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What is a CRM Doctor (CRM Consultant)? — The role of a specialist in establishing CRM in the CRM 4.0 era and its practical application with EMOROCO CRM Lite
Hello, this is Matsubara, CRM Evangelist.
"We implemented a CRM system. The setup was complete. All that was left was for the field staff to use it—or so we thought, but three months later, nobody was entering any data."
This is a common problem for companies that have implemented CRM. However, many companies do not have a fundamental answer to the question, "Why doesn't it stick?"
The answer to this question is clearly stated in the definition of CRM 4.0 proposed by Arcus Japan.
"Because we need to provide long-term support to our customers, continuous maintenance and updates (regular checkups) of our CRM system are essential, and it is important that CRM specialists possess specialized knowledge as 'CRM diagnosticians (CRM doctors)'."
The concept of a "CRM Doctor (CRM Consultant)" represents a specialized role in maintaining and evolving CRM not merely as a "tool" but as a "living system" in the CRM 4.0 era.
This article explains what CRM Doctor is, why it's necessary in the CRM 4.0 era, and how to implement it with EMOROCO CRM Lite.
Why CRM doesn't work just by "installing" it—the trap of a "static system"
The essential reasons why CRM becomes a mere formality
Many companies attribute the failure of CRM implementation to "a lack of motivation among employees." However, this is a superficial diagnosis.
The fundamental problem lies in the fact that "CRM is designed as a static system."
When the system was first implemented, rules were established such as "enter customer lists," "register projects," and "write daily reports." However, after continuing to use the system in this manner, a year later, a large number of "input fields that don't fit the work," "dashboards that nobody looks at," and "fields where the reason for inputting data is unclear" have accumulated.
CRM is a living thing.
Customer relationships change. Personnel change. Businesses grow. The competitive landscape shifts. If you don't continuously "maintain and update" your CRM field design, workflows, and dashboards to adapt to these changes, your CRM will quickly become a "graveyard of data detached from reality."
A medical analogy: The difference between a surgeon who "performs surgery and that's the end of it" and a primary care physician who "continues with regular checkups."
If we liken the implementation of CRM to "surgery," we can see the essence of the problem.
Many CRM implementations follow a "surgical" model. System integrators and consultants come in, spend several months designing, building, and running the CRM, then declare "delivery complete"—and the experts leave.
However, can patients who undergo surgery remain healthy without subsequent follow-up examinations, rehabilitation, and regular checkups?
CRM4.0 needs a "primary care physician" (family doctor), not a "surgeon."
A "CRM Doctor (CRM Diagnostician)" is like a primary care physician for a patient (CRM), regularly diagnosing their condition, detecting minor problems early, improving their lifestyle (operational rules), and continuously providing prescriptions tailored to their stage of development.
Four vital signs that CRM doctors should "diagnose"
Just as doctors regularly measure patients' body temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and weight, CRM doctors regularly measure the "vital signs" (health indicators) of CRMs.
Vital Sign ① "Input Rate" - Is CRM being used?
- Percentage of all customer records where the "last contact date has not been updated for 90 days or more"
Normal value: 20% or less
Caution: 30-50%
Danger level: 50% or higher (CRM data is inconsistent with reality)
- Percentage of all case records where the "phase has not changed for 30 days or more"
Normal value: 25% or less (Project progress is being recorded)
Risk level: 50% or higher (Project management is being conducted outside of the CRM)
- Completion rate of "Person in Charge Memo/Narrative Field"
Normal value: 70% or higher (context is recorded each time there is contact)
Risk level: Less than 30% (CRM is limited to address books)
Meaning of the diagnosis: A CRM with a low input rate is not a signal that "there is no data," but rather that "the field staff do not perceive value in the CRM." We will improve this by addressing field design, the effort required for data entry, and the experience of gaining benefits from data entry.
Vital Sign ② "Utilization Rate" — Is the data being used in decision-making?
Weekly access rate of the dashboard
Normal value: All sales representatives check at least three times a week.
Danger level: It is only held once a month during meetings.
• Completion rate of automated workflow generation tasks
Normal value: 80% or higher (Automatically generated tasks are being executed)
Critical level: Below 50% ("Too many tasks to look at")
- Update frequency of the "Emotional Temperature" field
Normal value: Updated with each contact (multiple updates per week)
Risk level: Less than once a week (Initially entered data but stopped midway)
Diagnosis meaning: A CRM with low utilization rates is not functioning as a "System of Insight (SoI)." The solution involves redesigning the dashboard, reviewing the workflow, and redesigning the user experience to make data entry beneficial to the user.
Vital Signs ③ "Accuracy" - The quality of the recorded data
- Is everyone's emotional temperature set to "warm (same evaluation)"?
→ Everyone's "warm" state is just "entered without thinking." Input without thought.
- Are there too many entries for "Other" in the "Reason for Loss" field?
→ A high frequency of "Other" selections is a signal that "the available options do not reflect reality."
The options need to be reviewed.
- Is the narrative memo just saying "I contacted them"?
→ "What was discussed and how the customers reacted" are not recorded.
Guidance is needed on the quality of record-keeping.
- Rate of duplicate customer records and variations in notation
→ "Tanaka Sangyo," "Tanaka Sangyo Co., Ltd.," and "Tanaka Sangyo" exist on separate records.
Regular data cleansing is necessary.
Meaning of the diagnosis: CRMs with low data accuracy cannot enable AI to learn patterns, and dashboards cannot generate correct insights. Fostering a "culture of inputting high-quality data" is one of the most important jobs of a CRM doctor.
Vital Sign ④ "Approval Rate" — Is the CRM system suitable for current operations?
- The number of fields that elicit the question, "What is this field for?"
→ A field created during implementation with the idea of "it might be used in the future," but no one ever fills it out.
Deletion or archiving is required.
- How often do people say, "It's not in the CRM, so I'm taking notes separately"?
→ The CRM lacks the necessary fields.
A new custom field needs to be added.
- Has the workflow remained unchanged even though the business process has changed?
→ This describes a situation where "tasks that were previously useful are now automatically generated, but are now just a nuisance."
The workflow needs to be reviewed.
- Has the change in personnel and organizational structure been reflected?
→ The client information for former employees remains "No assigned client" or "Name of non-existent client."
The handover process for the person in charge needs to be confirmed.
Meaning of the diagnosis: A CRM is a system that reflects the business processes at the time of implementation. As business processes evolve, the gap between the CRM and the evolving business processes widens. Regularly reviewing field workflows is key to keeping the CRM a usable system.
The "Four Prescriptions" Offered by a CRM Doctor
Based on the vital signs diagnosis, the CRM doctor will issue a prescription.
Prescription ① "Field Inventory" - Delete unused fields
Step 1: List all fields
View all fields on the EMOROCO CRM Lite custom field settings screen.
Step 2: Check the input rate for each field.
Identify fields with an input rate of less than 30%.
→ These are "fields that no one has entered anything into."
Step 3: Delete or hide unused fields.
If you have doubts about the necessity, please check with the person in charge before deleting.
"May use in the future" means "re-evaluate after a 30-day freeze."
Step 4: Add the new required fields
We will add information that is not in the CRM and is therefore being noted down, based on interviews.
Always design using a multiple-choice format (minimize open-ended questions).
Prescription effect: Input rate increases when fields are organized.
"The number of fields to fill in has decreased, so I've been able to continue."
This will be the first successful prescription experience for CRM doctors.
Prescription ② "Workflow overhaul" — Remove "unnecessary tasks" and add "necessary tasks"
Diagnosis: Review the "uncompleted tasks" among the automatically generated tasks this month.
Cause Analysis:
A. There are too many tasks, making it difficult to determine priorities.
→ Solution: Narrow down the trigger conditions for the workflow. Stop low-priority tasks.
B. The task is "I don't know what to do."
→ Prescription: Rewrite the task's "content (description)" to be more specific.
"Follow-up message"
"Mr. Tanaka from Company A: My emotional temperature changed to a cooler one last month."
Start with, "How have you been lately?" No hard selling."
C. That task is no longer necessary in the current work.
→ Prescription: Stop that workflow
Additional information: Check the "cases where follow-up was missed" this month.
→ Add a new workflow that covers that pattern.
Prescription ③ "Improving Input Quality" — Design an environment that encourages input.
During the weekly meeting on Monday morning:
1. Select one of the "highest quality narrative notes of the week."
→ "This memo from Person A was perfect for preparing for our next visit," shared with everyone.
→ By specifically defining what constitutes "good input," the criteria are communicated to everyone.
2. Create a topic of conversation such as, "We made the decision to do XX based on this data from the dashboard."
→ Accumulate experiences where "the data you entered was used in actual decision-making."
3. Once a month: Everyone participates in an "emotional temperature inventory."
→ Re-examine the emotional state of all customers and ask yourself, "Is that really the right thing to do?"
→ "This customer has been slow to respond lately, so shouldn't they be more 'cool' rather than 'warm'?"
This kind of conversation improves the accuracy of CRM.
Prescription effect: Fosters a culture where "inputting data becomes the starting point for team conversations."
This is the ultimate form of CRM implementation.
Prescription ④: "Protocol for changing personnel" — Preventing the recurrence of "reliance on individual expertise"
Step 1: "Narrative Transfer Session" with the departing staff member (30 minutes)
"What are some important contextual details about this customer that haven't been fully captured in the CRM?"
→ The content spoken verbally was immediately added to the CRM narrative memo.
→ "This customer absolutely prefers in-person meetings over phone calls," "They never reply to emails."
This involves formalizing tacit knowledge that is not included in the CRM.
Step 2: Generate a "handover report" for the change of responsibilities (10 minutes)
Extract all customers of Agent A from the EMOROCO CRM Lite report.
Check each customer's "emotional temperature, last contact date, ongoing projects, and follow-up questions."
The new person in charge should create a list of customers who should take action in the first two weeks.
Step 3: Follow up with the new contact person for the first 30 days (check weekly).
For 30 days after the change in personnel, the contact status of the new person in charge will be monitored on the dashboard.
Early detection of customers whose emotional state has changed, and subsequent follow-up prescriptions are provided.
Prescription effect: Minimize the "reset loss" caused by a change in personnel.
This is the organizational mechanism that enables "sustainable relationships" in CRM 4.0.
"Weekly Regular Health Checkups" - Designing a Monthly Schedule for CRM Doctors
CRM doctors don't diagnose "whenever they feel like it," but rather conduct "health checkups" on a regular schedule.
[Every Monday (Weekly health checkup, 15 minutes)]
□ Check the four vital signs (input rate, utilization rate, accuracy, and precision rate) on the dashboard.
□ Review this week's "Red Alert Customers" and assign follow-up prescriptions to their assigned representatives.
□ Recognize and share one example of "high-quality input" (a prescription for input quality)
□ Review the "successes and failures" learned from the orders and losses that occurred last week.
[Beginning of the month (monthly health checkup, 45 minutes)]
□ Check the input rate for all fields (inventory prescription)
□ Check workflow completion rates and identify "interfering tasks" (workflow prescription)
□ Check the trend of changes in emotional temperature this month
□ If there is a change in the person in charge, implement the "handover protocol".
[Quarterly (Major Health Checkup - 2 hours)]
□ "A health check of the customer portfolio"
- Check the emotional temperature and contact frequency of top-performing customers in terms of LTV (Lifetime Value).
- Analysis of the causes of customers with consistently low follow-up contact rates
- Check the balance between acquiring new users and churn.
□ "Reviewing the CRM architecture"
Is the current field design suitable for current operations?
Are there any new workflows that should be added?
• Is the dashboard configuration compatible with the latest Plan, Check, Act framework?
□ Develop a "CRM prescription for the next quarter"
- Determine improvement priorities based on the diagnostic results for this quarter.
• Plan updates to be implemented in the next quarter.
Who Should Become a CRM Doctor? – A Practical Design for Small Businesses
This solution offers a practical approach to addressing the reality for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that they cannot afford to hire a dedicated CRM specialist.
Pattern 1: "Part-time CRM Doctor" - The most effective configuration
Team size: 3-20 people
The most realistic and functional approach is to designate one existing member to serve as both a "CRM Doctor" and a "CRM Doctor."
Ideal candidate profile:
People who are interested in "why it worked and why it didn't."
- Someone who has earned the team's trust (someone who doesn't come across as "Here we go again with CRM").
- Someone who listens carefully to feedback from the field (someone who can elicit honest opinions such as "data entry is a hassle").
This CRM doctor will be responsible for the "weekly 15-minute" and "monthly 45-minute" schedules.
Pattern ② "Collaboration with external CRM doctors (such as Arcus Japan)"
Scale: 20 or more people, or when there has been a significant change.
This pattern involves conducting quarterly "major health checkups" in collaboration with external CRM specialists (such as Arcus Japan).
Our internal CRM doctors handle routine weekly and monthly checkups, while we collaborate with external experts to conduct quarterly major checkups and architecture reviews.
This is the role envisioned by the "CRM consultant" concept in CRM 4.0 as a "specialized expert with unique knowledge."
"Principles for CRM Doctors"—Three Common Principles for Working with Physicians
To ensure CRM Doctors function effectively in the long term, we borrow three principles from the professional ethics of physicians.
Principle 1: "Continue to stand by the patient (CRM)."
Just as doctors don't just "perform surgery and that's the end of it," but rather "build long-term relationships with patients," CRM Doctor doesn't just "implement a system and that's the end of it," but rather "build long-term relationships with organizations that continue to use it."
Principle 2: "Diagnose the cause, not the symptoms."
Simply seeing the symptom "nobody is entering data" and telling people to "please enter more data" won't solve the problem. We need to accurately diagnose the reasons why people aren't entering data—such as too many fields, a lack of perceived benefits from entering data, or the dashboard not being utilized—before prescribing solutions.
Principle ③: "Emphasis on preventive medicine"
The erosion of CRM is not a "sudden death," but a "chronic disease that gradually weakens." Regularly measuring vital signs and addressing problems while they are still small is the most valuable job of a CRM doctor.
Summary — CRM Doctors create "living CRM"
| The role of a CRM doctor | Comparison with doctors | Practice at EMOROCO |
|---|---|---|
| Measuring vital signs | Measurement of body temperature, blood pressure, and pulse | Weekly review of input rate, utilization rate, accuracy, and precision rate. |
| Field inventory | Review of prescription medications | Monthly input rate check and removal of unnecessary fields. |
| Workflow overhaul | Rehabilitation plan update | Completion rate check and stopping/adding unnecessary workflows. |
| Improved input quality | Lifestyle guidance | Weekly 15-minute CRM review meeting |
| Assignee Change Protocol | Transfer of primary care physician | Narrative Transfer Session and Handover Report |
| Quarterly health checkup | Annual health checkup | Review of the entire architecture and formulation of the next prescription. |
The difference between organizations with and without a CRM doctor:
In organizations without a CRM expert, the CRM system is "at its best on the day it's implemented"—after that, it only deteriorates.
In organizations with a CRM doctor, the CRM is a "living system that gets better the more you use it"—the depth of relationships with customers continues to accumulate as an asset for the organization.
EMOROCO CRM Lite is designed to implement the "prescriptions" of this CRM doctor—allowing you to change fields without coding, freely update workflows, and instantly redesign dashboards—starting from ¥1,500 per user per month.
First, today, choose one person in your organization to be your "CRM Doctor candidate." Having that person begin weekly 15-minute "CRM checkups" is the first prescription for implementing CRM 4.0.
EMOROCO CRM Lite Product Page
Related article: [What is CRM 4.0? — The latest CRM philosophy and practices that realize "co-creation" with customers]
Related article: [Implementing a weekly PDCA cycle for SoI: A practical guide to automating Plan, Check, and Act with EMOROCO CRM Lite]
Related article: [CRM 4.0 as "Corporate Psychology"—What does it mean to resonate with the deep psychology of customers?]
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