This week, I had the opportunity to give a coaching class, on advanced client management, to the client director of a very good customer. There's no better way to remember concepts and old information than teaching someone else, especially for understanding the importance and complexity of some CRM techniques.

For over a decade I have been promoting this concept in a wide range of companies from different sectors, and it's always the same story, in general the companies are not customer-focused in their marketing processes and strategic thinking, and are overly focused on the product and on the short-term or "quarter". I have also been able to see after many years that when a company is actually customer-focused on the mid-term, it acquires a very strong competitive advantage that always improves the profits on the company income statement.

But, why is it so difficult for so many companies to acquire these mechanisms if they are obviously profitable and efficient?  In my opinion the main reasons are:

• The top management and/or board do not understand the subject and only see the short-term "cost"

  Fear of change and risk avoidance

  It is very difficult to develop (combination of technology, analysis, specialized personnel and structural changes)

  The CIOs only complicate the solution (70% of CRM implementations fail because of over investment) and don't have a business perspective.

  Fear of outsourcing the solution, thinking that it is cheaper to do it "in house" (on the mid-term it is definitely inefficient, due to the speed and progress of technology, as well as the stagnation of analytical equipment)

Only the companies that have put the client at the center of their strategy, and have thus created a powerful client Management team, with a proper budget and external partners, enjoy sustainable success.

Going back to my coaching classes, below I will list the basic phases for successfully carrying out a client strategy. The strategic objective is differentiating ourselves through understanding and handling our client information (selective approach, development and advanced management), meeting client needs throughout the different phases of their life cycle, also adding the time and reason for use.

The keys for success are:

1. Defining a Strategic perspective of the clients.
2. Adjust value proposals, Investments and multi-channel relationship models for each segment and interaction with our clients.
3. Define the role played by client experience in our value proposal.
4. Align efforts throughout the organization.
5. Redesign the model for operative and analytical processes.
6. Correctly manage client information in a single repository (360º view of the client)
7. Correct management of technology.
8. Establish clear metrics to measure the success or failure of initiatives ... and test, test, test.

Advanced client management is a strategy that allows us to use competitive advantages in different key "steps":

1. Identification: Who are our clients? Do we all understand this? How can we identify them? In all of our interactions?
2. Segmentation: What are the objectives of the company and, therefore, the segmentation? What are the most important segmentation axis? When is an auto segmentation concept used?
3. Relational model: What are the key contact points during the Customer Journey? How much should we invest in creating loyalty? How do we define the types and frequency of the contacts/impacts? What does real time Marketing mean? What are the objectives of the Gamification?
4. Measurements: How is client value measured? How is dynamic measuring implemented? What is the efficiency triangle and how can it be maximized?
5. Organization and processes: What is the best architecture for supporting this strategy? How does the unification of concepts support decisions made by management? How is a customer-focused organization built?

Answering these questions, putting them into planning, preparing a budget and its ROI, as well as the transformation plan for the organization and its culture, are the keys for success in any modern organization. Logically these processes require a minimum of 24-36 months, a great deal of leadership from the top management, investment and above all determination, but these are infallible formulas for success.