There are some excellent benefits to working directly with customers, but there are pressures that you need to be aware of and actively manage if you are to be successful. Here are three examples of the types of pressure you will feel, and some advice for navigating through them. If you are considering working for as a consulting or professional services project manager, read on.
Customer-facing project teams are the face of the organization, and that has to mean something. We need to help project teams understand the ground rules that they are operating within--and what is expected of them.
Does a project manager responsible for client-facing initiatives need a different set of skills from other PMs? And if so, what are those differences? What makes a good professional services project manager?
Rigor in process around project management is not enough to stay professionally relevant. In fact, the nature of our work is such that process may not need to be our primary focus. One PM shares how certain situations can inform us about when process should be emphasized and when relationships should matter more.
You may think that a project manager’s ability to influence CRM is minimal, particularly on projects that are not customer facing. Think again. Recent studies link employee engagement to customer satisfaction and profitability.
CRM tools can offer tremendous insight into your customer base and their needs. Are you leveraging that information? For most organizations, there’s a better approach than the status quo--and the information is already at your fingertips.
You are in a room with customers and have two minutes to explain your project. Are you ready with the project brief?
For customer-facing organizations, customer relationship management is more than just a sales tool, it’s project initiation manifested. Here, we look at how organizations can better integrate their sales and delivery processes to the benefit of both sides of the business as well as the customer.
As project managers, we sometimes forget that the way that our projects are executed is not always clear to our customers. Making sure that the customer understands the different approaches is critical.
A client project is a disaster, and they want to cancel the project. Would you be willing to step in as project manager? Can you help rescue the project and rebuild the fragile client relationship? Employ crisis skills to find success.
It appears that not much has changed in regard to customer relationship management success. Despite the advances in data analytics, predictive modeling and Big Data mining, the harsh reality is that the drivers of CRM have essentially remained unchanged. As we approach the halfway mark of the new millennium’s second decade, isn’t it time to rethink CRM?
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"Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room." - Winston Churchill |
