Using a CRM solution helps demonstrate good customer service

By - October 17, 2014

Last year I blogged about going to Disney World on vacation and how the use of a Microsoft Dynamics CRM system can personalizes service for your organization. This personalization made the whole vacation, excuse the pun, magical.

It is ironic that I had a completely different CRM experience on vacation this year. Let me first say that I was not at Disney World this year. I was staying at a hotel that ended up catching on fire. Everyone was fine and it turned out that it was an air conditioner that caused the fire, but the hotel missed an opportunity following the fire to demonstrate good customer service.

After the fire had been handled in the hotel, we were taken to our room to pack our belongings and sent to another hotel in the city. It was a nice hotel and was an upgrade from the hotel that caught on fire. The hotel had paid for our room in the second hotel as well as the parking and later, when checking the credit card bill, the other night stay at the original hotel was also credited. Therefore, the entire ordeal cost me nothing.

Here is the part that was a failure in my opinion.  I was fully willing to pay for the night stay in the second hotel. It was nicer and I appreciated the upgrade. If someone from the hotel had contacted me, apologized for the situation, I would have not expected a refund. Frankly, I am more upset over getting the refund rather the lack of personal outreach such as a phone call to see how I was doing. If the hotel had just done follow up, I would have been more appreciative.

I had an incident with this hotel chain almost 10 years ago and based on the correspondence I know that they utilize Microsoft Dynamics CRM. In my opinion, there’s an easy lesson here for all organization – use your CRM system to build loyalty with consumers of your product and service. In this case, I don’t know why they did not use the system to allow for personal follow up. If they had, at least in my case, it would have saved them almost $200. Multiply that by everyone else in the hotel, that would have added up to a significant savings.

Are you able to see a holistic view of your customer?  And equally important in my mind, how are you using that information to provide good customer service?  Many times I see CRM usage only as a sales management tool.  Companies are not fully utilizing CRM system for all departments and this is a miss in my mind.  Working with a certified partner like RSM and looking at your entire business versus one department can help you experience total ROI on your CRM solution.

A good example of this is a Philadelphia based rehabilitation hospital implementing Dynamics CRM. Their goal was to connect departments and better manage their referral network.  They wanted to enhance marketing initiatives to include personal outreach and track customer satisfaction ensuring their good reputation continued. The hospital had been using Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Access to manage these critical functions.

If you’d like to learn about this example or are looking to develop a road map for your CRM solution, contact our professional at crm@mcgladrey.com or call us at 855.437.7202.

By: Bob Kanzler – Philadelphia Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner

Principal of RSM's Dynamics 365 CE focused on our east coast clients and non profits.

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