A social approach

One of the most common questions that I am asked is how can companies leverage and improve their CRM practices during the recession. How can they weather the storm and keep their most valuable asset, the customer during this time and continue to add new business to their customer base. I start off answering the question by using the analogy of the yellow caution flag in a Formula 1 race where the flag signifies a hazard and all cars must slow down and hold their position until it is safe to resume the race.

Holding the position is one thing but there is a lot to be gained during that time especially during a pit stop. My point is what you do during this slow down will affect how you will proceed when the green flag signifies the end of the slowdown. Companies need to take a look at their CRM strategies during the pit stops of this slow down and make adjustments that will allow prospects and customers to engage with you more efficiently and effectively.

I have heard that 80 percent of your business revenue is from the top 20 percent of your customer base. If this is true then reaching out to the top 20 percent is where you should focus your time. Take the time to pull them in and get their input and feedback. They too are struggling during this time and acknowledging this by discussing ways of how your company and solution can assist them weather the storm will earn their loyalty and advocacy. This open collaboration and conversation will set the stage for future trusted communications. I feel that there are two major areas to address that will position your company in a positive light during this recession: focusing on the social customer, and understanding that the social customer is a mobile customer.

The Social Customer

Companies that have been speeding along at a steady pace will slow down to find that a lot has changed. The need for foundational CRM strategies will always be there but customers and prospects are now in the driver's seat in their interactions with you. Companies now will have to engage with them on their terms.  The customers are now in control and are known as social customers and a new strategy called Social CRM will need to be in place to meet them on their terms.

Paul Greenberg, bestselling author of CRM at the Speed of Light defines the social CRM customer this way:

"CRM is a philosophy and a business strategy, supported by a technology platform, business rules, workflow, processes & social characteristics, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted and transparent business environment. It's the company's response to the customer's ownership of the conversation."

The "ownership of the conversation" gives the power to the customer because they have the tools to express themselves that can hurt as well as help your company's image. Another component focuses on the way prospects find out about you. It usually begins with a search and the ability to show up in a favorable way in the search results will set the pace of how and if they will engage with you. Social tools such as blogs, social networking sites and Twitter are some of the tools of choice for customers to spread the good, bad or indifferent about your company. These same tools can be used by companies to open up new lines of communication with their audience.

I will use the three components of CRM to address some Social CRM practices companies should implement to engage their audience:

Marketing: SEO (Search Engine Optimization) plays a major role here. Adding a social channel to your marketing efforts may be as easy as setting up a Twitter account or Facebook group to start out with but the key is to have activity around your company and brand that people can find you. In addition to adding this channel is the ability to monitor what is being said about your brand utilising something as simple as Google Alerts as well as other listening platforms such as Radian6 to monitor those conversations in order to engage or diffuse effectively and timely.  Do you have a 'follow me' tab for social media avenues you have in place?

Sales: Once your company and products are found, how are you engaging with the prospect to make sure lead scoring strategies are in place to route to the proper sales person or to make sure they go to the shopping cart? Do you know the right behavior, web clicks and actions to keep their interests to entice them to buy? This could be as simple as tracking what they are looking at and if there is an area on your site where people can comment and rate your product. Taking the time to monitor this behaviour will assist in integrating the action into your lead generation processes. Is your sales team on board with interacting with their prospects with social media tools?

Service: This is one of the key areas to address with social media because customers are known for expressing their opinions and frustrations over the web. Having a method to address their concerns early will prevent bad information from spreading quickly. Monitoring Twitter and engaging with customers on updates, solutions, new features and other pertinent information will keep them in the loop and give them the confidence that you are aware of what is being discussed.

Self help areas on your site with FAQs, solutions and promotions will also lend a hand in service as well as marketing and sales. Customers looking to does business with you will seek out this area and information to see how issues are addressed and resolved.

The mobile customer

While addressing the social media component of CRM, it is equally important to understand that the social customer is also a mobile customer. The understanding that they are searching, interacting and doing business with you most likely will be from a mobile phone or smartphone. Your company's communications will need to be flexible in order to reach their desktop or mobile device. Giving them practical options of engagement will make it easy to communicate and do business with you. Now is the time to embrace this new median and put social CRM practices into play. You will have to adapt to your customer or face losing them.

Michael Thomas is National President and National Board Member of the CRM Association.

This article first appeared in CXO Europe.