Points of view | Insights

The customer journey can be divided into 3 phases: the acquisition of new customers, the conversion that transforms a purchase intention into action and loyalty. CRM tools play a very important role throughout the course and are designed to make known an offer on the market, identify interested prospects and qualify them.

To inform the customer about the offer, they use a wide range of channels: e-mail marketing, phone marketing, or nudging on the Internet.
In the automotive industry, the CRM qualifies the lead for its interest in the desired products / services (new vehicle, used vehicle, after-sales service, after-sales store). This information will be used to propose personalized offers.

It is vital to have a single, centralized and up-to-date customer / prospect database. The CRM tool that manages interactions with prospects and customers is in permanent connection with this database. Once a qualified lead, it must be converted into a customer. In the automotive sector, this conversion takes place in the dealerships. Lead information is transferred to the dealer and an invitation is sent to the lead by the dealer to conduct a test. The conversion information goes back to the CRM tool used via the call centers, which then become the main players in the customer relationship: after the purchase, the customer relationship service must be accessible by the customer on all the communication channels possible to process complaints, answer to requests for information or propose specific additional offers.

For this purpose, the CRM tool must be connected to the dealer management system used bidirectionally. Call centers have access to the order and delivery management tool and contact the customer after delivery to ensure that the handover has taken place in the best conditions. All customer interactions are recorded in the CRM tool for a complete history on the customer.

The brand collects complaints and requests for information / services via various communication channels: phone, chat, face-to-face (hot media), mail, social networks, e-mail, web form (cold media). CRM tools handle all interactions on all these channels.

To handle complaints (management of financial compensation for example) or requests for information (information on products, services, etc.), call center agents undergo specific training. The CRM tools have the necessary functions to process the complaints (chain of validation for the financial compensations) or to answer the requests for information (base of knowledge).

Customized offers are targeted and pushed by the marketing tool to the call-center CRM tool. The CRM tool must be connected to the marketing tool.

Once a “Corporate Solution” covering all the necessary functions has been set up, “customized” and tested, its deployment takes place in six steps:

The first step is Evaluation. The solution is presented globally in the country, the local IT structure is analyzed, the impacts of the new CRM tool are measured, and the deployment risks are qualified. This stage lasts 2 weeks.

The second stage of Needs Collection starts with a formal kick-off meeting.

The Corporate solution is presented in detail in the country – with demonstrations, local needs are collected through workshops. For Salesforce-type modules / features used in call centers, eight twohour work sessions are sufficient. At the end of this collection phase, which typically lasts one month, local needs are validated by business managers and local IT and Corporate IT managers and a
complete configuration kit is given to the IT teams to develop and local functions. With a properly defined, developed and pre-tested Corporate solution, this development phase lasts an average of two weeks.

Finally, once the development is complete, the acceptance tests (UAT = User Acceptance tests) are carried out with the local managers. This test phase lasts about two weeks with the exchanges. The “Driving Change” stage can then begin. It consists of training all call center agents on the new tool. For Salesforce a six-hour training per agent is sufficient.

The Go Live stage takes place in two phases: Technical Go Live (data migration, activation of connections, user settings) and Business Go Live (beginning of use of the tool by agents). A week between these “Go Lives” is necessary to ensure proper operation. The Business Go Live is done in two stages: the first step is to use the tool only for cold media so that agents do not have the pressure of the customer. Two weeks later, the tool is used for hot media: agents are comfortable enough with the new tool to simultaneously face the pressure of the
customer. In order to reassure the customer advisors, the possible old CRM tool is kept running in double until the second time of the Business Go Live (hot media). Of course all new folders are to be created on the new CRM and a “delta” migration is performed when stopping the old tool.

The Support stage starts at the Business Go Live. During this stage, countries must be accompanied by weekly meetings and the availability of central support at all times during local working hours. This support phase lasts 1 month.

After this support phase the project is closed and the “Serial Life” stage begins. Countries must be properly informed about bugs, evolutions, etc.) One person per country is designated as “Local Administrator” to answer simple questions from local users and to pass on the others to Corporate teams.

According to recent studies, more than 40% of CRM projects face difficulties: cost overruns and / or delays and / or poor quality.

A good integrator must know how to translate a sometimes obscure functional need into a relevant and effective solution: for this, knowledge of processes and organization are essential assets to understand sectoral issues and practices.

Of course the knowledge of the CRM tool is equally important. Given the modular structure of the solutions available on the platforms, this expertise will enable the integrator to respond better and more quickly to the needs of his client.