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TYPICAL PROJECTS
- Everybody’s business issues are different, but here are some typical projects
- Summary of typical projects
- Convince our Exec Team about Customer Management
- Find out how good we are compared to others
- Articulate our vision for the Future
- Define what our vision will feel like to customers
- Reduce costs without losing business
- Decide what to do first in Customer Management
- Fix a specific challenge
- Engage associates and channel partners
- Manage a programme of change
- Test and learn what works without too much risk
- Develop an effective dashboard to track progress
SERVICES
- The products and services we use to implement the Framework
- Summary of all services
- Scaling the opportunity
- Planning for the future
- Making it happen
- Measurement and reporting
OUR CLIENTS
- Some of the clients using The Customer Framework
- Client map
- Organisations benefiting from The Customer Framework
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- The team with whom you could be working
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- Publications from The Customer Framework and associates
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- Get in touch
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- Customer Horizons

TEST AND LEARN WHAT WORKS WITHOUT TOO MUCH RISK

Pilot or ‘incubator’ projects can help the understanding of benefits – and unintended consequences!

In uncertain scenarios, the business impact of concepts should be tested or validated as part of the test and learn strategy. Recent examples from our clients are: CRM system to manage a TAM/Field Sales hybrid operation; customer management system for channel partners; a complex retention contact strategy ; a brand new key account management process; a 1st order and welcome process and team; cross and up-selling campaign on qualified inbound calls.

Test and learn strategies help shape the final solution (from people, process, system, policy, organisational, measurement perspectives), firm up the figures in the business case and give leaders confidence in their investment. Trialling the conceptual approach using ‘ring-fenced’ teams, customer segments or geographic areas needs to be planned carefully. If the test and learn approach is set up incorrectly, two extreme things can happen, both of which could be dangerously misleading:

The ‘pilot’ may be ‘set up to fail’ by using people with the wrong competencies (knowledge, attitude or skills), with too little training, with no management time and support, with the wrong systems. This can lead to post pilot statements like: ‘ “we’ve tried that – it doesn’t work”!
Conversely, it may be set up to over-succeed by setting up the control environment (which usually produces better results than reality) with the best people, with full-on management attention and an attitude that is ‘pre-programmed’ with the will for it to succeed!

Robust ‘Incubator’ approaches (ring-fencing a whole team, process, policy, system set for a period of time) that can be developed and nurtured to provide scalable insights for future development need to be set up in a way that mirrors as far as possible the ‘destination’ operational environment.

Pilot approaches (rapid development of interim approach to be used in the operational environment) are normally short term and less complex and can be tested by a small user team. Some of the ‘pilot’ CRM systems we have developed have been rolled-out and are still in operation 3 years after launch!