This document discusses the foundation of true customer relationship management (CRM) through purpose, passion, and people. It emphasizes aligning a business's purpose and values with the owner's inner passions to maximize success and differentiate the customer experience. Passion should inspire both the owner and benefit customers. Ultimately, people buy from people, so the document urges identifying the right loyal, profitable, and reference-able customers both now and in the future. The conclusion states that work and business should act as a bridge between purpose and passion to achieve work-life success through true CRM.
The fern leaf represents the essence of potential that lies within each individual working in business, as well as the business as a whole. It starts life as a tight bud, before unfolding to reveal its full beauty and potential.Purpose is all about meaning – why we do the work we do, and why a business is in business.
This is why so many company mission and values statements ring hollow and in-authentic. Because they don’t relate to the core ‘essence’ of the business, what it values, its culture and how it wants to serve its customers.Yes, ‘a’ purpose of business is to make a profit. But it’s only one aspect of purpose… there has to be a greater sense of ‘meaning’ to be truly successful – to truly engage both employees and customers for success.
Take a moment of reflection - I recommend a breathing exercise, or a walk in nature to answer the question from a place of stillness.Keeping your eyes closed, and breathing into your heart and chest area… I want you to connect with a customer – an individual - who is an absolute fan of your work or business, someone who wouldn’t consider going anywhere else for what you offer, and who would recommend you without hesitationIf you can’t think of anyone in your current business, then look at your personal history and think of someone who you’ve worked really well with, someone who thinks you’re absolutely great!Picture the customer, and really feel their experience of being 150% over the moon with what you’ve done for them… how are they feeling, what they are experiencing.Now reflect on what it is that has made their experience so specialWhat is it that made them so happy with your product or service? Is it the way you looked after them, the way you understood their need? Is it the way you followed up afterwards to make sure it continued to deliver on the promise? (this applies just as much to online business). When you have a clear sense of what it is that you or your business offered this customer, take your pen and paper and write down the main points
The customer doesn’t have to be external – in fact employees, customers and suppliers are all ‘customers’ of an organisation.Regardless of what you sell, or what your role is, when you make the customer experience the most important aspect of your work, when you truly consider the customer as being the ‘heart’ of the business… then you will have a greater sense of meaning and purpose. What human beings want most is to feel they’re making a difference, that their work and life is worthwhile.
Passion is not a word that is frequently used in the British language, let alone in the context of business.Yet it is a fundamental emotion that connects with the sense of being ‘alive’! When a business can connect what it is passionate about, inspire its employees to feel the same way, and the connect with customers in a strong, positive way; it leads to win-win-win.
The second secret to achieve alignment between your inner world and the external world of your business, is to examine what it is you are passionate about – and then communicating that to your customers – in a way that resonates.This is where a lot of businesses go wrong. They assume that just because they’re passionate about nuts and bolts, software, brand building etc, that their customers are too. Not so.But, the customer DOES want to know that you and your business are passionate about solving its problems! Once again, it’s about looking at the human dimension of the business…Take funeral care for example. I would imagine that it might be a little distasteful for a provider to be passionate about the different types of wood coffins available – BUT if it was passionate about transforming the customer experience from dread and confusion to one of peace and joy – and THAT was communicated in its marketing, sales, delivery and support – what a difference!!One of the ways in which you can ensure that the passion is authentic (as opposed to fabricated and dry benefit statements that won’t resonate with your customers), is to connect with what inspires you in your work and businessExercise (from a place of stillness)I want you to think back to a time when you really felt ‘alive’ in your work – your energy levels were high, you knew you were doing your best work, you were in a state of ‘flow’What were the circumstances? What was the subject matter you were working on that inspired you?Who were you working with?Really feel that time and identify why you were so inspired. ]Can you remember other times when you were performing at your best? Were the circumstances similar or slightly different? What else inspires you in your work and business?How does this benefit your customers? And if it doesn’t today – then how could it benefit your customers?Take your pen and pencil and make a note of what you observed during the exercise
Reflect on how you, your customers, and colleagues have benefited from your work and business when it has been infused with passion and inspiration.
As outlined before, ‘People’ in business terms means employees, suppliers, advisors, customers and partners/associates. Anyone who ‘touches’ the business.In this context, I’m focusing on customers.Seth Godin talks about ‘tribes’… customers who are just as passionate about what you offer, and how you deliver it, as you are. These are the customers you want. Who is your ‘tribe’?
People want to know that they’re not just buying ‘what’s on the tin’. They want to feel connection, validation, they want to feel good about what they buy, and who they buy it fromLet’s take the good example of Amazon. Someone could be a lifelong customer of Amazon, and never, ever, have a human connection or interaction with one of their staff.Through the system, the customer can see what others thought of the book being considered, and they can also see what someone interested in the same book also bought. There is still a sense of connection.
Making a connection between your purpose and passion and your customers is importantBut it’s just as important to identify the type of customer who will most benefit from what you have to offer – in order to consistently deliver a great experienceIdeally you want customers who are loyal, profitable (repeat business and referrals) and reference-able.Take a moment now to reflect on your existing customers who match the above criteriaOnce again, putting down pen and paper… short breathing exercise (3 – 6)Look at your market-place today, and observe what trends are unfolding now – how is your market changing? Is there new competition emerging? Is customer demand decreasing or increasing? What factors are affecting pricing? How is your business responding to these trends?Looking further into the future, what trends do you see emerging, and how will these impact your business?Ask yourself how you can adapt your work and your business to these emerging trends, without compromising your purpose and passion – or the customer experience.Do you see any opportunities to make any changes or improvements that will give you competitive advantage – by focusing more on your customers?Take your pen and paper, write down any insights and thoughts that you’ve had throughout this exercise
Your work and business is a bridge – a bridge that connects the internal drivers of meaning and purpose, passion and inspiration, with the people who can most benefit from it.Customer relationship management is not all about automating business processes, or holding all your customer data in one repository. Relationships cannot be automated. Relationships cannot be driven by data alone.By all means invest in getting the basics right. But don’t stop there – true success is driven by insight, understanding, and business empathy.It is driven by a sense of purpose, by passion, and by people.