When you have a problem as a customer, how painless do you feel the process is to resolve it? And does your organisation do any better?
In Microsoft’s 2016 “State of Global Customer Service” report, nearly half of the respondents said they felt that they, as customers, had to put in more work to resolve their issue than the business at fault. Given the tools and technologies now available to businesses of every size, that’s a startlingly high figure.
What problems do customers face?
The report identifies common complaints such as customer support agents not being equipped with the information to hand about the customer’s problem, having to repeat information to several different people, and the frustration of the problem remaining unsolved.
As consumers, we’ve all been there. But the same challenges can affect any business, whether they’re selling chocolate biscuits or commercial-scale financial services. So what can businesses do to avoid creating these pain points for their customers? The answer, as most businesses know, is managing your customer information properly with a good customer relationship management platform, such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM. However, while a CRM system can take you a certain distance, it doesn’t always track the entire customer journey.
Beyond the usual CRM
In many businesses, CRM is used by the Sales team to track leads; once they are converted into business, their record stops being updated as frequently. That’s a problem because existing customers expect you to know their history with your business inside-out – even if you’ve never had any contact with them before.
We’ve been working with our customer, leading financial business Hymans Robertson, to create a solution. The result – our Customer Information Management system, or CIM – augments CRM records with information throughout the customer journey. That information is pulled from Outlook and SharePoint, and much of the process is automatic. It means that every interaction with your customer is logged, so you can trace exactly how your relationship has evolved, what you’ve done for them, and any current issues.
CIM isn’t just for logging customer information; it’s a two-way street: when your colleagues need to contact a customer, that customer’s existing information will appear within their Outlook window. Documents and email correspondence can be viewed and updated directly from Outlook, meaning everyone is on the same page and everyone has access to the whole story.
See for yourself
We believe our CIM system offers a unique and comprehensive solution to the decades-old challenge of keeping on top of your customers’ relationship. It’s what CRM should be about, and it’s available now, to businesses of every size.
If you’re interested in discussing your organisation’s customer relationship needs, or would simply like to know more about CIM, drop us a line for a no-obligation chat.