“2011 was a big year for customer experience management (CEM)….  CEM incorporates many channels, for example social CRM, which offers the means to understand where, what and which conversations are happening, and how to engage in conversation. Social CRM can be used for engaging internally within a sales team, as well as externally with the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted and transparent business environment.” (Steve Fearon, Oracle: “The evolution of CRM to customer experience management is happening, January 26, 2012″)

“ENGAGING IN CONVERSATIONS” is the key to social CRM and the new Customer Experience Management approaches to “providing mutually beneficial value in a trusted and transparent business environment.

CONVERSATIONS! 

Conversations are people talking to each other, communicating, explaining, sharing, and collaborating.  All human exchanges require the use of “voice,” which is word and sentence and paragraph based, whether that voice is spoken or texted.  And the easiest and most satisfying conversations, especially of any length, are communication by voice – people talking to each other.

Voice-based CRM data entry using human transcription, rather than speech-to-text software, opens the space for speakers to explain the background and context of the information, to phrase and rephrase the explanations to get them right, and to relate the information personally to the listener/receiver.  Speaking is natural, intuitive, and powerful, and a phone-device makes speaking fast and effective.

Voice is the most effective communication vehicle between and among sales team members, sales reps and their customers, among customers, and among management groups in the various organizations.  Conversations, talking, explaining, asking and answering questions, clarifying positions, expressing thanks or concerns, etc.  People explaining, sharing, responding.  CONVERSATIONS!

The best voice-based CRM data entry systems are simple and very effective.  Just dial a number, enter a secure ID or PIN number, enter an open dictation environment, and speak in the information.  The voice-based CRM systems that promise accuracy and freedom from extended editing then use human transcriptionists (native English language speakers and U.S. citizens) to transcribe the audio message, and sync it automatically into the CRM fields and onto executive dashboards.

Social interaction, as CONVERESATION, is not about numbers, statistics, or jots or tweets or notes.  Social interaction is about CONVERSATIONS that involve exchanges of explanatory information through sentences and paragragphs among the parties, with explanations, examples, stories, questions, answers, and all other kinds of social interactions.

Steve Fearson with Oracle continues, “A successful social CRM strategy for sales requires much more than access to social information about prospects. It requires a fundamentally different selling process. B2B companies need to leverage the vast volume of customer data and insights, but how the data is aggregated, transformed into intelligence and integrated into the sales process are the primary factors in determining the success of a sales organization ‘going social’.”

We need more than just information (the typical CRM system that monitors activity with numbers and statistics); we need “insights (CONVERSATIONS)…  aggregated, transformed into intelligence and integrated into the sales process….”

Voice has to be captured in its full expression and explanation and then converted into digital form and entered into the CRM system in such a way that it can be “displayed” for all to see and available for drill down for use in the new SOCIAL CRM system.