What is Customer Engagement?

What is Customer Engagement?

Customer engagement is trending right now. Not only does everyone have something to say about it (including us), but new customer engagement products are being released every day. All the hype is warranted because strengthening customer relationships leads to revenue growth. However, a team looking to enhance their engagement can quickly get confused by everything out there. So, let’s discuss what customer engagement is. 

Customer engagement is the process of connecting with your customers. It’s more than a singular event; it’s a cultivation of the client relationship. Think of it as the totality of every touchpoint and interaction. Not just that, but it can be measured by the emotional connection each customer has with your brand.

Why are Connections Important?

Customers expect more from you than they did in the past. You’re not a big fish in a small pond anymore. Consumers not only have a variety of options at their disposal, but they demand personalized connections. You can thank ______ (fill in the blank with your favorite tech company) for changing how products and messaging are delivered. Therefore, expecting that a one-size-fits-all approach will work with your customer base is both naive and likely to bring an unfortunate outcome. 

Happy customers are good for business. They tell their friends nice things about your brand, and, more importantly, they become patrons. Loyalty translates into recurring revenue and more profit. By some estimates, retaining a customer is at least five times more efficient than acquiring a new one. Is there anything else that needs to be said?

The Benefits of Engagement 

Now the fun part. By focusing on customer engagement, you can increase profits and connect with clients in new and more valuable ways. Instead of hoping that your clients are happy, an ever-evolving customer engagement strategy provides a reliable indication and usually results in healthy customer relationships. You have some work ahead if you want to achieve this level of customer affinity, but don’t worry because it’s well worth it. 

Start Engaging

The first place to start is with an analysis of the current state of your customer engagement. Do you have a cohesive strategy (product, operations, and customer experience)? Is every touchpoint with your base tactical and in-line with your mission? Those questions should keep you occupied for a minute. 

The next step is to work with key stakeholders on potential ways you can improve. Ensure you hear different departments’ voices and use a team-centered approach. It’s important to note that you should constantly revisit this strategy and rollout phase to keep up to date with what’s happening on the frontline. Stay tuned for the next post on how your team can take your customer engagement to the next level. 

If you’ve heard enough and want to talk, don’t hesitate to contact us.Stay tuned

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Implementing Salesforce Successfully

Things to Think about before Implementing Salesforce

  • Ben Doran, Revenue Operations Consultant

Effective Salesforce rollouts require a well-crafted plan and careful execution. Implementations are intricate and demand a thorough knowledge of how the system works. As with everything, experience is vital to a smooth integration. This post is not meant to scare you but to equip your team for the journey ahead. Read on to learn more about what you should consider before implementing Salesforce. 

Salesforce is a powerful system that provides users with unparalleled capability. The tool is a must-have for any company looking to grow and stay connected. It’s so much more than your parents’ CRM – it’s a customer service tool, a help center, a marketing platform, etc. But as the saying goes, “with great power comes a great implementation.”

What Does Integration Look Like?

Like the kid in school who is friends with everyone, Salesforce plays well with external applications. From Dialpad to Adobe, you can easily access hundreds of apps through the Salesforce system.

Before you start the implementation, we recommend mapping out a complete list of integration needs. Make sure you know what you want and how the systems will communicate with each other. 

Pro Tip: Actual integrations take time and require technical expertise. While the DIY spirit is admirable, it usually doesn’t end well here.

How To Train the Team

Salesforce is not an autonomous vehicle; it requires someone to drive it. The driver here is your team, and as it takes time to learn how to be a good driver, Salesforce also has a bit of a learning curve. Therefore, helping users with best practices and terminology is crucial. The two questions you want to answer are:

  1. How are we going to train everyone? 
  2. Where can users go if they have questions?

It’s just as important to have an internal team trained and motivated to use Salesforce as it is to have the tool. Depending on your capacity, training can consist of anything from a series of teamwide meetings focusing on how the platform works to mandatory completion of Trailhead units. This Trailhead curriculum is a free resource created by Salesforce to educate users. It’s a great tool to introduce newcomers to the Salesforce ecosystem. In addition, training allows your team to get up and running on the platform quickly.

Your team should create a working vocabulary and an outline of best practices. It doesn’t have to be pretty, but an internal resource will help answer questions and reinforce standard operating procedures. It may sound like tedious work, but you’ll thank us later.

professional businesspeople

Internal Salesforce Resource

Who is going to be your Salesforce “person?” Who will be responsible when questions, problems, or recommendations arise? While Salesforce is an independent and self-sufficient application, you still need someone internally to oversee the day-to-day operations.

There are a few determining factors when assigning this responsibility. For example, an admin may be a good idea if you’re looking at running a large-scale operation with 50+ users. Admins usually come with a series of certificates and a wealth of knowledge about how the system should run. At the bare minimum, though, you will need someone internally who is comfortable setting up new users, editing fields, and ideally working with Flows. In addition, you’ll find an internal resource who can quickly troubleshoot and answer questions to be very efficient and productive.  

Choosing the Best Salesforce Implementation Partner 

Similar to the dating landscape, there are many options for finding a consultant to lead your implementation. On Google alone, you’ll find the names of 100+ businesses that say they are the best. This process can be confusing and frustrating unless you know what to look for in a partner. Arguably, experience and communication are the top qualities of a capable partner.

Has the company implemented Salesforce before? This is probably a good question when evaluating any business but so crucial here. A lot goes into implementation, and you really need to trust that the company knows what they’re doing. Before making a decision: 

  • Reach out to their references
  • Check their Salesforce Certifications
  • Read their case studies, if available

Communication is often overlooked, but it’s the key to any healthy business relationship. Because of the technical requirements and the level of customization of each Salesforce system, you must be comfortable with how the consultants communicate with you. For example, making sure the system works the way you planned and getting all your questions answered promptly are communication considerations. 

The Salesforce platform can transform your organization. But, before that can happen, the tool must be implemented appropriately. Getting to that place can be an uphill battle if you’re unprepared. Therefore, a comprehensive plan that outlines what happens before, during, and after the implementation is critical. In addition, working with the right consultant will make the transition as smooth and easy as possible. 

Our Revenue Ops, LLC team is committed to providing the best experience possible. We have a tried and true system for Salesforce implementations that starts with a complimentary discovery meeting to discuss your needs. Then we map out a plan with specific tasks and timelines to strategically incorporate Salesforce into your operations and tech stack. We take the time to review project progress and address any questions throughout the process.

If you want to discuss how we can help you to implement Salesforce successfully, don’t hesitate to contact us!

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Marketing Automation vs. Marketing Operations

Marketing Automation vs. Marketing Operations: What's the Difference?

We know that the world of marketing can move fast, but sometimes, it seems like it can move a little too fast. Remember when SEO was the next big thing in marketing, then it was social media? Tech has done a lot to transform the industry, and it has recently given us a few more transformative and helpful innovations: marketing automation and marketing operations. 

Not sure what the difference between the two is? Don’t worry, a lot of people have the same problem. Each practice can complement the other, but they have some very distinct differences.

Let us be your guide to the growing world of marketing technology! Read on to learn everything you need to know about the difference between marketing automation and marketing operations.

Marketing Automation Defined

When people talk about marketing automation, they’re not talking about one single thing. In truth, marketing automation could be considered a blanket term for all of the software platforms and technology people in marketing and sales use to bring in leads, spread their message, and essentially, do their jobs better.

In fact, we’d bet that some people reading this are using marketing automation tools at work and may not know it yet.

Do you use Pardot or Marketing Cloud to send emails or distribute leads to your sales team? Is HubSpot your main platform for updating website content and managing social media? Congratulations! You’re a marketing automation expert, and you didn’t even know it!Marketing automation can do wonders for generating leads, measuring analytics, and managing different stages of your marketing funnel. With the right tools, you can score prospects, distribute targeted content, nurture leads, and more.

Marketing Operations Defined

Now that you have all of these amazing tools at work, you’re going to need someone who can do more than just ensure that they’re being used properly. You’ll need someone who can develop processes, implement new technology, and help analyze the effectiveness of your overall marketing strategy to enable you to scale your business. This is where marketing operations come into play.

Marketing operations, also known as marketing ops or MOPs, is the backbone of the marketing team. The Marketing Ops team develops consistent processes to ensure repeatable results, proper integration of all of the tools used by the marketing team, and reliable data collection so that data-driven decisions can be made to increase business.

The MOPs team creates the necessary automations to allow the marketing team to do less work but have a greater reach. The data and analytics gathered and analyzed provide the entire company a transparent view of the efficacy of their marketing activities. Data and analytics collected through appropriate technology and processes implemented by the marketing operations team will be a valuable resource to draw upon when planning and budgeting. They assist leadership with measuring progress against marketing goals.

 

marketing automation vs. marketing operations

Marketing Automation vs. Marketing Operations: What Do I Need Most?

 The answer to this question is simple: you’re going to need both. 

Marketing automation can do a lot to transform the way your business views marketing. You’ll be able to work efficiently, and you’ll have the tools you need to truly bring your marketing game to the next level.

However, if you want to use your new tools correctly, you’re going to need context and insight into the data you’re gathering. A strong marketing operations plan can help ensure that you’re using your tools the right way, and it will let you know if any improvements can be made.

It’s also important to note the significant role both practices can play for revenue operations, also known as RevOps.

Bringing in money is only half of the picture, so those in revenue operations understand how important forecasting and growth are to the company. Marketing automation and operations are both critical to success and provide a solid foundation for setting important company goals around revenue.

Tips For Getting the Most Out of Both

As you can see, marketing automation and marketing operations go hand in hand. Marketing automation comprises the tools and processes used to scale up marketing activities while the marketing operations team implements and drives those systems.

Now that you know the difference between both practices let’s dive into how you can get the most out of them at work.

Prep Your Content Strategy

You might be ready to invest in automation and strategy, but is your content plan ready for the change?

Lead-nurturing programs are the bread and butter of marketing automation. In order to have a stellar lead-nurturing program, you’re going to need different kinds of content that can help people at each stage of the marketing funnel.

Take the time to think about your current approach to content before investing in either operations or strategy. Think about your current content calendar and whether you have the internal resources needed to produce content regularly.

Encourage Cross Collaboration

Marketing operations is one part of a larger revenue operations strategy, which seeks to break down the traditional silos between the sales and marketing teams, improve communication, and increase effectiveness.

By implementing the right technology and processes, the entire marketing automation system will drive the front half of the revenue operation strategy, increase the effectiveness of the entire sales and marketing funnel, and improve ROI.

Get Started Now

Marketing operations and automation can be what you need to truly transform your current approach to marketing. When you have the power of tech on your side, anything is possible in sales and marketing!

You’re going to need an expert in marketing and revenue to help you launch the next stage of your business. Luckily, we’re here and happy to help. Reach out to us today, so we can make a plan for your company.

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