A Blueprint for CRM
Most exponents of C/MRM portray it as a strategy that has implications for, and which can benefit, all areas of the organisation. Any touch point with members and customers – not just campaigns – can be better executed from the position of greater knowledge, the marketers can be ensuring the best spend of their budget and maximising opportunities, the finance department can track where budget is being spent and where it is effective and the CEO can have an overall view of how the organisation is being run.
Whilst this sounds very laudable and makes for a worthy goal, many organisations run headlong into what they believe C/MRM to be without fully assessing the consequences, or even truly understanding the approach and whether they are fully prepared for it.
Organisations need to understand how a constituent wants the relationship to be managed – what channels of communication are preferred, what kind of proposition is welcomed. There is a balance point that has to be identified and acted upon. There are those who, unless they receive every offer going, feel unloved; and at the other end of the spectrum there are those who want to be left to their own devices. Both could be equally loyal advocates of your organisation and that loyalty will be undermined if one fails to understand how they want to be dealt with.
The solution is to build a framework that integrates commercial objectives with technology, the skills of the organisation’s human resources, business and market intelligence, and the dialogue between organisation and constituent.
The starting point, however, is not the implementation of technology.
Determining why a C/MRM is required in an organisation
Many C/MRM projects have failed to achieve the levels of success that were expected. Too many organisations have focused on the technical aspects of the system instead of the data, commercial and cultural aspects – this has led to costly failures. What is required is a properly constructed C/MRM strategy that is based on a solid, defined business requirement that has been bought into by all stakeholders and can deliver the ROI.
The initial activity should be the creation of an internal management team of sponsors and stakeholders to direct the project immediately followed by composition of a business case.
This should be a strategy for why C/MRM is required in the organisation. Determine the sources of data currently present in the organisation – from central business systems to departmental ‘spreadsheets’ – that should contribute to the single view of the constituents. Describe what C/MRM has to do: what will be its uses, who will use it and establish the key functions and business processes that will need support. One should not be looking to make massive changes to business processes to match the functionality of the technology unless it is agreed that the process needs improvement.
Evaluating technology starts with taking this detailed list of requirements and having each technology supplier demonstrate how those requirements are addressed. How easy the technology is to use is a key element – consider the implications on job descriptions and skills requirements. Don’t forget to review the existing technology stack; within the organisation there may well already be the components needed to create a pilot project to add value to the business plan.
However, one must recognise the difference between a C/MRM solution and the legacy membership system that may be currently in use. Legacy membership management systems tend to be business management systems, addressing such functions as orders and fulfilment, event management, subscriptions and payment, membership and renewals and contact management. They will co-exist within the organisation alongside other applications created for specific jobs or linked to specific departmental functions. They are unlikely to address business process and will exist outside any member management strategy, so that no-one sees the whole picture.
In contrast, the Membership or Customer Relationship Management system relies on a universal member-focused culture and defined business strategy, providing a single 360° view of the relationships based on activities from across the organisation potentially accessible by anyone in the organisation. The C/MRM impacts every functional area, not only those that directly relate to members so that everyone in the organisation is expected to submit information and sees the same information and is aware of the members’ various touchpoints; this facilitates the implementation of business process and workflows to reflect the organisation’s ethos whilst providing access to complete analytics and KPI measurements.
The best way to support a business case is with real examples of what could be achieved by scoping the value of pooled data in business opportunity terms. Up-front analysis across the various data sources can expose areas of potential benefits – improvement in efficiency and effectiveness for each of the business units within the organisation – say renewals, events, publications or training. Monetisation of these will deliver a financial dimension to the business case. Figure 1 demonstrates a simple comparison of three areas of an organisation.
It reveals a significant number of Training purchasers who are not members – what would the revenue be if 25% of these were converted?
Similarly, if a percentage of the members who have neither bought training nor have attended conferences could be up-sold; what would the increase in revenue be?
Once supplied with high level costs, which will take into account internal and external resources, training, infrastructure, estimates from a selection of appropriate technology suppliers costs, the value of potential benefits can be matched and ROI and payback period established.
With this understanding, the project sponsors can develop the roll-out strategy judging the impact of changes to the investment plan in terms of acceleration or prioritised phasing for implementation, quantifying the impact of a slower implementation in terms of lost benefits over time. This will enable the organisation to focus resources on the most important elements with prioritisation and phasing of projects being led by the project team. It should not be forgotten that this includes aspects of technology, data acquisition, data cleaning and business process.
Successful implementation of a C/MRM – who should be involved
In order to implement a C/MRM successfully, identify an executive sponsor who will subscribe whole-heartedly to the vision and find the time to work with the other team members and act as a conduit to the Board. Create a project team; it is vital to have buy-in from the board or trustees and involvement from all process owners and stakeholders – representatives from the business – the Finance, Marketing and Membership departments (branches if appropriate) as well as the delivery team (internal or external group responsible for delivering the solution). Include representatives from HR, given the implications on working practices, expectations and business processes and on staff recruitment and new employee induction. Also, establish a steering committee with executive powers to drive from a strategic viewpoint. See Figure 2 (below) for the project structure.
Once signed off for implementation appoint or recruit the services of a strong project manager who can both direct constructive, productive planning sessions and is experienced in C/MRM implementation and hold regular review sessions while implementing the various stages of development.
Another key success factor is the development and acceptance of an enterprise-wide data strategy to control collection, management, governance and usage of data in the organisation. Often the challenge of introducing C/MRM is the first time an organisation is faced with the concept of data strategy. Developing C/MRM is a continuous process and not just a one-time exercise, because members’ preferences change constantly.
As more is learnt about them and greater insight achieved, so the organisation will need to tune the strategy to form deeper relationships. Managing member and customer information in the ways discussed will provide a way forward to address business imperatives, making more convincing propositions and recognising opportunities and the best channels for communication. Organisations will be better placed for testing initiatives and creating membership profiles to drive a better relationship, retention and cross-sell through insight and understanding.
In summary, 10 points to be considered:
- Access a complete view of your customers, products and channels
- Understand the value of the data collected in the business – transactions, promotions, market research and website
- Increase that value by merging it with information from external sources
- Analyse the information to determine where to direct your marketing efforts
- Initiate campaigns that will yield new members and customers and retain existing ones
- Ensure propositions are relevant and timely – embrace the technology to help you
- Be aware of the actual cost of acquiring and servicing a “loyal” member or customer
- Quantify the benefits and explore all opportunities for achieving return from introducing C/MRM
- Develop a member-centric culture in your organisation
- Use expert assistance.