CRM Implementation - A brief overview

Hello guys! I was recently involved in a study about CRM tool identification and implementation (more about that in some later post!). Quickly I wanted to share this good presentation that I found on slideshare. I found it very relevant and benefited the most for my work. It's pretty concise and to the point. Have a read and share if you wish.

Until next time...

CRM Implementation from Anand Subramaniam

Effective Brand Differentiation: Ben & Jerry’s

I guess most of us know Ben & Jerry’s as a brand and have enjoyed the innovative flavors of the ice-creams that they keep on coming up with for us to enjoy. But recently I did a bit more digging about the brand as part of a Sales and Marketing course. I was amazed to see how they have created such a strong brand and associate themselves with so many other things than just being a high quality ice-cream manufacturer.

Check out their Consumer Value proposition:

Consumer proposition for Ben & Jerry’s is more than providing high quality ice creams. From their website, the company’s mission is divided into three interrelated parts:

“Social Mission: To operate the Company in a way that actively recognizes the central role that business plays in society by initiating innovative ways to improve the quality of life locally, nationally and internationally.

Product Mission: To make, distribute and sell the finest quality all natural ice cream and euphoric concoctions with a continued commitment to incorporating wholesome, natural ingredients and promoting business practices that respect the Earth and the Environment.

Economic Mission: To operate the Company on a sustainable financial basis of profitable growth, increasing value for our stakeholders and expanding opportunities for development and career growth for our employees.”

And then further it states:
“...

• Capitalism and the wealth it produces do not create opportunity for everyone equally. We recognize that the gap between the rich and the poor is wider than at any time since the 1920’s. We strive to create economic opportunities for those who have been denied them and to advance new models of economic justice that are sustainable and replicable.
• By definition, the manufacturing of products creates waste. We strive to minimize our negative impact on the environment.
• The growing of food is overly reliant on the use of toxic chemicals and other methods that are unsustainable. We support sustainable and safe methods of food production that reduce environmental degradation, maintain the productivity of the land over time, and support the economic viability of family farms and rural communities.
• We seek and support nonviolent ways to achieve peace and justice. We believe government resources are more productively used in meeting human needs than in building and maintaining weapons systems.
• We strive to show a deep respect for human beings inside and outside our company and for the communities in which they live.

...“

How do they differentiate from other ice-cream brands? They are different from other brands in many ways:

·         On a very high level, the brand value comes from more than just producing ice-creams. They focus on social and economic aspects in addition to product aspects.

·         They actively consider environmental aspects in the product manufacturing and delivery.

·         They only buy from certified (free-trade) suppliers (social).

·         They actively involved in social factors like “Bring WallSt down” campaigns, presidential campaigns etc. (social & economic).

·         They have innovated interesting flavors to serve multiple segments over the years.

·         They come up with innovative ways to enhance consumer experience e.g. hold “free cone day” once a year, streamlining supply chain etc.

·         Part of Unilever group but still maintaining own brand.

·         Market strategy of local countries is effectively done after careful target market analysis.

At least I have even more desire to be associated with a brand like Ben and Jerry’s at least as a consumer! Do you too? Let me know.

Yours,

Pankaj Saharan

LinkedIn, My Website, Twitter

Target the 'right' market

I recently read a very interesting and practical article "Target the right market" by Avery & Steenburgh in HBR October 2012 issue. The question was related to which product line should the stated company focus on going in future given some information about the company and the products themselves. In my opinion, this is a case example which I think happens in every company at one point of time or another. Business is always about making decisions and taking risks. But on what basis should the decisions be based on so that the risk is minimum? Let's try to answer this specific problem.

You could read the article from this article link. Then I'll try to answer how would I advise SparkPlace regarding their strategy for Sams and Marys (product lines)

Let's start to recap with some background information:

Products                                      Sams                                                                  Marys

Size                                                 <20 employees                                                20-100 employees

Market share                             1.3 million                                                        <.5 million

Profits                                           10K $/product                                                 50K $/product

Av. Costs / Sale                         1000$                                                                5000$

Av. Lifecycle                               3 months                                                           Longer

Churn rate                                   High                                                                   Low

Sale effort                                    Low                                                                    High

In my opinion, Sams are the cash cow for the company. The market share is good and is increasing as mentioned in the paper that due to economic conditions more and more people are starting to their own companies. The software is good enough state to support the sales which requires low sales effort. Strategically, it’s not wise to change to strategy to solely focus on Marys alone. So formulating a strategy that involves ignoring Sams and solely focus on Marys should be discarded straight away.

My strategy for SparkPlace would be as follows:

I think SparkPlace should continue to mainly focus on Sams for the time being. That said, for longer profitability and vision of the company,  SparkPlace would continue to invest in Marys too. First, I’ll profile my existing Sams i.e. categorize the Sams into different groups based on their profits, turnover and lifecycle. For Example:

I’ll target each Sam depending on the profiling. My strategy for main segments based on lifecycle phases would be:

·         Probable Marys: These Sams would have more chances of converting to Marys maybe because of their company growth, feedback or any other information collected by marketing department. SparkPlace should target this segment by utilizing their “conversion lifecycle phase” e.g. by providing trainings/demos for the software, preparing sales pitch for selling its features and services, consultative or maybe value selling, providing free trial/discount for the adoption phase etc.

·         Probable churners: These Sams have potentially shown signs of churning and hence considered to be in “churn lifecycle phase”. Care should be given to understand the reasons for the churn and how to retain them. Feedback could be requested for churning Sams to know the reasons which should be provided to e.g. R&D team to customize the software based on the inputs. Retention cost could be spent for this segment e.g. better customer support, promotional incentives etc.

For targeting Mary’s, SparkPlace should continue to customize the software so that it’s easy to sell, training should be provided to marketing and sales guys to better promote and pitch it to the potential customers. Feedback should be gathered and given to R&D department on regular basis to standardize the software to meet the customer requirements. Free trial/discounts should be given to promote the software to the Mary’s to capture the market share.

For even relatively long term, I would propose that the software could be standardized for both Sams and Marys in a way that sales team could be given training for the overall product which could be easily customized. The sales team then could decide the value proposition of the product depending on the needs of the customer when they prepare the sales pitch for a Sam or a Mary.

My answer is purely qualitative here as there is not much information to base extensive quantitative analysis. What do you think the company should do in your opinion? Let's discuss.

Until next time..

Pankaj Saharan

Find me: LinkedIn , Twitter , Personal Website