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Introduction

We were excited about writing this article because it was an opportunity to combine our experiences as sailors and consumers of marine products and services, and also as management consultants who focus on the principles and technologies of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Simply put, we help our clients develop sales and service strategies and plan and implement the technologies that make those strategies come true.

Our customers are facing challenges like never before. Customer expectations are still significantly on the rise. They care less about brand and more about choice. Customers have come to expect frequent flyer miles and other rewards every time they shop. Loyalty continues to diminish. Customers expect consistency across multiple channels or "touchpoints" and accessibility 24 by 7. They expect to be able to touch the seller when they want, where they want, and how they want. In the new world, customers will self-manage their relationship with sellers. Additionally, competition is only a click away.

Now, we realize what you are all thinking right now. You're thinking "Ya, right. That may be the case for Amazon.com, but it will never happen in the marine industry, and certainly not at my marina." In fact, unless you own a megayacht, you probably don't want your marina to act like Amazon.com. You want your marina to continue to operate as a "mom-and-pop" operation, right?

But let's face it folks. Everyone wants very high quality service. And there are relatively few people who are truly satisfied with today's marina experience. We love the idea of mom-and-pop marina, but we are often disappointed in the laissez-faire attitude, the service managers who never call back, the floats that are in disrepair, the security guards who fail to notice that one of your fenders floated away in a storm, etc. Even our federal government agencies are realizing that, in the new customer-centric world of sales and service, they eventually must give the customer what they want when they want, where they want, and how they want. The marine industry will as usual be late adopters. But they will adopt these practices and technologies. There is no doubt about it.

Ironically, the marina consolidation we have seen in recent years may not be so bad. It will likely provide some unexpected benefits to the customer, especially since larger operations will have greater available resources for integrated CRM technology. In our experience, we say adamantly that when CRM is implemented well, the customer is always better served. A professional Customer Care representative who has your customer profile, your account information, and your entire call history does, in fact, provide service that is superior to mom-and-pop.

As consultants, there is one area where we often struggle. It is in bringing to life the future-state business environment. Helping the client and their customers truly picture in their mind the future-state CRM-enabled business is indeed a challenge. Helping the client to be able to articulate that future themselves is perhaps the greatest challenge for a CRM practitioner.

Two years ago, we were implementing a complex CRM solution at a large financial services organization. We were discussing options for communicating the new CRM capabilities to several thousand sales and service representatives as well to as customers. Our client said "Listen, my customers don't want to hear all that mumbo jumbo about customer knowledge, personalization, and customer lifetime value. They really only want to know one simple thing - What will the customer interaction of the future feel like, look like, taste like, etc.?"

To help answer these critical questions, we now develop a detailed "Year-in-the-Life" scenario that can be published whole or in part for sales and service functions within the organization, or externally for customers. To build the Year-in-the-Life scenario, we typically:

Bring together a small group of forward-thinking sales and/or service representatives from the customer "touchpoints" (e.g., sales reps, customer service representatives, service managers);

Select a point of time in the future, say five years from now;
Select a customer segment (e.g., "Under 30-years-old, single professionals");

Begin storyboarding on a whiteboard or with flipcharts;
Write the story of multiple customer interactions, across (a) multiple touchpoints, (b) an agreed period of time (typically 1-2 years), (c) multiple product purchases, and (d) multiple existing technologies, new technologies, and perhaps some yet-to-be invented technologies.

Work through the two-year timeline discussing likely customer interactions across a customer lifecycle, from the Attract phase of the customer relationship through the Evaluate, Purchase, Service and Retain phases;
The benefits of this approach are several:

It provides a qualitative business case for technology expenditures. When coupled with a quantitative business case, it creates a powerful cost justification. This helps all members of the organization rally around the cause.

Our experience shows us that, once the future-state customer experience has been articulated clearly, executives will use it as a tool to champion the cause - at board meetings, shareholder meetings, in marketing communications, etc.

It provides sales and service representatives with a vision of the desired future-state customer experience. It presents an expected outcome and a light at the end of a potentially long tunnel of complex point solution implementations, stop-gap solutions, and disruptions in day-to-day business.
It provides Human Resources and sales and service management with a blueprint for recruiting, selecting, training, evaluating, retaining, and rewarding the employee skill sets and personalities who will make the future-state business a success.

Customers will greatly appreciate knowing what it will be like to do business with the company in the future. In fact, customers who are on the verge of defecting to a competitor who offers the latest whizbang touchpoint technology may decide to change their mind if they see that their existing service provider is, in fact, planning to deliver the same technology eventually.

Many of our clients are stodgy financial services companies, utilities and government agencies who wouldn't be able to envision the future if they watched the Sci Fi Channel for a year. For these clients, we take them through a "test drive" of the Year-in-the-Life approach using an industry that they find fun. We usually do "A Year-in-the-Life of a Golf Course Customer in the Year 2005". We recently had a client where most of the management team were sailors. Here is the scenario we developed. It describes a year in the life of a marina customer named Rolando.

The year is 2006

My name is Rolando. I am 40-years-old, married and have a wife and two children. Last year I purchased a new 2006 45-foot Beneteau cruising yacht. I started looking around for a marina that would fit my needs. My expectations were very high. I wanted a very high level of personalized service, all the amenities, and lots of things to keep my kids busy. In other words, I wanted everything that a large marina would offer, combined with a level of service that is typically available at the best family-operated marinas.

Several friends recommended that I check out Starfish Marina. So I logged on to www.starfishmarina.com. Very cool. Starfish Marina has 600+ slips, two restaurants, a beach for the kids, service center, marine supply store, and a bunch of other amenities.

Shopping For a Slip

So, I created a username and password on the Starfish Marina web site and was given my own Starfish Marina home page. And this was one of the most useful web pages I have ever seen. As I was signing up, it asked me a bunch of questions about myself and created a personalized page that directly reflected my preferences and lifestyle. Just like my bank. For example, I was asked to enter the zip codes for my favorite cruising locations, and it automatically showed the current and forecast for each location, the tides and currents, race calendars, and a www.Mapquest.com link to view an online chart for those locations. I also learned that if I kept my boat at Starfish Marina, I could use my own personal Starfish Marina home page to:


•check on my boat every day via webcam (at night too, because the video camera is infrared);
• check out of my slip for extended periods of time (for a long weekend, for example) and share in any revenues that the marina would receive for "sub-letting" my slip while I was away;
• sign up for Friday night races out in the bay;
• sign my kids up for the summer sailing program;
• send an email inquiry to the Starfish Marina Customer Service department with a guaranteed response within one hour via the media channel (e.g., email, phone call, fax, etc.) of my choice;
• create a service request for my slip for a telephone hookup, cable TV hookup, electrical hookup, holding tank pumpout, boat wash and wax, oil change, in-water bottom cleaning, etc.
• join a biannual web chat with the Starfish Marina CEO;
• create a cruising calendar with my probable summer cruise locations and dates;
• send an invitation for an onboard cocktail party to several friends, receive their online RSVP, and have the system automatically send them directions to the marina and a reminder on the day prior to the party;
easily send emails to other Harbor Island Marina customers.

Very cool website. But the dockage fees seemed a bit high, and I wasn't quite sure that I wanted to keep my boat there.

Rolando doesn't know this, but Starfish Marina has placed him in their "family builders" customer segment based on the information in his customer profile, and intends to spend the next few years presenting him with advertisements for products and services that specifically fit his needs and lifestyle. Read on.

A week later, I received an email from Starfish Marina offering me an online coupon with a ten percent discount if I signed up for dockage before 11/6/06. The email included a "select your slip" link. I clicked on the link, and it took me to a graphic map of the marina. Unavailable slips were coded red. Available slips were coded green. Several slips that were intended for 35-45 footers were highlighted. Two slips were flagged as "easy to manoeuvre for sailboats", and two slips way down at the end of the marina were flagged as "additional ten percent discount". When I clicked on various slips, I was able to see the slip "options" (e.g., electrical, telephone, etc.) as well as panoramic photos of the views from the slip. I thought - Wow, this is like purchasing concert tickets online. But it's even better.

Rolando's Purchase

So I added slip number B33 to my "shopping basket". I entered my credit card number, opted for monthly payments, confirmation via email, and created a service request for an electrical hookup. Two days later, I logged onto mystarfishmarina.com and used the web cam to zoom in on my boat located in slip number B3. I clicked on the link called "my account" and saw that the first payment had been debited to my credit card, and that another was scheduled for the following month, and that my balance had been adjusted accordingly. I also noticed that there was a banner advertisement to sign my kids up for KidSail, the children's sailing program. I clicked on the banner ad and checked out the prices, but decided to check out the KidSail program at a later date.

The Marina Cross-Sells

The next day I received an email from my "assigned" Customer Care person at the marina. His name was Kevin McCarthy. Kevin's email confirmed my order and also provided additional information on the children's sailing program with a phone number to call. I called Kevin a few days later to sign my kids up. Here's where things got very interesting. Kevin asked me to bring up myhorbourislandmarina.com on my computer. Kevin also brought it up on his computer. He coached me through the entire process of signing my kids up for the KidSail program. I entered my children's names, ages, etc., and I made the payment online with my credit card. Kevin explained to me that when I clicked on the banner add for KidSail, it sent a "tickler" to the KidSail Program Director and my assigned Customer Care rep that I was a potential customer for this service. I usually hate getting junk mail and phone calls from telemarketers. But in this case I didn't mind at all because it was something I was already shopping for.

Starfish Marina's CRM software automatically suggests additional products and services that Rolando may need based on the Customer Profile information that he entered when creating his home page, and on clickstream analysis (the links he clicks on throughout the harborislandmarine.com web site.

Rolando Makes a Service Request

Starfish Marina turned out to be a great choice. I moved my boat into slip number B33 and spent several weeks enjoying the easy access in and out of the marina. The friendly and helpful staff, the clean facilities, the fitness center and the restaurant. In fact, I ended up spending many more weekdays at the marina than I expected. I started actually working several days per week from the boat. So, I decided I needed a broadband connection for my laptop. I entered myhourbourislandmarina.com and used an online form to create a Service Request. Within an hour I received a phone call from my assigned Customer Care Rep. We scheduled the installation on the phone. I received an email confirmation of the expected installation date. I received another email notification when the installation had been completed and the Service Request officially closed. And I received another email with a customer satisfaction survey. And along with the email notifications I also noticed on myharbourisland.com home page that my service request was continuously updated by the Customer Care rep and by the Dock Manager.

Starfish Marina's CRM software allows all service representatives, sales representative, and managers to have a 360-degree view of the customer - account information, customer profile and preferences, contact information, Service Requests, etc. Rolando will never need to repeat his request to multiple service representatives. He won't have to worry that his request is lost. He will not have to worry about miscommunications between the dockmaster and the Customer Care Rep. And he can rest assured that the person is emailing or speaking to on the phone can view the history of his emails, phone calls, web clicks, etc.

Managing Capacity

One day I received an email advertisement from the marina with a special offer for an oil change on my boat. I needed an oil change, so I clicked on the link and was taken to a calendar page where I clicked on my preferred date. Then my request automatically appeared as a Service Request on myharbourisland.com home page.

Starfish Marina's CRM software looks for excess capacity and automatically sends out suggestions for Service Requests to fill capacity gaps, based on a customer's profile. It works well for the customer because they received targeted and discounted offers. And it works well for the marina because they fill excess capacity so that the marina mechanics and other service personnel don't sit around un-billable.

Fast Forward Another Few Years

In the last few years I have revisited my Starfish homepage many times. I have added weather links, travel links, an email account for my sailboat, etc. Everything that is remotely related to my sailing hobby can be accessed via my Starfish home page - which is nice because I can access everything from any computer anywhere, especially from the kiosks on the dock. I've interacted with the Starfish staff via every media touch point available. I have executed transactions, asked questions, and I've even answered surveys. In fact, last week I gave feedback on a web survey, regarding my service experiences and my service professionals, and I received an email from the Starfish CEO thanking me and promising to take the lead on an improvement that I recommended. And I'm sure he'll follow thorough on his promise. Starfish always follows through.

Conclusion

Rolando's story illustrates the power of proactively recognizing customer needs, and in having the ability to build on an existing customer relationship with affective CRM capabilities. Indeed, his case is one in many where various employees working for the service provider (Starfish) were able to recognize, or were alerted to opportunities in which Rolando was already interested (e.g. the children's sailing program, etc.). Rolando's customer experience is compelling because he had the opportunity to choose from several touchpoints and channels when dealing with Starfish and in researching his options. Rolando could have gone to several competing providers for the services he needed. Yet he remained loyal to Starfish because he recognized the relationship was founded on a keen understanding of his service and channel needs. As with any successful partnership, Rolando's relationship with Starfish grew in strength, just as it evolved in breadth.


Dan Murphy is a Principal Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers

Andres Salinas is an Associate at Booz-Allen & Hamilton.