The art of the latte
OK, coffee adventures, Part Deux. Back to Barefoot Coffee in San Jose Monday night with our band of coffee aficionados and foodies. This time to be schooled in latte art by Marie. So why am I, a CRM consultant, writing about coffee, again? I think it’s because these little field trips are shaking up my business brain, and being around these folks at Barefoot who are beyond passionate about coffee, is such a buzz. Get it? Buzz, coffee, caffeine, buzz??? I am so funny.
So latte art is pretty cool, and like a lot things in my life, I had been trying to teach it to myself by reading the internets and practicing at home. Guess what? I had it all WRONG! So when I put myself, for just a few minutes, in the very patient, knowledgeable and supremely capable hands of Marie, I made a heart! OK, maybe it looks diseased, but it’s a heart! Really, if you squint at the pic and tilt your head to the left, there, don’t you see it?
My latte heART
Marie's latte heART...something to aspire to.
So where is the CRM tie-in, you might be wondering… me too. No, just kidding. Here it is – in the past 2 weeks I have talked to at least 5 prospects, and not one of them have ever received formal, custom training on their CRM application. Not one. No surprise, they are calling a consultant because they just aren’t getting what they had hoped for out of their CRM system. So they start by asking me about custom reports, custom database fields, custom integration with a back-end system, etc. And I can’t help but wonder, if they just set aside some time (and money) how much more they could be getting out of their current system, just the way it is, with some training.
The two biggest tips on getting the most ROI (return on investment) out of your CRM application are:
- Have a road map going into the implementation, so that you have a clear picture of where you are going, what success will look like once you get there and what return you are expecting.
- Invest in training. Not online, self-paced, generic training, but training with a professional who can customize the training session(s) to your road map. (See # 1)
I promise you, just a few hours with a qualified CRM trainer, like me, and I’ll have you making hearts out of your contact data. OK, not really, but I had to go for the latte art tie-in. Here’s what you will get – a much deeper knowledge of the very powerful tool you probably already own, and how to make that knowledge work for you and your business. Next week’s coffee adventure: cupping. No, really. Stay tuned.
