Big Hi! to all,

My Name is Naresh Joshi and I am working as a Leader-Service in a Telematics company in Gurgaon,India.

We are basically in GPS based vehicle Tracking Systems. Being a Service-Leader I have to fulfill all commitments to external as well as internal customers and manage my service team as well.

The purpose of my joining this community is to develop my skills in Customer Support & good team development in which I would request you all to provide me your experience & expertise.

Naresh, nice introduction of yourself.

I have worked in the automotive industry, but I have not been involved in GPS. And I have not so much as changed a tire on my car, even though I come from what I would consider an automotive family. (Ha ha.) I've been involved in the area of promoting vehicle sales and supporting marketing efforts and all the administration that comes with it. I can remember my father, on his way to his automotive type of job, dropping me off close to a bus stop when petrol/gasoline was $0.46 Canadian per liter. I think "automotive" is in a different context now. I think I put fuel at $1.49 per liter into my vehicle this morning. (Wow. And wow for those who are paying more than that.)

Do you have anything you are thinking about changing in the way things go where you work or are you just exploring for right now?

Dear Ayaree,

Thank you for you reply.

I'm totally agreed with you that there is rapid change in the automotive sector.
All big manufactures are compelled to introduce new models & technology as the awareness of the customer has gone to a big boom.

Petrol prices have already touched $140/barrel mark and the whole world is working on alternative fuels.

This topic makes me wander in my thoughts. I'll wander there a minute. Sometimes I wonder about just how intelligent hybrids are from an environmental perspective. We're concerned about emissions from combustion engines. But where are all these batteries going? Just like with paper, and it usually disgusts people to see paper spent so much. Computers are a lot more widespread now, so we should be using paper less (but we're probably using more). And we use some amount of electricity if we reduce paper use. And then these slabs of plastic go where once it's time for a new one? I think our challenge is THAT big (all of our habits, responsibilitiies, needs, wants) and the automobile is right at the heart of it. Sometimes I wonder if I would benefit from learning how to survive without all these things I have been using. And how quickly am I going to learn that? I've never lit a fire with two sticks, ha ha.

Dear Ayaree,

I appriciate your thoughts. I like the way you represent your concerns over misuse of paper.
I would also appriciate if you provide me some useful & expert thougths over CRM.
Thanks & keep posting.

Naresh, I don't think I would be an "expert" for you on CRM. But I guess it depends on the specifics of CRM you want to talk about. I might be able to share some worthwhile thoughts. There is a topic on surveys and metrics in this forum that I was talking in. (Talking with Barry, etc) I am definitely not an expert in that either, only bringing thoughts to the topic.

There is a CRM topic I was in, and I talked about how it depends on what you really mean when you use that word. Which way are you using the word? Are you talking about knowing the uniqueness of all the customers and staying abreast of their consumer activities and staying in touch with them? Or part of that or something else?

Dear Ayaree,

Thanks for your reply. Yes you are right that I am in search of CRM expertise but this does not mean that your worthwhile thoughts are not useful for me.

Please suggest me to whom I can request for my requirements in this forum as I'm sue you must be aware of peoples & their profiles.

Thanks & waiting for your next post.

Naresh, you're too kind, thanks. If you take a look at the subject CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT in this forum, you should see a couple of people that work in CRM, so they would be the experts. I remember Barry from a recent post, and we were talking about survey usage and how good it is and what is really going on with a customer experience. My impression is that he has a lot of background in methodology that would work for specific needs and that he would speak about it in clear language that makes sense. There are also a couple of articles here that present an overview of CRM and its applications.

If you were to pursue the topic with me, I would ask what is it you are trying to achieve, do you want to put together all kinds of facts about your customers, do you want to stay in touch with them, do you want to ask how they like your product, do you want them to buy another product, do you want to know what they are buying instead, do you want to send out a promotional communication to them -- and do you want to handle the requirements for any of these inside the organization, pay a third party to handle it, do you need software, do you need people, how much time do you have, what is driving the need for this? (All of that, and I may not have my finger on the answer, ha ha.)

Keep in mind, I would not necessarily be the person to fill in the blanks, but I would probably be good at instigating a reaction or a thought in you, and you would already know the rest or know where to look for it. And really, some of the things I listed are topics that others specialize in every day more closely. So maybe some of those people will chime in and accelerate some of the answers before I can.