It’s not personal, it’s just business. I wonder who first coined this phrase and if they’re still in business… or if they got sucker punched on the spot for that matter. It’s a phrase that really gets me thinking about my role as Director of Account Services for White Lion. Before getting in to that though, I want to share what prompted me to think and ultimately write about this.
White Lion was recently asked by one of our clients to weigh in with our thoughts about a Social CRM package, called Lithium. For those of you who are wondering what the heck a Social CRM is, think Salesforce meets Forum meets Facebook and Twitter. For some interesting reads about Social CRMs be sure to check out:
Lithium Reinvents Itself as a Social CRM
Social CRM: Not Your Father’s Customer Relationship Management
Why your Twitter and Social CRM efforts will fail
Social CRMs work to take something that was originally used as a personal way of staying connected (i.e. Twitter) and leverage it to help businesses interact with prospects and customers who discuss their brand. Which is all well and good, if said businesses are able to interact with their audience in a personal way. People can smell a fake – so no point communicating on a personal channel if the message isn’t relevant and genuine.
It’s interesting to think of all the interlopers that push into our communication channels. You have the door-to-door salesman trying to sell you a set of knives on Sunday afternoon, the long distance phone service that calls as you sit down to dinner, the not necessarily safe for work spam email that shows up in your inbox, or the please reset your password so your bank account is safe text message. Fast forward and you have Facebook pages for everything from sodas to invitations.
Not all of this is a bad thing. Obviously, social networking is here to stay and can be powerful if harnessed correctly. But it got me thinking: as businesses increasingly try and engage with customers on a social and personal level, I wonder how much of this actually carries over in their one-on-one communications. You know, like when a real-live person talks to a real-live person?
I know for my part, this is a crucial concept. Providing custom web development, it’s vital that I listen closely to my clients’ goals - ask the right questions and truly try to understand. We don’t necessarily have the best answer for all needs, and if we were to fake it and provide the wrong solution, we would hear about it quickly and nobody would benefit.
Fortunately, with a deep bench of talented programmers and designers, we can come up with some pretty slick solutions for most all of our clients’ challenges. I take great pride in knowing our team from top to bottom is vested in the quality and success of the sites and applications we develop for our clients. And to me, that’s personal.
Nick Kramer
Director of Account Services
White Lion Internet Agency