Tackling Traditional and Social CRM Integration

Not being able to lock down the customer profile is the reason so many companies have a difficult time with CRM integration, said Barton Goldenberg, President of ISM, during a presentation on preparing and launching a social CRM strategy at the CRM Evolution 2012 conference in New York City.

Typically, a CRM system consists of customer profiles filled with product information, service information, and outstanding financial information. That data alone gives you an idea who your customer is and what opportunities exist. The problem, said Goldenberg, is that many companies who are building CRM or have a CRM haven’t mastered the customer profile process, which perpetually asks questions such as:

“What information should I gather from which systems?”

“How do I pull it all together?”

“How do I keep it up to date?”

“How do I make sure my sales, my marketing, and my customer service use the profile to identify opportunities to identify, to cross sell, and to up sell?”

Many companies haven’t mastered the customer profile process right from within their CRM system, said Goldenberg.

The complexity of the traditional CRM compounds itself when you integrate the customer’s emotional and sentimental input, a.k.a. social insight. Whether that profile process is solid or not you’re going to try to integrate the social with the traditional CRM.

Now that you’re collecting all this sensitive information about the customer, how can a representative approach the customer so that neither party feels awkward, asked Goldenberg.

Four steps to smooth integration

Here’s Goldenberg’s four-step guide for a smooth CRM-to-social engagement and integration:

1. Make sure your traditional CRM vendor can deliver an excellent customer profile.
2. Bring in the social media either through APIs or call outs to social communities.
3. Listen, filter that information, and use it in your customer engagement system.
4. Train all users, representatives and customers, to better use the system so it’s not uncomfortable and not a burden for anyone. It should be something that’s desired where both parties want to combine forces to make it work.