Who is Jamie?
Jamie is a CRM expert. No matter what size your business is, the importance of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system should not be underestimated. Over time it will become your greatest asset for delivering more sales.
Key Takeaways
1. An effective CRM system means you capture the details of each customer from their personal details (with full GDPR compliancy) to how they found you, what they bought, the value, when they bought, how they use your product/service and so on. This also gives your customer the feeling that you understand their needs and show a degree of care which in turn delivers a great customer experience. This customer experience will hopefully develop into customer loyalty which will help to generate referrals for your business.
2. You need to think about GDPR - if you're not registered with the ICO, and you store data about people's personal details, you are subject to putting yourself in a very difficult position when it comes to being fined for breach. So yeah, that the whole GDPR process is becoming very much, much more strong.
3. You really need a CRM strategy, If you don't have a strategy for how to build a relationship with customers. And that comes from their stakeholders
Valuable Free Resource or Action
See Jamie's website at https://jamie-allan.com/crm/
A video version of this podcast is available on YouTube : https:////youtu.be/zrPDzr2q-Bo
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Transcript
Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
business, jamie, crm, data, problem, customers, relationship, question, people, book, talking, companies, coffee, realise, programme, clean, called, smes, database, contacts
SPEAKERS
Jamie Allan, Stuart Webb
Stuart Webb 00:33
Hi, welcome back to it's not rocket science, five questions over coffee. Although today I have in front of me very nice green tea being a little bit more healthy than having too much too much coffee in the morning. I'm here with Jamie Allen, Jamie, and welcome to the podcast. I'm looking forward to this conversation very much. Jamie is a CRM specialist and has been a CRM specialist for all let Jamie decide if he wants to say how many years it's been. He's been a CRM specialist, let's just say it's more years than I want to accredit him with. But I think he's more than happy to answer any CRM questions. So, Jamie, welcome to It's not rocket science, five questions over coffee really looking forward to the conversation.
Jamie Allan 01:17
Now, thanks for inviting me, Stuart, and I've suitably complied with my coffee.
Stuart Webb 01:22
Excellent. Well done. Okay. So, Jamie, let's, let's just start by asking you the obvious first question, which is, who is your ideal client and what's what's the problem that they've got, which you help them to overcome?
Jamie Allan 01:38
Ideally, their businesses are growing, so they're at least three years old, want to develop the business, get people on board get new products and services, so very focused on that that development stage. But one of the main problems is actually finding out that they've got data that they don't know where it is. So they need to centralise that, and more importantly, need to get it clean, because a lot of companies do is they can go through their business career, it just keep on going for new business without actually understanding about the existing business, and looking after your existing customers. Because relationships are really important. So really, the biggest problem is actually realising that they need to clean the data, because it goes out of date, really, really quickly. But every six months, you should really do a review. And very, very few companies, I haven't come across a business yet, that's got an absolutely clean database. It's it's, at best, okay, which is no good. Because it's the old 8020 rule. 80% of your business comes from critics and your customers. So make sure at least that 20% is right. And that's where you build the relationships. And really
Stuart Webb 02:44
interesting you say that, because regulators are getting more and more firm at the moment with the idea of making sure that you're not just contacting people unnecessarily, the GDPR, the, the even in California, they're now getting very firm on there. So we've really got to be much more careful about how many emails and contacts we meet with people, which are just inappropriate, haven't we? Yeah.
Jamie Allan 03:06
Oh, very much. So the the ICO was started off going for the larger companies, but they're really powering down now on the SMEs. I mean, they sent out a an email to all SMEs saying, Are you registered, and it costs 40 quid a year. But if you're not registered, and you store data about people's personal details, you are subject to putting yourself in a very difficult position when it comes to being fined for breach. So yeah, that the whole GDPR process is becoming very much, much more strong. So far as the ICO is concerned.
Stuart Webb 03:41
Sorry, I interrupted you, I think you're gonna go on and say a second problem
Jamie Allan 03:45
I get the second problem was, they really don't have a CRM strategy, they don't have a strategy for actually how to build a relationship with a with their customers. And that comes really from the fact that they don't get input from their, from their stakeholders. So they buy a CRM, put it in the system and make it work with really, you've got to plan the workflow, about how everybody wants to use the system. So that data gets put onto the system and managed properly. Because if you've got Duff data going in, you've obviously got data going out, which means the reports are useless. So your CRM is never going to work. And I've been into many organisations, and they've said, look, what we've got just isn't working, can you make it work? Or should we start again? So we do that whole process of well, what have you spent, what's the investment? If we do this, what's the return on investment on a new project? So, we have to go through that phase, but more often than not, we go back to the basics was start small and keep it simple. If you keep it simple, people could then build and see value as they as they work through the the business and and develop those relationships. So you then got a centralised CRM, which is not siloed so all your data Once cleaned, is centralised, you know, sales marketing admin accounts, everybody looks at the CRM because the customer is everybody's responsibility. So everybody needs access. So that's really the second part of it. Keep it simple growers, the business needs it. So don't have all the bells and whistles, which, obviously, a lot of the online businesses, they have to offer all the options, because they have to be a one for all. But what I'm trying to do is say, look, tell me what you want, what's your workflow, and then make the business? Have a CRM that actually works for the business?
Stuart Webb 05:38
Terrific, Jamie? What are the common mistakes that people make them when they're trying to solve those problems without any sort of help?
Jamie Allan 05:47
Well, they try and do it themselves. I mean, once they do realise and accept that they may have an issue, they try to themselves. But again, you've heard the stories of companies just sending out emails willy nilly, oh, you know, we've got this fantastic product you were with with us a few years ago, would you like and what they're doing, they think they've got it right. But actually, when you try and clean a database like that, and you have been in touch, you really need to actually, first of all, say something like, you used to do business with us, would you still like us to keep in touch, you shouldn't try and market to them. Because for all you know, three years ago, whatever they could have said, we don't want to be contacted anymore. So you've got to start again. And if there's any doubt, just get rid of it and start again, just to be safe. So that's the main thing. They try and do it themselves. And they can't they fall into holes occasionally. The second thing is they think that they need to do well, they, they think that they ought to do it sooner rather than later. So they give it to some employee, like a marketing manager or somebody in the business. So go on and do that. Well, they've got the same problem. So it's passing the buck almost. So you've got to actually, if you're going to do it yourself, you've got to actually do your research, and get onto it and do it properly. And it takes time.
Stuart Webb 07:09
Yeah, brilliant. So what's that valuable free action or valuable free resource that the audience can implement that will help them solve that problem?
Jamie Allan 07:20
Well, there's so much research out there, all you need to do is punch into the, into the URL, free data cleansing, or data cleansing services, and a number of opportunities will pop up. I mean, I think you've got a link on the on the programme now. But if you go to something like data cleaning tools, you've got a plethora of options that you can tag on to where you can get some ideas as to how to do it for yourself. I mean, there are companies out there that will do up to a certain amount of time for nothing, just to give you an idea of this is what it could look like we will do a sample I mean, I work with a business that we do samples, this is what the data will look like. And then if you want to clean the rest of the data, then obviously we'll do a quote. But there are data free data cleansing tools out there. But again, you've got to learn how to use them. So you've got to invest the time. So this is balance of do I invest the time? Or do I actually do a horses for courses? They've got it what doing they're doing? I'm going to do what I'm doing? Why don't we just share the share the results?
Stuart Webb 08:28
I completely agree with you, Jamie, I'm so frustrated by so many business owners, even even very serious, large business owners, who so often attempt to do things, as I call it, using the path of least assistance. They also around say, well, that's something we could do. And often I turn around to them and say, it would be cheaper, quicker and easier to just employ an expert who does nothing but this because frankly, even if you have bought bought the the time and effort to learn how to do it yourself, they'll do it better. They'll do it so much easier than than trying to sort of learn how to do so much. So much of this yourself, it's so much easier to just get an expert and say, just make that happen for me, please and then walk away confident that it's going to happen.
Jamie Allan 09:15
Well, you're right, because again, data is a real asset. A lot of companies think data is a whole lot of numbers, words on a page. It's actually what your business is all about. It's your customers, it's the value that your business will deliver for you. So why don't you just get it done, right? What's the right people at the right time and help everybody get more business as a result? It is not rocket science. I mean, this is really what the process is. It's keeping it simple. Get it right. Talk to the right people.
Stuart Webb 09:49
Brilliant, love it. So what's the concept or or books that's been most impactful in your experience that you want to pass on?
Jamie Allan 10:00
Well, two areas, first of all a book and then a programme. But the book that has been quite influential. It's a recent book written by a Michaels V band, Zed VI, ba, MD. And his book was called success in your sphere. And what this does is it leverages the power of the relationship. So you can achieve your business goals. So the focus is on the hot the customer journey, effectively what you do from start to finish. And he's got an an acronym called capital. And I don't know if you picked up the notes that I sent you, but essentially, that the capital is the see is the consistent execution. So you need to be able to develop good habits, stronger customer relationships. So you need to have the right customers at the right level. And then the aggregate, you need to actually then curate the the database of who your professional contacts and what level they're at. And then you prioritise. So you order that database, you investigate, which is the eye, so you collect intelligence, I mean, the whole thing about a CRM is to collect the soft, the soft aspects, you know that the birthday dates, the children's names, the dog's names, so that you can go back to them and you have this empathy with this emotion, emotional capacity. Another another book, two links to this to the power of persuasion by Robert Cal Dini, he talks about the law of reciprocity. And you know, if you if you, if you give, or if you take the time to learn about others, it will be astounded, and then that, that, that that relationship gets stronger, because the know like trust in a relationship is really important. You can't get to doing except this without, in the first place, liking them. And then trusting them. It's when you get to the trust, and say, the V band book, it's all about getting through that process and building that strong relationship. So the T is timely engagement, then you add value, then you leverage the process. And you constantly doing this with your contacts that match your power.
Stuart Webb 12:14
Or make sure that that accurate and that that goes into the notes, Jamie, because I think that's some valuable stuff to try and remember there, Jenny, my final question to you, and this is my Get Out of Jail Free card. I'm happy to admit it. So what's the question that I should have asked you today? That I haven't? And please bear in mind that having told us what the question is, please answer it. Otherwise, you'll leave us hanging, waiting for part two of the of the podcast.
Jamie Allan 12:47
Well, how do I keep customers that my task my leads and maximise sales opportunities? It's a straight question. And you do that by making sure the data is out there. And it's clean. Because without data, there's no business. If you understood data, you can get more out of it. And really, it's about looking at what you've already got. maximising what you've already got. So it's actually the way we came in. It's looking at that at 20% Your customers will deliver 80% Your Business. Jamie pretty imposed profile business, and you threw a cent.
Stuart Webb 13:29
Sorry, you broke up for a minute, just just carry on. Gone. Now I'm just I'm so glad you put it like that. Because I don't know where I got to. You were talking about the fact that you can you can leverage the data in order to maximise customer value.
Jamie Allan 13:47
Yes, the data is everything.
Stuart Webb 13:51
It is. It absolutely is. Jamie, it's fascinating. I'm sure we could talk for many more hours on this, but we've run out of time, largely because otherwise coffee will be getting cold. And none of us want that. So I'm just gonna remind everybody if you want to see more of these and know when they're coming up, because we do get out and tell people when they're coming up. You can you can find us all over the social medias. But also we're on this link which is HTTPS, colon forward slash forward slash TCA dot FYI, forward slash subscribe. I'll just see those last few things again, t ca dot FYI, forward slash subscribe, get onto the mailing list, and then we will let you know what's coming up in the next couple of weeks. Jamie has been an absolute pleasure talking to you this morning. It's been so I'm so pleased. You're talking about this. And I think it's incredibly important that people understand how they can use those relationships use that understanding they've got of customers in order to be able to maximise the time they spend with their customers and and sell more of them. stuff to customers. Because, you know, if you've made a sale to a customer, it's probably because they really want to have more of what you've got. And just understanding the right time to engage them. And understanding more about them enables you to do exactly that. So it's been a brilliant conversation. Thank you so much. I look forward to seeing more of your more of what you're talking about on the internet. And I really hope that we get to do some of this again, thank you so much.
Jamie Allan 15:25
Thank thank you for inviting Mr. Pleasure.
Stuart Webb 15:28
Absolutely, no problem. Speak to you soon. Bye.
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Five Questions Over Coffee with Jamie Allan (ep. 33)