How to set up CRM for Customer Success

Julie Schifter

Hi all  

Happy Monday!

I was wondering if you have any tips for setting up CRM for Customer Success? 

We are currently using Microsoft Dynamics CRM On-Premise version, but will shift to the cloud version soon. 

Currently, the Aquesition Team and the Onboarding Team have made their recommendations for the CRM. I would like to give my input from a CS perspective to ensure a red thread throughout the customer journey and to ensure knowledge and information concerning customers are stored. 

Any ideas for sections or other things to be aware of? 

Best 

Julie

Craig Jackson

Hi Julie

This is a very big question and could discuss all day before I go off on a tangent are you looking to identify the best CRM to use or what data to include?

I personally have not used Microsoft dynamics, but have been the lead stakeholder on a number of CRM set ups from a CS perspective. More than happy to help if I can. 

Craig

Christian Vijn

Hi Julie,

I'm relatively new to this space but I just joined Planhat and might be able to assist on this. We see an increased need for systems (like CRM) tailored for CS. Planhat is a system/platform for this but there are many more (Gainsight, Churnzero, etc.). Perhaps you could ask your Microsoft representative how they would tackle your challenge and/or start evaluating CS tools/platforms? When this could contribute to less churn and more up- and cross selling, your business case should be easy to make.

I also found this podcast (hosted by Planhat) regarding the most relevant data for CS which could help you scope your needs? https://open.spotify.com/episode/3k2EiNLAGQpJoJz24tem1S

More than happy to continue the conversation and see if I or Planhat can help in any other way.

Christian Vijn

David Ellin

I'd first start with the end in mind. What are you trying to accomplish? What value do you want to get from the CRM? Will you use the CRM to provide a 360 view of the customer or will you use a CS platform for that? You should also think about the types of integrations you'll need to pull data into your CRM (VoC survey responses, # trouble tickets, etc.) Some CRMs have open APIs that developers can use for integration and others do not. Ease of use/configuration based on your internal resources is critical.

Russell Bourne

@Julie Schifter, you're on the right track by thinking of the CRM as something the customer journey has to run smoothly through. 

In particular I'd encourage you to make sure you end up with the following things:

• Fields that populate and refresh automatically, to the highest extent you can get.  Examples would be things like:
  • Customer interaction logs with Sales, install, Support, and CSMs.  Include emails and phone transcripts if possible.  Allow for the employee to insert internal notes too.
  • Any product usage metrics you have, for example: storage consumed, license quota and consumption, etc. as it applies to your products.
  • Renewal dates
  • Website logins and click locations
  • Marketing email opens and click locations
  • Last but not least, win/loss and renew/churn reasons.
• Easy reporting on the data from the above fields.  Think about how much time you want to spend creating your deck for your internal QBR.
• Ability to initiate manual or automated actions based on the above fields.  From the customer journey, think about the timing of feedback surveys, renewal notices, etc.
• Good contact management

As @David Ellin said to you, the above things might have to come from different parts of your stack.  It would be great if you can build connections between systems to avoid "pane overload" if your company has the resources to do so.  Ultimately a CRM is a communication tool.  You want anyone in your company to be able to look up a customer and quickly understand what is going on with that customer right now.

Markus Siebeneick

Lots of great ideas here, so I will just add one key thought.
     How much time will you get dedicated to your team by the CRM administrator to build out what you need.  Often, CS does not get the same level of attention, which is why CS teams often go and find a CS specific tool such as Gainsight, Strikedeck, Catalyst, Planhat and many more.  Salesforce can do everything, but the time it takes to get new processes implemented and that often they require an Admin to make the changes.  CS specific tools (which ideally integrate with your Sales teams CRM) provide flexibility and speed (which also often do not require a serious Admin).

Julie Schifter

Hi Craig,

I am looking to identify what data to include to get a 360 view on customers. 

It is very kind of you to offer. Thank you!

Best

Julie

Julie Schifter

Hi Christian,

Thank you for the input. Will definitely give the podcast a go  

Best

Julie Schifter

Hi David, 

Thank you for advising me. Very good input!

Julie Schifter

thank you, Russell  

Really appreciate the list of things to add and consider.

Best 

Julie

Julie Schifter

Thanks a lot, Markus! Appreciate it!

Craig Jackson

Hi @Julie Schifter

Some amazing Ideas in here, just to add a little and only from personal experience . 

I once listen to a talk about how a CRM can be great for guiding you to be world class in the black and white (core service offering) but to go the extra mile consider the grey. 

Idea behind it is to make space for the additional/ nice to do data. birthdays/ business anniversaries/ mile stones where your tech can kick out some automated content of congratulations, It can work really well fro engagement. that said im don't know your customers or the appetite for the additional. 

Outside of this I think @Russell Bourne has covered pretty much everything.

Feel free to give me a shout if you want to chat through ideas.

Cheers

Craig

Brian Hartley

Hey @Julie Schifter aside from all of the great ideas already contributed, thought I would share how we try to capture a 360 view.  We currently use SFDC to capture all of these components:

- Opportunities (renewals, etc)
- Contracts (with integration to accounting system)
- Service desk (cases, etc)
- Help/Knowledge/Community
-Custom implementation object to track onboarding
-Contact information (NPS/CSAT score/reference worthy, etc)
- Salesforce inbox (logs all of our emails and meetings allowing us to quantify the LOE, to some degree, of customer activity)

I am fortunate that most of this data was being collected prior to me joining, but it has been a great repository of most of what we need.

Russell Bourne

@Craig Jackson I like the birthday idea a lot.  It's great to form personal relationships with customers if they're genuine, and if a CSM has a good memory for things like sports, pets, food, etc.  But it doesn't have to be memorized to be genuine.  Notes in the CRM are just as good.