Customer Driven Management

CRM- You see this term everywhere. It stands for Customer Relationship Management. It often means technology, process and measurement. The process of "relating" to Customers. Kind of simple and maybe even woefully inadequate as a definition but for this blog, let's go with it. We "relate" with customers using technology to help be efficient and effective with those precious customer relationships. The technology helps our employees have the right information, tools, and answers for the customers. The customer wins because they get better service, product and support. The company wins because they deliver products and services by maximizing their resources (people, process and goods) and hopefully increasing profits and revenues. The term is well known, the industry has accepted it and most companies are either "doing it" or considering "doing it". As with most technologies some do it very well and others not so well. Some are "all-in" and some are just getting started. This blog segment is intended to introduce a new term. This term is called Customer Driven Management.

CDM changes the relationship between your customers and your companies more specifically between your customers and your employees. The "relationship" as we know it; changes dramatically. The customers drive your employees, coach your employees, encourage your employees, train your employees, help you with their year end reviews and simply help you; help them get better at their job. The company gets passionate, credible, reliable, cost effective and in some cases infinite resources to help them coach and improve their employees. Customers get the opportunity to enhance and improve the very service and support they depend on to meet the needs of the products or services they buy. The relationship as we know it is "driven" to new areas. It enhances CRM by bringing customers closer to your company and your process.

We are not talking about being a "customer driven company". That means we listen to our customers and try to react and respond to their needs and wants. This customer driven management is just that; customers "managing" employees. Customers working directly with our employees to make them better.

The result? Higher profit, higher quality, lower cost, lower turnover, higher customer satisfaction and experience; you get the picture. In the coming blogs we will pursue each one of these above and see how your customers can impact your organization.