Mobile Customer Relationship Management Case Study

Mobile customer relationship management (CRM) can make a huge difference in almost in company. Reeves has always told his sales teams that less is always more, so he wanted to follow his own words when he guided his entire mobile deployment (O’Brien & Marakas, 2011). When there are dozens of input lines that must be filled out and a plethora of extra work, you are asking for a major disaster. Reeves knew he needed to simplify the process and eliminate lines they did not necessarily need. They are constantly making changes and improving the way they do things at Dow Corning. They are constantly cutting down on input lines and time it takes to fill out the applications. Before, there were over two dozen classifications of customer sales opportunities …show more content…
“Changing to mobile CRM causes many difficulties for the leadership of enterprise IT departments to combat, but mobility is a necessary component of gaining advantages over competitors both as an employer, and a business, in the modern world” (Top Five Challenges for Enterprise Mobility:Identifying and Overcoming the Obstacles, N.d.). One challenge is getting the salespeople to cooperate. Salespeople are generally known for their independence and emphasis on efficient time management, and not always for their willingness to adopt new technologies pushed by management. Reeves was once a salesperson at Dow Corning, so he knows how they think. He knows they ignore new administrate processes or technology, but they will listen if it will allow them to make more sales in less time. Reeves knew his biggest challenge was balancing the pushback from the sales personnel with the CRM demands of the business. He just made sure he had heavy involvement with the salespeople and just insuring he was responsive with them (O’Brien & Marakas, 2011). Reeves has always preached “low input, high output” strategy. “When equipping mobile teams, less is always more” (O’Brien & Marakas, 2011, pg. 310). If you add dozens of input lines to their BlackBerry that must be filled out and a ton of extra work, you are asking for a major disaster. Reeves knew it would never work if the salespeople had …show more content…
He knows they ignore new administrate processes or technology, but they will listen if it will allow them to make more sales in less time. Reeves made sure he had heavy involvement with the salespeople and made sure he was responsive with them (O’Brien & Marakas, 2011). Reeves has always preached “low input, high output” strategy. “When equipping mobile teams, less is always more” (O’Brien & Marakas, 2011, pg. 310). If you add dozens of input lines to their BlackBerry that must be filled out and a ton of extra work, the salespeople are not going to listen. Reeves knew it would never work if the salespeople had to do too much work, he needed to simplify the process and eliminate lines they did not need. Before, there were over two dozen classifications of customer sales opportunities and two full screens of data to fill out for each sales opportunity. Now, there is only one classification to fill out, on one screen. Salespeople would consider this a great change, less work for them, easier to convince them to transition. The salespeople are going to bend the rules and do what they think is best of themselves because they practically work for commissions. If they think one way is better than the administrative way, then they will do it their way. If you give your salespeople the best option that is easy for them and doesn’t waste their time, they will play by the rules. You can’t expect them to fill out