Archive for CRM
Telekom. Witness my Personal Shitstorm Live.
Juli 29th, 2010 • View Comments Brands, CRM
Tags: Brands, Mobile, Service, Telekom, TMobile, Truth, Twitter, Underway, World
This morning I checked my German bank account and found out that 1,400 Euro were missing. The reason? My former telecom provider Telekom had withdrawn the money. I had terminated my iPhone contract months ago. So why did they withdraw so much money?
In Germany you usually have two year mobile contracts.
- If you cancel your contract prior to this two year period, your telecom provider is nice to you, offers new handsets, special conditions etc. to make you return to him
- If you forget to terminate the contract it is automatically prolonged for another year without a real option for you to get out
Sounds bizarre? Yes, absolutely. Actually we all know that keeping a pleased client is much cheaper than acquiring (or 
reacquiring) a new one – but telecom providers in Germany don’t seem to think that far.
Back to the 1,400 EUR. Where were they? In April 2010 I found out that I am moving to Amsterdam to start a new job. I immediately withdrew from my iPhone contract which was still in effect by September 2010. In other words – I had to pay at least 4-5 more months.
Later I realized, there is a way out of this little problem. Simply because I moved abroad – Germany’s Telekom could not offer their services in the Netherlands. A German law gave me the right to instantly terminate the agreement if this is the case. So, in June (while already being in Amsterdam) I sent them another letter, withdrawing from my German mobile contract with instant effect.
What I did not know was – by withdrawing for the second time my first contract termination was considered as inoperative. The result…
- Telekom disconnected me instantly
- But (as I withdrew ‘too late’) they prolonged my existing contract for one more year and
- Made me pay for this prolongation for the whole prolonged year = 1,400 Euros
Very twisted ‘reality’. Of course I instantly screamed at a poor guy from customer service who promised me to solve the problem asap. And as usual, nothing happened. I called up my bank and got the money returned…but of course the problem with Telekom was not yet solved.
Social CRM. Ready for action?
Oktober 11th, 2009 • View Comments Business, CRM, Strategy
Tags: Business, CRM, Future, Prediction, Social Business Design, Social CRM, Social Influence Marketing, Strategy, Tools, World
While we are talking way too much about real vs. not so real Social Media Experts, definitely too few people debate about what social might contribute to the value of business-client-relationship. I believe the question how CRM will evolve is absolutely crucial for what lies ahead in social. While we have to answer questions about Social ROI (which does not always make sense), all too often we really seem to care too little about customer relationship in a social era. In this post I would like to give a very brief introduction on the topic and discuss the question whether traditional CRM decentralizes itself or if we can integrate Social CRM in traditional tools.
What is Social CRM?
Social CRM is a term which evolved over the last couple of years as extension to the classic understanding of the different forms of traditional CRM. While CRM describes an “information industry term for methodologies, software, and usually Internet capabilities that help an enterprise manage customer relationships in an organized and efficient manner” (via Marios Alexandrou), Social CRM can be seen as the next step in a world which is more and more decentralized.
According to CRM maven Paul Greenberg Social CRM (SCRM) is:
CRM is a philosophy & a business strategy, supported by a technology platform, business rules, workflow, processes & social characteristics, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted & transparent business environment. It’s the company’s response to the customer’s ownership of the conversation.
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