Getting Engaged to CRM

Patti Gilchrist, PMP, is a Senior Technical Manager with more than 20 years of IT experience. Visit her website at www.freepmstudy.com

  CRM   Stakeholder Management  

As leaders, project managers shape the culture on a project, influence the engagement of the team and as a result are often accountable for the overall success or failure of a project. The role of the project manager to create a positive working environment that fosters trust, respect, cooperation and collaboration is a critical factor for project success.

But what is the project manager’s role in customer relationship management? Upon initial thought, you may think that a project manager’s ability to influence CRM is minimal at best, particularly on projects that are not customer facing. However, recent studies suggest otherwise, and in fact link employee engagement to customer satisfaction.

A workplace that is respectful to its associates leads to a motivated workforce that aspires to be involved to make a difference. This in turn inspires commitment. And both motivation and commitment have been found to have a direct correlation to customer satisfaction and bottom-line results (Engaged Metrics: “Examining the Relationship Between Employee Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction").

According to Engaged Metrics, a recent Gallup survey attributed the following attitudes to higher profits:  

• Employees perceived that they had an opportunity to do what they do best.
• They believed their opinion mattered.
• They regarded …

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