"The Modern Day Luck Penny"
The ‘luck penny’ is a notion in business that would be more familiar to our fathers and grandfathers as a mechanism for closure of a deal or agreement between vendor and purchaser. It has existed for hundreds of years in trade. This type of sales incentive reminds me of one of the best bits of business advice I ever received for my beloved
father-in-law, namely, “always leave a bit in the deal for the other fellow”. How many times have we heard leading business gurus tell us to adopt a ‘win/win’ strategy with our
customers? It would appear then, that the ‘luck penny’ and my father-in-law’s advice are the forerunners to many of the customer care theories we use in business today.
My personal experience in customer relationship management stems from 17 years in the public sector and 13 years in the private. The lessons learned in dealing with the populace in the public sector and customers and partners in the private sector have left
me with a number of incontrovertible facts about customer care........
• A tiny piece of information gained in an encounter can lead to a major development later; try to remember and record as much as you can.
• Treat the little guy as you would the boss. Someday the former may be the
latter and they will remember your treatment of them.
• Always listen. You learn when you listen, when you are talking you are
not learning.
• Trust people; If they disappoint you, you will learn a valuable lesson and it
will make you stronger and wiser.
• Be straight with people; they will respect you for it.
Customer relationship management and contact management are very much at the forefront of activity in business today. These techniques and products can be used by businesses of any size. However, given the preponderance of SME’s in the Northern Irish economy, it is worth noting that the typical SME can actually derive greater benefits from CRM than their bigger counterparts.
CRM and its components help SMEs gain market reach with their products and services, reduce their sales and marketing overhead and allow them to gain a much better understanding of the needs and culture of their customer base.
We have all had good and bad experiences of contact management and CRM services. On the bad side, I recently had occasion to make an enquiry about my mobile phone service (the service provider shall remain nameless to protect my sanity!). Having been subjected to a multilayered IVR system, the final robotic voice said, “to report this problem ring the number on the top of your
statement”. The line then went dead. The number on the top of the statement was the same number I had rung in the first instance! To counter this I have had many good experiences buying over the net - a slick process, with attractive options to choose from, a secure payment process and goods delivered within 24 hours. I return time and time again to these sites because it’s a good buying experience and as a customer, I believe the organisations concerned clearly understand my needs and work hard to keep me as their customer.
The growth of customer care, contact management and CRM in
the private sector continues to bring increased pressure on the public sector to provide similar services to its customers, the citizens. In this regard, the public sector in Northern Ireland is to be applauded for its efforts to meet this growing demand. Recent projects and initiatives are taking a strong lead in the area of e-government when compared with similar efforts on the mainland, www.onlineNI.Gov.uk is an excellent example of this. The range and depth of this website continues to improve and plans for the future will ensure that citizens will have access to a composite range of information and practical applications that will greatly improve the interaction between citizen and government. Northern Ireland continues to churn out market leaders in the areas of CRM and contact management. Lagan, with its customer interaction
management software products has had major successes in the public sector, both here and in GB. In regard to contact management, Belfast-based Gem has major international public and private sector clients for its unique variety of business processbased customer contact management services.
In addition, there are other organisations with a wide range of products and services which offer great potential for future employment and the improvement of the economy in the province.
If your organisation is embarking on a customer relationship or customer care strategy, I would like to offer some advice in that regard:-
• Put the customer or the citizen first; they are your final arbiter;
• Know your business and understand your proposition; clarity leads to
success;
• Focus on your market and avoid distractions which appear to offer potential; they are what they are – distractions;
• Relationships are key; treat people as you would wish to be treated
yourself;
• Punch above your weight; forget about the bar it’s an imaginary
restriction and;
• Have fun doing what you do; life’s short; it’s the only fact we can really
be sure about……….
Finally, in returning to the “penny” theme, Margaret Thatcher once said,
“Pennies do not come from heaven. They need to be earned here on earth.”
Noel Brady is managing director of Consult Nb1 Ltd. His company provides
executive support services to national and international clients. He has 30 years, experience in business in both private and public sectors and is also Chairman of the Sales Institute of Ireland (northern branch) and sits on the main committee of the Institute of Directors.
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