It is necessary to put a focus on the time frame of trends because they do not have perpetual value and are ripe today, according to Paolo Torricelli.
We also recommend using a semester calendar, a bit like school or fashion; in fact, it is no coincidence that Labor Day in the United States is celebrated on the first Monday of September, because this month brings with it the desire to begin again and is a time that should be seized to start new projects.
September is the right time for the design phase, followed by about a couple of months for developments and launch of the pilot project by Christmas. December represents an important watershed and we advise against organizing training and/or major releases at this time, better to postpone them to January and February.
The year, therefore, can be divided into two very important phases:
Another important thing to keep in mind is the purpose of projects, because they often start with the acquisition of new technology, and this is not always correct. Technology is an enabler but it should not be our goal. For this reason, we have divided the projects into 3 types.
The distinctions are blurred: a project that improves my final product is actually strategic because it makes me different, however, the purpose of the design is completely different, if I want to enrich my product I have to think about how to do it, if I want to differentiate it I can think about intervening in the operation by improving for example logistics.
At the release of a new highly innovative technology there is a peak of expectation, everyone tries to try it but then the adoption of the technology is not easy and this phase is followed by a phase of disappointment. During the early stages, however, more awareness is gained and for this new technology there starts to be more productivity, i.e., it starts to bring results(return on investment, increased turnover, reduced costs...) and starts to meet the initial initiatives.
This is why it is important to differentiate trends from technologies. Trends, unlike technologies, do not follow the hype cycle but a business purpose, which is why you should plan following a trend, i.e., following a specific business purpose and not a technology “fad.” The trends presented here are proposals, each company may have other needs and other business goals, the important thing is to identify these goals and plan the IT investment accordingly. We talk about trends in CRM, how to manage customer relationships with the help of digital tools.
The first trend is Post-CRM, as GN recommends a self-assessment of the state of CRM in the enterprise through Critical Thinking, a model that proposes to question objectively without taking too many things for granted. The literal Italian translation of the model is “critical thinking,” which can have a negative connotation such as “argumentative thinking.” In reality, the model is meant to suggest a rational analysis, allowing us to isolate ourselves from fads and actually see the state of our CRM project, evaluating it with a hype cycle logic.
Critical thinking, then, is a methodological tool for self-assessment of the state of CRM based on objective data.
What stage of the hype cycle is my company in?
1. Initial
2. Maturation
3. Disappointment : this is a good time to review a number of things, in particular the lockdown has taught us several things.
As GNs we consider traditional sales technology as offline and use the term online CRM for all that are digital interchanges. If we have the distinction between offline and online, it is clear that lockdown has a significant impact on offline sales. Have you observed a relationship breakdown because of a distance issue? How do we drive change? For example, if salespeople have been equipped with the technology to do remote meets, was this dictated by random factors or was it centralized and driven with a set of policies implemented within your CRM?
This is why both at the hype cycle level and because of the context in which we find ourselves, it is important to start thinking about a Post-CRM, i.e., a subsequent CRM project that must, however, be useful to the sales force and that reflects the “less but better” logic: less functionality but better implemented, more efficient and more adopted. So let us think about a CRM that is convenient and fast not only technologically speaking. A very simple piece of advice, for example, is to avoid too much mandatory data or too complex operations, because then users fail to use it, regardless of the excellent technological framework on which the CRM is based.
Another important thing is to think about where the data sources are, because a CRM should be increasingly automatic and connected. Imagine Facebook rather than Google: these systems are not run by people who have queried us, it is us who have interacted with them and therefore automatically profiled us. Today there are technologies and mechanisms whereby we can capture the data and make it already available to our sales.
Key question: is your company already in a Post-CRM logic or is it still within the first phase of the hype cycle?
The answer helps to understand what stages are ahead and then we can prepare to manage them in what way.
This model allows us to better understand the new normal we live in caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. We have done a couple of articles on this, especially there is one called “During Covid-19 traditional CRM systems failed” which does a dissection of what is precisely the system designed for an offline/traditional sale during a lockdown logic and how it supported companies this system in a logic where we are inside a bunker, a closed space from which we cannot get out to market products. In a bunker economy logic we have to have systems that allow us to support remote sales because it could become a competitive factor, we have to manage this change and have a system that is fast, convenient, available with new methodologies maybe even with new technologies. We have to ask for a human contribution that is balanced against the data so a system that is less onerous than in the past and above all more active also to support a change from physical to virtual visits with customers self-profiling.
We need to move from “I have to record the visit” to “the visit is scheduled for me automatically.”
In a bunker economy phase, it is the right time to apply critical thinking and enter a Post-CRM logic.