Social CRM is Dead? Not really…
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PrintI read a post today that stated that Social CRM is Dead, Long Live Social Media Flavored CRM, reminding me of a post I wrote last September titled Social CRM is dead, long live Social Business Strategy. In both cases the driver for the post is a dissatisfaction with the nomenclature, not an issue with the definition of Social CRM.
I probably would have read that post, responded, and simply moved on if it had not been for a tweet I saw today that stated “Those who struggle with the term Social CRM believe it is about technology, it is about people and culture, first”.
What’s right about this message?
Technology, as many of us have noted countless times, is definitely the least important piece of the CRM puzzle. CRM, Social or otherwise, is a strategy put in place to help your business or agency improve your relationship with your customer to maximize your profits. Yes, some will disagree with that last point, stating that it is about enhancing relationships, but the relationships are only important to the degree that they drive profits.
The focus on people and culture are critical, of course, but not to the detriment of short and long-term corporate profitability.
What is wrong about this message?
It is easy to lose sight of real business goals. The people and culture are critical components in the tactics you use as part of your CRM strategy. They are more important than the technology but not more important than the profitability of the business. Cold? Yes. Blunt? Yes. Honest? Yes.
The struggle with the term Social CRM has nothing to with confusion about the prioritized importance of people, culture, process, and technology in a CRM strategy. Social CRM does leverage information from social channels to enhance your CRM, your corporate, strategy. In simple terms Social CRM is nothing more than CRM benefiting from bi-directional communication in these social channels.
What do you think?
John
John Moore
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8 comments »
Mitch Lieberman
Giving attribution is usually a good thing, no?
John,
I sent out the message earlier in the day "Those who struggle with the term Social CRM believe it is about technology, it is about people and culture, first" on Twitter ( see it here ). It was not in response to anything in particular, just a general thought I was having based on the post/presentation I was writing at the time, and blogs I was reading for research. Two things about this post bother me:
1 - Attribution for the statement is not given, I am not sure why?
2 - Not once was the term business, or profitability brought up in the statement. So, I am struggling to understand the leap to "the detriment of short and long-term corporate profitability."
My take, I agree with one part of your statement, business goals are important. I would argue, and I am, that the culture of the people is more important to success of any business. The relationships are more important long term than the technology used. Technology does not create buyers, sell products, people do. I do not care what channel you are on, if you say it wrong, offend or lie, the deal is off, and people will walk.
Take a look at Zappos - http://about.zappos.com/our-unique-culture/zappos-core-values - interesting, technology is not mentioned anywhere within the core values. They are held in the highest regard - and profitable. The discussion I think we have had back and forth for almost a year. You view Social CRM as Social technology in front of CRM.
Your take: "Social CRM does leverage information from social channels to enhance your CRM, your corporate, strategy. In simple terms Social CRM is nothing more than CRM benefiting from bi-directional communication in these social channels." Which misses the point - the Social part of CRM is about connecting with humans, within the ecosystem at a person to person, human level. The CRM part is about aligning the people so they can have human conversations with the right person, at the right time (processes).
There are a lot of arguments against Social CRM. Some are actually pretty strong. I do believe when the culture has adjusted the Social part of the name may go away. But, there is value in it, because it represents more than just the company or product side, it speaks to the changing culture of the people buying.
Mitch Lieberman
http://twitter.com/mjayliebs
John Moore
Mitch, Sorry I did not
Mitch,
Sorry I did not attribute the comment to you. I disagree with it, of course, and felt it unecessary to say hey Mitch, think you are completely wrong. However....
Now, back to the core discussion of what Social CRM is, or is not. As I noted, Mitch, technology is the lowest priority item, I stated: "Technology, as many of us have noted countless times, is definitely the least important piece of the CRM puzzle". We agree.
Also, when you state "You view Social CRM as Social technology in front of CRM" you are making a pretty big leap as I have never said that. For that matter I have never suggested Social CRM is Phone, Email, Blogs, or any other "social technology" in front of CRM. CRM is strategy first, which channels you leverage, the people and processes involved, and how they are measured, go back to the strategies you choose, the strategies aligned with your corporate goals.
Where I disagree with many is in terms of your last comment "I do believe when the culture has adjusted the Social part of the name may go away. But, there is value in it, because it represents more than just the company or product side, it speaks to the changing culture of the people buying.".
In some markets, in some parts of the world, within some age groups, the customer is buying differently than before. Of course, this is not true in other customer segments. Do I believe that the entire buying public across all age groups across all areas of the world will change how they buy? No. Do I believe that large segments within some markets will, in time. Yes?
At the end of the day only time will show who is right, and who is wrong. I am personally looking forward to watching how it all plays out. However, in the meantime I will continue to urge people to fully understand how their individual marketplaces work, how their buyers making decisions, and leveraging strategies that meet those needs.
Thanks for the conversation Mitch. I always learn a lot and this is no exception.
John
John F Moore
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Mitch Lieberman
What is a Social Channel
John,
In order to clarify, what are "these Social Channels"? I did not think that suggesting bi-directional social channels is technology was such a big leap - apologies. The only one that is not technology is face-to-face. It would help me (and maybe others) to define the difference between social channels, and Social technology. (Or since social Technology are my words, just what you mean.)
Thanks,
Mitch
Mitch Lieberman
http://twitter.com/mjayliebs
Barry Dalton
I didn't think I was a narcissist...
But when I read John's reference to your tweet, Mitch. I thought you might have been talking about me? Why on Earth? Maybe I am a narcissist and need an intervention. But, that's beside the point. I went on a mini rant on this naming discussion today at the end of a post about the Social Ecosystem.
I have an issue with "CRM" (social or otherwise) It has nothing to do with being technology centric. We just determined that I'm me-centric. Here was the passage:
"A final foot note on the term "social CRM". I don't like it. Never have. The CRM part, that is. I like the definition and what it represents as a business model. So, for purposes of general understanding, I'm going with it. But, since 1987 when I built my first SFA application and first heard the term, its always bothered me. Customer Relationship Management is a company-centric term that implies the company can somehow manage the relationships with its customers. And, the most troublesome part; it implies that customers actually want to have a relationship with companies. Sure, companies want relationships with their customers. But, again, this is company-centric and somewhat narcissistic, if you ask me. I believe customers want companies to provide products and services that satisfy specific needs. If that means better understanding of the customer on the company's part, then I'm all for that. But that doesn't require a 'relationship'. If I never had to speak to companies I dealt with, I'd be very happy. All that being said, that's a whole separate conversation....over a beer or two."
Guess 'narcissistic' must have been on my word-of-the-day calendar. Anyway, figured I'd chime in to offer a different perspective. Cheers
John Moore
Great addition Barry
Barry, I appreciate you weighing in, great comment. First, however...
Mitch, If we believe, as I think we both do, that CRM is strategy first, technology last, then my comment that "Social CRM is nothing more than CRM benefiting from bi-directional communication in these social channels" should be interpreted as strategy first, technology last. However, I was not explicit, I apologize for the lack of clarity. However, since we are stuck talking technology, lets answer that question. What social channels support bi-directional communication?
- As you note, face to face communication between individuals. This is now, and has always been, the top social communication channel.
- Multi-person meetings.
- Postal mail.
- Phone.
- Email.
- Twitter.
- Facebook.
Now, back to Barry. Well said, sir, well said. :-)
John F Moore
My Blog: http://johnfmoore.wordpress.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/JohnFMoore
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Barry Dalton
Always a pleasure John
And at the end of the day, the value we all can bring to the topic, to clients, to industry is to execute and drive business results. Intellectual banter among the community is great and absolutely critical to developing ideas. Ultimately, its about doing. That's the obligation of this community IMHO. Thanks.
Axel Schultze
Is technology really the LEAST important part of the puzzle?
I always said technology is there to provide the tools that help execute a strategy or process - so strategy and process first. But with no tools we will continue to wonder how we deal with an ever more complex and ever more demanding, globally connected business society. I saw numerous presentations about Social CRM - all about philosophy, theory, strategy...
OK here is a real almost ready TECHNOLOGY:
So What is this screen about?
You see people. Not names but photos. Networked into LinkedIn Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and 106 other social sites. While we had Twitter and other streams integrated - like so many want or predict - in reality this is just not practical and more distracting than helpful. We learned.
You see completion (the blue bars)
Not the old 7 step cookie cutter sales process but a completion rate of a process where sales people help prospects buy - we need to stop dreaming about "we are in control" - Even Cisco CEO John Chambers said it. But we need new technologies to help us get there.
You see revenue potential
It's not all about holding somebody's hand. We still want to do business and need to plan production and make a forecast. Well if the customer is in control you need new models that are more predictable. So we make progress based forecast computing.
We invented a whole series of new techniques, technologies even on the foundation of today's computing models. Like Barry Dalton said - ultimately it's about doing! And that is where technology is actually a little bit important - to help execute ;-)
A can't believe I end up advocating technology - ha ha ha - but I guess what I'm saying - one doesn't go without the other.
John Moore
Technology?
Great info, Axel. I am not saying Technology is not important, just that it is the lowest priority item from a social crm perspective, for me it is also the lowest priority from a corporate perspective when it comes to achieving your goals. Great tech without an understanding of what you are trying to accomplish benefits no one.
However, once you are clear about your goals, strategies, etc.., technology can be the difference maker. Great people, great processes, can do magic with great technology. Without it you may still never reach your goals.
Thanks,
John F Moore
My Blog: http://johnfmoore.wordpress.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/JohnFMoore
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnfmoore
Skype: cto.john.moore
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