Journal of Facilities Management Customer relationship management for facility managers Mike Hoots, Article information: To cite this document: Mike Hoots, (2005) "Customer relationship management for facility managers", Journal of Facilities Management, Vol. 3 Issue: 4, pp.346-361, https://doi.org/10.1108/14725960510630524 Permanent link to this document: https://doi.org/10.1108/14725960510630524 Downloaded on: 01 November 2018, At: 23:35 (PT) References: this document contains references to 0 other documents. To copy this document: permissions@ emeraldinsight.com Downloaded by Northumbria University Library At 23:35 01 November 2018 (PT) The fulltext of this document has been downloaded 9098 times since 2006* Users who downloaded this article also downloaded: (2003),"Understanding customer relationship management (CRM): People, process and technology", Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 9 Iss 5 pp. 672-688 <a href="https:// doi.org/10.1108/14637150310496758">https://doi.org/10.1108/14637150310496758</a> (2003),"Knowledge-enabled customer relationship management: integrating customer relationship management and knowledge management concepts[1]", Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 7 Iss 5 pp. 107-123 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/13673270310505421">https://doi.org/10.1108/13673270310505421</a> Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by emerald-srm:462515 [] For Authors If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/ authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com Emerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 j ournals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. *Related content and download information correct at time of download.
Customer relationship management for facility managers Received: 16th November, 2004 Mike Hoots is an associate professor and programme coordinator for the Facilities Management four-year BS degree programme at Colorado State University-Pueblo in Pueblo, Colorado, USA, and director of The Facilities Solutions Center, headquartered in Pueblo West, Colorado. He also serves on IFMA’s Pikes Peak Chapter Board of Directors as Job Search and Resource Council Chairs. Mike is an IFMA Fellow and Certified Facility Manager as well as a licensed Professional Engineer with over two Downloaded by Northumbria University Library At 23:35 01 November 2018 (PT) decades of experience in a wide variety of facilities and facilities management positions. Abstract Customer relationship management (CRM) means developing a comprehensive picture of customer needs, expectations and behaviours and managing those factors to affect business performance. In the facilities management (FM) world, CRM means looking at the FM function as a customer-intensive business function instead of merely a facilities services cost centre. And the management part implies an active rather than passive role by the FM in influencing the customer’s perception of service success. Finding and closing gaps between customer expectations and service delivery realities becomes the basis for CRM in the FM world. These gaps typically occur in the area of the ‘3 Rs’ — resources, response and respect. Key areas of knowledge and skills covered in this paper include: defining CRM and distinguishing it from customer service; understanding the true measure of service success; uncovering the main impediment to service success and the main source of customer dissatisfaction; discovering and defining resource, response and respect gaps between customer expectations and service delivery realities; revealing unsatisfactory results of gaps; pinpointing strategies to close resource, response and respect gaps between customer expectations and service delivery realities; reliably saying ‘yes’ to every single constructive customer request — never say ‘no’ again. Keywords: Michael L. Hoots CRM, customer, relationship management, customer service Associate Professor and Program Coordinator, Facilities Management & Technology Studies Program ‘If I have been of service, if I have glimpsed more of the nature Colorado State University-Pueblo 2200 Bonforte Boulevard and essence of ultimate good, if I am inspired to reach wider Pueblo, CO 81001-4901, USA horizons of thought and action, if I am at peace with myself, it Tel: +1 719 549 2838 Fax: +1 719 549 2519 has been a successful day.’ Alex Noble, 1979, http:// E-mail: michael.hoots@colostate- www.wisdomquotes.com/002343.html pueblo.edu 346 # E M E R A L D G RO U P P U B L I S H I N G L I M I T E D 1741 ^ 0 9 8 3 J o u r n a l o f F a c i l i t i e s M a n a g e m e n t VO L . 3 N O . 4 P P 3 4 6 – 3 6 1
Customer relationship management for facility managers CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT — DON’T YOU MEAN CUSTOMER SERVICE? Customer relationship management (CRM) is the next step in the evolutionary advancement of customer service. Customer relationship management has its roots in sales. Rather than routinely trying to meet or exceed every customer’s wildest expectations, sales departments began studying customer buying habits and trends and scientifically matching service levels to revenue expectations. The trick was to minimise the number and seriousness of complaints, reward customer loyalty and keep customers coming back, all for a minimum outlay of expense. Special computer programs were even written actively to manage the entire process. Do these problems sound familiar? Customers cannot get Downloaded by Northumbria University Library At 23:35 01 November 2018 (PT) consistent quality service. They need products and services faster then they can be delivered. They have to make several attempts to resolve problems and to get the job done ‘right’. What is wrong? The company’s department is designed inside-out. It is designed to provide products and services — not to help customers get products and services from the company. The problem is as simple as that — and that is the main difference between passive customer service and active CRM. With CRM, customers feel they are in control, because service providers embrace an outside-in relationship with customers. The secret to CRM The secret to making CRM work is to turn the focus of customer success is an service outside-in. From an incorrect inside-out perspective, ‘outside-in’ customer departments first analyse their operations and facilities along with focus the capabilities of their people to determine what could be delivered to the customer. From that analysis they develop policies, procedures and systems, build plans, programmes and budgets, etc. At the end of this process, many facility managers end up with a department that is organised, equipped, staffed, trained and conditioned to deliver their products and services rigidly and ritualistically to their customers. The result: they lose sight of the customer’s perspective. Customer-driven, outside-in CRM means that departments first understand the customer, then move inward to operations. Within the context of customer-driven values, the systems and infrastructure capabilities needed to serve customers are developed. Implementation is made easy for customers, not the department. Instead of sub-departmental silos that inhibit superior customer relationships, everyone takes ownership and responsibility for customer satisfaction. Creating a single, unified view of the customer makes it much easier correctly to respond to real customer needs instead of to facility maladies and malfunctions. How about a Comfort So what does inside-out and outside-in mean in real-world terms? and Productivity An inside-out FM function might establish a heating, ventilating shop instead of an and air conditioning (HVAC) shop to focus on equipment needs. HVAC shop? An outside-in FM function might create a Comfort and # E M E R A L D G RO U P P U B L I S H I N G L I M I T E D 1 7 4 1 – 0 9 8 3 J o u r n a l o f F a c i l i t i e s M a n a g e m e n t VO L . 3 N O . 4 P P 3 4 6 – 3 6 1 347
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