I’ve always been interested in CRM and its role in the overall customer experience. Customer Relationship Management has made up a large part of my professional life. The underlying philosophy is one we hold tightly at ABIS, and we’ve built technology from the ground up to support that philosophy.

One of the first books I read about CRM was Paul Greenberg’s CRM at the Speed of Light. At that time, probably in 2004, I didn’t know who Paul Greenberg was. My boss happened to have a copy of the book and he suggested I read it. I remember it being a valuable resource with insight into the current software industry. It wasn’t until a few months ago that I started reading his blog. I also started reading articles written by other very intelligent people like Esteban Kolsky, Jeremiah Owyang, Brent Leary, and Chris Carfi.

I remember thinking, “Why didn’t I start doing this a long time ago?” All of these great opinions and insights from true leaders in the marketplace were freely available for me to consume at my leisure. Pretty awesome.

A Barrage of Social CRM

During all of that reading I kept bumping into this thing called Social CRM. My first reaction was to ignore it. It’s just another fad; another extension of the encompassing customer relationship we all value so greatly. That lasted a few weeks until I realized the Social CRM monster wasn’t going away. It was only gaining momentum. Blogs, Twitter, Industry Publications, oh my. I gave in and decided to see what Social CRM was all about. Of course, the first thing you do to start understanding a concept is to find an authoritative definition.

Can you guess where I landed? The Godfather of CRM, Mr. Greenberg himself! His post from July of last year was exactly what I was looking for. I scanned the post for the definition and found it about a third of the way down the page. I was kind of excited, after all this is what was going to kickstart my Social CRM education. Or so I thought.

Warning: This is where things get ugly.

I read the bolded words under the heading of “A Shorter Definition”

Social CRM is a philosophy & a business strategy, supported by a technology platform, business rules, workflow, processes & social characteristics, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted & transparent business environment. It’s the company’s response to the customer’s ownership of the conversation.

Uhhh, what? Ok, let me read that again. No, this can’t be what I’m looking for. It’s so…long…complex…confusing. I immediately thought about one of those meaningless mission statements large corporations love to pay thousands of dollars for.

If Social CRM is to continue gaining momentum, shouldn’t it be easily understood? If the definition is too complex, too scary, then how do you start to persuade the non-believers (like me)?

Are there other definitions of Social CRM? Sure there are. But because Mr. Greenberg is such a valued leader in the field, his is the one that keeps getting referenced. I happened upon it here and here and here. That last link is a good one; it provides comparably confusing definitions from many other industry experts.

Am I overreacting? Maybe. Ok, probably. But I still think a simple definition of Social CRM is needed. At least for dummies like me.

Dumb it Down

Let’s break down Mr. Greenberg’s definition and go from there.

Social CRM is a philosophy & a business strategy

Do we really need it to be both? I understand that philosophy and strategy are not synonymous with each other, but the point here is that Social CRM is part of a strategy. Strategies are aligned with goals. Goals (at least worthy goals) are only reached through a underlying philosophy and culture that supports them.

supported by a technology platform, business rules, workflow, processes & social characteristics

Five things support Social CRM? Why not six? Why not twelve? What about people, communities, industries, innovation?

Here’s a better question: Why not one? Social CRM is supported by technology.

designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation

I don’t have much to say about this part other than it’s the start of a run-on sentence.

in order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted & transparent business environment.

Just too many adjectives here. We’re not telling a story, we’re providing a definition.

It’s the company’s response to the customer’s ownership of the conversation.

Oh crap, what the hell just happened? The customer owns the conversation? I thought it was collaborative and mutually beneficial? Great, now I have to go back and read the entire definition again. Actually, no, I can’t stand that. Let’s just delete this line altogether.

Ok, now that I’ve torn up the authoritative definition from one of the brightest industry gurus in the world, let’s see what we can come up with…just mix some things around…dumb it down…dumb it down some more…throw in some sprinkles…a little molasses to make sure it all sticks together…run it through grammar check and…voila!

Social CRM is a strategy to engage customers in a collaborative conversation. It is supported and extended by various technology platforms with the purpose of providing value to both parties within a trusted environment.

Hmmmmm, nope, still too complex. I’m extra dumb today. Need something simpler than that. Let me just run it through my dumb-o-matic machine again.

Whirrrr, bang, screeeech, boop, kapow!

Let’s see what we have now.

Social CRM is a strategy to engage customers in a mutually beneficial conversation through the use of various technology platforms.

Yes, I like that. I can explain it. I can evangelize it. It peaks the interest just enough to make me want to learn more about it.

What do you think? Have I gone off the deep end? Biting off more than I can chew?

I think a definition of Social CRM for dummies is just what we need.

Photo credit to Anabel Herrera