Small-Firm Service from Big Business

Big businesses want to be agile enough to sell you only something you want exactly when you want it, to wish you a happy birthday every year and to make sure that all their employees know how you were treated each time you talked to the company.

Many are counting on customer relationship management technology, which lets businesses better combine and organize customer information to let them act small when it counts.

Could small businesses, which always seem to be under siege from big companies with bigger resources, lose one of their greatest advantages: the personal touch? "This technology will let [big businesses] breach that," said Steven J. Krisfalusy, Business & Technology Architect at SJK Beringer Group, a local business & technology consulting company.

"They've never been able to attack it at this level before."

Customer relationship management, known as CRM, is primarily an organizing tool that merges information from different departments - sales, distribution and customer service, for example.

By processing that data, companies can create a dossier that tells the sales staff a customer's habits. It also lets companies focus their advertising or get advance warnings when a product is overstocked.

CRM also manages minutiae. It can help trigger automatic thank-you e- mails after every lunch meeting. Taken further, a savvy professional could automatically attach fliers and brochures to e-mails sent out after meetings on certain subjects.

Few companies do all of these things, but some are already using the technology to give them a competitive edge.

Moen Inc., for example, has used customer relationship management to launch a Web site that helps its direct customers manage their orders online.

The North Olmsted faucet company also plans to use the technology to reach the thousands of small home-building companies.

It is compiling a database of plumbers, constructions companies and other businesses that could influence the buying habits of construction companies.

Moen will send targeted advertising to the companies, said Tim Baker, Moen's vice president of information technology.

But smaller businesses can use this technology, too. Microsoft Inc. includes CRM features in its products for small and medium-sized businesses, and Salesforce.com is popular with some midsize firms.

As the price drops, more small businesses can use this technology, too.

"I see really two things starting to happen," said Brad Rozen, a business productivity adviser in the Great Lakes Region of Microsoft Inc. who works with CRM technology.

"You see larger companies give that personal touch so you're not just a number. With small organizations, they are able to afford some of the [CRM] tools."

Krisfalusy said small businesses aren't paying enough attention to the changes around them. They aren't as aware of the technology as major companies.

Plus, they aren't considering marketing campaigns and other customer- friendly promotions that are typically reserved for bigger companies.

"It's rushing by, and they don't see it," he said.

Chris Seper

The Plain Dealer

Reprinted with permission