102792 Resource 102363 102466 102466 1127095612138 1128354811045 Controlled Email Systems and the Lottery have one thing in common: Negative ROR

Taking the Finance metaphor one step further, let's discuss the negative rate of return of a lottery ticket and an email system

Maybe I am pushing my luck here with another post using a finance metaphor, but it works so well that I have to go for it. A while back I was talking to a CRM prospect and they revealed that the most important requirement for their company was a CRM solution that could incorporate their current email system.  This sounded strange to me at the time; frankly, the idea of a CRM solution as an appendage of an email system caught me by surprise and made me restless. Later, after I had the opportunity to think it over I realized why the idea bugged me. An email system is really the opposite of a CRM solution. An email account belongs to an individual and they really have total control. Without access, or some pretty sohisticated tools that generally give us the creeps, the email account is closed.  Only the owner knows what's really in there. The email system works ok for some basic communications and collaboration, but again, only the senders and receivers ever see the body of knowledge that exists in their accounts. CRM proposes a different level of collaboration and communication. Not simply around the email account owners, but around the customer. The idea plain and simple is to capture as much of the activity - the relationship - with a customer as possible. As those who sell, service, ship to, bill or collect from the customer change or move on, the relationship continues and gains history and knowledge over time. Not that email goes away once a company implements a sound CRM strategy, but the email system serves as a new role. It is no longer master of the company's domain. Rather, it plays a secondary amd lesser role. And the finance metaphor? I remember vividly the proof that one of my finance instructors went through to show us that lottery tickets really had a negative rate of return. It was an eye-opener. Lottery tickets are little bits of investment that people get into the habit of buying. Over time however they invest a great deal, they never fill up the tank or stop for a cold one without a couple of bucks on the mega game or some scratch and wins. Likewise, email has become almost an unbreakable habit for the users (and companies that are serious about building customer relationships need to be clear and honest about this - it will be a battle to change). Emails are little bits of customer knowledge, but there are so many of them that they eventually add up to customer relationships. At the end of the day lottery tickets for the buyer show a negative rate of return. The opportunity missed - investing in a mutual fund for example - is huge. Email, for the company, is exactly the same.  The missed opportunity of communicating and collaborating around the customer, instead of around the email account owners, is huge.  When the current email owners move on, so does this huge body of knowledge about your customers. It's a negative rate of return and smart business people are starting to understand this. 10 application/xml false CRM customer relationship management Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; T312461; YPC 3.0.1; (R1 1.5); .NET CLR 1.1.4322) 69.212.126.205 69.212.126.205 tfoydel false true false false true 205861 false false true false false false true 102363 blog blogsite/SightLines/web