CRM Insights Blog

10 Signs A Business Needs a Social CRM Consulting Service

Many businesses try to enter the world of social CRM without the use of a social? CRM consulting service, whether due to budget constraints, on-site staffing excesses, or just a lack of knowledge about what they can bring to the table.  In any case, not many businesses succeed in the arena of social CRM without a consultant, and it’s usually after their internal program is failing or found to be ineffective that many realize this.  Without social CRM consulting, businesses can fall into a number of different traps, as outlined in the checklist below. 

An enterprise should consider on-boarding a social CRM consulting firm if:

1. Insufficient staff knowledge and expertise exists within the organization to successfully launch and monitor a CRM software solution.
2. Quantitative analysis shows that customers are dissatisfied with a company’s product.
3. There is no clear-cut strategy within the organization to handle social media, or it has no tools to implement its social media strategy.
4. Customer data cannot be delivered instantly to the point of contact or imported to a centralized database for immediate feedback.
5. There is no distinction between an individual client and an enterprise client to help market more effectively or determine the value base of a customer.
6. The organizational focus is on day-to-day operations and not on the long-term strategy.
7. A determination cannot be made from data whether an investment in marketing or sales would yield additional revenue from a customer.
8. A customer’s exposure to a company’s products cannot be quantified to drive business decisions.
9. Information about a customer’s interaction with different organizations within an enterprise cannot be readily shared or agglomerated.
10. Historical data cannot be retrieved instantly about a customer’s recent dealings with the company.

Once a business realizes that it’s necessary to hire a social CRM consulting firm, selection criteria becomes the next focus.  A social CRM consulting service should be selected based on the needs of the enterprise, the ability of the firm to demonstrate success with other companies in social CRM, and its diversity in other areas of business knowledge including sales, marketing, and operations.  Social CRM consultants must be able to discuss media channels beyond Twitter and Facebook, have an existing social media presence that is positive and engaging (as determined by their followers), and a reputable list of contacts and business partners.

The best CRM consulting firms are insightful and forward-looking and have a proven and methodical approach to social media projects that are reinforced with references and an expansive social footprint. Firms need to provide a vision with regard to developing other services as the need arises, such as a website, media outreach, and improved messaging systems.

Companies selecting the best social CRM consulting firm should look at past successes, current capabilities and presence in social media, and future insight into coming technologies, opportunities, and outlets for the enterprise’s products.