Luke Russell

Resolv, Inc.

Luke Russell has been CRM consultant since 1998. Luke has personally consulted with hundreds of organizations, and has a strong success record for CRM implementation and results. During this consulting, he has worked with customers to achieve such lofty goals as higher quote win ratios, larger average order size, more effective trade-show follow-up, reduced cost of administration, increased customer retention, and expanded cross-sales into existing customers; to name a few. Luke is the founder of Resolv, Inc. (http://www.resolvcrm.com).

Does Customer Satisfaction Drive Loyalty?

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Posted on 2012-02-17

The age-old question of whether or not higher customer satisfaction leads to superior economic returns raises it’s head again as companies invest in CRM strategies and CRM software implementations.

CRM, Customer Relationship Management, is all about the customer, and is therefore frequently used to drive higher satisfaction ratings from customers. However, is satisfaction the measure companies should be using to determine the effectiveness of their CRM or for predicting future economic returns?

Let me sight several examples to the contrary. First, is McDonalds. McDonalds owns the fast food (hamburger) market. Sure, they have competitors (Burger King and Wendy’s for example), yet they are two to three times larger than that of Burger King and Wendy’s. If you were to base their success off of satisfaction you would assume that McDonalds has the most satisfied customers. However, of the three listed, McDonalds rates dead last. In fact, in the 18 years of ASCI (...

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What do you sell? Features or Benefits?

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Posted on 2011-11-07

Is there a difference between features and benefits?

Many companies interchange these two words, and others that don’t interchange them still do not have a clear definition of each. Not understanding the difference may be the difference between winning your next sale and losing it.

Let me start with features. Features are what your product or service does, it may include such things as a listing of various components or attributes that help the customer to understand what is being sold.

Benefits, on the other hand, is what your product will do for the customer, or how the product will improve the customer’s overall outlook. Benefits are specific to each customer.

Make sure that you understand that last sentence, “Benefits are specific to each customer.” Many people may buy the same product with the same features (features don’t change per customer) but reap different benefits. Let me give you a simple household example: A Toaster.

...

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Forecasting: business management tool, or colossal time waster?

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Posted on 2011-10-28

As I consult with companies on forecasting and improving forecasting I am amazed by the complex formulas and difficulty that many organizations add into their forecasting methods. This led me to create a webinar series titled “4 ½ Keys to Improving Forecasting.”

While this post will not completely restate what an hour-long webinar will, I am compelled to write it for those that want a quick glimpse into the world of forecasting. There are several types of forecasting (revenue forecasting, sales revenue forecasting, product forecasting, demand forecasting, etc.) and several methods of forecasting (annual client analysis, quota/sales target, quote extrapolation, opportunity pipeline, and historic); however, this article mainly deals with revenue and sales revenue forecasting. SalesVantage.com has a great article on the types of forecasting and...

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So you have a CRM software system, now what?

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Posted on 2011-10-25

So you decided to make the plunge and implement CRM software, but it is not having the impact you thought it would, what can be done about it?

First of all, purchasing and implementing CRM software is the first step, not the last. Old habits have to change and new processes need to be developed, after all technology is only around 10% of a CRM implementation (see our webpage that talks about technology, process and culture). But how do you “teach an old dog new tricks,” as they say?

You start out by ensuring the software is delivering what your users require. The software should enable your users by:

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Lost Customers can Jump Start Your Sales!

5 comments 4,914 reads

Posted on 2011-10-21

Resolv, Inc.As I am reviewing one of my latest webinars, “Transforming the service Department: 3 Insights into Achieving Happy, Profitable Customers Through Service,” (http://www.resolvcrm.com/seminars/webinar-transforming-service-with-crm....) I am reminded that while there are many ways to improve customer service and increase customer retention, one of the best ways is to seek out complaints.

I’m not talking about putting a complaint box on your receptionist’s desk either. I’m talking about actively contacting your customers (...

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Back to the Basics

0 comments 959 reads

Posted on 2011-10-11
Due to the recent popularity of our new CRM webinar “What is CRM? And 10 Reasons why CEO’s should be demanding it.” I have come to the understanding that many are struggling with a definition of CRM. Today’s blog post will hopefully help with that.

First, let me point out the obvious, CRM is an acronym for Customer Relationship Management. CRM has been around for thousands of years. It may have been termed other things like:
- Sales management
- Customer management
- Relationship marketing
- Customer service management
Trust me, as long as there has been buyers and sellers, there has been CRM.

I believe that CRM is a customer centric business strategy. Bob Thompson, CEO of CustomerThink Corp. & founder of CRMGuru.com, put it this way, “’Customer-centric’ means...
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Maximizing your usage of CRM software

0 comments 962 reads

Posted on 2011-09-06

So you decided to make the plunge and implement CRM software, but it is not having the impact you thought it would, what can be done about it?

First of all, purchasing and implementing CRM software is the first step, not the last. Old habits have to change and new processes need to be developed, after all technology is only around 10% of a CRM implementation. But how do you “teach an old dog new tricks,” as they say?

You start out by ensuring the software is delivering what your users require. The software should enable your users by:

--Providing data in a timely manner (like up-to-date sales data about your customers that used to be delivered once a month in a report)
--Providing insights about your customers (like when their last support call was along with a description of the problem)
--Eliminating the need to create periodic reports (like sales call sheets, etc. – Most CRM systems should eliminate the need for these reports by proper usage...

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