The Scope of a CMAT Assessment

The CMAT model is shown diagrammatically in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1: The QCi Customer Management Model

Analysis and planning

Everything starts with understanding the value and behaviour of different customers and different customer groups. This understanding, derived mainly from internal information and knowledge sources, drives more questions, which will in turn help define research, competitor assessment and external analysis activity. Once a clear and comprehensive understanding has been developed, customers and prospects need to be segmented so that planning activity can be as effective as possible. This planning will be focused on enabling the organization to REAP the value of its customer base, focusing on retention, efficiency, acquisition and penetration (REAP).

Analysis and planning includes:

strategic input to customer management planning;

customer transaction analysis;

lifecycle understanding;

profiling and external analysis;

lifetime value monitoring;

customer and prospect segmentation;

competitor analysis;

tacit knowledge management;

contact and management planning.

Proposition

Once the customers to be managed (or explicitly not managed) have been defined, propositions need to be developed that will match the needs of these customers and that will be attractive to new customers. There will often be different propositions for different groups. These propositions need to be defined at a detailed level that drives the experience the customer can expect in dealing with the organization, its products, and its partners or channels. It is therefore critical that the propositions are communicated effectively to both customers and the people who deliver them.

Proposition includes:

customer needs research;
overall proposition development;
segment proposition matching;
service standards;
proposition external communication;
proposition internal communication.

Information and technology

Technology exists to help organizations acquire, manage and use the vast amount of information involved in managing customers. It is an enabler ^[1] rather than a deliverable in its own right, but managed badly it can also be a stopper. An organization needs to understand what information it has available, what it is missing and how to manage the information. The technology then needs to deliver the current information to relevant people at the right time in order for them to fulfil their role in managing customers. Of course, technology must be reviewed constantly against changing needs and development in the technology itself.

Information and technology includes:

sourcing and understanding customer information;
information planning and quality management;
functions of existing systems;
review of current systems;
development of new systems.

People and organization

Customer management people need to be recruited, managed, developed and motivated within a supporting structure. The term 'customer management people' also needs to be considered in its widest context, extending to suppliers and channels as well.

People and organization includes:

organizational structure;
role identification;
competencies definition and gap analysis;
training requirements and resources;
objective setting and monitoring;
supplier selection and management.

Process management

Processes are often difficult to implement and manage formally in an environment with so many sales and marketing people. But clear, consistent processes are essential to all areas of customer management and to achieving constant and step-change improvements. Also, processes need to be reviewed constantly for acceptability from both the customers' point of view and the organization's point of view.

Process management includes:

process identification and documentation;
process communication;
monitoring of process acceptability;
process benchmarking;
process improvement.

Customer management activity

Customer management activity is about implementing the plans to deliver the proposition across the customer lifecycle.

Targeting

Targeting is about delivering the defined propositions accurately to the customer and prospect groups identified in the planning activity. It is not enough to simply run campaigns at regular intervals aimed at different groups. Targeted activity also needs to be based on triggers from individual customers and prospects, even to the point of allowing individuals to target the organization when they are ready, rather than the other way around.

Targeting includes:

campaign planning;
buying trigger identification;
personalization;
integration with channels;
over-targeting prevention.

Enquiry management

The management of enquiries is the vital, and often missing, link between campaign or trigger-based promotional activity and a successful sale. Enquiries start as soon as an individual expresses an interest and continue through qualification, lead handling and result reporting. The processes and measures that enable the value of enquiries to be maximized need to cover the same areas.

Enquiry management includes:

enquiry collection;
enquiry processes and quality standards;
qualification methods;
lead distribution;
result feedback and research.

Welcoming

New customers, and those upgrading their relationship, need to be welcomed. This activity ranges from the often forgotten simple 'thank you' through to sophisticated contact strategies. Welcoming activity needs to ensure that new customers are comfortable dealing with the organization and that they know how to get the most out of their relationship. It ensures that the high-risk 'post purchase' phase of any new customer relationship has the maximum chance of success.

Welcoming includes:

identification of new customers;
understanding why they were won;
initial welcoming activity;
monitoring of early dealings;
getting customers' views.

Getting to know

Although a lot might have been known about new customers when they were still prospects, it is unlikely this will be enough information on which to build a long and valuable relationship. But new customers need to be convinced that there is something in it for them if they are to give more information about themselves. When the information is collected it needs to be used and maintained.

Getting to know includes:

information collection priorities;
attitude and satisfaction information;
understanding customers' moments of truth;
recognizing key customers;
ongoing relationship 'health checks'.

Customer development

By really getting to know customers it becomes possible to understand which ones warrant (and need) higher levels of management activity. Just as importantly, it can be decided which ones do not warrant significant further relationship investment. This means that maximum investment can be made in the relationships that are likely to be of the highest mutual value. Specifically, customer development includes:

customer ownership;
segment development strategies;
key account management;
cross-selling and up-selling;
proposition tailoring.

Managing problems

All relationships will go through difficult phases. The best organizations are able to predict and identify problem areas before major complaints and relationship breakdowns occur. But even when these do happen they often offer the opportunity for a relationship-enhancing set of remedial measures. A well-handled complaint is often communicated to more 'referrals' than a well-handled sales cycle.

Managing problems includes:

dissatisfaction and risk-of-loss triggers;

intensive care activity;

complaint reception;

complaint handling and follow-up;

root cause analysis;

satisfaction checking.

Winback

Winning back recently lost customers is one of the least exploited 'acquisition' methods. If a new competitor's welcoming activity is poor then customers lost to them are likely to be the most receptive to 'come back' messages. However, it is important to be sure that it is only good customers that are targeted for winback activity and that when they are won back they are treated as returning customers and not as brand new customers.

Winback includes:

identifying reasons for loss;
managing customers out;
deciding which customers to win back;
winback programmes;
welcoming winback customers.

Measuring the effect

Measurement of all elements of customer management activity forms feedback into the planning process ensuring continual improvement and thus building sustainable competitive advantage. It also enables individuals and channels to understand how well they are performing their roles and how much they are contributing towards the overall customer management success of the organization.

Measuring the effect includes:

strategic measures;
key performance indicators;
corporate measures cascading down to individuals;
campaign measurement;
channel management.

Customer experience

Measurement activity needs to be supplemented with an understanding of the customer experience of dealing with the organization. The links between what customers say they feel, what they actually feel and what they 'do' need to be understood clearly if loyalty is to be maximized. Every opportunity also needs to be taken to ensure that people at all levels within the organization are very clear about how their activity appears to customers. Customer experience includes:

satisfaction monitoring;
event driven research;
loyalty analysis;
mystery shopping;
benchmarking.

^[1]Woodcock, N (2000) Does CRM performance correlate with business performance? Journal of Interactive Marketing (UK), April.