Sage VP Hal Bloom shared his expertise on customer intelligence

Last Updated: August 5, 2020By Admin

Sage’s Hal Bloom, vice president (VP) of market research, participated in an education session on using customer intelligence information as part of customer experience management (CEM) at last week’s 9th Annual SCORE (Symposium for Customer Operations & Relationships Exposition) event, held at the Seaport Hotel in Boston, Mass.

As head of the Sage North America market research team, Bloom is responsible for providing strategic direction to the corporation by designing, conducting, and analyzing all market research. He has more than 35 years of domestic and international expertise in all aspects of marketing research, long-range strategic planning, new business development, and customer loyalty in Fortune 500 companies, including Coca-Cola, Pillsbury, Tupperware, and Grey Advertising. Bloom has also been a consultant for major advertising agencies, service industries, and small businesses, and has contributed to such media outlets as CustomerThink, Journal of Advertising Research, and KMWorld.

Bloom discussed the constantly evolving customer intelligence best practices and why they are a fundamental component of customer relationship management (CRM). He also discussed how knowing core characteristics of different kinds of customers can help companies more easily and accurately predict purchase decisions, as well as make choices about product improvements, new product/service offerings, and more. Attendees learnt about the tools to use, and how to use them to get ahead of the competition, while strengthening their customer relationships.

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To achieve better sales and profits, most companies could be doing more to cultivate business from their existing customers. However, enthusiasm for customer-retaining strategies must not endanger sound customer-getting efforts. How companies balance the two is the big question. To intensify reaching old customers while still seeking new ones, for many firms, will mean changes in market analysis, planning systems, management incentives, and marketing and/or operations organization. In the rush toward growth, consumer marketers have tended to regard success as stemming from obtaining new customers while unwittingly minimizing the importance of satisfying old ones. It is time for more companies to distinguish between their getting and retaining functions, to assess the balance between them, and to remedy any deficiencies in customer retention. This process requires management to value the potential of current customers and to treat them in special ways to get them to keep coming back. Several major elements should be part of the new marketing mix for customer retention: Product extras Keeping customers frequently requires giving them more than the basic product that initially attracted them. Product extras for individual customers over time can play a sales-expansive role. Reinforcing promotions Product promotion works better when aimed at existing customers. If a marketer knows who these customers are, benefits can be obtained by giving them reinforcing communications. Sales force connections The sales force can play a decisive role in the customer-retention function. At a retail or service counter the salesperson is the focal point of the company's strategy and is the firm to the customer. Post-purchase communication A company must anticipate that some customers will encounter either minor or serious problems after purchasing. If the firm is not ready to hear and correct these difficulties, the customer may not repurchase or may cancel the the relationship. Whether company or customer is at fault, standby post-purchase activities can be instrumental in saving these customers.

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