Yaro Shevchenko
Jonathan: I recently spoke to Yaro Shevchenko, the Saleforce and automation expert, about aligning business goals and technology.
Jonathan: Yaro can you give me a top-down view of the interaction between business and business goals and technology?
Yaro: Decades ago most business interactions happened in person, with the occasion phone call or snail-mail. Now we have e-mail, text messages, websites, videos, social media, chatbots, apps, etc. There are so many channels and the ways to engage with customers are more complicated. Businesses should aim to present a single, unified face to their customers. I say that by grabbing data from different sources, with a 360 degree view, businesses can do a better job of marketing, selling, servicing and retaining their clients.
Jonathan: How can we get the 360 degree view of our clients and prospects?
Yaro: It takes a lot of effort but it’s very achievable. One should start with collecting data and organizing it in a way that supports an analysis. Businesses need to understand who they are trying to reach, how to reach them, and which messages will resonate with that target audience. If you “know” your Ideal Customer, you’ll be able to be able to know what you need. But it’s more than just having the name, e-mail address, and phone number. That’s the starting point. A good lead management process makes it easy to add depth and perspective to the client’s profile. Data from social media channels, for example, can help you accurately shape your view of the individual or organization, providing helpful clues for your future interactions with them. Your sales process should help you populate data points so that you have depth and richness to the client/prospect profile. And the key is making sure all of your findings make it into your Client Relationship Management system.
Jonathan: This seems like it’s hard and even harder to do well.
Yaro: That’s basic. What comes next is what I call “data enrichment.” Data enrichment is where we add new layers of information to a customer’s record, supplementing it with contextual details that ultimately help us to reach that customer with the right messages, deepen the relationship, and generate more business value. We’re not aiming to simply collect information for its own sake. Our goal is to gather the raw material that will fuel growth and profitability for the business.
Jonathan: This begs the questions, what are the sources of data enrichment?
Yaro: Whenever a customer or prospect makes direct contact with your company, everything about that even should be recorded in your CRM. Did they call, e-mail, complete a survey, get referred to you, etc. To best grab this your CRM needs to be fully optimized. We need to track their purchase history. What and when did they buy. You should have prompts in place to ask for the right, specific information from your customers. You probably want to know information related to purchase like did they pay on-time, did they return a product, were they not fully satisfied. Again, prompt your team to ask for this information and make it part of your CRM record for each client. Your company’s website can be a goldmine. Which pages have they visited? Which documents did they download, and when? Did the customer rate your product or write a review? Lastly, if you can find your customer’s social media profile, store that information part of your customer-360 view. We can get demographics, lifestyle, values, and economic status. This can be especially valuable in segmenting your customer base, and in reaching out to look-alike audiences with offers tailored to their unique needs.
Jonathan: Yaro, again this sounds like a lot of work
Yaro: It is, but that’s why I get hired. I help businesses make this process automated so that it’s not a burden.
Jonathan: Yaro thank you for your time and insights. Yaro can best be reached 877-635-3305, yaro@addaxlab.com and www.addaxcrm.com