It used to be that an entrepreneur knew the name and the names of all of the children of each customer who walked through his door.  As his business grew, he might have jotted those names down in a small book he could carry in his vest pocket, just to jog his memory.  As the business expanded with more clients and employees, that notebook expanded into files that expanded into rooms of filing cabinets and forests of paper.  Finally, the art of remembering all of those clients’ names was christened with its own name, CRM.

Content Management Systems

CRM, Customer Relationship Management is the organized and purposeful management of the relationship of an organization’s customers, clients and contributors.  In its mature form, the communications among many customers are accomplished in a way that is specific to the customer.  Rogers and Pepper called this One-To-One Marketing in their best selling book of the same name.

Very small companies sometimes scratch their head on this one; they deal with customers one to one every day! But larger companies that have customer service, sales, and accounting departments, generally lose the direct touch that allowed their growth to the department level of organization.

It’s one thing for a small company to add the database and have the desire for more specific communications with customers; and another, probably daunting experience, to maintain a database that easily interfaces with communications in the typical MS Office environment. Generally, accomplishing all the necessary tasks requires a large system, with big-company budgets to afford the technical people to keep it taped and wired together.

Until recently, the small company has been left out of the huge rush to CRM, based on the scale and cost of systems such as Siebel Systems or PeopleSoft.  These systems are built for the large enterprise and can require months or years to deploy.

The smaller business has been forced to rely on software built for the PC under the general category of PIM or Personal Information Managers, such as ACT or Goldmine.  These systems use databases to organize information useful to many of the contact needs of CRM; but each seems to be focused on a particular function such as sales.  Today, even with Cloud Computing systems like Salesforce smaller businesses still have not mastered this basic need to know your customer better.

One smaller business, The Henehan Company, has solved the dilemma with an application called Commence.  This unique application is like a spreadsheet for CRM.  It has the flexibility to be modified to any business, yet does not require any programming. As a result a company can install the template package and start adding contact information the same day!  When the level of understanding about how to implement CRM in your business is realized, the system can easily be modified to add many fields, automated tasks, and multiple desktops for different levels of need or department functions.  While using an experienced Commence consultant makes sense in many cases, users with the inclination (just like with a spreadsheet) can learn most of the functionality.

Seeing that cost effective solutions are actually available “gets the creative juices pumping.”  Then new processes and people in place can really change the way communication is done, service is implemented and products are delivered.

The Henehan Company is a case is point.  An Inland Empire benefits and executive compensation insurance agency, Joe Henehan has used Commence to completely change the way his company collects, stores and uses client information.  “We are able to attach all products and policies to the client, and all of their employees to all three,” state Henehan.  “Notes, memos and comments can be attached to any number of relevant data.  The information can, in turn, be used to report to clients, deliver faster service and capture all the transactions with clients; something that was previously so time-consuming to record and file.”

The result?  Much better client service at a lower cost.  “We can assist with Cobra and carrier billing issues that can just kill a company without a full time benefits manager.  Commence, and our custom configuration, brings us up to speed with the largest agencies in technology.  Now our small company has the same (or better) technology as larger companies, enabling us to service even fortune 500 companies,” states Henehan.  “We tried doing this with two specialized insurance packages and a full time IT guy for two years, and never got there.”   Surprisingly, Henehan has found that his customized Commence system has allowed his company to act as a corporate memory bank, offering history and continuity to his larger Fortune 500 and publicly traded clients who experience frequent employee turnover.

Henehan has experienced a renewed level of creative thinking about how to accomplish what he used to do as a single agent, with a few clients, 20 years ago.  The Henehan Company can continue to grow and know that the quality of its customer service will not be compromised.

The Henehan Company represents one small company, in an industry with large players, that will be able to survive and prosper based on increased service provided at the same cost to the client.  Today some database programs are cost effective to most small businesses, and in a few years other CRM solutions will exist on the Internet also.

It must be noted that no application is the magic bullet required to really accomplish CRM.  The database (tailored for CRM) is the starting point, combined with coaching from CRM experts, changes in office procedures and continued employee training.  The Henehan Company is an example of how technology and Customer Relationship Management are used as a strategic tool, to grow business.

Customer Relationship Management is a new name for an old idea, an idea that seems to work well when the costs are controlled.  In a world where big companies are using CRM to act intimately like a small company, the small companies can’t forget that this is their primary weapon against larger competitors.  Small companies must respond with the sophistication of large companies, or they lose their advantage.

Customer Centric Organizations

A recent conversation with a veteran businessman during the great recession: “Six Zigma, Lean Manufacturing? They don’t mean a thing when what we need is more volume to hit break-even.”

Phobias on quality can lead companies to spend on over-delivering minutia in the form of tighter tolerances and exacting details. This happens in preference to common sense limitations that are driven by perceived customer value.  Eliminating production defects is a fine goal, but the real issue is the customers’ perception of any defects.  If customers really wanted perfection, the manufacturers’ outlet industry would never have gotten off the ground.  Many people take pride in buying a Polo shirt for $19.95 because a stitch is pulled, instead of the $60.00 retail price!

What was thought to be a noble cause can really be something else.  CRM, Customer Relationship Management has turned from a well meaning philosophy, to packaged software that touts a solution, but is usually only the start of a long voyage.  It is true that gathering data is important to understand the customer, but the company culture that acts on that information (even limited information) is far more important.  The large number of failed and underachieved installations of CRM software is a telling sign of business leadership that has missed the point.  Some experts place the failure rate at 60%!

A Customer Centered Organization is one that focuses all its systems, processes and people on the customer, not the product. A Customer Centered Organization does not  only rely on the accounting system that measures revenue and profit. It does not rely on the old traditional organizational structure that was designed to control communications in the Industrial Age of the 1800’s.

Emphasizing the customer sounds easy (and is accomplished in varying degrees by many companies), but becoming a Customer Centered Organization requires an attitude that is counter to most companies. “Focusing all systems and processes on the customer” may mean scrapping your current accounting system for instance. Accounting systems have always been oriented toward revenue, expenses, profit and assets. Accounting de-values assets bought with cash, but creates no value for strengthening life-time customer relationships!  It measures the cost of employees, but has no place on the balance sheet for the knowledge and skill levels they have!

Most companies start the process of becoming Customer Centered from a disadvantaged perspective based on accounting and a product orientation. The number pushers, and production managers are well paid; the Customer Service departments are entry level jobs!  Even marketers talk of  “differentiation” in their products, then paint them a new color!  With the world production capacity beyond demand, how many products are really different? In-fact the vast majority of products today are in a commodity category.  The vast majority of differentiation is not the product, but service and aesthetics.  Both are controlled by marketing, personnel, and customer service! The Customer Centered Organization elevates the emphasis on the customer, which becomes a competitive advantage.

Becoming a Customer Centered Organization can mean changing a company culture.  It acknowledges that it is “becoming” and may never arrive.  It may be the slow destruction of an existing organizational structure and it regularly sacrifices sacred cows.

One of the most successful retailers in the world has done just that.  Nordstrom’s literally turned the organizational structure upside down.  The president is on the bottom and the sales person on the floor is on the top.  The managers’ and executives’ jobs are to support those above them.  This system is not a new idea; it is a proven idea.  The entire culture is different than the competition’s. Nordstrom sells the same goods as other retailers and has similar stores in similar locations.  But most of their competition buys from the top down, from the merchandise manager to the department manager. At Nordstrom the buyer is king, because he or she must be “on the floor” with the customer.

A Customer Centered Organization has an organizational chart with the customer in the middle of a concentric circle. The first ring (level) includes the all important customer service team, all those that interface directly with the customer. Paper and computer systems are fashioned specifically to gather customer information, not generate invoices.

The information flows to the second level in a way that provides different information for different parts of the organization, yet is accessible to all. Transactional information (deliverables to the customer such as products, services, advice, problem corrections, and communications) are gathered and turned into dollars at the second level.  Physical deliverables (products, packaging, letters) become sales, inventory, and expenses for the accounting functions; while intangible deliverables include services delivered, information passed to the customer, and feedback for marketing functions.

In every case the issue is “what is the complete nature of our relationship with this customer.” Sure it is “One to One” and Relationship Marketing, and market oriented at the same time.  It starts with people relating to people, while gathering information, and ends with compiling numbers for management reporting and financial statements.

This is not easy.  Finding affordable systems that can gather this information is hard, and changing your people culture is harder; but by most measures, tangible improvements occur that even your toughest CFO would love.  Increased profit margins, faster adaptation to markets, faster growth rates, and higher productivity can be documented by companies that are perceived as having higher quality and better service.  A Customer Centered Organization that exists for the customer first, can be the way to your CFO’s heart, once he allows it to work.

How Customer Centered is your company?

http://www.ieweb.us/business/how-much-does-your-company-really-care-about-customers/

Becky Whatley, Quality Printing

That’s not to say everyone is a potential customer. When it comes to networking, it’s important to have a broad-range view of relationship-building. The way I look at it, no matter who I meet, even if there’s not really an opportunity for them to buy printing from me, they are still likely to be a later source of referral or connection. I meet Person A one day and later I meet Person M, and it turns out that it would be mutually beneficial for M to meet A…and I get the opportunity to make that connection happen. That helps develop a stronger connection for me as well, which sets the scene nicely for doing business together in the future and for those ever-important referrals.

Many small business owners who are responsible for generating new business for their companies don’t always have the time to network in the traditional sense. Family obligations, production schedules and outside responsibilities may often take time away from mixers and meetings. That’s where “social media” can offer an advantage. There’s certainly still a time commitment required. But the convenience of networking via the Internet is that you can carve the time out when you want, and you don’t have to participate in a typical “5:30-7:30 after hours, right after work” scenario.

To move into social media networking in lieu of traditional networking, it makes sense to utilize some of the same rules that apply to traditional networking. First, learn how to “work a room.” One of the key elements for face-to-face networking is to meet as many people as possible. At a typical networking event, you’re really only making an initial connection, rather than developing the relationship on the spot. It’s important to make introductions, establish a quick connection that can be developed further at a later time, and then move on to meeting someone new.

To begin using a social media site such as LinkedIn, you do the same thing. To “work the room,” you start with the people you know and build your network from there by way of introductions. Common interests, similar backgrounds, comparable education…all are avenues for adding relative strangers to your network and developing stronger relationships. You build your network of connections and you work those connections.

In this way, social media sites are ideal for widening your base. In traditional networking, you would spend a fair amount of time getting to know someone, including learning about who else they know. With a site like LinkedIn, connections are immediately evident when you visit a person’s profile. With a bit of research, you can determine who among your associates knows someone you’d like to know better, and then you can ask for them to make an introduction.

Think of this as a very large mixer with almost everyone you have ever wanted to meet there…and you’re in your pajamas, sipping a glass of wine. No, really, this can work! Spend some time working a social media site such as LinkedIn as you would a mixer, and see what type of relationships you can develop to help you build the business you want.

If you are interested in learning more about the American Marketing Association – Inland Empire  visit www.AMA-IE.org.

Becky Whatley, owner of Quality Printing in Riverside, consults with small businesses and nonprofit organizations to design effective marketing campaigns and promotional material. She is the immediate past president of the American Marketing Association – Inland Empire and chair of its upcoming LinkedIn seminar.

Interview for Success is a program that aims to provide young women with the tools and resources needed to obtain employment.  Knea Hawley, Director of Resource Development for Arrowhead United Way, stated: “We are grateful for Bank of America’s generosity.  Their support will enable us to assist young women in the community who are underserved and disadvantaged and do not have permanent employment.  The goal of the program is to teach success to young women though workforce development, life skills training, and financial education.”

Many of the program participants are referred by local government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and school districts.  The participants have barriers to employment such as lack of transportation, childcare, or inappropriate work attire.

A one day workshop was recently conducted at the San Bernardino Employment and Training Agency. The workshop provided coaching for the young women that included interviewing skills, resume writing, and professional etiquette.  At the conclusion of the program, participants were provided with a scholarship to overcome a barrier to employment.

For more information about the program or the Women’s Leadership Council, contact Knea Hawley at 909-884-9441 x224 or KneaH@AHUW.org.

AUW is a volunteer driven organization that actively supports health and human services by focusing on youth services, family services, and basic needs.  These services address the underlying causes of the community’s issues and create lasting change.  The organization was established in 1891 and is led by prominent respected community leaders; it is one of the oldest United Ways in the country.

AUW encourages individuals to become more involved in the community by giving, advocating, and volunteering.  For more information about how to become involved with AUW, please call (909) 884-9441 or visit www.ArrowheadUnitedWay.org.

SBA’s Program for Investment in Micro-entrepreneurs (PRIME) provides assistance to organizations that help low-income entrepreneurs who lack sufficient training and education to gain access to capital to establish and expand their businesses.

Last year, 58 non-profit organizations from 32 states and the District of Columbia received grant funding under this program.  Competition for PRIME grants was open to applicants in all 50 states and the U.S. territories.  Last year, the SBA received more than 400 applications.

Eligibility

Organizations eligible for PRIME grants are:

• A micro-enterprise development organization or program that has a demonstrated record of delivering micro-enterprise services to disadvantaged micro-entrepreneurs;
• An intermediary, a private, nonprofit entity serving micro-enterprise development organizations;
• A micro-enterprise development organization or program that is accountable to a local community, working with a state or local government or Indian tribe;
• An Indian tribe acting on its own, if the Indian tribe can certify that no private organization or program exists within its jurisdiction.

Types of Grants

• Technical Assistance Grant: Provides training and technical assistance to disadvantaged micro-entrepreneurs;
• Capacity Building Grant: Provides training and capacity building services to micro-enterprise development organizations and programs to assist them in developing micro-enterprise training and services;
• Research and Development Grant: Aids in researching and developing the best practices in the field of micro-enterprise development and technical assistance programs for disadvantaged micro-entrepreneurs;
• Discretionary Grant: Conducts such other activities determined to be consistent with these purposes.

Grant Allocation

SBA’s goal is to serve diverse populations by awarding grants to both large and small micro-enterprise development organizations as well as those serving urban, rural, and Indian tribal communities. At least 50 percent of the grants are awarded to qualified organizations that benefit very low-income persons, including those residing on Indian reservations.

Available funding is allocated as follows:

• Minimum of 75 percent for Technical Assistance Grants;
• Minimum of 15 percent for Capacity Building Grants;
• Remaining 10 percent or less for Research and Development Grants or Discretionary Grants.

Minimum and Maximum Award Amounts

• Minimum for Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Grants: $50,000 during the first year of the award, subject to the availability of funds;
• No minimum for Research and Development or Discretionary Grants;
• Maximum that an organization may receive in any fiscal year from one or more awards may not exceed $250,000, or 10 percent of the total funds available that year, whichever is less.

Funding Limits

• Generally, the funding period for a PRIME grant is one year;
• Funding may be available on an annual basis for a project period of up to five years;
• For Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Grants, after the initial grant, funding for additional year(s) must be no more than 67 percent of the initial grant amount;
• For Research and Development and Discretionary Grants, after the initial grant, funding for additional year(s) will be approved at the discretion of the SBA;
• In the final year of a project, if additional time is needed to complete the original scope of work, grantees may request a one-time, no-cost extension, not to exceed 12 months

How to Apply

SBA issues Program Announcements that summarize the purpose of the available funds; specify the terms, conditions, and evaluation criteria; provide information on how to obtain an application packet; and explain deadlines and other requirements.

To view the Program Announcement for this opportunity, please click here.
For the application to this program, please click here.
For a list of last year’s grant recipients, please click here.

Douglas Dare  
PR10-14
714.560.7467