I was having lunch with my buddy and “Social Media guru” Kyle Lacy the other day at LaPiedad here in Broad Ripple. Everytime I have lunch with Kyle something interesting comes out of it.
Somehow we started talking about CRMs (Customer Relationship Management) and how we don’t find them very useful. We both felt a little guilty about it. Turns out we are both using the same methodology (roughly)- paper and email to manage leads and tasks.
Personally I start every week by writing all active projects on a notepad and then creating a list of “to-dos” and active leads. That pad of paper is my CRM. I look at every project everyday, I can’t avoid it like a CRM that requires me to log in, etc. I’m sure there’s great ones out there but everyone I’ve tried, and I’ve tried a few, end up not being used. Paper just works.
We both felt that technology, in this instance, actually added an unnecessary layer to our process. Kyle said something like “it’s weird cause I think of myself of a techie” to which I responded “you’re not a techie, you’re a platform agnostic, you use whatever works.”
Normally the word “agnostic” is used in the religious arena- “I don’t know if there is or isn’t a God so I’m not going to take a stand, etc.” The non-religious definition is “a person unwilling to commit to an opinion about something”. I’m using it more broadly here as “someone who has little to no platform or channel loyalty.” A little bit of a re-definition I admit but I’m not sure what other word would capture that idea.
definition time- what I mean by “channel” and “platform”
channel: medium used to reach an audience- radio, tv, internet, text, etc.
platform: operating system and corrresponding hardware that runs software often connecting via a channel. i.e. Laptops, iPhones, GPS, Satellite Radios, etc. Or, for our purposes: paper (operating system), pencil (hardware) and language (software).
What I’m seeing is a generation that doesn’t care what platform or channel they use as long as it works. And by “works” I mean it does the job effectively and they enjoy the experience. If a piece of paper works better than a computer- great! If I can hear the songs I want via Pandora then I don’t care about the new station in town. If my cell phone gets good reception at home then who cares about a land line? MySpace full of losers? Hello Facebook! All these iPhone fanatics (myself included) are just one great phone (maybe the G-Phone?) away from cancelling their AT&T contracts. We have no loyalty to AT&T, if anything our experience with their service has decreased any existing brand loyalty.
Since there is very little channel or platform loyalty it creates real challenges for brands that relied heavily, increasingly past tense, on their channels and platforms as a differentiators- think Comcast grappling with the upcoming move to Internet TV, Microsoft with the move to web software eroding their desktop market share, AT&T totally fumbling the transition from land lines to cellular towers (or the lack therefore). As consumers rapidly jump around many companies are panicking. They aren’t scaled to do that. They aren’t agile.
So how does a company deal with all these Platform Agnostics out there messing everything up? Focus on the user experience- create a superior user experience, the “killer app” of user experiences.
Look at the business card or the post-it note. No digital technology has replaced these and I’m not seeing a near future where that happens. Same with email- an “antique” digital technology. There were high hopes for Google Wave to be “email 2.0″ and maybe that will happen but right now it looks more like “antique” email will continue to be king and only slowly integrate Wave-like elements over time. Business cards, post it notes, note pads, email- they are all “killer apps” and no-one has come close to dethroning them despite numerous attempts.
Technology isn’t going to slow down but for every new shiny object that reaches critical mass usage there will be dozens if not hundreds of others lying along the road. Users are selfish. They only care about themselves. Keep this front and center in all your efforts and you will convince some of these Platform Agnostics into believing your creed.
I must confess that I too am a platform agnostic. My company recently moved to CRM software and I have a very hard time getting behind it. I did fine without it, and it adds another thing to my already busy schedule. There is one thing that I find extremely useful with CRM though. No prospect ever falls through the cracks. If soemone tells me to call them in 6 months. I will. If someone says no thanks I can still email them and check in with them every few months. It is amazing in that respect. I sure hate messing with it though. Users ARE selfish.
Thanks for the comment Jake.
I agree that CRMs are useful for follow up notifications.
Personally I use Google Calendar for that, just set notification when I want to follow up with someone in 6 months, etc. It works well for me. I have also keep lists, on paper for that but 6 months requires a different approach.
I think it’s all about scale. Clearly a large company with a lot of people working on thousands of potential leads needs a robust CRM. My argument here is really- use what works. Don’t feel that you have to use the latest technology just cause it’s there. Often I see companies using the metaphorical jackhammer when a regular one would do just fine.
As much as I wanted to push for paperless systems at the start of my career, I’ve found that I turn to paper again and again. I wrote my thoughts about Paper Platforms at the Red Bit Blue Bit blog: http://redbitbluebit.com/paper-platforms/
The right tool is the one you actually use, not the one somebody else claims is useful.
The late Mark Weiser said it best. “The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it”
To get an idea for where we are supposed to be, read his seminal paper:
http://nano.xerox.com/hypertext/weiser/SciAmDraft3.html