1. Sales-force, Marketing and Service Automation
Semester Genap 2010/2011

2. Learning Objectives
Understand the meaning of the terms ‘customer life cycle’
Define the strategies that can be used to recruit new customers
Understand how to select which customers to target for retention
Identify several strategies for growing customer value

3. Sales Force Automation (SFA)

4. Sales Force Automation Definition
The application of computerised technologies to support sales people and sales management in the achievement of their work-related objectives

5. Key Technologies for SFA
SFA hardware includes desktop, laptop and handheld devices, and contact/call centre technology
SFA software comprises both ‘point’ solutions that are designed to assist in a single area of selling or sales management, and integrated solutions that offer a range of functionality  

6. SFA Software Solutions
SFA specialists
SFA as part of CRM suite
SFA as part of Enterprise suite
Selectica
Onyx
Oracle
EzRoute
Pivotal
SAP
Salesnet
Salesforce.com
Epicor
CallWizard
SalesLogix
Deltek
Selltech
ACCPAC
Fourth Shift
CyberForms
NetCRM
Intentia

7. SFA Functionality account management pipeline management
activity management
product encyclopaedias
contact management
product configuration
contract management
product visualization
document management
proposal generation
event management
quotation management
incentive management
sales forecasting
lead management
territory management
opportunity management
work-flow engineering
order management

8. Account Management
Offers sales reps and managers a complete view of the customer relationship including contacts, contact history, completed transactions, current orders, shipments, enquiries, service history, opportunities, and quotations
This allows sales reps and account managers to keep track of all their obligations in respect of every account for which they are responsible, whether this is an opportunity to be closed, an order or a service enquiry

9. Activity Management
Keeps sales reps and managers aware of all activities, whether complete or pending, related to an account, contact, or opportunity, by establishing to-do lists, setting priorities, monitoring progress and programming alerts
Activities include preparation of quotations, scheduling of sales calls and following up enquiries, for example

10. Contact Management
Contact management functionality includes tools for building, sharing and updating contact lists, making appointments, time setting, and task, event and contact tracking
Contact list data includes names, phone numbers, addresses, preference data, and addresses for people and companies, as well as a history of in- bound and out-bound communications

11. Contract Management
Contract management functionality enables reps and managers to create, track, progress, accelerate, monitor and control contracts with customers
Contract management helps manage a contract's lifespan by shortening approval cycles for contracts, renewing contracts sooner, and reducing administrative costs
The software may use security controls to ensure only approved people have access to contracts

12. Document Management
Companies generate and use many documents as they sell to customers - brochures, product specifications, price lists, competitive comparisons, and templates for preparing quotations, for example
Document management software allows companies to manage these documents, keep them current and ensure that they are available to reps and managers when needed

13. Event Management
Enables reps and managers to plan, implement, control and evaluate events such as conferences, seminars, trade shows, exhibitions and webinars, whether run solo or jointly with customers or other partners

14. Incentive Management
An issue for sales managers who use commissions to lift, direct and reward sales reps’ efforts
In many companies, commissions are calculated using stand-alone spreadsheets

15. Lead Management
Allows companies to create, assign and track sales leads
User-defined rules allow leads to be allocated to reps and account managers on the basis of role, territory, product expertise or other variables
Lead management allows for more equitable workload distribution across a sales team, and uses security controls to ensure that reps can only access their own leads

16. Opportunity Management
A record of a potential sale or any other type of revenue generation
Opportunity management software enables reps and managers to create an opportunity record in the database, and monitor progress against a predefined selling methodology

17. Order Management
Order management functionality allows reps to convert quotations and estimates into orders once a customer has agreed to buy
Order management software may include a quotation engine, a pricing module, and a product configurator
With visibility through a portal, the customer, rep and manager has access to the same, up-to-date order information

18. Pipeline Management
The process of managing the entire sales cycle from:
identifying prospects
estimating sales potential
managing leads
forecasting sales
initiating and maintaining customer relationships right through to closure
A well-defined sales pipeline helps minimize lost opportunities and breakdowns in the sales process

19. Proposal Generation
Proposal generation software allows users to create customized proposals for customers
Users draw from a database of information to create proposals which, typically, are composed of several parts, some of which are customized: cover page and letter, introduction, objectives, products, product features, services, prices, specifications, pictures, drawings, people, experience, resumes, references, approach, schedule, organization, scope of work, and appendices.

20. Quotation Management
Quotation management software allows reps and managers to quote for opportunities
The software allows users to create, edit, approve, and produce costed, customized, proposals quickly and reliably
Some vendors enable users to create multimedia proposals with audio, animation and video

21. Territory Management
Territory management software allows sales managers to create, adjust and balance sales territories, so that sales reps have equivalent workloads and/or opportunities
Some territory management applications come with a territory management methodology which users can follow when establishing sales territories
Some applications link to geographic mapping, or geo-demographic, software
The software enables companies to match sales coverage to market opportunity, create sales territory hierarchies (cities, states, regions) and reduce the cost of selling by reducing travel time
Call cycle scheduling, calendaring and lead management is often enabled by the software

22. Workflow Engineering
Workflow engineering software is useful for designing sales-related processes, such as the lead management process, and the event management process
It can even be used to design the selling process itself – the series of steps that a sales rep must follow in shifting a prospect from initial awareness to the close

23. Examples of SFA Reports
cost-to-serve
sales cycles
customer profitability
share of market
lead conversion
share of wallet
pipeline progress
sales person productivity
quotation performance
win-loss rates

24. Benefits for SFA Stakeholders
Salespeople: shorter sales cycles, more closing opportunities, higher win rates
Sales managers: improved salesperson productivity, improved customer relations, accurate reporting, reduced cost-of-sales
Senior management: accelerated cash flow, increased sales revenue, market share growth, improved profitability

25. Motivations for Implementing SFA
% of sample reporting
Improve efficiencies 72
Improve customer contact 44
Increase sales 33
Reduce costs 26
Improve accuracy 21

26. SFA will enhance performance when…..
Sales people find that SFA is easy to use
Sales people find the technology useful because it fits their roles well
Availability of appropriate-to-task SFA training
Users have accurate expectations about what SFA will deliver
Users have a positive attitude towards innovation and technology
Availability of user support after roll out, for example, a help desk
Involvement of user groups including sales reps and managers during project planning and technology selection
Deployment of a multi-disciplinary team in the project planning phases
Senior management support for SFA

27. Marketing Automation

28. Marketing Automation (MA) Definition
The application of computerised technologies to support marketers and marketing management in the achievement of their work-related objectives

29. Benefits from Marketing Automation
Enhanced marketing efficiency
Greater marketing productivity
More effective marketing
Enhanced responsiveness
Improved marketing intelligence
Improved customer experience

30. Functionality Offered by MA Software
Asset management
Market segmentation
Campaign management
Marketing analytics
Customer segmentation
Marketing optimisation
Direct mail campaign management
Marketing performance management
Document management
Marketing resource management
campaign management
Partner marketing
Enterprise marketing management
Product life-cycle management
Event-based marketing
Search engine optimisation
Internet marketing
Telemarketing
Keyword marketing
Trigger marketing
Lead generation
Web analytics
Loyalty management
Workflow engineering

31. Asset Management
Enables companies to identify and track the assets that customers purchase, license, use, install, or download
Assets can be either tangible, intangible or blended

32. Campaign Management
Automates the processes involved in planning, implementing, measuring, and learning from communication programs targeted at prospects or customers
The key elements of campaign management software are workflow, segmentation and targeting, personalization, execution, measurement, modelling and reporting

33. Customer Segmentation
The practice of partitioning customers into homogenous subsets so that each subset can be addressed as a unique marketing audience
This is the foundation of customer portfolio management

34. Direct Mail Campaign Management
A specific form of campaign management in which the communication medium is direct mail
Direct mail has many applications including lead generation, lead conversion, building awareness, up-selling and cross-selling, customer retention, database building or image enhancement
Important contributors to direct mail success are the list, the creative execution, the offer, and the timing

35. Email Campaign Management
campaign management is a specific form of campaign management in which the communication medium is
is cheap, easy to use and ubiquitous

36. Enterprise Marketing Management
Encompasses the business strategy, process automation and technologies required to effectively operate a marketing department, align resources, execute customer-centric strategies and improve marketing performance
It is best-suited for large organizations with 50 or more people in marketing
This includes functionality for campaign management, lead management, MRM [marketing resource management] and analytics

37. Event-based Marketing
Occurs when an event triggers a communication or offer
Event-based campaigns are usually initiated by customer behaviours or contextual conditions

38. Internet Marketing
The process of creating value by building and maintaining online customer relationships

39. 7 Stage Cycle of Internet Marketing

40. Keyword Marketing
The practice of generating website traffic from internet users who have entered keywords into search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, AOL, Ask.com and Live search (formerly MSN)

41. Lead Generation
An important marketing objective, particularly in business-to-business contexts
Sales people challenged to grow the numbers of customers served need to be presented with high quality leads for follow-up
Marketers can deploy campaigns, events, seminars, Webinars and other tactics to generate the leads

42. Loyalty Management
Loyalty management functionality allows organisations to develop and operate loyalty management programs
The development of customer loyalty is a goal of many CRM programs
The availability of loyalty management applications is a direct response to this need
Loyalty, or frequency, programs are important to several constituencies – the brand owner who operates the program, the member who collects and redeems credits, and the channel partner who transacts with the member

44. Marketing Analytics
The application of mathematical and statistical processes to marketing problems
Marketing analytics can be used to explore, describe and explain

45. Marketing Optimization
Marketing optimization software allows companies to select an overall goal, such as sales or profit margin maximization, and specify all of the constraints of a marketing campaign strategy
The software then determines which customers should get which offer through which channel to ensure the campaign objectives are met

46. Marketing Performance Management
Marketing performance management (MPM) software enables companies to measure their marketing performance though analysis and reports, and improve outcomes over time through closed-loop marketing
Senior management is progressively becoming more demanding that marketers be accountable for their expenditure, and MPM helps marketers meet that expectation
MPM, which is typically focussed on analysis of marketing tactics such as events and campaigns, is routinely built into most MA applications

47. Marketing Resource Management
Marketing resource management applications consist of a range of automated tools that enable marketers to manage their marketing processes and assets more effectively, and to work at greater speed and with improved control
MRM toolkits may include modules for :
Marketing planning and budgeting, New product launch, Marketing event calendaring, Event planning and registration, Project management, Campaign planning, Collateral production, proofing and approval, Digital asset management, including brands, trademarks, logos and collateral, Expense and budget management, Time management, Media buying, and Procurement

48. Partner Marketing
Partner marketing solutions enable companies to coordinate and work collaboratively with channel partners and others
Partner marketing solutions are used to manage processes such as:
partner qualification and sign up
development of joint business plans and objectives
cooperative advertising and promotions
lead management
co-branding of collateral and point-of-sale materials
measuring partner performance
partner training
administration of marketing funds
specialist partner incentive schemes

49. Product Life-cycle Management
Product life-cycle management (PLM) applications help marketers manage life cycle stages effectively and profitably
PLM software solutions facilitate collaborative intra- and extra-enterprise engineering, product development, and improved management of projects, product portfolios, documents, and quality
PLM applications can provide a single source of all product-related information to use in the innovation, design, engineering, feasibility, launch and market development processes

50. Telemarketing
Telemarketing is the use of the telephone to identify and qualify prospects, and to sell and service the needs of customers
Telemarketing takes two forms:
inbound (calls from customers)
outbound (calls to customers)
a blended function with agents both making and receiving calls
Telemarketing is widely employed in both B2C and B2B environments, but is subject to legislative control due to its intrusive nature

51. Telemarketing Functionality
Auto-dialling
Predictive dialling
Automated voice-messaging
Contact list management
Agent management
Do Not Call compliance
Screen pop with caller ID
Scripting, including objection response
Computer Aided Telephone Interviewing (CATI)
Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

52. Trigger Marketing
The practice of responding to some customer-generated or customer-related event in a way that is designed to achieve some marketing goal such as make a sale, identify a cross-sell opportunity, prevent negative word-of-mouth, or promote positive word-of-mouth
The event triggers the response

53. Web Analytics Report the behavior of website visitors
Include performance data from campaigns and events that involve the web site, for example the number of click-throughs from a web-link inserted in a campaign
Two main technologies collect data
logfile analysis
page-tagging

54. Workflow Engineering
Workflow engineering software is useful for designing marketing-related processes, such as the campaigning process, event-based marketing process, or the marketing planning process

55. Service Automation

56. Attributes of Companies Renowned for Excellent Service
Customer service is pervasive
It is everyone’s responsibility; it is neither delegated nor relegated to a single department or function.
Their operations run smoothly with minimal product and service defect rates, allowing them to focus on pleasing customers
They are always looking for ways to improve.
Customer service lies at the heart of the value proposition.
Customer service is the main selling point.
They build personal relationships with customers.
They employ the latest IT to
allow their customers to interact with them more conveniently
develop a profound understanding of what customers need and want
track activities and processes that influence customer experience.

57. Service Automation (SA) Definition
Service automation is the application of computerised technologies to support service staff and management in the achievement of their work-related objectives

58. Where is service automation deployed? [1]
contact centres
Contact centres are configured to communicate with customers across multiple channels including voice telephony, mail, , SMS, instant messaging, web collaboration and fax
call-centres
Call centres are generally dedicated to voice telephony communications, whether through a public switched telephone network, cell-phone network, or VoIP

59. Where is service automation deployed? [2]
help-desk
Help-desks are usually associated with IT environments where assistance is offered to IT users
SA applications such as case management, job management and service level management are used in this setting
field service
Field service is widespread in both B2C and B2B environments
Service automation applied to field service operations involves technologies such as job management, scheduling, mapping and spare parts management

60. Key Technological Elements of SA
Infrastructure
Data
Device
Software

61. Benefits from Service Automation
Enhanced service effectiveness
Greater service productivity
Improved customer experience

62. Functionality Offered by SA Software
Activity management
Mapping and driving directions
Agent management
Outbound communications mgmt
Case assignment
Queuing and routing
Case management
Scripting
Contract management
Scheduling
Customer self-service
Service analytics
response management
Service level management
Escalation
Spare parts management
Inbound communications mgmt
Web collaboration
Invoicing
Workflow engineering
Job management

63. Activity Management
Enables service staff to review their workload, to-do list and priorities as directed by their manager or scheduler, and to report back on progress and issue resolution
Some applications allow activities to be updated in real-time by dispatchers and routed to the technician, so that work can be reprioritised
Alerts can be set so that appointments are not missed, or to notify agents and their managers that issues are unresolved or service levels are about to be, or have been, violated

64. Agent Management A high priority for call- and contact-centre managers
Too few agents and customers will be dissatisfied with wait-times; too many agents and payroll costs will be unnecessarily high
Technologies that contribute to this outcome include queuing, scripting, and knowledge management

65. Case Assignment
Case assignment applications ensure that each enquiry or issue gets routed to the right agent or technician for resolution
Customer service agents might, for example, be organised according to language skills, and field service agent by product category

66. Case Management
Case management covers the full cycle of activities involved from receiving initial notification of a matter of concern to a customer to its final resolution and the case file being closed
Case management is also known as incident management and issue management.
Cases, incidents or issues are initiated by the creation of a trouble ticket
Customers may be allowed to do this by web-form, or by ing or calling a service or contact centre

67. Contract Management
Contract management functionality enables service engineers and managers to create, track, progress, accelerate, monitor and control service contracts with customers
Many companies now sell extended service contracts to customers when warranty periods have expired

68. Customer Self-service
An attractive option for companies because it transfers the responsibility and cost for service to the customer
Customers who self-serve are much less likely to place demands on contact-centre, call-centre, help-desk or field service staff
Customers are typically more competent at self-serving when transactions are involved (e.g. online banking or music downloads); however, they are less competent when problem-resolution is concerned

69. Email Response Management Systems
response management systems (ERMS) are not only useful for handling inbound s but also for delivering outbound s and SMS messages
ERMS are designed up to manage the reception, interpretation, routing, response and storage of incoming securely and effectively

70. Escalation
Escalation ensures that issues get escalated according to internally determined rules
Higher levels of authority typically have greater discretion to resolve issues
For example, a front-line customer service agent might be required to escalate to higher levels of management issues that have a potentially high cost or reputational consequence

71. Inbound Communications Management
Inbound communications management (ICM) applications allow companies to receive, route, queue and distribute incoming communications from any channel – voice telephony, , fax, instant message, SMS, fax, web form – to agents in any location including contact centre, in the field or at home
A unified queue, issue/content recognition, intelligent routing, and knowledge-base integration allow agents to deliver a consistent customer experience and to respond effectively to service requests whatever the communication channel

72. Job Management
Job management applications offer a range of functionality including:
cost estimation
quotation generation
creation of trouble tickets
job planning
travel time and distance calculation
job clustering (to reduce travel time)
Calendaring
Scheduling
spare parts management
job progress tracking
Invoicing
service level management
technician despatch
time management
product configuration

73. Mapping and Driving Directions
Solutions that provide mapping and driving directions are very useful for service engineers who need to visit customers’ homes or business premises
Taking into account the engineer’s point- of-origin, service locations, job priorities, service level agreements and other variables, mapping solutions can minimize travel times and distances to ensure that service tasks are performed optimally

74. Outbound Communications Management
Outbound communications management software applications are used in a service environment to:
acknowledge service requests
make and confirm service appointments
advise on the progress of a service task
invoice for out-of-warranty service
follow-up after service to ensure that the customer is satisfied

75. Queuing and Routing
Queuing and routing applications allow issues to be routed to agents with particular expertise and positioned in that agent’s queue according to some criterion
Routing is usually determined by case assignment rules and position in the queue is determined by customer value or some other metric
The objective of queuing and routing is to ensure that every service issue is presented to the most appropriate agent for handling and resolution

76. Scheduling
Scheduling involves planning and organising a service technician’s activity plan for a day, week or other period
A technician’s schedule contains details on the customer, location, time, product and issue
Some scheduling applications take into account a range of considerations to ensure that the right technician is sent to service the customer
travel time and distance, technician availability, technician skills, customer access hours, service level agreement, availability of spare parts, and the technician’s hourly rates of pay.

77. Service Analytics
Service analytics provide managers with information on how effectively and efficiently customer service generally, and individual agents or technicians specifically, are operating
Important metrics for managers of field service operations, for example, include technician utilization, parts inventory, travel time, first time fix rate (FTFR), mean time to resolve (MMTR), and job backlog

78. Service Level Management
Service level management applications allow managers to control the level of service that is offered to customers, and technicians to deliver the level of service agreed
Service levels can be agreed for a number of variables including:
availability (the percentage of time that the service is available over an agreed time period)
usage (the number of service users that can be served simultaneously)
responsiveness (the speed with which a demand for service is fulfilled)

79. Web Collaboration
Web collaboration between customer and service agent is enabled by technologies that use instant messaging (web chat), or allow both parties to co-browse web-pages
Customer service agents can collaborate with a number of customers simultaneously, or can prioritise based on customer value or some other metric

80. Workflow Engineering
Workflow engineering software is useful for designing service-related processes, such as problem diagnosis and issue escalation.
Workflow for field service operations will define:
how service requests are validated
how service tickets are issued
how tickets are allocated
how problems will be diagnosed
how parts will be ordered
how problems will be fixed
how customers will be invoiced, and so on.

81. References
Francis Buttle, Customer Relationship Management: Concepts and Technologies, 2e, Elsevier Ltd., 2009
Baran, Galka and Strunk, Principles of Customer Relationship Management, South-Western, 2008