With companies around the nation still tightening their collective belts, customer-centric business strategies are more important than ever. Retaining and building stronger customer relationships is proving to be a major sticking point for the B2B marketer in the down economy. We caught up with customer-centric business guru Bob Thompson, CEO of CustomerThink, to take a closer look at Customer-centric Business Management (CBM) and what marketers can do to stay ahead of the pack in these trying times.

1) Tell us a little about your background in B2B marketing and what led you to start up CustomerThink.com

I worked at IBM for 15 years, mostly dealing with large enterprises. After leaving Big Blue, I was general manager for a computer reseller selling to government contractors and agencies.  So, most of my customer experience has been B2B with complex sales processes. I started my own CRM consulting firm in 1998, then started an email newsletter, which led to a web site (CRMGuru.com) in 2000. We renamed the site to CustomerThink in 2007 due to my continued frustration that most people think of CRM too narrowly.

2) Most of us are familiar with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Customer Experience Management (CEM), can you explain the Customer-centric Business Management (CBM) approach?

CBM is a strategic framework with four pillars. Three of them deal with customers: CRM, CEM and CCM. As commonly practiced, CRM is about managing customer data and automating processes to maximize revenue. Think SFA, marketing automation, and customer service automation. CEM is about designing/delivering experiences that drive loyalty; including all interactions not just those that can be automated. CCM stand for Customer Collaboration Management, which involves a true dialog and engaged relationship. The fourth pillar, Employee Relationship Management (ERM) means building employee relationships such that employees are motivated to do the right thing for customers, while delivering value to the enterprise.

3) Customer Collaboration Management is a growing element of CBM, how important is this as a tool in creating real dialogues with customers and buyers?

For companies that strive for win/win relationships, it’s essential. Customers have empowered themselves with social media. CCM, in part, means enterprises using social computing to join the conversation. But note that there are other forms of collaboration that don’t necessarily involve technology, such as co-development activities, advisory councils, and so on.

4) How is the current economic climate challenging businesses to change their customer-centric strategies and what are you seeing as emerging new trends?

With the economy in the ditch, executives are very concerned about retention and, where possible, increasing revenue per customer. So, oddly enough, the economy has spurred customer-centric activities because customers are valued, and replacing them is harder than ever. Currently there is tremendous focus on delivering a competitive customer experience while managing costs. Use of social media is also getting a boost because companies are starting to realize the enormous leverage that comes with effective use in marketing, sales and customer service scenarios. Simply put, it’s cheaper to let customers do the marketing for you (WOM), sell themselves and help each other solve problems.

5) You recommend building a customer experience plan around efficiency and retention instead of around growing revenue, what are the key steps B2B marketers should remember in doing this?

You can’t grow revenue with a customer that has defected to another business, so retention has to be job number one. But cost is obviously a critical factor these days. B2B marketers should spend some time “walking in their customers shoes” to make sure that the marketing/selling experience is in sync with the prospect’s buying process. Don’t use technology just to push harder or shout louder. Use it to connect, inform and engage customers and help them make a good decision.

6) In the down economy, what part does social media play in improving customer experience?

Increasingly, customers expect social channels to be part of how an enterprise communicates with customers. The “social experience” is another form of interaction that needs to be orchestrated. In this economy, social media has a unique opportunity to connect with worried customers in a more personal and friendly way. Our customer experience research has found that customers value friendly employees that are trained and supported to do the right job. Social media technology can play a key role.

7) What advice do you have for designing and delivering more effective marketing programs on a paired back budget?

This is as good a time as any to rethink marketing processes and try something new. Experiment with social media. Use B2B marketing technology to track what’s working and cut back or improve programs that don’t deliver a strong ROI. But mainly, as we talked about earlier, align the marketing processes with how customers want to buy. Customers will appreciate it, and marketers will make better use of scarce resources.