Recently I had a discussion with a colleague about an customer service experience dealing with his American Express credit card. The story is he was accidently billed twice for a service at a hotel to which he stayed. He decided to contact American Express to dispute the additional charge – oh by the way the Hotel had provided evidence that he was billed twice.Recently I had a discussion with a colleague about an customer service experience dealing with his American Express credit card. The story is he was accidently billed twice for a service at a hotel to which he stayed. He decided to contact American Express to dispute the additional charge – oh by the way the Hotel had provided evidence that he was billed twice.
So he commenced to call American Express and received a call center located in India. As he initiated the conversation concerning his dilemma about the charged item, he became frustrated with the individual he was speaking with; the southern drawl & Indian English cancel each other in understanding. He informed me that the woman really tried hard to communicate well but it was to no avail. After speaking with other representatives at the call center he gave up and decided to send an email to customer service as an alternative.
This is truly a case of “forced CRM (Customer Relationship Management).” It is clear that other companies besides American Express are using this method of front line CRM.
There by no means anything incorrect with this model if used properly. In this case if the caller lived in the Persian region they – maybe – the call would have been more fluent. Even here in the continental US I have experience something similar. I was raised in California and recall a couple of times calling New York city to conduct business and had some difficulty in communicating my desires.
CRM Benefits
The primary benefit of CRM is customer loyalty and preservation. A secondary benefit is acknowledgement from current customers about great customer relations of the enterprise.The primary benefit of CRM is customer loyalty and preservation. A secondary benefit is acknowledgement from current customers about great customer relations of the enterprise.
Successful CRM implementations typically require changes or enhancements to the behavior or culture of the enterprise. As the stories illustrate above, this is not a change or enhancement to the enterprise. It may be a great cost savings but in the long term is it truly a savings if the enterprise customer retention is hindered.In Summary
Does your enterprise present a “forced” CRM as these stories point out? A call center is your front line to customer satisfaction so it should be the enterprise focal point for CRM.Does your enterprise present a “” CRM as these stories point out? A call center is your front line to customer satisfaction so it should be the enterprise focal point for CRM.
A CRM system should provide the enterprise superior customer loyalty and retention then an enterprise without. The enterprise top-management must change and/or enhance the culture mindset about CRM.
It is known that Customer CRM is more business philosophy than software, more passion than project. When an enterprise commits to implementing CRM, it commits to realigning its entire business around the customer. It commits to becoming an enterprise that will collect the right information and use it in the right way at the right time.