notes and views on crm, social media, and the human side of information technology

Coffee as benchmark of CRM maturity

Benchmarks, schmerchmarks… talk about CRM metrics and ROI and whatnot, it’s really not that difficult to identify the important value-generators.

You can judge a company’s level of CRM maturity on a single benchmark - the quality of coffee offered as a perk to employees - since no CRM is mature if it doesn’t include employees as a very, if not critically, important customer group.

I’ve experienced 3 basic levels of Coffee CRM Maturity Levels (CCML - should I trademark it?)

  1. No coffee - perhaps there’s a Starbucks next door and who can compete with that…
  2. Egregious Instant-Vomit Nescafe, or lower-quality replacements thereof. Just add a kettle, artificial sweetener, and powdered milk - you couldn’t care less. This is so prevalent in my corner of the universe that my eyes are completely blinds to such sights, and just bring my own $5 cup from Coffee Heaven
  3. Full-auto Coffee, Tea, Water dispenser - some of these produce consumable products that don’t introduce dozens of toxic chemicals into your bloodstream.

I have yet to visit a place with a real, actual, authentic espresso machine (preferably semi-auto) but I suppose they may exist. That would qualify as a potential CRM Excellence Indicator, especially if accompanied by a regular supply of quality beans.

That’s it. I submit to you that no company that treats its employees as deserving anything less good than a Rancillio Silva is serious about CRM.

PS: Offices without any coffee supply whatsoever may not be indicative of low CRM maturity, but mostly are; the question is: can I get my cup of java without having to compensate for the work break?

PS 2: Reading Starbucked, which has definitely prompted my “analysis” in that coffee is, no kidding, the fuel of knowledge workers (and who isn’t one, nowadays), and you wouldn’t run your BMW on recycled vegetable oil, would you.

February 8, 2008 | Filed Under CRM, Rants | Leave a Comment 

links for 2008-02-07

  • TED is great but TED is also snobbish and occurs behind closed gates. I’d love to see this event to be the proletariat’s response, but it should happen BEFORE, TED, so its participants could then carry burning torches to TED’s gates. Pity I can’t go.

February 7, 2008 | Filed Under Links and Quotes | Leave a Comment 

links for 2008-02-06

February 6, 2008 | Filed Under Links and Quotes | Leave a Comment 

links for 2008-02-05

February 5, 2008 | Filed Under Links and Quotes | Leave a Comment 

Apropos of the VRM meetup

In London, at VRM meetup yesterday. The discussions seem to be a bit preliminary still, but there’s definitely something in the air. Waiting for Adriana to release her long-awaited white paper :)

One thought that has stayed with me was: businesses will have a natural incentives to hop on the bandwagon once the tools are available (and being used). Any business will kill for a qualified lead, and VRM means, about other things, people streaming their demands / needs to whomever wants to listen

February 1, 2008 | Filed Under CRM | Leave a Comment 

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