Improving Processes

Part of a CRM strategy involves reworking business processes to achieve customer-centric CRM goals. What’s that mean and how do you do it?

Let’s look at the order entry and fulfillment process, which is of course key to most companies and their customers. Below are two versions of the same process at the same fictional company. Both versions are improvements and benefit the company, but the difference is how the customer is considered.


The Short-Sighted Redesigned Process
Acme Widget Company wants to implement a successful CRM system. In the planning meetings, when the question of orders comes up, sales managers report that the biggest problem with orders is the length of time it takes the salespeople to turn an order in (currently done by manually typing part number and price on an Excel order form) and reply to follow-up questions from the order department. This wastes everybody’s time and causes the order to be delayed, resulting in a potential unhappy customer. To rectify this, Acme will change the quoting/order process to be:
- An opportunity is entered in the CRM system to track the potential deal.
- A quote is entered in a new automated quoting feature in the CRM system, which automatically generates a document for delivery to the customer. It pulls from a master product list which is constantly updated, reducing errors that would later cause follow-up questions from the order department.
- The salesperson updates the status of the opportunity and quote during the sales process so managers can know where the deal stands at any given moment.
- When an order is placed for the quote, the quote information is automatically brought in to the ERP system to create an order, again reducing errors and saving time.

Acme is very happy with this plan because it will save the salespeople and the order entry people a lot of time, plus get the order out to the customer faster. Nothing wrong with that. These are all good ideas, but they fall short of being customer-centric. Why? Because the customer isn’t considered in the process, except as an afterthought.


A Better Redesigned Process
Acme Widget Company wants to implement a successful CRM system. In the planning meetings, when the question of orders comes up, the CRM team discusses everything customers like and don’t like about the order process (from interviews and surveys). Based on this information, which is shown below in italics, Acme will change the quoting/order process to be:

• An opportunity is entered in the CRM system to track the deal and aid in forecasting. The greatly increased forecast accuracy will enable Acme to plan production schedules so orders are more likely to be shipped on time. (Customers complained of long lead times.)
• A quote is entered using a new CRM quoting feature. Relevant product info is included in the quote automatically from literature items or web links stored in the master product records. (Customers say it is difficult to get product information.)
• The salesperson updates the status of the opportunity to keep managers informed and maintain an accurate forecast.
• When an order is placed for the quote, the quote information is automatically brought in to the ERP system to create an order. Also, an order acknowledgement listing all items ordered is automatically emailed to the customer. (Customers aren’t always notified that an order is accepted, and don’t find out if there is a mistake with what was entered on the order until the product ships.)
• The order is also copied into the CRM system from the ERP system (and continuously updated automatically) so salespeople in the field can see the status of the order at any time. (Customers want an immediate response on their order status from their salesperson, not to be referred to the order department or wait on the salesperson to call them back.)
• When the order ships, a notice is automatically emailed to the customer. (Customers want notification of shipment.)
• A follow-up call is automatically scheduled for the salesperson for customers whose order totals over a certain amount to make sure everything was ok with the order. (Large customers should feel more that more attention is being given to them.)
   

This process is much more customer-centric. It happens to be fundamentally similar to the first version above (although that certainly isn’t always the case), but notice how it is aimed at giving the customer what they want. Notice also there will be a fair amount of additional effort, which means additional cost, so it should undergo the scrutiny of an ROI evaluation.

An improved process isn’t just about being more efficient and saving employee time, if you’re practicing good CRM. It has to provide value to the customer as well.