Obviously, this is just not good enough. And more importantly, it’s not been cheap or easy to use things like ACT or Outlook or other contact management systems in this way. But the real point here is that you still can’t respond instantly to any and all customer inquiry using your current system.

Stellar Customer Service is easier and less expensive than you think

Because good customer service is mostly about information. When a customer calls, they want information: how to buy, how to use, how to pay, etc. From the customer's point of view, the measure of good customer service is two-fold - how fast can I get what I need and how pleasant is the experience?

The larger the organization, the more layers and departments there are. That makes it tough to keep things simple for the customer.

For a small business, the problem is the opposite. There are normally a few key individuals that keep all the information in their heads. The owner, key executives, operational managers and sales reps are all too busy to stop and write it all down.

So there’s the Catch 22… Key team members are running full speed trying to take care of things as fast as they can. They can’t stop long enough to put important facts into a database so everyone else can use that information to help customers.

What if any customer facing employee in your company could look up a comprehensive status for the client on the phone? Everything they've ever bought, service issues they've had, pending orders, general notes about their application of the product, etc.?

But wait a minute… You’ve tried this right? You’ve spent the money on ACT! or Outlook. You preached and preached to your team about the value of using a contact management system. You paid an IT guy to set it up so everyone can share information. But it’s not working. You’re fed up with throwing money and time at the problem, right?

This is the first installment in a series of 4 articles each one focusing on a key reason that basic contact management systems like ACT! and Outlook are keeping your business from reaching the heights of success you’re striving for. In subsequent releases, we’ll focus on 3 additional reasons ACT! and Outlook are holding you back and provide simple and effective tips for breaking these barriers.

Reason #1 that ACT! or Outlook or whatever technology you’ve tried are not working for you:

It’s not about the technology! It’s about the people and being disciplined enough to record information about each and every contact with your clients religiously.

Sure, your best sales person will tell you that it IS the technology. In fact, you may wholeheartedly believe that all this would work out perfectly if the contact management technology just worked more like you do, or was more stable and reliable.

The cold hard fact is that its human nature to resist changing our habits. Especially if you’re really good at what you do, you have developed habits that work very well for you and have been honed over years and years of sweat and toil! You’re thinking may be “Why should I change such effective habits?”

The answer is that the brass ring that we’re reaching for here is bigger than any one person in your organization. The power to respond to your clients is a crucial capability that you MUST have to grow your business and stay competitive.

If you’re going to let individuals continue to be walking silos of information, then your organization’s capacity to meet your customers’ needs and to grow to the next level will always be limited by those individuals.

There is a freedom to act that comes from having the information available to the right people at the right time. That freedom propels your business into the stratosphere. It empowers mid and lower level staffers to grow your business for you, without you having to be involved in every transaction.

The cost is changing your processes and habits so that the information is recorded while it’s fresh, in a system that others can access easily.

So, as much as anything, you have to sell your sales team and key customer facing employees on that power.

Many businesses try to soft sell the concept to top producing sales reps and key management staff. That seldom works.

Either everyone is 100% on board because they all believe in the opportunity to take your business to an entirely new level, or not.

About Author :

Craig Klein is the President and Founder of SalesNexus, LLC. Craig is also the author of Sell, Sell, Sell!, a blog for business owners and sales people to find tips and advice about selling and marketing.

SalesNexus provides online contact management, sales force automation and CRM services to small and medium sized businesses across all industries.

Craig spent 15 years in the energy business as a Sales VP before founding SalesNexus where he and his sales teams were trained in the Sandler Sales Institute’s methodologies.

Craig has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University.