Oh.  Make sure you find more to cover the natural churn.  The ones that stay, offer great service at all costs (you don’t want to bad mouth you in a social world, right?)

And be sure you do it all while managing costs.

So – if it’s really that easy, why do so many fail?  Here’s a starter-for-ten – do you know who your customers actually are?

I mean really know.  Sure, you have a collection of customer records but what are that 360 view. You’re not the only one who struggles it seems – larger companies, with all their programs of investment, have struggled for years. Recall a conversation with your own utility / bank / delivery company / [insert favourite story here].

So why isn’t every company in our day-to-day lives “on the CRM bandwagon”?

Well, as I alluded to in my 

last blog

, while the concept gained a lot of attention late last century, companies (I believe) set their ambitions too high or neglected to think about internal processes & culture.

There is, however, good news. Aberdeen Group, examined 261 companies back in 2011 and identified, in 

their report

 that best performing 20% of companies surveyed managed an impressive 91% customer retention and 88% customer satisfaction.

Maybe because of this (and painful experiences of their own), companies that take it in more bite-sized pieces tend to deliver projects that are usually less expensive, less complex, quicker to implement AND stand a far higher chance of success. These smaller projects could be just automating one or a number of customer focusing sales processes, driving communications through campaign management or providing an outlet for customers to self-self. And with more & more CIOs now 

reporting to an MD or strategy unit,

 there’s now a chance for real & measurable partnerships between the business and IT towards successful project delivery.

Successful project delivery equates to real returns — you can read more about how one of our own,

Zest Publications

, achieved great returns to their sales team, or how 

Lincoln Waste

 drove cost out of their business by eliminating hundreds (yes, around 700!) of their spreadsheets. Where there is true understanding of the potential gains & engagement at board level to realising the savings or growth, most companies see the wisdom of investment.

So, pause a while, look at your company & calculate the potential gains from implementing CRM. And ask yourself – what is stopping you from doing something about it?