Customer Relationship Management
     EM-Power uses the following process in establishing a Customer relationship Management Culture with its clients. Based on the model originally developed with British Airways and incorporating the Crosby Continuous Improvement Philosophy, the process defines critical activities necessary to ensure consistent excellent service delivery in five specific areas

  1. Establishing a clear Customer Relationship Management Strategy.
  2. Ensuring the correct people are in place, with the correct skills to deliver outstanding personal service.
  3. Establishing clear material service delivery processes.
  4. Ongoing reinforcement in terms of process improvement and quality monitoring.
  5. Management playing a key daily part in acting as a role model for these principles.
Why is customer relationship management important?
BUSINESS NEED
Why the Need for Customer Relationship Management?
What is Required?
  • "Customer satisfaction has dropped since 1994 in nearly every sector of the economy" According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index compiled by the University of Michigan.
  • Greater focus on delivering exemplary service at all levels throughout a company: not just on training the people.
  • Twenty years ago, the technical support function was viewed as a cost center; now it is viewed as a profit center.
  • At the same time revenue from traditional support has decreased due to such factors as decreasing product prices and increased hardware reliability.
  • The Technical support function to take an active role in revenue generation by surfacing the needs for additional consulting services, which can be chargeable.
  • These value added services such as performing and tuning, customized development, etc. normally contribute a higher margin than normal support revenue.
  • With increased competition, few companies now have a monopoly that can create barriers to entry in any specific field.
  • Building strong customer relationships, which can result in long-term customer loyalty and retention. Not only does this protect revenue, but it also can prevent other companies from competing effectively.
  • IT was centralized and controlled: as a result the customer experience with technology was more contained. Now, in a distributed environment, with enterprise-wide computing, the customer experience can be felt be anyone within the company, plus suppliers, distributors and vendors.
  • The technical support function can no longer be in the Find/Fix transaction mode.
  • Part of solving customer problems will include understanding the business impact that the customer is experiencing in order to suggest the best business solution.
  • On top of increasing complexity, the rate of change continues to escalate causing even more abbreviated product development cycles. For instance, a new mainframe product used to be released every five years. Currently new products, depending on the technology, can be released once a quarter.
  • Engineers may not have all the technical data they need to solve the problem, and may need to require on greater interpersonal skills to manage the customer expectations effectively.
  • Many organizations are moving from a field support to a centralized remote support business model. This creates greater challenges in building long-term customer relationships.
  • The ability to build relationships over the phone under a different delivery model.
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    What We Do: Customer Relationship Management
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    How We Do It - Customer Relationship Management
    Essential Customer Relationship Management
    Essential customer relationship management is a focused, interactive session designed to introduce service providers, whether in technical support or customer relationship managements departments, to the "nuts and bolts" of customer interaction skills.

    By reviewing key techniques for communicating with the customer, providing a framework for managing the customer interaction, and a process for calming difficult customers, the program addresses the core methods necessary to deliver exceptional service and delight your Customer.
    Exceeding Customer Expectations (ECE)
    We believe that your support staff can be the best sales staff you have; they just need the correct skills.

    ECE is a customized, interactive two day class designed to improve Customer Satisfaction, increase Customer Loyalty and overall Profitability. We provide your analysts with the correct "soft skills" to manage the "Moments of Truth" and handle all situations by building a truly collaborative partnership with both external and internal customers.

    The class contains customized role-plays from your environment so the participants can practice the skills in real world situations.
    Management Coaching
    EM-Power believes that the whole management team must be committed to the Customer Relationship Management Strategy in order to reinforce the message at every opportunity.

    This one day workshop provides the management team with the skills to understand the strategy, know how to communicate it to their teams and how to coach their individual team members on their day-to-day activities and customer interactions.
    Interviewing Skills
    In order to consistently exceed customer expectations, we need not only a clear strategy but to find the right people, with the critical skills required to provide exception customer support and service.

    This interactive, one day workshop takes the participants through all aspects of the recruitment, interviewing and selection process. Using the acronym "RECRUITS" the workshop provides detailed skills for each step within the recruitment process.
    Call Enter Certification
    EM-Power can provide a "snap shot" of your Call/Support Center to compare your current performance with other companies in your industry. From this short evaluation you can determine your areas of strength and opportunities for improvement.

    The areas covered include Call Management, Problem Management, Performance Measurements and Soft Skills.


    Following the evaluation you can determine if you need specific process re-engineering work or require a more in depth SCORE report on your whole Support Center.
    Customer Focused Project Management
    Whether you are new to the role of Project Management, or a seasoned project veteran, Customer-Focused Project Management provides a structured methodology and a set of practical tools to improve your ability to deliver projects on time, within budget, and with consistently high quality. By keeping the customer as the focus of the Project Management Process, you create a proactive and collaborative environment, where the customer becomes an extended member of your team, and a partner in addressing project risks and issues.
    Support Center Evaluation
    This evaluation is a comprehensive and detailed review of your Call/Support Center operation to determine how you are currently performing in six key result areas:
  • Business Focus
  • Service Culture
  • Operational Performance
  • People - Skills
  • People - Motivation
  • Tools & Technology
    A detailed report with improvement recommendations is provided
  • Process Re-engineering
    EM-Power's experienced high-tech professionals can provide detailed help and advice to re-engineer key processes and procedures, such as:
  • Call Management
  • Problem Management
  • Escalations
  • Service Level Agreements
  • Use of Tools & Technology
    And many other areas....
  • Proactive Account Management
    In order to maximize revenue from its major customers, many organizations institute a Major Account Management process to coordinate activities between sales and support, streamline service delivery for major accounts and surface additional service opportunities. EM-Power can help organizations design and implement a Major Account Management methodology, including facilitation of meetings, design of relevant processes and training of internal facilitators.
     
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    Client List
    View our complete client list

    Aspect Telecommunications - Barakat and Chamberlin - Bell Microproducts - Brio Technology - Certified Grocers - Computer Curriculum Corporation - Excite - Fillamento - Greenlight.com - Inprise Corporation - Max's Restaurants - Merrill Corporation - Netscape - Network Associates - PE Applied Biosystems - Raychem - Siemens Pyramid - Siemens Nixdorf - Silicon Graphics - Sybase - Talk City - Timberland - The North Face - Unilever PLC - Williams Sonoma

    What some of our clients say about our Customer Relationship Management Methodology;

    "EM-Power has been a valuable partner to Unilever PLC-USA in developing one of our new business ventures. As our venture progressed from strategy through design to implementation, EM-Power continued to provide specific, meaningful and cost-justified input. During the course of our collaboration EM-Power has demonstrated flexibility, sensitivity to cost implications and excellent team skills"

    Jim Wolfe: Project Manager

    "Derek and Susan Nash brought a fresh and vibrant outlook on customer relationship management to our company. I've been managing sales and customer service for over 23 years and I was amazed at their ability to energize our organization with a fresh outlook and revived spirit for our customers. Their methods are new, interesting, motivational and long lasting. They had everyone involved in a wide range of thought provoking activities and they really left a strong impression on our employees. We look forward to working with them for years to come."

    Dennis Reno,Ph.D.
    Vice President, Sales & Customer Service
    Microsoft Web TV

    "EM-Power possesses the wonderful, hard-to-find combination of trainers who are skilled in the training arena and have the actual "engineering" background needed to connect with their audiences. How great it is to have trainers that know how to keep a session productive and format the session flow, in addition to having "real-life" experiences the audience is living out in the field. The winning combination keeps the audience engaged in learning and feeling that the experience was designed especially for them."

    Beth Fazakas, Project Manager
    Aspect Telecommunications

    "In her two and a half years with Williams-Sonoma, Susan made a significant impact across the corporation by implementing training programs that raised the skill levels of all our employees."

    Pat Connolly, Executive Vice President, Mail Order, Williams-Sonoma, Inc.

    "The overwhelming response to the sales training program and the materials was outstanding. I feel sure that this will have a significant effect on our business."

    Pat Schoof, Director of Human Resources, The North Face, Inc.

    "Susan's enthusiasm, business focus and commitment to our needs, has helped us to raise customer relationship management levels in our restaurants."

    Dennis Berkowitz, President, Max's Restaurants

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