In a tough economy, improving your customer service is the key to survival. Security companies need to do more than to just provide security solutions. They need to be able to exceed expectations and keep up with changing customer demands to keep hold and safeguard their customers from the competition.
Like most service provider companies, a security businessโs reputation is only as good as the customer service it provides. Please a customer and your client base will swell, but upset one and brace yourself for disaster.
Though a teetering economy may tempt executives to cut corners, improving service is your best chance for survival. However, those that will weather the storm will have a clear understanding of their market and develop customer relationships that add value, drive revenue, while continually measuring their success to adapt and plan for the future.
Customer experiences
Julian Rogers, pictured, CRM specialist from Innovise says that by giving your people the right tools to boost their productivity and amplify their impact, they can drive your business to achieve your goals and generate maximum return. An effective Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution can help security businesses gain insight into the behaviour of their customers and modify their business operations to ensure that customers are served in the best possible way. In essence, CRM helps a business to recognise the value of its customers and to capitalise on improved customer relations. The better you understand your customers, the more responsive you can be to their needs.
Information flow
Sadly, too many security companies will empathise with at least some of these common challenges: Multiple copies of data held in different locations and systems, ineffective CRM or contact management systems and poor management information.
Information flow should be the blood supply of your security businesses. However customer data is often spread across many systems. It is fragmented and often inconsistent. This makes it difficult to understand their likely behaviour, their needs and also the risks associated with them. Without a clear singular picture of your customers, security businesses can be left in the dark, unable to effectively retain customers, cross-sell to them, deliver the right customer experience to them or manage the associated risks. Sales sells service and vice versa so they need to be linked before, during and after each service contract.
The failure to properly manage and exploit data can lead managers to make decisions without seeing the full picture. This failure to deal with information can lead to financial losses and increased operational costs.
CRM strategy
One of the key elements of any CRM plan is integration, the unification of all your company’s data sources to create a single, holistic view of each customer. Creating a system where users would not have to toggle between screens, but would be able to access all data about a certain client in one user interface, regardless of whether the information was about an invoice, customer email or a contract renewal is essential.
crm4fm is the leading CRM solution in the UK designed specifically for the security sector and boasts a range of both large and small security business customers. Jason Trigg, CEO of the Cardinal Group, who has recently implemented crm4fm says: โcrm4fm has been developed specifically for use by security companies and therefore was more relevant to our business.โ
crm4fm is built on Microsoft Dynamics CRM so works seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Office productivity tools so staff do not have to learn new applications and can be instantly productive. Jason Trigg adds, โWe particularly liked the way in which crm4fm interfaces with Microsoft outlook and allows for e-mails and tasks to be easily tracked through the system.โ Jason Trigg continues, โOur team really appreciated the familiarity of the Microsoft interface which helped us overcome early challenges to user adoption while decreasing overall training time.โ
Workflows specific to security businesses
crm4fm comes pre-configured with industry specific workflows for the common sales processes (including public sector bidding) and pre loaded data sets such as FM services. Innovise has worked with many security businesses in order to identify the most efficient and common workflows that allow staff to work accurately, quickly and efficiently.
Staff may be responsible for bidding, re-bidding and supporting new bids on multi-million pound contracts, all of which are critical to the ongoing success of the business. Forward thinking Security businesses will understand that effective customer management through CRM is vital to the long term profitability and sustainability of their business and will therefore resource and manage it appropriately.
To register for a free webinar about exceeding customer expectations for FM businesses contact sales.solutions@innovise.com.
For more information about Innovise and its software specific to the security sector go to www.innovisesolutions.com or –
