The Social Concept

The Three Types Of CRM & Their Rock Equivalents

October 26, 2010

I think that a lot of people overlook most of the pre-social CRM books on CRM. As I begin the second half of my new book, The Social Customer (due out next summer), I’ve realized that books like Francis Buttle’s Customer Relationship Management have a lot to offer.

In our time working together, Jacob Morgan and I have spoken extensively about philosophies of social CRM, but I realized, this morning that no one has written a quick-and-easy post on the three different levels of CRM: strategic, operational and analytical.

The one problem I have with Buttle’s book is that a lot of the writing, while on-target and direct, is frequently hard-to-memorize. You can’t really implement what you can’t remember, right?

So, here’s a quick breakdown, in which I compare each of the levels of customer relationship management to rock bands, to make them easier to remember.

• Strategic CRM (Fugazi CRM) – Talk about bands that had a strategic directive. Fugazi never did interviews, kept their punk rock show ticket prices under $10 (to this day), and, to the best of my knowledge, never printed merchandise, like bumper stickers or t-shirts. Strategic CRM is the top-down perspective, which views CRM as the numero-uno customer-centric business strategy. The goal here, is to win and keep profitable customers. And Fugazi made a career out of their ethos. When done right, strategic CRM really works. And, yes, Fugazi was probably the first punk band to form a corporation, mainly for legal liability reasons.
• Operational CRM (Bob Seger CRM) – When you think of meat-and-potatoes (and Chevy commercials), you think of Bob Seger. Seriously, if you’ve never heard his pre-“Beautiful Loser” albums, you’re really missing out. Bob Seger was one bullshit-free dude from Detroit, back in the day. Even Thin Lizzy played a Bob Seger cover, “Rosalie,” one of my favorites. Operational CRM focuses on automating everything, and turning the company into a well-oiled machine. We’re talkin’ service automation, sales force automation and marketing automation. Like a rock, baby. Like a freakin’ rock.
• Analytical CRM (Grateful Dead CRM) – Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the Grateful Dead changed music, and changed the way that brands talk with their customers. Their bottom-up perspective on the brand-customer relationship is freakin’ brilliant, even if you can’t stand the way their fans smell (honestly, Fugazi’s fans don’t smell much different, really). Analytical CRM takes a bottom-up approach, taking customer data, and letting brands use it for strategic and/or tactical purposes. Dude, if the Dead weren’t strategic and tactical, then I don't know who is.

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