On coffee and commitment…
This past Monday night I had a fantastic evening with four great friends. We are all coffee aficionados and confirmed foodies. One of us is actually in the coffee biz, but I would dare say that the enthusiasm of the rest of the group matched or exceeded hers.
We made a pilgrimage to Barefoot Coffee in San Jose, where they offer free coffee “workshops” Monday evenings. Jared was our barista expert and instructor for the evening and the class was how to pull a great shot of espresso. There were a lot of shots pulled, and thank goodness, it was all decaf. (Hey, it was 7 pm on a Monday night; no way I could drink that much full-test coffee and have ANY hope of sleeping.) Here’s the interesting thing – every shot tasted different. Same coffee, same grinder, same machine, same water – different tastes every time. Even two shots pulled by Jared tasted differently.
After the class...
So what does that have to do with ACT! or CRM? Why is Stacy writing about coffee? Well, I love coffee, and hanging out with the folks at Barefoot was so fun because these people are Passionate with a capital P about good coffee. I mean, really good coffee. And being around people who are passionate about what they do is just so cool.
But I got to thinking about why each shot tasted differently, even though many of the variables were the same. One big variable – people. Who was pulling the shot? Kyra muscled the tamping down seriously hard, Carol tried to get the coffee spread evenly in the filter (where is the coffee level please?), Joyce tried the knocking technique (don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it, lol), John stopped the shot short, pulling a ristretto (real thing, who knew?).
That got me thinking about our customers and how two different customers can take the same CRM product and have such different results. One customer can dive in, embrace the technology, merge it into their business process and then reap the rewards of the investment in time and money. While another customer might go through the same motions – requirements, customization, implementation, training – but they never really get the bang for the buck. Their CRM tool is more of a hindrance than a help.
And as I thought about all those different shots on Monday night, it hit me. They all tasted different but none of them tasted really bad. Not even the over-pull that Jared showed us as an example. And here is where I think the difference lies – commitment. The five of us gave up personal time, on a Monday night no less, to drive 85 miles, round-trip, to spend an hour with Jared learning about pulling espresso shots. Remember, only one of us is in the coffee biz.
If you can truly make a commitment to embrace CRM for your business, and then follow through with the necessary steps to make CRM really work FOR your people, then it will. But don’t just buy some software, have your IT people install it and expect to get any appreciable ROI. Really getting the most from your investment means careful and thoughtful planning, allocating appropriate resources and then following through. Honestly, if you’re not really committed to a CRM solution, you are probably better off using your cobbled-together solution of Outlook/Excel for contact management. If you are ready and want some help with the process, we would love to chat with you. We are Passionate with a capital P about helping our customers really leverage CRM. I know, we are also Geeks with a capital G…
As for coffee, here is what I am now saving for -a Dalla Corte Mini Espresso Machine and a Baratza Vario Grinder. Because, although I still love my Superautomatic, the quality of the coffee is just average, at best. And I am defintely committed to getting the best coffee I can reasonably afford at home. It might take a while to get there, but I have a goal. Next Monday, Latte Art at Barefoot. Big fun!
Stacy, I love this analogy and the idea of the coffee workshop is so cool – wish we had one around here! This was a great read – thanks!