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Customer Relationship Management for Managers in Libraries. Matt Anderson UNC-Chapel Hill. CRM. Many organizations invest heavily in Customer Relationship Management Customer Relationship Management (CRM) “is a strategy for optimizing the lifetime value of customers”
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Customer Relationship Management for Managers in Libraries Matt Anderson UNC-Chapel Hill
CRM • Many organizations invest heavily in Customer Relationship Management • Customer Relationship Management (CRM) “is a strategy for optimizing the lifetime value of customers” • Source: Todman, C. (2001). Designing a data warehouse: supporting customer relationship management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Page 8.
CRM • One of the main parts of CRM is getting to know the customer… • What inquires do customers make? • Why do customers become unhappy? • What do they do when they are unhappy? • What can we do to improve the situation? • How can we communicate with customers?
CRM in Supermarkets • CRM research in supermarkets has led to a wider range of products and services like: • Pharmacies • Banks • Clothing • Music • Tools • Automotive supplies
CRM in Libraries • Businesses using CRM often use knowledge discover processes like data mining, surveys, et cetera. • It isn’t always necessary to collect vast amounts of information on library patrons to understand them. • Library employees become close with patrons simply by doing their job. • As a manager in a library, you probably have access to the information you need to serve your patrons better.
CRM in Libraries • The following questions will address your library’s relationship with its patrons. • The questions should give you ideas on how to serve patrons more effectively.
Your Patrons • How many patrons do you know at your library? • Think of five patrons who use your library. • How often do you see them? • How often do you communicate with them?
Your Hiring Practices • What are the key service qualities you look for when you hire an employee? • Are these consistent no matter what the position is? • Do other managers at the library look for the same service qualities when deciding whom to hire?
Your Employees • Who at your library is the best at giving good service to patrons? • Who are the top three at giving good service? • Do the top three know that you feel this way? • How do you encourage them to give good service to patrons? • Name a change in training or policy that could make the rest of your employees perform at a higher level.
Your Employees • Name three things you do for employees of the library to make them feel special. • Do you know all their names? • Do you know their family members’ names or what kind of pet they have?
Your Technology • What kinds of technology does your library use? • How do these enrich the patrons’ experience? • Do your employees have enough training and education to assist patrons with the library’s technology or do they often have to get an expert to help?
Your Website • Does your library have a website for patrons? • What are some examples of information your patrons might be looking for when they visited your library’s website? • What are two things that your library’s website could add that would improve the patrons’ experience?
Your Contact Methods • How does your library contact patrons? • What information might a patron receive via email? • What information might a patron receive via postal mail?
Your Demographic Groups • What does your library do to meet the needs of people over the age of sixty? • What does your library do to meet the needs of children? • What are two other demographic groups that your library is actively trying to serve?
Your Visuals • As far as displays, furnishings, library arrangement, et cetera, what is something you could do to make your library’s interior more visually pleasant? • What is something you could do to make your library more visually pleasant from the outside?
Your Feedback • How do patrons give feedback? • Through how many people do patron requests or complaints travel? • Give an example of a patron telling you what the library needs. • How did the message get to you? • Could the communication have been improved?
Your Service-Oriented Problems • What is a mistake that your library has made with regard to serving a patron or patrons? • Was there an apology for the inconvenience? • Was there an attempt to try to fix the problem? • Was the problem resolved? • Were the patron or patrons satisfied with the attempt to resolve the problem? • How do you know?
Your Colleagues • Do you belong to organizations where you can swap ideas about service to patrons? • What types of service improvements have you heard about from other libraries or organizations that you could implement in your library?
Your Patrons’ Expectations • Give two examples of ways that your library exceeds patrons’ service expectations. • Give two examples of additional ways that your library can exceed patrons’ service expectations.
Conclusion • This was a brief look at how library managers can use CRM ideas to improve relationships between the library and its patrons. • Hopefully, it’s given you a few ideas that you can implement soon at your library.
Additional Sources Consulted • Anton, J. (1996). Customer relationship management: making hard decisions with soft numbers. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. • Brown, S.A. (2000). Customer relationship management: a strategic imperative in the world of e-business. Toronto: John Wiley & Sons. • Fjermestad, J. & Romano, N.C. (2006). Electronic customer relationship management. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharp. • Mitchell, J. (2003). Hug your customers: the proven way to personalize sales and achieve astounding results. New York: Hyperion. • Rajola, F. (2003). Customer relationship management: organizational and technological perspectives. Berlin: Springer. • Wagner, W. & Zubey, M. (2007). Customer relationship management: a people, process, and technology approach. Boston: Thomson.
