Baseball Again

As some of you know, I am a Baseball fan. I enjoy both the simplicity and the intricacies of the game. I see in Baseball – the game and the business – valuable lessons.

While this has never fundamentally changed, I was pretty disgusted with my team after the 2008 season (http://kenfarmerconsulting.com/2009/05/misc/you-forgot-about-me-didnt-you/) choosing not to renew my season tickets last year. I expected I would still go to a couple games and buy merchandise but just not with a season ticket package.

Funny thing, turns out I was more upset than I realized and never made it to one game in 2009. My wife and I didn’t spend any money at all on the Padres last year – no game tickets, no ball caps, no jerseys, not even a bag of peanuts. We always bought Padres gear for the nieces and nephews but not last year.

This year my outlook started to change in the off season. The new ownership group made roster moves, cleaned house in the front office, and actively started trying to win fans back. They assigned a new rep to my account and she was great. Young, cute, empathetic, persistent – she said all the right things without feeding us a load of crap.

I started paying attention and discovered I liked the changes. They seemed to be building a team that finally fit the ballpark. They jettisoned overt bean-counters from the front office and replaced them with smart, young, passionate baseball people – that were also good business people. They seemed to be trying hard to listen to the fans and make the right changes. They didn’t just promise change but took time to explain and admit mistakes.

(Just for the record, one mistake they haven’t fixed yet is the contract with the food concessionaire. Delaware North is absolutely horrible and a huge detriment to the fan experience. Hopefully they will be gone when the contract runs out. But I digress…)

This year, while we didn’t renew the old season tickets, we decided to purchase a small package of games. Earlier, I went to Spring Training and had a blast visiting several of the parks, attending 4 or 5 games, and spending money. It seems I am buying in to the new vision and direction.

Will the Padres win the pennant this year? Go to the playoffs? No. But the point to me is that they are trying again. The product on the field has potential and should be fun to watch. There seems to be a passion about the game in the new ownership and front office. The passion I agree with and the vision has been effectively explained.

As a business – and ultimately, Baseball is a business – the team has had to address poor customer service, upset customers, and bad press. They have been in serious recovery mode for over a year. In every business, it is more cost effective to keep customers coming back and happy instead of trying to recover them. I’m a tough customer to recover but it’s working so far.

See, a lesson…

Think Big, Start Small, Act Now.

How mature are you?

No, not you specifically – your CRM. More accurately, your business process as it relates to CRM and the management of your customers and prospects.

I seem to have some version of this conversation during every implementation. As I sit with the executive team we discuss business maturity and where, as an organization, they’ve been – as well as where they want to be. When I talk with Sales teams we discuss how mature their Sales process is. With marketers… you get the idea.

I tell all of my clients – Customer Relationship Management software is not really about the customer. GASP?! What? It’s about the process you design, implement, and track that helps you manage your customer relations. To grow your business and properly leverage technology to manage your relationships, you need to understand how mature your processes are.

Many of you are aware of the different Maturity Models out there.  Carnegie Mellon has their Capability Maturity Model (CMM) which lead to SEI’s Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), and a brief Google search will return millions of hits. There is a good one (big and complex) from CRM Magazine that shows the growth of CRM and Social Media.

Since this subject is an entire MBA course by itself, I always try to simplify it as much as possible while retaining the salient points. Those of you that have been around me long enough know I call this process the Big Crayon Picture (BCP since this is an industry that can’t live without acronyms). I find that if I can boil issues and concepts down to a Big Crayon Picture with the project team, then the end user will better absorb them and more easily adopt a new system. I love Big Crayon Pictures!

I wanted something I could use to explain these concepts in a way that everyone could understand. I wanted one I could use with an executive team, the sales team, or marketing professionals. I wanted a simple CRM Maturity Model. I wanted to reduce, reuse, and recycle. I needed a Big Crayon Picture.

As you can see, an organization grows through the process it generates. An organization moves from surviving on the heroic efforts of a couple key people to repeatable, measurable, consistent process.

This is not an overnight process. Clients that tell me they want their project to take them from level 1 to level 5 – in 8 weeks no less – I tell to step back, review their checkbook balance, and then let’s create the plan that will get them there, eventually.

In future posts, I will discuss the different levels of the model and key strategies to move successfully from one level to the next. For now, the Big Crayon Picture should do – that’s the point of a BCP anyway, right?

I hope you can use my Big Crayon Picture to help your project or team better understand the efforts needed. Feel free to contact me if you need help or want a larger pdf version of it. Good Luck!

Think Big, Start Small, Act Now.

Wish CRM Could Do That?

During almost every CRM implementation, at one point someone says, “I wish CRM could do ____.” The challenge for a consultant is to first decide if the request is in scope, and then decide what to do about it.

When needed functionality is not a part of an application, there are several approaches available to implementers. I subscribe to the “Configure, Add-on, Re-think, Customization” philosophy.

• Configure – Use the application’s existing tools to configure it to effectively accomplish the required process. This usually will not include new code, even when it conforms to the vendor SDK.
• Add-on – If I can’t properly configure the application to accomplish the goal, the next step is to locate an add-on ISV (Independent Software Vendor) product that will give the client what they need. Add-on products must conform to the manufacturer specs, be supported, and provide timely upgrades.
• Re-think – If the first two options are not available, it’s time to re-think the request. How important is the need? Any other options will usually add considerable costs to the implementation as well as ongoing administration and upgrade hassles.
• Customization – Finally, if it’s decided the functionality is a show stopper then we move to the customization option. This might include custom programming and\or changing underlying code or schemas (never recommended). This should never be decided upon lightly in any implementation.

Over the years (and across many implementations) I have been able to identify some very capable and well supported add-on products. These products all have a couple of key strengths that make my decision to recommend them easy – Great add-on functionality that solves a need, coupled with great ISV support and decent price points. I want to share some of my favorite Microsoft Dynamics CRM add-ons with you. I have no financial relationship with any of these ISVs, I just like their products.

Product: Email to Case (http://www.c360.com/EmailToCase.aspx)

Vendor: c360 Solutions

Why I like it: This vendor has quite a few products I have used in various implementations. This add-on provides a great way to automatically convert emails coming into the CRM Queue to a Service case. I recommend this in every Service implementation.

 

Product: Advanced Quote and Order Processing (http://www.c360.com/AdvancedQuoteProcessing.aspx)

Vendor: c360 Solutions

Why I like it: The stock CRM quoting process is pretty basic and clunky. I found this product several years ago, when it was first built for CRM v1 by a partner back east. They have licensed it to c360 but are still strongly supporting it. I just implemented it for a client and love what they have done with it since that first version.

 

Product: Scribe Insight (http://www.scribesoft.com/)

Vendor: Scribe Software

Why I like it: When Microsoft first came out with integration between CRM v1 and Dynamics GP, it was based on early versions of BizTalk Server. What a mess. After using it once, we switched to using the Scribe Insight product. This is a versatile product with many licensing options. Integration or migration, this is a great tool.

 

Product: Exact Target (http://email.exacttarget.com/)  

Vendor: Exact Target

Why I like it: To really get the most bang for your buck using email marketing, you need to be able to integrate it with your CRM. Compose and send HTML emails, tracking email opens, recording click-throughs, AND have that information fed back into your CRM system – that really provides you with the proper metrics about your marketing efforts.  

 

I am always on the look out for additional products to recommend to my clients. I am currently testing Bridge2CRM (http://www.softbridgeinc.com/products.aspx) now. It provides a great hosted mobile solution that is device\OS agnostic. Since I haven’t implemented it – yet – I can’t recommend it but I like it so far.

Enjoy!

Think Big, Start Small, Act Now.

Dynamics CRM updates

Hi folks. I know it’s been awhile since my last post but it’s been nice to be too busy to blog! Let’s get caught up on some recent Dynamics CRM related updates.

First update – the team at Microsoft has really gotten it together in regards to the Dynamics CRM Accelerators.  They had some initial problems getting these out of the gate last year but have really caught up. Not only are the original accelerators released and stable, they have updated the Analytics to R2 and are releasing two new ones next week.

The download site for these is http://www.codeplex.com/crmaccelerators and they are free. Companies currently using Microsoft Dynamics CRM would benefit from reviewing these and contacting their partner about them. Microsoft says these have been downloaded over 50,000 times to date. Not sure how many of those are in production though – did I mention you should call your Microsoft Partner for help?

Here is the press release on the two new accelerators http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2009/jul09/07-08MSDynamicsCRMAcceleratorsPR.mspx

Second update – just today, Microsoft released the Dynamics CRM Mobile Express tool for version 4. I haven’t had a chance to work with it yet but had several clients express interest. It is installed at the server to allow mobile devices to log in and view their CRM data on their mobile browser. Nothing gets installed on the mobile device to allow for greater device flexibility.

Third update – Microsoft is now up to CRM Rollup 5 for version 4. Think of rollups as service packs and you get the idea. I am amazed at the number of folks still without any of the rollups. Just do it.

Finally, some well deserved props to some Twitter friends. I follow a bunch of folks that are Microsoft, CRM, or Sales\Marketing related and am amazed at the amount of usable information they impart. I am still on the fence about Twitter as a whole (that’s a blog post by itself) but these people truly make it workable for me. If you twitter and work with Dynamics CRM, or Sales follow these folks.

@tekoppele   @MSDynamicsCRM   @TheCRMGuy   @partnerchannel   @adriannemachina

Thanks tweeple!  

 Think Big, Start Small, Act Now.

Focus On Your Core

A month ago, I posted what I felt were the 6 tactics business owners should utilize in this economic correction. I meant to get back to it sooner but, as will often happen, life got in the way.

Today I want to expand on the first tactic – Focus on your Core Competencies.

Trying to determine if your company is straying from its Core can be difficult. I usually look at this in 2 ways, are you or your team performing business functions that you shouldn’t? Or, are you trying to take on business – or capture market segment – that you are not prepared for and don’t know enough about?

In the first case, we often think we can just work harder to take care of some of the daily tasks of running a business. You or your team jump in to help – that extra effort shows drive and leadership right? True, that’s what we are taught to believe but it should be the exception rather than the rule. Extra effort to put out a fire that no one saw coming is part of the job – not part of the daily routine. Right now, you and your team need to be doing what you know best to make your company the most money (manifested as cash flow). This is not the time to be distracted by anything that keeps you from that goal.

As a business owner or manager, look at what you spend parts of your day on that are not directly making you money. Do something to push those tasks or issues off your plate. If you get tied up in the mechanics of trying to generate payroll, manage email/computers/phones, write financial/sales reports, or deal with a myriad of other headaches, look at outsourcing it.

Over the last couple years, the term “outsourcing” has taken on a bad connotation. What I want you to remember is that it doesn’t have to mean loss of local jobs – there are hundreds of companies in your area that exist and thrive because you can tap into their skills. They can take on parts of your business that you aren’t good at or is not considered your Core.

Regarding the second case, I have seen some of my customers try and take on new products or services that they really aren’t prepared to sell and\or manage. They think that they have to try and be anything and everything and any sale is a good sale. Unfortunately, the mistakes caused because they did not have the experience or knowledge (wasn’t part of their Core competency) cost them more than it was worth.  

Obviously, this wouldn’t include decisions to expand or grow in a prepared and practiced manner. That’s just good business to decide how and when to expand and strengthen your Core…

But that’s a post for another time. Focus on your Core!

Think Big, Start Small, Act Now.

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