The World is speaking a different language.
Are you?
- The Case Studies
If you focus on results, you will
never change.
If you focus on change, you will get results.
What is the difference between your
product or services and the products or services of your closest
competitor? Or between one car and another, one television
and another, one cell phone and another?
Probably very little, besides their
fancy names and some good branding.
But this is not unusual today. The
fact is that today's products and services are becoming more
and more marginal and customers are becoming more and more
informed and demanding. So now the companies around the world
speak a new language, not only to attract new customers, but
also to retain their existing customers. And that language
is their customers' language; in the form of Value Added Services
(VAS) along with Customer Relationship Management (CRM).
The concept of managing customer is
not new. Companies have been interfacing with the customers
since the beginning of trade. However, the focus has always
been to sell the products and services, not necessarily from
the Customer Retention Perspective.
The basic functionality of a CRM system
is its automation of front office business processes. This
is what characterizes a CRM system or application - the ability
to collect, organize and store customer data and make it available
to the company's back office functions such as ordering, billing,
procurement, manufacturing and distribution so that the information
can be acted upon. And also the ability to provide optimization
of the front office functions, thereby leading to cost savings
in the front office. This means both added revenue and profit
for you.
Gone are the days when the customers
were satisfied only with good and efficient products and services
that meet their needs. In today's world of freebies and buy-one-get-one-free
markets, every customer expects you to provide something extra
apart from the goods and servics that you provide. Let
us see some case studies of differnet industries to understand
how can you add value to your business by providing Value
Added Services to your customer apart from your regular products
and services.
Just know that this level of service
and functionality is not accidental, but rather the result
of careful selection and development of the organizational
capabilities that matter most to your customers. With customer
expectations on the rise, it's about time you realize that
your company can not retain customers by providing products
and service the traditional way.
The Industries in focus are:
Health Care
After viewing a TV medical series
on heart disease, Natasha logs on to her heart specialist
- Dr. Sheth's Web site - hoping to receive some reassurance
that she's taking every precaution possible in her battle
against the disease. Once on
the site, she finds valuable news and research findings, dietary
advice and sample menus from nutritional experts, along with
behavioral modification techniques that address her particular
health challenge - hypercholesterolemia.
With just a few clicks, Natasha can
graph her cholesterol history and forecast the impact that
certain changes, such as increased exercise, will have on
her cardiac risk profile. While
looking at her personal profile, Natasha discovers that it
's time to reorder her medication and the next check-up. A
new feature has been provided on this web site-a link to the
Web-based pharmacy affiliated with her heart specialist's
clinic. In seconds, Natasha's refill is on order, scheduled
to arrive before she misses a dose. Natasha clicks on the
schedule appointment button to arrange a specific date and
time for her visit. There is also a link that asks Natasha
whether she would like to be the appointment for her next
check-up online and notified the confirmation electronically
or by phone.
The next afternoon, Natasha receives
e-mail from Dr.Sheth's clinic confirming her appointment.
Now at the clinic, Dr.Sheth touches the wall-mounted computer
to prescribe a new medication. As he enters the order, a red
stop sign flashes a warning. An allergy -apparently omitted
from hospital admission forms -was detected in earlier notes
from the Natasha's former physician. After reviewing the complete
medical record, Dr.Sheth selects a different drug from the
list of alternatives offered by the system, then verifies
the dosage that was calculated based on the patient 's weight.
As the prescription is transmitted to the pharmacy, Dr.Sheth
continues with his next patient.
Electronic Appliances
A residential customer reviews her
monthly utility bill on the Web. Her telephone, water and
cable charges look normal, but her energy line item seems
too high. She uses your online energy audit to help identify
potential reasons for the overage. Details about her installed
appliances -provided as part of the audit -are fed into your
marketing system. Based on the audit, evidence points to her
aging geezer as the culprit. She clicks on "talk to us " to
speak realtime with a customer service representative (CSR)
about her audit results. Shortly thereafter, she receives
a brochure in the mail describing your maintenance service
-and a special offer on a new energy-efficient geezer.
Travel
As a Customer Service Representative
(CSR) answers an incoming call, she quickly scans her screen
to view all recent interactions with this customer. She notices
that a week earlier, the customer booked two seats on the
Web under their new holiday scheme and the pickup service
bus was supposed to reach at the joint within 30 minutes today.
After greeting the customer, the CSR asks if he is calling
about whether his pickup bus was on schedule. Pleasantly surprised
that she's anticipated his need, the customer explains that
something urgent has come up and he can not make it to the
pick-up point before an hour, and he doesn't want to miss
this vacation. While she checks on his profile, the CSR understands
that he is one of the regular customer and has travelled around
4 times in last 2 years with them, and that he also loves
to travel with them. The CSR can see from the schedule of
the pick-up bus that there are still two stops bus must make
before reaching to the pick-up joint of this customer -plenty
of time to make the change. She quickly reschedules the route
to pick-up other 2-3 passangers on the route before getting
to this pick-up joint, so that this customer gets some more
time, and immediately the bus-crew is informed about the revised
schedule and also to wait for sometime for this customer via
their mobile devices like pager.
Manufacturing
An OEM launches the model year with
major design overhauls in four different models. Carefully,
the company watches the market and all internal measurements
for any sign of problems. Everything looks great; all four
lines are experiencing record sales.The
early warning system kicks into routine operation.
Just three months after introduction,
a few customers report problems with their windshield wipers
"getting stuck." Alerted to a potential product issue, the
early warning system analyzes these isolated cases and discovers
that all of the reports were related to one particular model
and most of the affected customers are located in rainy Seattle,
Washington. When usage readings reported by in-vehicle telematics
are compared, it becomes clear that the failing wipers have
been used ten times the standard amount. Believing failures
are more likely when a specific usage threshold is reached
and knowing the volume of vehicles already on the road, engineers
realize that they must act quickly to protect consumer safety.
Still puzzled by the fact that failures only occur in one
of the four models using the blades, the OEM receives the
much-needed answer from their supplier.
Using information supplied by various
OEMs, the supplier detects a flaw that only occurs with certain
windshield slopes. An enhanced design is already in testing.
With help from customer service, the OEM identifies all potentially
affected customers. Fortunately, the defect is found within
six months of product introduction, keeping the car volume
involved relatively small. And, thanks to the early warning
from Seattle, most vehicles are far from the usage threshold
where the problem typically occurs. Although the media does
publicize the recall, they praise both manufacturer and supplier
for a prompt and proactive response. Recall costs are contained,
and no litigation arises.
Finance & Investment
Consultants
During a cab ride from the airport
to his meeting location, John gets an SMS on his cell phone.
That's an urgent message triggered from his investment consultant's
web site, advising John that the price on a desired scrip
has just been dropped. John replies with his last offer price.
Later that afternoon, the consultant sends an instant message
advising John that his offer has been accepted and that the
transaction details with the latest information about the
scrip have been sent by e-mail. Later that evening at his
hotel, John reviews the two alternatives provided for the
payment for the transaction: He can exercise the stock option
shares he received as a bonus a few years ago, or sell some
of his XYZ stock. John clicks on the link to his account information
on his consultant's Web site. He reviews the stock he has
and the transaction he made on that day so far. A quick look
at the latest stock position makes John even more curious,
so he initiates a Web chat with his consultant's representative
to ask about the options he has. The rep points out that the
majority of stock experts recommend option two (selling XYZ),
since John's stock options are expected to have another sharp
increase in value later this quarter. Before ending their
chat, the rep reminds John to review the attached recommendations
on the new scrip. Before he logs off, John gives a preliminary
okay on option two, trusting his consultant to keep tabs on
the market.
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