How California Tortilla Exemplifies Customer Centricity

In last week’s Focus Roundtable on The Promise of Social CRM, Dr. Natalie and I talked about how Social CRM is emulating the human approach. Kelly asked the question “What is the antithesis of a human approach? Example?”

In answer to Kelly’s question, I said look at most companies call centers. Putting the snark aside, though, there are companies that are getting Social CRM and doing it right.

California Tortilla is one company and I'm going to tell you why.

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Stop Dominating Customers. Start Partnering.

Just stop it. Here's why.

P.S. Dr. Natalie and I are going to talk more about customer centricity at next week's Focus roundtable. And Emily Yellin is going to join us. So come. It's going to be good.

P.P.S. I mentioned this WSJ article in my video - BlackBerry Maker's Issue: Gadgets for Work or Play? (Subscription may be required).

 

Customer Centricity in a Social CRM World–Ebook now published!

The Simplifying Social Business ebook series just keeps rolling on. Customer Centricity in a Social CRM World, the 3rd book in the series, is now published on Kindle and Nook.

Social customer relationship management (Social CRM or SCRM) is one of the planks of the social business model and turns the focus to the customer, making them central to the business.

It goes beyond saying your customers are important, though. Companies with strong SCRM strategies build genuine and authentic relationships with customers by sharing two-way conversations with them.

A question begging an answer then is – What is “customer centricity” in a Social CRM world?

My answer goes against the conventional wisdom of some of today's thought leaders.

Crowd wisdom in social m

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The Business of Social Business–Now Published!

Woo hoo! I’m happy to report The Business of Social Business is out on Kindle and Nook. I wrote the book in partnership with Dr. Natalie.

Social business is revolutionizing the business landscape. Fifty years from now, historians will look back and realize social business was as game changing as the rise of PCs on everyone’s desktops.

The thing is, though, a lot of business leaders continue to struggle with understanding the importance of social business or the impact it can have on a company. And they don’t understand how to implement the social business model to solve real-world business problems or to springboard opportunities.

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Customer Centricity in a Social CRM World–Focus Roundtable

On October 5, 2011 at 11 am PT / 2 pm ET, Dr. Natalie and I will team with Emily Yellin, author of Your Call Is (Not That) Important to Us, to discuss what customer centricity really means.

10/5/11 update - Hear the replay.

This will be the 3rd week in our Simplifying Social Business series, sponsored by Focus.com.

We’ll will also delve into Social CRM strategies to build genuine and authentic relationships with that will help companies retain recurring revenues and add new sales.

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Social Data Puts “Relationship” Back into CRM

In today’s world, we need to move beyond CRM to add in the social component that is prevalent in SCRM. But what does that even mean?

It means adding “relationship” into CRM (Customer Relationship Management) in the way it was originally intended. It means gaining valuable and insightful information about what’s really important to people, as well as about how they really make decisions, do work, and live their lives.

The advantage is huge.

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Focus Roundtable–The Promise of Social CRM, pt 2

Yo ho! This Wednesday, Dr. Natalie and I will continue our Focus Roundtable discussion on The Promise of Social CRM, part 2. This will be week 2 of our 10-week Simplifying Social Business series.

This week, we’ll talk about:

  1. Strategic value of social data.
  2. How Social CRM emulates the human approach.

And we have at least 2 dandy case studies to share. Join us!

 

Update (9/29/11):

If you missed the roundtable today, you can listen to the recording

We had a great turnaround and lots of good engagement. Can't wait until next week!

Social Business Is A Paradigm Shift

As a business leader, should you care about incorporating social business into your company if a non-social model is making money and appeasing the Wall Street gods?

The answer is still “yes.”

Today’s customers expect companies to connect with them within their preferred channels -- and not yours. While some customers continue to prefer traditional business channels of phone and email, there is a groundswell demand for social connectivity.

What’s also important to understand is

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