Social Sales with Microsoft CRM, NOT!!!

Now will I leave my Storage / Backup approach for a single blog, and be an end-user and show what I missing in our CRM System.

Even if I evaluate other CRM Systems I’ll still missing functions that give me information and not the other way around where I give the CRM System information and use it as a documentation system. 

I have look at both large systems such SAP, OpenSource as SugerCRM and web based such Microsoft CRM. I think the best CRM I found that was nearest my ideas is Salesbox.com. I really hope does guys do a great success.

But in today’s blog will I explain what I want to see in our CRM System and as we are using Microsoft CRM do I really hope Microsoft read my blog and value my feedback.
Every event I listen to Microsoft do they say “We are listening to our customers”. Show me that you are listening to me. I’m a customer.

But today when I insert data to our CRM System I only get a sort of “To Do List” that I should work with. But that is only information I have inserted and create a post-it remember note for myself. The CRM haven’t been smart here and give me any information that I have missed.

But easily can my calendar be double book and I only have 20 min to take me from customer A to customer B and be in a meeting all time and then another 20 min to next meeting if I lucky.  

During that 20 min do I need to get a fully understanding what my next meeting is about, read my emails and see if there is any important once to answer.
I maybe got time to login to the customer’s website to view if any important has happened that can infect our meeting. Answer the phone for a quick call.
As you can see in my text, I haven’t login to our CRM System yet because it didn’t give me any valuable information. Every else give me information that I need, but not the CRM.

But think of if the CRM could be a system that help me as a personal assistance instead of be a information database. I maybe login if we are multiple people working with the same customer, but in that case I probably only give him a call instead because that is much faster.

I heard (don’t know if this is true) that Salesbox are using IBM Watson in the background and that could be really interesting concept. I hope this is true and they use that power of BigData.
But let’s say if my CRM System could listen on social media and RSS feeds what I have inserted to my customer/person I going to meet. That mean during my 20 min, I can then login to the CRM Systems App, Website or Calendar invite and then only see valuable information I need to know. 

That mean I get the latest information from social media and RSS about the people/company I going to meet. Maybe even what my competitor are saying. Plus if we are multiple people working on the same customer, I can see what they have done plus if there is any support cases open.

I have try to create a print screen what I want to see, but everything is in Swedish and that is another “WTF” what have Microsoft thinking. Because I only choose Swedish in the beginning do I want to run Swedish in everything and forever. Not really. Let me choose language anytime I want to and anywhere. We are Swedish and not French or German that don’t understand English, Spanish or Mandarin.

But here is a print screen I have created how it could look like.

Or if I only use my cellphone to I maybe want to see something like this and I can scroll between the people and the company I visit.

 

Now I only got time to create homemade pictures for the company view, but if I could get the same information about the people I going to meet, that will help me with social sales.
Let’s say if the person I going to meet had a really bad day and he twitter he wants something to cheer him up, an easy thing such a great coffee from his favorite coffee house. That mean I can then already now create a positive meeting by stopping by his favorite place with the cab and buy him a coffee and give it to him when I arrive.

The meeting will now go from a maybe everything is bad to a more positive meeting, 

When I anyway give so much information back to Microsoft, what are you thinking when you creating the iPhone App for your CRM System? It takes FOREVER to login. And here in Sweden we are use to 4G and Fiber channel and minimum of 1Gbps internet in our homes. Still it takes long time for us. I don’t want to know how long time it takes for a US person to login. Ok it has been better with the new version. But still it takes at least 10 second to open the app and even longer when Microsoft wants to update something.

Before I rapping up this blog, I want to add that I haven’t evaluate the Microsoft Social Engagement Enterprise yet. Maybe this exist, but the few min I have look at it, it looks more like a marketing tool that see what we should do, to promote our products instead of personal social engagement.