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KONE Chooses Salesforce.com for 2,560 Staff in 43 Countries
Salesforce.com has announced that KONE, an elevator and escalator companies, is expanding their deployment of Salesforce's multi-tenant, on-demand CRM to 2,560 staff in 43 countries to maximize sales effectiveness and efficiency and help the company to deepen its customer focus. Utilizing the Salesforce Platform, KONE is customizing the application and developing a seamless integration with the company's SAP back-office environment, which will further accelerate the value of the implementation.

Conclusive Marketing Announces Multichannel Marketing Solution
Conclusive Marketing has announced the release of the newest version of its SynapseEBM Event Based Marketing solution. This release, version 8.0, incorporates multi-channel capabilities to enable financial institutions to streamline their marketing execution processes. The SynapseEBM Pattern Evaluator analyzes up to 25 months of transaction data and uses sophisticated models to determine and flag unusual customer behavior. These flags result in leads (or events) that are presented to associates to make service calls to the customer. The addition of a multi-channel structure enables financial institutions to contact customers in alternate or preferred channels.

Improvement Direct Builds Loyalty with I4 Commerce’s Private Label Program
I4 Commerce has announced that Improvement Direct is offering customers the Preferred Account program, giving do-it-yourself shoppers a dedicated line of credit exclusively for use across the Improvement Direct home improvement network. Part of I4 Commerce’s PayCapture suite, the Preferred Account program gives customers spending power at their favorite merchants, and drives loyalty by creating a convenient buying experience. Improvement Direct also offers I4 Commerce’s Bill Me Later, which enables consumers to make online purchases without a credit card.

Intelliworks Announces Next-Generation CRM Architecture
Intelliworks Inc., a provider of CRM solutions for higher education, announces its next generation CRM platform called Orion. Built from the ground up as a pure web based on-demand solution, Orion CRM is a multi-tenant Software as a Service (SaaS) solution designed specifically to address the unique needs of higher education. The Orion solution will streamline relationship marketing and communication functions of higher education institutions, while facilitating better interaction across departments and programs. It provides a 360 degree view of all contacts, and a complete view of all communication with each contact in one centralized location.

Attensity Releases "Voice of the Customer" Software
Attensity, a provider of text analytics software for business intelligence, has announced Attensity Voice of the Customer (VoC), a new software solution that enables enterprises to analyze and act on all types of feedback from customers. Attensity VoC employs the company's patented Exhaustive Extraction technology to automatically identify facts, opinions, requests, trends, and trouble spots from the unstructured text of survey responses, service notes, email messages, website forums, blog entries, news articles and other customer communications.

Mail is Still the Best Way to Reach Consumers
A recent survey completed by International Communications Research (ICR) revealed that even in today's digital world, consumers clearly prefer mail over other communications vehicles such as e-mail for receiving new product information and offerings as well as confidential business communications, such as bank statements and financial reports.

The study, the fourth mail preference survey commissioned by Pitney Bowes since March 1999, found that the majority of consumers (73 percent) prefer mail for receiving new product announcements or offers from companies they do business with, as compared to 18 percent for e-mail. Mail was also preferred by 70 percent of respondents for receiving unsolicited information on products and services from companies with which they are not currently doing business.

For confidential communications such as bills, bank statements and financial reports, respondents overwhelmingly preferred mail (86 percent) as their channel of choice, as compared with 10 percent for e-mail. This response is virtually identical to the response in the 2004 survey, which also showed consumer preference for mail at 86 percent.

The survey also found that consumers are less likely to discard unopened mail (31 percent) — including new product brochures, catalogs or other advertising materials — than they are to discard unsolicited e-mails about new products (53.2 percent).

The survey also probed consumers on specific advantages they see in mail versus unsolicited e-mail and telephone calls. Compared with other communications channels, including e-mail and telephone, survey respondents found mail to be: Less intrusive — doesn’t interrupt other activities (45.3 percent); more convenient — can be saved and considered at leisure (40.2 percent); less high-pressured — lets you consider your decision (30.2 percent); more descriptive — lets you picture the offer (22.7 percent); and more persuasive — encourages you to respond (12 percent).
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Issue Resolution and Offshoring Have Major Impact on Customer Sat with Call Centers
Customer satisfaction with the call center is crucial to customer loyalty, positive word of mouth, and return on investment, says a new study released by the CFI Group. The inaugural Call Center Satisfaction Index found that the two issues that had the most impact on customer satisfaction with the contact center are first-call resolution and offshoring.

Issue resolution is the key issue driving customers’ satisfaction and therefore their loyalty and likelihood to recommend. Across all industries measured, almost a fifth of all callers hung up with their issue unresolved. Of those customers who didn’t have their issue resolved, 68% are at risk of defection (43% said they would definitely defect, and 25% aren’t sure). That’s a substantial percentage of callers who are at risk of defection based on their interaction with the call center alone.

The study finds that customers who think the contact center is located outside the U.S. rate their satisfaction with the call center experience 26 points lower (on the Index’s 100-point scale) and are almost twice as likely to defect compared to those who assume the call center is in the U.S.

In fact, reps with poor communication skills are able to solve customer issues only 45% of the time, compared to 88% of the time when reps speak clearly. Communication skills are also problematic among some U.S.-based customer service representatives, but on average U.S.-based call centers score better than offshore call centers on rep communication skills.

The CFI Group Call Center Satisfaction Index surveyed customers of call centers in six specific industries using the proven methodology of the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Satisfaction with each industry was rated on the ACSI’s 100-point scale and the results are as follows: Catalog Call Centers (80); Banking Call Centers (77); Cell Phone Service Call Centers (69); Cable and Satellite Television Call Centers (68); Insurance Call Centers (68); and Personal Computer Call Centers (64).

The catalog and banking call centers are the standouts, based primarily on the superior customer service that their representatives provide, along with good first call resolution. PC call centers fall far behind because nearly a quarter of callers hang up with their issue unresolved, causing PC customer service reps to be rated much lower when it comes to solving problems.
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2006: Good Year for CRM Applications in Western Europe
The Western European CRM applications market grew a healthy 6.3% in 2006, beating last year's forecast by almost one percentage point and reaching a value of €2.2 billion. IDC expects this positive trend to continue, and has increased its five-year forecast. Early CRM adopters, especially in the financial services and telecommunications sectors, are investing in CRM again, while the low-end segment is seeing a significant impact from software-as-a-service.

For the first time in Europe, IDC forecasts the CRM application market by deployment model. Revenue from on-demand CRM applications — CRM applications built specifically for delivery via the Internet — grew almost 40% during 2006 and is expected to maintain this momentum throughout the forecast period. IDC expects on-demand CRM applications to make up almost half of the net market growth of the entire CRM market in Europe during the five-year forecast. IDC believes that the net effect of on-demand is market expansion as the ease-of-deployment of on-demand attracts first-time buyers of packaged CRM software.
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The Secrets to Customer-Friendly Self-Service
Companies can’t miss any opportunity to connect with their callers, whether it’s a new customer or a loyal patron. With every hang-up, the company risks damaging customer loyalty and driving customers to their competitors. But, by taking time upfront to consider voice user interface design best-practices, it’s possible to create a solution that stops frustrating customers and driving them to the competition. The goal is to design a contact center experience that will retain existing customers, help win new ones and keep competitors scrambling to keep up.
Full Article...

Beware the 'Walking Dead'
Think of them as the "walking dead." They're not ghosts or freaks from a horror movie, but rather a certain type of customer whose relationship with a company will soon be history. The walking dead are customers who currently maintain service but whose next action will be to discontinue all services, an important economic consequence to the firm. Companies would be wise to identify their walking dead and not market additional services to them because there may be an unintended effect.
Full Article...

Keep Your Holidays Happy and Bright with Skilled, Seasonal Staff
Handling a dramatic increase in retail demand can be stressful, yet a solid performance often will determine the success or failure of an organization. Using qualified, skilled agents who are also knowledgeable about your company is essential for seamless operations during critical holiday periods. For years, retailers have boosted staffing levels in anticipation of holiday shoppers. Companies typically hire temporary workers to handle seasonal sales fluctuations, train them for a week or two and then trusted them to handle customer interactions. Yet, did you know that businesses can lose up to 10 customers for every one that complains of poor service during the holidays?
Full Article...

Inside-Out Thinking Is Upside-Down
CRM applications are old-school thinking. They're designed from the inside out to answer questions for the business, such as: How can we optimize our sales pipeline? How can we sell more products to each customer? How can we track incidents to ensure quick problem resolution? CRM apps are lousy at addressing the more important and strategic customer issues: How can we make it easier for our customers to do business with us? How can we help our customers achieve their objectives?
Full Article...

Death of the Salesman
CRM was intended to foster the skills of the salesperson as well as support the sales methodology of the company, but that has not always been the case. Long before CRM, companies developed pipelines, provided good service, and uncovered market trends. CRM's aim was to enhance a company's business models by automating many of the processes, but software companies felt that they knew better than their customers, and developed their own processes and templates. This meant that companies and their salespeople were required to adhere to what software providers deemed industry standards, rather than offer their customers solutions that leveraged and improved upon the specific and successful sales practices they had been engaging in for years. These standards in turn forced salespeople to change their methods. The result? Poor adoption of CRM by salespeople.
Full Article...

Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force
by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba

This book offers case studies of eight companies whose customer communities — that is, the base of customers who believe in a particular product or service — are robust and successful: Southwest Airlines, Krispy Kreme, Build-A-Bear Workshops, the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, Pallotta TeamWorks

For more information, or to order your copy...

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