A. CEM requires a completely different view of the business and its true assets. The assets are not only the measurable factors but also the immeasurable, yet differentiating, factors. With the organizational experience at the core of the business, companies realize that the employee's best performance and creation of memorable customer experiences can only come from facilitating and nurturing employee experiences. CEM requires companies to plan for delivering their customer experiences. It consists of a Develop, Build, Deliver and Redefine process. This planning and execution process allows companies to define the desired customers' experiences and relationships and then build their organization accordingly to the delivery of those promised relationships to the desired target customers.

A. Both are customer initiatives. The key to both is a holistic view during the planning stage and through execution. CEM is a great complementary strategy to enhance the implementation of CRM. If a company implemented CRM correctly, which means with all the people and process issues adapted accordingly, then CEM will bring the customer initiative to the next level. This next level will be the focus of every interaction and create a memorable experience that will contribute to the overall loyalty bank account that both customers and corporations share.

A. CRM was born originally to maximize revenues and profits from already loyal customers. With CRM there were very few, if any, listening mechanisms or other aspects of mutual relationships. Most companies simply viewed it as a quick way to increase revenues from existing customers. CEM, on the other hand, is emphasizing the length of the relationship and the treatment of the customer as a journey and not as a destination. In addition, CEM places a greater emphasis on every interaction thus leading to the creation of experience.

A. Many businesses think customer service is just one aspect of their business and it often gets lost as businesses focus more on product development or sales or marketing. But in today’s market there is so much competition, and often the competition is better than you or offers exactly what you offer. So how do you differentiate your business from your competition?

Customer Experience Management or CEM is a business strategy that focuses and redefines your business from your customer’s viewpoint. It involves all aspects of your business, from marketing and research to product development and pricing. Today all it takes is one bad experience to hurt your company. For example, Eric writes a popular blog about technology. He is looking to purchase a new HD television. After much consideration he picks out a “PannaSony” Plasma TV, purchases it, sets it up and begins watching. Halfway through the first episode of Mad Men, half his screen goes black. He calls customer service and waits on hold for hours before he finally reaches someone who is no help to him, All it takes is one post on Eric’s blog for thousands of his readers to hear about how bad PannaSony’s customer service is.

Enter Strativity. Strativity can help your company implement a Customer Experience Management strategy and improve your company’s customer experience and in doing so improve the company’s reputation for service, which will set you apart from the competition. With good customer service, Eric, the blogger, might still write a blog post about his new TV’s issues but instead of a blog post bashing the customer service at PannaSony, he writes about his pleasant experience on the phone with a real person and how they sent someone to install a new model within a week.

A positive experience published in a blog can go a long way to sway potential customers or clients and the first step is to actually make your customer service the best it can be. And for that there is Strativity.

A. A customer relationship manager is an individual who is in charge of actual relationships with a customer (as opposed to an individual who is in charge of customer experience design), his or her role has many aspects, here are a just a few:

Customer relationship managers should know their customer's needs, wishes and dreams. He or she should be well versed in the value delivered to customers and the problems customers are trying to solve. The customer relationship manager will not only solve customer requests but will proactively offer ideas and insights to improve the customer's issues and challenges. The customer relationship manager will also follow up on every issue and ensure complete satisfaction and maximum utilization of the product or services sold to customers.

A. Defining what a valuable customer experience is for your customers and deciding what type of experience you want to implement involves customer input and insight. After you have recognized that your customers are your partners in a mutually beneficial relationship, ask them to define their expectations of the relationship. Speak to loyal customers, prospects and even former customers to determine what works, what doesn't work and what they want from the relationship. Prioritize your efforts by first focusing on the issues of greatest importance to your most loyal (either in terms of revenue or profit) customers.

The type of experience you want to implement should be profitable to your organization. Delivering an exceptional customer experience isn't always cheap and while your experience should always be focused on the customer, it should also be focused on improving the bottom line. After your priorities have been identified, ensure that by elevating your customer's experience you'll realize additional revenue and profit.

A. The efficiency relationship paradox is a depiction of the catch 22 cycle that most organizations are in. They waste millions of dollars recruiting customers through expensive campaigns and then as the customer demonstrates both emotional and financial interest, they drop the level of service in the name of 'profit maximization'. In the process companies frustrate the customer and force him/her to defect. Over time this process increases the cost of new customer recruitment and decreases the revenues per customer. The source of this vicious cycle is the treatment of the customer as a one time acquisition and not as a long term journey/relationship. As such they try to form a relationship on the basis of an efficient operation. The problem is that efficiency and relationship are two conflicting strategies. Over time the cost of recruiting new customers grows due to the large number of frustrated customers who act as a counterforce to the company's marketing efforts.

A. The web is just one touch point, in multiple touch points, that needs to consistently deliver the desired experiences. CEM is not just about optimizing the web site; it is a complete business strategy in which the web site experience is one component of many.

A. CEM requires the rethinking of many basic aspects of the business starting with the definition of the core assets of the company and its organizational experience. Changes are reflected in a variety of aspects; from the kind of people companies hire, to the type of training it delivers, to the type of tools and authorities it provides employees to do their work. It also requires the rethinking of performance evaluation and compensation within the organization.

A. The CEM definition, according to Strativity Group, is applied to the organization as a whole and not only to customer service or marketing. Combining disciplines from HR practices, CRM, branding and TQM; Strativity Group's methodology delivers the first and only comprehensive approach that holds every part of the organization responsible for the customer experience.

Another critical difference is the linkage between employee experiences and customer experiences. According to Strativity Group's methodology, success in Customer Experience Management can only come from employee experiences; therefore the definition of the core of the business is the organizational-wide experience.

Customer Experience Management, according to Strativity Group, is not just an exercise in being nice to customers and employees. It is about increasing revenue per customer, reducing operational costs and identifying new business opportunities. The process of new business opportunity identification is an integral part of the CEM strategy.

The complete cycle; from definition, to hiring and training, to the on-going measurement and redefinition process, delivers a complete and practical approach to the customer experience enterprise.

In Summary:

• New business opportunity identification
• Measurable results and ROI
• Comprehensive approach
• Organizational-wide strategy
• From definition to measurement - on going cycle
• Multidiscipline methodology

A. One of the key principles of CEM is the shift in responsibility from the headquarters to the branches and agents. If in the past companies determined their value proposition centrally and just instructed their staff to execute, today they must share the power and delegate responsibility to everyone who deals with customers. The days of placing helpless agents in front of the customer are over. Everyone is responsible.

A. Customer Experience Management (CEM) is a business strategy that focuses and redefines the business from the customer view point. CEM assumes that products and services are no longer sufficient to satisfy the customer and elevate the value proposition to the level of an experience. At the core of the CEM strategy is an organizational experience that defines the value for both employees and customers. Through employees' experiences, CEM unleashes the best innovations and creates superior value and excellent customer experience. In addition, it promotes an equal relationship between customers and corporations and an ongoing dialogue that improves and strengthens the quality and length of relationships. Companies that have adapted CEM strategies have placed greater emphasis on their employees and customers as part of the experience creation and delivery.