MCRA - Course Learning Outcomes PDF

Course learning outcomes: 4 key areas (Lead Management – Attract: marketing), (Opportunity Management – Convert:sales), (Service Management– Retain:service) and (Customer Experiences-Amaze: operations) Week 1 Voice of customer (VoC) - CRM process from customer’s perspectiv...

Course learning outcomes: 4 key areas (Lead Management – Attract: marketing), (Opportunity Management – Convert:sales), (Service Management– Retain:service) and (Customer Experiences-Amaze: operations) Week 1 Voice of customer (VoC) - CRM process from customer’s perspective Awareness Intent Own Promote customer realizes needs identified and Purchase made, Customers advocate they have need or actively looking for customer using for brand problem. solutions. product/ service Voice of business (VoB) - CRM process from business perspective Acquisition Success Customer acquisition process Customer success process Attract new customers (marketing) Keep customers satisfied (service) Convert leads to accounts (sales) Keep customers loyal (operations) Attract Convert Retain Amaze Voice of employee (VoE) Acquisition Success Pre-Sales Marketing/Sales Customer Success Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Core business strategy Create customer-centric organizational cultue Foster loyal cust & employees Design exceptional experiences Uses high quality metrics and business sensors (enabled by IT) Customer Journey Map Begin by identifying steps from CUSTOMER’s perspective not organization. on stage (cust-facing) backstage (people, process etc.) At each step, what is customer expecting, stakeholders, internal systems and thinking, feeling, touchpoints they interact resources Analytics value curve  Descriptive analytics – interpret historical data. Look at data statistically. What happened. Quantitatively describes or summarizes dataset to yield useful information. Prepare data for further analysis. Analytic dashboard development Deduce Acquire Tidy Augment Formulate concrete Get best data avail Clean dataset Add value, analytic questions categorize and from user questions (analytic q to raw (raw to tidy data) transform data) (user q to analytical (tidy to enhanced q) data) Science of persuasion Reciprocity Scarcity Authority Unity Ppl obliged to give Ppl want more of Credible, Shared identity, back what they what they can hv knowledgeable members feel “at receive less of experts one” with others Key: be first to give Point out not just Key: family-related and make sure benefits but unique language, personalized and proposition cocreation unexpected  Consistency Liking Social proof Look for, ask for Ppl prefer to say Look actions and small initial yes to those they behaviors of others commitments that like to determine own can be made Key: look for areas e.g. 75% of ppl …. Key: voluntary active of similarity and commitments, get it genuine Key: point out what in writing compliments others are already doing Week 2 – Attract – Marketing – VoB Marketing – activities the company undertakes to promote and sell products or services to consumers or other businesses. (attract potential customers, build and maintain lasting r/s with cust, communicate unique value, drive sales growth and business size, do it ethically) Demand generation process – Buyer stages Demand generation process Epiphany (unaware) Answer and provoke questions Establish thought leadership.trust Introduce positioning Awareness (qualified leads) Potential Lead generated (not a contact yet) Educate on the problem Address ‘impact’ questions Consideration (marketing Educate on the solution qualified leads) Answer sales q Establish capabilities Address barriers Decision (sales qualified leads) Pass off SQL to sales which will be converted to sales call/consultation Industry leader talk Marketing’s significant evolution ○ Shift from a product-centric to a buyer and customer engagement-centric approach. ○ 3 eras Product Era: focused on building brand awareness Buyer Engagement Era: driving demand for org’s solutions Customer Engagement Era: Retaining customers through deeper engagement ○ Each era builds upon the previous, shifting focus rather than rendering earlier practices obsolete. ○ Scope broadened Increased emphasis on demonstrating the value of marketing activities through various metrics. Metrics include: ○ revenue growth, sourced and influenced pipeline, average revenue per customer, retention rate, monthly recurring revenue, lifetime value, customer satisfaction, and net promoter score. Select metrics based on audience's perception of value. Metrics spectrum (inform and give perspective on what metric to apply) Readiness: Foundational. Ensure all necessary elements are in place before starting an activity Activity: Basic metrics, such as reporting on actions taken. Output: More strategic, such as # of leads generated. Impact: Most crucial, showing how marketing contributes to organizational goals, such as the percentage of closed deals from marketing efforts. ○ Marketing and sales alignment is essential for driving organizational growth. A Revenue Engine Strategy helps ensure this alignment by: 1. Aligning with the Shared Destination: Defining where future revenue will come from, setting the foundation for marketing strategy. 2. Orienting Each Function: Ensuring that sales and marketing are aligned in their approach to achieving the revenue goals. 3. Providing Coordinates: Offering strategic direction to each sub-function, clarifying how their contributions align with the broader strategy. ○ Proper alignment between marketing and sales can lead to 19% faster growth and 15% higher profitability. Generating awareness with marketing strategies – these strategies are usually used together, not by themselves Affiliate Content Search Engine Campaign Management / Management Optimization management Social media DATA process – Analytic Dashboard Development Deduce Acquire Tidy Augment Formulate concrete analytical Get best data Clean data Add value to data questions (AQ) available set set, categorize and transform. Input : User question (UQ) Output: AQ Use ABCDEF template Example of a good analytical question: "which marketing channel (content links, influencer links, seo) drove the highest conversion rates and generated the most revenue in q3” An example of unethical marketing: · Sterra marketing case · False advertising : In February 2024, Sterra published an online ad falsely claiming that Singapore's tap water was unsafe for direct consumption without filtration using their water purifiers. (classic example of fear mongering - exploiting fear of ppl) · Misleading product claims: Three air purifier models were falsely claimed to be made in Singapore when they were manufactured in China. | False discounts were advertised, with "usual" prices never actually offered to customers. (Claiming to be the "top brand" of something - grey area whether it is unethical. but if it is baseless claims, it is considered misleading. If it is supported by analytics (done by other companies) -> any inaccuracy can push the blame to the company doing analytics) · Regulatory Response: CCCS initiated an investigation. | PUB issued multiple advisories to Sterra regarding misleading advertisements. · Company's Response: Sterra issued a public apology and provided undertakings to CCCS. | The company committed to stopping unfair trade practices and implementing an internal compliance policy.  · Consumer Impact: CASE received multiple complaints against Sterra in recent years, mostly regarding defective products and unsatisfactory services. · Brand Reputation: Negative sentiment against Sterra rose to 96.8% following the revelations. The issue received extensive coverage in mainstream and social media. Week 3 Attract – Leads – Voice Of Employee Demand generation process 1. Segment -> obtain contact 2. Engage -> Define communication strategies to engage the contact (personalized communication etc.) 3. Qualify lead (lead = need + contact) 4. Then hand off opportunities to the sales team From trailmix: Lead generation is the process of building interest in a product or service and then turning that interest into a sale. (focuses on most valuable prospects -> greater conversion rates) ○ driving quality leads into pipeline and managing growth of company through inbound marketing ○ Allows you to reach potential customers before they make up their mind about a purchase or service, Qualified lead (sales lead): prospect with genuine interest in product/service Unqualified leads (dead lead) lack the necessary interest level to become customers. A warm lead (in btwn) –some interest expressed. Up to sales to follow up and determine if lead can become qualified. working : active conversation (social media, email etc.) Nuturing: not interested in buying now but may be interested in future. New lead: any potential customer you now something about (e.g. those that visited the website, walk-ins etc.) ○ Top 3 channels with highest lead generation ROI: social media, customer communities and paid search engine marketing ○ Not about rounding leads and giving to sales team but using right channels to find high quality inbound and outbound leads to build relationships with. North star metric framework – key indicator of business growth and can be tied to increases in product engagement and revenue metric is backed by data. ○ In salesforce, their north star metric is when an opportunity reaches stage 2 (prospective customer has been qualified by sales development org and sales lead) · Not all leads are created equal  · Test, Learn, Iterate, Scale Additional about lead generation: ○ Starts by filling the top of the marketing funnel (TOFU) with quality leads, progressing them through the middle (MOFU) and bottom (BOFU) where they become customers ○ Focuses on building an online presence through a website, social media, blogs, and email campaigns. ○ Inbound marketing is crucial for generating leads, offering valuable content that attracts prospects, ○ Unlike outbound marketing’s direct outreach. ○ Social media listening helps tailor messaging to engage audiences. ○ For B2B, managing the customer journey and offering personalized, actionable content like webinars positions the brand as a valuable resource. ○ Adapt lead generation strategies to changing consumer behavior and tech trends. Inbound marketing ○ attracts buyers by creating a personalized connection through valuable content. ○ Various types of content—like blog posts, digital guides, and social media interactions, print adv, video, white papers etc. can be combined with outbound marketing for better targeting ○ Focuses on high-quality content that addresses customer needs and pain points. ○ To implement effectively, create a solid strategy (talk to sales team) utilize marketing automation tools maintain a strong digital presence.(but does not mean having a lot of accounts) ○ By fostering relationships before customers are ready to purchase can enhance website traffic and lead generation. Lead Management ○ Bridge between marketing and sales identifying, qualifying, and nurturing leads. ○ Focus on educating prospects about your offerings Lead Nurturing ○ Tailors engagement strategies based on customer preferences. ○ Effective nurturing increases the number of sales-ready leads and helps achieve sales goals. Lead Management Software This tool tracks leads from initial contact and scores them based on actions, facilitating personalized journeys and automating nurturing for less qualified leads. Once leads are in the sales pipeline: score (evaluate engagement) grade (assess factors like location and ensure high quality leads) and route (based on location, deal size etc,) Key challenge enterprise sales team face in communications industry ○ Complex sales processes  Enterprise Sales Management software helps communications service providers (CSPs) manage complex sales processes for large enterprises. ○ With ESM automation, helps sales support save time on manual data entry ○ Rapidly launching new products -> speed and agility Lead to cash cycle: ○ Lead generation > Opportunity creation > quote/proposal > order submission > delivery & billing > post-sales service Management Models · Importance of diversity of cultures o Diversity of cultures refers to the variety of ways people live, work, and interact with one another, influenced by factors such as nationality, ethnicity, beliefs, and traditions. o As globalization and digital connectivity increase, cultural diversity becomes more prominent, affecting individuals, organizations, and societies. o Embracing and understanding cultural diversity can lead to creativity, sensitivity, and improved collaboration in various settings. Knowing oneself (individuals) · Original whole brain model A: Analyze (goals driven, analytical intelligence) B: Organize (results driven, operational intelligence) C: Personalize (people-driven, relational intelligence) D: Strategize (vision driven, creative intelligence) · Main archetypes  · AC and BD are most complex archetypes because they are a combination of types that are seemingly contrasting. · 16 personalities test Organisational model International model Hofstede cultural dimensions Power distance index the extent less powerful members of a culture accept and expect unequal power distribution. Individualism vs Collectivism is the extent people feel independent Uncertainty avoidance society’s tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. anxiety and distrust in the face of the unknown, and conversely, with a wish to have fixed habits and rituals, and to know the trutn Motivation towards achievement & success extent to which the use of force in endorsed socially. The degree to which values such as assertiveness, performance, success and competition, prevail over such as quality of life, relationships, service and care. Long term orientation  LT culture – prep for future. ST - the world is as it was created, adhering to the past is morally good. Indulgent vs Restrain indulgent = freedom, do whatever you want. Restrained – life is a duty Country comparison tool: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison-tool results of the insights are obviously not representative of individuals of that country… there will be a distribution and the gap measures the difference between the results of the highest occurrence in a particular region. Quantitative/Continuous data Qualitative data/Categorical o numbers-based, countable, measurable o descriptive, language-focused, analyzed through categorization Week 4 Convert - Intent - Voice Of Customer Lead Generation Process - BANT framework - Framework for qualifying sales prospect ○ Used in B2B sales to evaluate potential customers. ○ Budget : Does the prospect have allocated funds? ○ Authority : Can the contact influence or make purchase decisions. ○ Need : Does prospect have a problem your product can solve? ○ Timing : When is the prospect planning to decide? Intent States: (can start at any point) ○ Buy, Need, Discover, Aware, Evaluate, Select. Acquisition Videos and Call to action ○ Explicit (direct) - verbal, visual cues, link, contact - allows the audience to continue the conversation. Audiences don’t need research to find out. E.g. “Download the app”, website link, For big brands, their marketing is usually explicit ○ Implicit (subtle) - requires research and asking around E.g. of a grey area: at the end of a video, “book video club”, “board studios icon” were presented. Depending on intention, can be deemed as explicit or implicit To sell a particular sales book - implicit Join book video club - explicit Use board studios - explicit Analytic Dashboard Development : Deduce > Acquire > Tidy > Augment ○ Data cleaning - process of wrangling, unifying messy and complex data sets for easy analysis. ○ Changes : Data structure (form) - transformation of shape  If data well structured, complete (rows,colums,categories) Short and fat vs Tall and skinny short and fat data structure can be transformed to tall and skinny via data normalization Normalization process ○ Each type of observational unit forms a table. ○ Each variable forms a column. ○ Each observation forms a row. Data semanic (meaning) - way data is interpreted Inconsistencies and validity of dataset Meaning of data and ability to solve problem Week 5 Convert - Sales - Voice of the business Enterprise Solutions : Off the Shelf Software Standardized, ready-made software that can be purchased & used immediately without customization Designed to meet common business needs across various industries Cost includes: ○ Licensing fees: ongoing costs for continued use and access to updates ○ Customization cost: adapt to specific needs, can be substantial ○ Training costs: teaching employees to use the standardized system ○ Updates: potential expenses for major version updates Buyer’s Funnel & Salesforce objects Epiphany Epiphany > Awareness : Contact  Awareness Awareness > Consideration : Lead Consideration Consideration > Intent : Account Intent Intent > Decision : Opportunity Decision Decision > Purchase : Order Purchase Contact vs Account: Account is for business. Contacts move frequently between accounts as people change companies. So, will need to clean inactive accounts. One account can have multiple opportunities and contacts. An Opportunity is a specific sale of the account. When opportunity moves into an order, it turns into a purchase. Key objective is to close the deal. Cultural context also matters here. E.g. some companies in certain countries allow delayed payments Off-the-shelf lead management (in Salesforce) Workflow States: Open-Not Contacted > Working - Contacted > Closed - Not Converted > Converted ○ Lead management: is converting open (not contacted) to Working - contacted Off-the-Shelf Pipeline Management Prospecting > Qualify & Identify opportunities > Discover > Develop > Prove > Agree > Close Closing the opportunity: Choose the closed stage-Closed Won / Closed Lost Video on B2B enterprise solution sales process & pipeline management Complex B2B solution ○ E.g. CRM, ERP, Core Banking, Treasury, Payment, Trade Finance etc. Medium to Large Deal Size (>$100k to $2M per year) Medium to Long Sales Cycle (3 months to 3 years) Medium to long implementation period (3 months to 3 years) Multiple Stakeholders (CEO, Finance, I.T, Risk, Operations, Business Owners, Legal, Procurement e.g.) Sales methodology (methodologies used nowadays) Solution selling Customer centric selling Target account selling Sandler selling system SPIN selling Challenger Approach Value selling Conceptual selling Inbound selling Many more…. Customer buying process 3 layers: Executives (CEO,CFO,CIO etc.), Middle Management, Staff Process : Initial interest: ○ Awareness of what they want and need (Executives) ○ Investigation to know what is available for them in the marketplace. So staff will investigate the problem, options available, what are other companies doing (and companies in other countries) ○ Interest: Before project definition, Staff will present to their managers Project Definition ○ Education : Management share with Executives about their findings, proposed solution ○ Strategy : From there, a strategy will be devised. Decide what to adopt, what to do and when to do it. What is the cost of not doing it? ○ Initiative : Set budget for the initiative ○ Project: Staff & Manager create the project and go out to marketplace, get vendors to present proposals. Solution Definition ○ Evaluation of the proposals done by staff ○ Recommendation sent to management ○ Decision will be made by executives  This is the customer buying process described earlier. So the question for us is when do we start selling into this account? No correct or wrong answer. In the B2B sales process at what stage(s) do sales people enter the sales process in enterprise companies? Can enter at any stage of the process (be it RFI, RFP, needs analysis etc.). Disadvantage of entering too early - huge investment for the organization. A Lot of effort is invested into working with the customer to work on their needs. Costly (time and effort), Uncertainty and a lot of wastage Advantage: able to understand and care for customers… influence the request for proposal so when the proposal goes live, you can have an unfair advantage RFI (request for information) typically starts at the interest stage. Not every company does this, sometimes they straight away go into RFP. RFP (request for proposal) typically occurs at the project stage. By understanding a customer’s buying process, it allows salespeople to tailor their approach to meet their customer’s specific needs. When is budget set? In the initiative stage When is the go-live date set? When is the close date? When to forecast this deal(projection of when the deal will close/ across business, when will all of the deals close)? Sales Process 0% 10% 25% 50% 70% 80% 90% Prospecting > Qualify & Identify opportunities > Discover > Develop > Prove > Agree > Close Except for Prospecting and Close, All the other stages are what you do to bring the sale forward The % are the probabilities of closing (not fixed, companies can customize. Will use for forecasting) Significance of accurate forecasting - provide projection to the market on what the business revenue is going to be like. It is a reflection of how well they know their business. So how to forecast accurately? The discipline of making sure every single salesperson/manager understands the sales process. They should classify the stages properly else will run the risk of forecasting wrongly. At every single deal level be as accurate as you can. Details of the stages in Sales process Prospecting : prepare a list of companies that meet target profile fit Qualify & Identify Opportunities : PAIN, FIT, FUNDING ○ For each opportunity, assess if pain (important to quantify the pain so can put $ to it) exists. If a customer wants to do anything about it. By not making this change what are the costs involved? Are we able to help? ○ Do preliminary research, identify entry path into prospect and develop initial value proposition ○ Develop understanding of political landscape, cultural issues, internal and external pressures, planning cycle, budgeting issues, organizational structure etc. ○ Clarify the political alignment of competitors ○ Determine ‘go’ or ‘no go’ with the opportunity.- u do this at every stage of the process actually even though it is indicated here. Discover : Series of client meetings to define strategy  ○ Identify key stakeholders (does not include just CEO) and players (Decision maker, influencer, Beneficiary, end users, legal etc.) and their relationships ○ Develop a coach or internal champion (sometimes the coach can be a coach to other competitors too…, important to validate the information) ○ Understand and leverage on purchasing history and style. (important to know before negotiation…) ○ Uncover competition. ○ Identify any external consultants and or partners involved. Develop : Confirm scope and develop value proposition (Why change? Why Now? Why Me?) ○ Engage key stakeholders and get access to key decision makers ○ Understand expected business results & personal objectives ○ Confirm scope and solution fit. ○ Confirm timeline, budget, decision process and success criteria. Prove : Detailed commercial and solution proposal including contractual terms ○ Translate business requirements and operational vision int solution design ○ Discuss implementation process and expectations. ○ Document evaluation plan and outline key decision steps and timeline for contract ○ Conclude and present solution proposal > show how pains are addressed ○ Mitigate perceived risks ○ Neutralize stakeholder resistance and competition ○ Financial (Economic Value) + Operational Vision (Capabilities) + Transition / Implementation (How to get there?) Agree ○ Customer confirms all business and technical issues have been resolved, decision timeline and process agreed, draft contract submitted. ○ Learn about last minute changes ○ Anticipate objections and negotiations (Give-Get List) ○ Financial (Economic Value) + Operational Vision (Capabilities) + Transition / Implementation (How to get there?) Close ○ All contracts to be complete & signed in agreed-upon timeframe. Transition to implementation team. Pipeline management Pipeline health ○ Insight into how business is really doing ○ Identify gaps: Quota - YTD - pipeline = opp generation ○ Ensures smarter time investment on right account and deals Leading indicators ○ Pipeline Coverage (total pipeline volume vs Quota Conversion rate  Velocity (Stage to stage and qualify to close) Competitive wins and or reasons for loss The DATA Process Analytic Dashboard Development : Deduce > Acquire > Tidy > Augment Objective of augment: add value to dataset using models, categorization, transformations and any tidy tool to help solve analytical questions. Data MUST be tidied before it can be augmented to enhanced data. Forecasting (Predictive) Forecast (take what will happen & what won’t happen) -> Explain why it did or did not happen Estimated error - helps as it ensures that one is not committing the forecast to a fixed figure but an estimated range. The estimated error is the confidence level with the forecast based on a gut feeling. The Forecast Loop Time series Series of values obtained at successive times, often with similar intervals between the. Collection of data points that are recorded in chronological order, usually at regular intervals. Time - X axis. Variable of interest - Y axis. E.g. Medical data - measurements of physiological variables collected over time E.g. Socio-economic - measure phenomena (population, employment, gdp) over time. Forecast methods Simple linear regression  Advanced Forecasting Methods Weighted Average : calculating the average set of numbers where each number is given a weight or importance based on its significance. (multiply each # to assigned weight, add up the products and dive by sum of the weights) Week 6: Convert Opportunities - Voice of the Employee Cultural Map: vital insights for working effectively and sensitively with one’s counterparts in the new global marketplace. Compare how each builds trust, gives feedback, and makes decisions. Rational Social Evaluating Disagreeing Deciding Communicating Scheduling Leading Evaluating: Negative feedback  ○ Direct negative feedback (provided in a blunt manner, not softened. Absolute descriptors are often used-totally inappropriate,completely unprofessional, may be criticized in front of a group ○ Indirect negative feedback (subtle, diplomatically. Qualifying descriptors often used-sort of inappropriate,slightly unprofessional), only criticized in public. Deciding: Consensual - Top Down ○ Consensual : decisions made in groups through unanimous agreement (common in egalitarian cultures) ○ Top down: decisions made by individuals (boss) (common in hierarchical cultures) ○ *not always the case: Japanese (hierarchical) values consensual decision making Trusting : Results vs Relationship ○ Task based: your confidence in someone else’s abilities to perform a task is created through having worked together. ○ Relationship based: your confidence in someone else’s abilities to perform a task comes from your affective relationship with a person you have socialized with. ○ *when you have two conflicting factors, like the two types of trust, you shouldn't think of them on a single linear scale (from low to high). Instead, you should think of them as two separate dimensions, and plot them on a two-dimensional grid, where one axis represents task-based trust, and the other represents relationship-based trust. "Avoid the low-low": This refers to avoiding situations where both task-based and relationship-based trust are low. In a two-dimensional plot, this would be the bottom-left corner, where you neither trust someone's ability to do the task nor have a strong emotional connection with them. "Look at the top-top": This refers to aiming for the top-right corner of the two-dimensional plot, where both task-based trust and relationship-based trust are high. In this situation, you trust both the person’s competence and have a strong relationship with them. Scheduling Linear vs Flexible ○ Linear-time: project steps approach in sequential fashion. Complete one task before the next. ONE thing at a time. NO interruption. Emphasis on promptness & organization over flexibility. ○ Flexible-time: project steps approached in a fluid manner. Change tasks as opportunities. Many things are dealt at once. Focus on adaptability, flexibility is valued over organization. Disagreeing Confrontational vs Avoid ○ Confrontational : disagreement & debate are positive for team & organization, will not negatively impact relationship  ○ Avoidance: disagreement & debate are negative for team & organization, will break group harmony and negatively impact relationships. In goal-oriented cultures, achieving objectives or tasks > maintaining personal relationships. Confrontation may be more acceptable because the emphasis is on meeting goals, solving problems, and addressing issues directly. In relationship-oriented cultures, maintaining social harmony, trust, and personal connections > achieving immediate goals. People may avoid confrontation to preserve relationships, even if it means that goals are delayed or compromised. High Emotional Countries more comfortable expressing wide range of emotions. Sometimes translate into a greater propensity for confrontation. Lower emotional expression, more reserved and less likely to openly show emotions, especially negative ones. This can lead to more avoidance of confrontation However, just because a country is emotional doesn't always mean confrontation is common. It depends on whether the culture values harmony or directness when dealing with conflict.  Communicating High vs Low Context ○ Low-context : Precise, simple and clear. Messages are expressed and understood at face value. ○ High-context: Sophisticated, nuanced and layered. Messages are both spoken and read between the lines. Often implied and not plainly expressed. Persuading Principles & Applications ○ Principles-first :Starts with the big picture or concept and then moves toward facts and practical applications. Discussions approached in a practical concrete manner ○ Applications-first :Outline what must be done in detail and provide background later. ○ Asian cultures are a special case as they must use both approach to be persuasive. Erin do not rank them in this category Leading Egalitarian & Hierarchical ○ Egalitarian : able to disagree with superior. Ideal distance between superior and subordinate is low. Communication often skips hierarchical lines ○ HIerarchical : must act and communicate through established appropriate channels. Organizational structures are multilayered and fixed. Communication follows set hierarchical lines.