With the rise of big data, the intersection of Total Quality Management and CRM is becoming vital. I’m interested in how companies are using TQM principles to ensure the quality of their data and how that data, in turn, improves the overall customer experience. Any specific frameworks for this?
3 answers
Regarding those "validation rules," do you find that they sometimes slow down the sales team too much, or have you found a way to keep it user-friendly while maintaining high data standards?
TQM ensures that the CRM is a "single source of truth." Without quality data, even the most advanced CRM is useless for improving customer satisfaction.
Well said, Sandra. Quality at the source is the only way to ensure that the analytics coming out of the CRM are actually actionable and trustworthy.
In the digital age, TQM is essentially "Data Quality Management." If your CRM is filled with duplicate or incorrect data, your customer service quality will inevitably suffer. We applied the TQM principle of "Prevention over Inspection" by automating data entry points and using validation rules. This ensures that quality is baked into the data collection process from the start. We treat our internal data users as "internal customers," ensuring they have high-quality inputs to provide a seamless output for the end consumer. It has revolutionized our targeting and response times.
Charles, it was a balancing act at first. We conducted a mini-TQM workshop with the sales team to show them how bad data was actually costing them commissions due to missed leads. Once they saw the personal impact, they were happy to follow the rules. We also used AI-assisted auto-fill to reduce the manual burden. The key is to make the "quality way" the "easiest way" so that compliance happens naturally without feeling like a burden.