Call it public relations. Call it customer relationship management. Call it sucking up. Treating clients, suppliers and customers as human beings pays dividends. Or at least helps mitigate tiny disasters.
Not unlike a lot of businesses, I sent greeting cards this past holiday season. I’m not a business, but I am the long-distance administrator/caretaker of my independent 90-year-old mother. As such, I am at the mercy of a raft of suppliers 130 miles away. CRM enters the picture at every stage of the operation.
The dozen or so cards I mailed were almost terminally cute – but with a clearly aimed message. They portrayed 1) a helpful-looking Statue of Liberty and 2) Jolly Old St. Nick with his pack of goodies, 3) both poring over a map of New York City. And 4) they carried a handwritten greeting.
These missives were targeted to Connecticut state social service workers, food deliverers, nursing home contacts and bankers; and were calibrated to make four points fast: 1) The nice lady 2) who depends on your good graces 3) and is from New York City, 4) sends appreciative thoughts to you.
For the Medicaid people, I appended my name, “daughter of [my mother’s name],” and her identification number as it appears in their files. For the others I added similar reference points based on their systems.
CRM aside, I really wish these service industry employees well. For the most part, they are underpaid workers on whom more work is piled every time there is a cutback. Not only do they inherit the work of the downsized, but they must live in fear of being pink-slipped themselves. This environment is not conducive to being cheery and helpful to their ever-increasing caseloads.
Add to that the fact that when most caretakers of the elderly call, it’s to unload a pain-in-the-neck problem, or to lodge a nasty complaint. With that in mind, I make it a practice to call just to say “thank you,” when things eventually go right. The recipients of these acknowledgement calls are always, to a person, stunned.
All of the holiday card recipients mentioned them when we spoke.
All this CRM doesn’t vitiate the fact that for every call I make to try to put something into effect, I will have to make approximately six more calls, giving either these or some other workers exactly the same information in order to make what I actually need happen. I’ve made my peace with that. That’s their CRM problem.
Does any of this really make a difference? It’s a little like corporate advertising. No measurable data, but sometimes these efforts do have tangible results.
My mom, who happened to be sojourning in one of the nursing homes she must frequent from time to time, mentioned that every day she was presented with a very small and listless-looking dish of canned fruit, which was to serve as dessert. And never did any bread appear on her tray, not to mention the absence of rolls, croissants and wraps. Pies and cakes were nowhere in evidence. Breakfast, she opined, was always the same. Was there no relief?
When I called to address my mom’s concerns, I was put on the trail of dietician Chris, who checked with the medical staff regarding permitted foods. He promised he would alert chef Rick about the incorporation of goodies – fresh fruits and whole wheat bread – into the daily regimen. Magically, oranges, pears, and breadstuffs began to dot the landscape. A small piece of apple pie actually appeared one evening. A box of matzoh was specially purchased for the proper holiday.
A week later the same gastronomic ground had to be visited and nudged right. I can live with that. They were trying, and were amenable to my follow-up. The food team was duly appended to my holiday list.
As it happens, my mom is no amateur, and can work a room without it’s knowing that its being worked; but, as do we all, she needs an advocate from time to time. Like many of her generation, her mantra is never to trouble staff for anything. Troubling the staff, then, is the task of the advocate. And thus I will keep up my CRM habits. There’s no telling what she may require in the future. A warm arugula salad with a round of chevre, perhaps? Come to think of it, a lone holiday card may not do the trick.
To respond to the opinions in this column, please contact rlevey@primediabusiness.com
