable. The active voice in the sentences is the best.

Carefully select the words you use in the CV. They should have positive influence on the reader. For example “addressed clients’ issues” is better than “handled clients’ issues”.

After writing the CV, examine each word in it very carefully to see whether another powerful or positive equivalent can replace it. Your writing reflects your personality; so, let the right choice of words reflect a proactive rather than passive or over-reactive trait to work situation. The following words are often used by a passive person who responds to a situation rather than plan and implement it:

Support; perform; rectify; prevent; maintain; revise; re-implement; specified; recommended; maintained; liaised; executed; etc.

So, find positive synonyms to such words used in your CV to create an optimistic impression. This will eventually give your CV more mileage to impress your prospective employer.

Make your CV unique by mentioning even your smallest outside-work achievements. Such non-work situation experience shows that you fit the job specification apart from your work experience. For example, your election as president of your local youth club reflects your reliability and honesty to be elected in that capacity to serve others.

Three Pronged Approach in CRM Projects I

Three Pronged Approach in CRM Projects I

Salient points of CRM Projects:

The CRM Way of doing business is by linking to customers, stakeholders, share holders, partners and suppliers through whatever channel is appropriate based on stored and applied knowledge. The organization will continue to enhance its overall relationships for continuous, competitive advantage.

According to Three Pronged Approach,  the integration between external environment, clients, shareholders, partners, vendors/suppliers (external environment) and the management, executives and the other resources (internal environment) through appropriate use of knowledge of management tools.

This means – mapping the entire scope of services and other related functions to create an established relationship with customers, stakeholders, shareholders i.e. both external and internal clients and resources. This form of solution is a holistic one, which circumvents all risks and helps to develop credibility with value based services. This can also be termed as a Macro solution, which can be further fragmented to point solutions.

Note: Point solutions are normally associated with divisional needs or needs that merely solve a particular problem without considering the needs of the whole organization and their implications regarding strategic decision.

Three Pronged Approach is a holistic approach in providing A macro and micro solution to a problem. In this approach all the divisional or functional entities are considered.

Fact: Three Pronged Approach enables a business enterprise to align its serves and products to customers’ requirements or the market demand, without trying to lure the customer through false promises highlighting false benefits, that, in reality, are of no intrinsic benefit to the customer or are core benefits, but falsely promoted as additional benefits to build customer loyalty or relationship/retention benefits for the business enterprise (organization), but  does not help in forming the credibility of the organization in the market. e.g.

·         Promote sale of products through discounts on inflated prices.

·         Promise life time service on a price that the customer may not be able to enumerate, because the definition of lifetime itself is subjective.

·         Highlight the benefits of well organized and professional sales force; in fact, it is a necessity of any business enterprise to have one and not a privilege for a customer to be served by one.

·         Event based actions and automated marketing service.

·         Personalized e-services.

·         Grandiose in infrastructure and frills.

These are mere false promises or frills in the name of CRM.

The best example of CRM gone wrong is the bursting of the DOT COM bubble. Virtual benefits proposed were unable to satisfy the expectations they had created in the minds of the customers. Therefore, all the technicalities associated with the DOT COM business initiatives could not achieve what they had envisioned to.

Following the principle of Three Pronged Approach (Organization):

CRM should not be implemented without integrating it with the vision and mission of the organization; with full knowledge of the total cost, benefits of undertaking the initiative in terms of both the internal as well as the external environment.

 

For proper implementation of CRM as part of a business process, a well defined and comprehensive roadmap of the entire process is needed. Then the CRM technology (if any CRM technical solution is being used) should be integrated to each segment or division of the process.

Implementation of CRM technology (automated CRM) in human centric process/function, such as in sales and marketing or in service sector, the existing system needs to be organized and every aspect of it should be well defined. For instance, to implement Call Centre Service as a CRM technology initiative with the business objective of turning around the figures on the dipping sales charts due to the insufficient results generated by the existing sales force, in itself will be, rather is a failed objective. Call centre cannot replace the existing sales force in executing the entire sales, marketing and market research activity. But it can complement the existing sales force and provide the following support  in helping boost up sales of the organization’s products/services: 

• Create database of prospective clients.
• Provide support in terms of data-warehousing, maintaining necessary details of the customer base.
• Help in cross-selling, when the organization has more than one product or service to offer.
• Provide first hand information for market analysis to be aware of the market trends.
• Pre-sales and post sales support to provide extra service benefit to the customers in the form of service within warranty period and this provides vital feedback on consumer opinion and sales trends, vital for market research.