Delivering Outstanding Customer Service Using CRM.

Delivering Outstanding Customer Service Using CRM.

I once heard said that 60% of business is lost through “perceived indifference” on the part of the vendor. I have never been able to verify this figure, but looking back on my own dealings with various companies, I can well believe it. Hours spent listening to a recorded voice assuring me how valuable my call is. Promised calls not returned and quotes that take days or weeks to arrive, usually after numerous calls to chase. I have walked away from numerous vendors, because what makes them look bad reflects on your dealings with your own clients. “Sorry, but I am still waiting for the information” only washes for so long.

This invaluable, insight came to me about the time Sentinel Business IT Ltd was born.  I remember up until that point our focus was on winning business with only a fraction of our planning time going into setting processes or managing the client once the business had been won.

We decided very early on that we would definitely not use voicemail, we preferred the phone to always be answered by a human being, even if it meant outsourcing to an answering service.  Aware that lack of effective communication can drastically breakdown good customer relations our objectives included always returning a call or providing information within the stated timescale to ensure effective customer communication and we stuck to this objective even if we were just calling stating we were awaiting the information required or requested.  Finally and crucially, in a world where the concept of “customer service” seems to reach no further than a mission statement, we needed to deliver truly outstanding responsiveness and service.

Of course such aspirations are laudable.  The question was how were we going to take them into a busy and at times frenetic service environment?

Imagine the scene; requests arriving by email, fax, telephone, text and verbal message – how were we going to manage the constant stream of communication?  It would be too easy for the odd request to be forgotten or worse still mislaid.  All businesses have their own process and some are better than others.  The reality is that in order to deliver an effective and consistent service, it is necessary to utilise a system that will encompass all aspects of your business, from leads and oportunities to driving your service effort once you have the customer on your books.

Sentinel Business IT Ltd chose Microsoft Dynamics CRM  to fulfill all the required functions.  As you can imagine it was quite an investment for a small, start-up company and at times I considered it to be “overkill”.  In fact even with Microsoft’s partner software concession the cost took a large bite out of our initial budget, but my business partner insisted these systems were in place from the start and she was absolutely right.

As we started to use the system we began to perfect it by tweaking it to our needs, and it simply revolutionised the way we worked.  Now, incoming customer issues are raised as a case.  Telephone calls, messages, tasks and appointments are attached and workflow triggers reminder emails to ensure that promised actions are not forgotten and the customer is kept informed of progress when promised at all times.

At any time or in any location, the complete history of any issue is available, including actions taken and notes, preventing any repitition and virtually eliminating the frustration that all of us are familiar with; having to repeat the same things time and time again just because you can’t reach the same person on the other end of the phone.

The system now produces reports for weekly case review meetings to prevent issues dragging on.  It forms the basis of our monthly billing, ensuring that time spent is accounted for accurately and providing transparency to the customer; each monthly inovice is now accompanied by a Resolved Case Report detailing the time spent on each case and advising who requeseted the work and time to reach resolution.

At the end of the month, the system also generates a case feedback letter, which not only gives us the opporutnity to send our client a sachet of fabulous Arabica coffee, but also allows the customer to provide feedback, which is again fed back into the system providing invaluable statistics and allowing me as Director to call the customer if there is any aspect of our service which they were unhappy with.  I have only had to make one such phone call in the past 2 years, and then the issue was resolved quickly and to everyone’s satisfaction.

Having invested so much in our service effort, Sentinel Business IT Ltd is now turning attention to the sales effort and applying the same principles.  Happily, Microsoft Dynamics CRM also provides the same functionality for leads and campaign management.  Using third party suppliers for marketing & PR, we can make available live information to them without compromising existing account or case security.  In turn, they can update the informaiton I need on a day to day basis.

Despite having worked in the IT industry, and unlike many of my peers, I am a firm believer that not every problem requires an IT solution.  However, when it comes to driving  customer service and sales efforts, I am completely sold on CRM.  The cost of deploying such a sytem in house has traditionally been prohibitive, especially for a start up or smaller business.  This is no longer the case.

Last month, Sentinel Business IT Ltd launched EasylifeIT Teamlink Customer Manager.  Not a small company attempt to offer an alternative to the real deal, but fully powered Microsoft Dynamics CRM available to you for a modest monthly subscription; probably less than you pay for your mobile.  No server required, just a good broadband connection and located on super fast Microsoft servers, which are secure, backed up with 99.9% availability.  Oh, and did I mention available virtually anywhere?

This new service brings an enterprise class IT system to the start up, small or growing business, allowing everyone to share in the benefits and efficiencies of CRM.

Looking back to our start-up days and the pain and cost of deployment, I am almost jealous.

EasylifeIT Teamlink Customer Manager is available from Sentinel Business IT Ltd.

Tel: 0800 043 9186 Email: info@easylifeit.com Web: www.easylifeit.com