How to beat the recession

Sorry, but I guess you know as well as I do that there isn't a way to beat the recession. So why am I receiving so many emails promising recession beating tips? Could it be a marketing ploy?

First, let me apologise just in case we have sent you such an email - one may have slipped through our marketing filter. Gordon Brown has told us from the World Economic Forum in Davos that this is unlike any other recession - the first of the global age. However, I humbly suggest that the way through this one for a small to medium business is the same as the others - hard work, focus on the detail and an injection of confidence.

For a while we need to forget that we are British and talk the economy back into health. I talk to a lot of business people and the over whelming view is that it isn't as bad as it is! In other words we need to stop digging the hole and start building a ladder to get out.

So, in that spirit I want to share with you the view of two successful business people who I greatly respect. One says that the climb back will start April'ish and the other June / July. I want to believe them and can see some early indicators that point in that direction - new leads are up, existing clients are ordering and its getting lighter in the mornings.

Why CRM is even more important in a recession

CRM becomes an even more essential tool in a recession as winning new business gets harder and costs are squeezed. Five reasons why you need an effective CRM system:

Existing customers 1.
You need to be in a position to offer the right product, at the right price and at the right time to existing customers. A well managed CRM system will help with this.
CRM systems are all about collecting and organising customer information. They put you in a good position to win new business.

Existing customers 2.
All customers are equal except some are more equal than others! Use the CRM system to identify which customers are worth the most (profit not turnover) and concentrate sales effort on them.

Categorise your customers by value. Focus on category 1 customers then work on turning category 2s into 1s.

Existing customers 3
How many times have you heard that it costs 7 – 10 times as much to gain a client than it does to keep one? CRM is an essential too to help keep customers happy – it can’t do it on its own though, it takes your input.

How to generate customer satisfaction? Keep your promises and meet their needs. Use your CRM system to remember your promises and record what your customers want.

Make the most of every lead.
Generating new clients still has to happen and a new lead is like gold dust. Manage them more efficiently using CRM and concentrate on the real prospects.

Smaller more agile teams.
Recessions often lead to redundancies but making the role redundant doesn’t make the tasks go away. Use CRM to improve efficiencies, share work and information. Understand and replicate the way that your best people work.

CRM doesnt have to cost a fortune either - we are just implementing a 12 user CRM system that will cost about £250 per month! Even the smallest efficiency will pay for that!

How well do we know our clients?

When was the last time you took a long hard look at your client list? I have just done this and was shocked. I like to think that I have a good relationship with our clients but it seems not. I took a list of all present and past clients then graded them as follows:

1 = Close relationship with regular contact ("Hi, its Jonathan from Centurion. how are you?")
2 = good relationship with some contact ("Hi, It's Jonathan Richards from Centurion")
3 = we support their software but with infrequent contact (Hi, it's Jonathan Richards from Centurion, we look after your xxx system")
4 = they have purchased from us but are unsupported or no longer using software

Needless to say I found too many scored 3 or 4. I am planning to repeat the exercise with other colleagues so that I get a company wide score. This will then be recorded in our CRM system to support an upgrade drive - 4 to 3 to 2 to 1.

Having the CRM system well configured (and used) made it a doddle to get a client list that included what they purchased, when and where they are. I am aware of all too many companies where this is a real head ache. It's often the simple things that make a CRM system worth every penny.

Is the customer always right?

I was travelling by train to a client's office yesterday and got caught in the problems at Euston station - if you missed it, all trains out of Euston were cancelled due to a powerline coming down. I was redirected via Marlebone station and the journey took 6 hours instead of 3!

The line was open again by the time I set off home but the trains still hadn't got back to normal. On the platform I overheard a woman shouting at an off duty Virgin Trains rep about how ridiculous this was and blaming them for all the problems. This individual customer was not right! Firstly it wasn't a problem caused by Virgin, it was the rail infrastructure company, and secondly this rep was doing a fantastic job of trying to help the woman - they were both trying to get home to the same place.

So, in the world of customer service the customer is not always right BUT it is our job to make them feel like they are.