Our team is involved in many things – both at work and in our personal lives – but lately the two most prevalent topics seem to be CRM and Brett Favre. Unrelated? Independent? Mutually exclusive? At first glance/thought – sure – and easy to write off as CRM being our work concentration and Brett Favre being the football story of the season early on (especially for the football fans many of us are.)
But the team got to thinking during a meeting the other day – when it comes down to it, CRM and Brett Favre are related or can be tied together in many rather interesting ways (at least to our team).
For the Wipfli team – we have double-digit offices spread across Wisconsin and Minnesota, and more specifically offices in both Green Bay and Edina, MN – the story hits pretty close to home from a natural geographic and fanatic standpoint. There are stories of Brent – I mean Brett (sorry – Matt in Green Bay’s editorial comment) – showing up at coffee shops in Edina across the street from our office earlier this summer while “allegedly” putting a down payment on a condo (“allegedly” as he would not admit to it during his introductory Vikings press conference – the day of his press conference was, of course, his only visit to MN all summer); stories of purple and white #4 Vikings jerseys showing up all over the place earlier this summer as well when the rumors had just begun. There were already 5+ fans wearing #4 jerseys roaming around Lambeau the other night during the Packers-Bills preseason game. The story is prevalent online, in the paper, on the news, at the watercooler, via emails (personal, after work hours emails of course)– it really doesn’t stop. And with one of the most fanatic Packer Backers of all time sitting in our Green Bay office and working with our CRM team (she will remain nameless in this space to protect her identity), we are sure to get our up-to-the minute Favre-gate news from her… seemingly faster than if she was tweeting only our team with the real time news.
The spike in ticket and jersey sales alone scream for analysis via Microsoft Dynamics CRM and the Microsoft Technology Stack. Think of the ticket and jersey and other Favre-whatnot orders that would be placed (via a SharePoint-powered portal integrated with MCRM and passed to the back office and the channel at the same time maybe?) Think of the cross and up-selling opportunities with these engaged social customers. Think of the data points being collected on these fanatic and open-walleted patrons. May I suggest 5 additional jerseys? – one for each of the linemen that will be allegedly protecting Benedict Favre (whoops) and one for each of the folks who should be protecting you if you wear that #4 in Green Bay on November 1 in or around Lambeau. Would you like to make a donation to the Vikings nowhere-in-the-near-future outdoor stadium fund while your enthusiasm is so high? Didn’t he just help the Jets pay off a big chunk of that new stadium that’s opening next year? (I mean he did “officially” sign up for two more years, right? What’s to say that doesn’t become “four more years”? We may have a Blanda/DeBerg/Testaverde situation here.)
And the Favre saga is national news as well – not just a local story in Minnesota or Wisconsin (New York just doesn’t deserve an official mention as a local story this time around. And based on what I’ve heard, Jets fans – New Jersians, Long Islanders, Belichick-haters and the like – are fine with that). Just like – as our team was discussing – MCRM is national news. International really. While we concentrate the majority of our MCRM and XRM services in WI and MN, we have been doing work nationally as well. The platform allows for it – it really enables and encourages it. Just like the Favre story allows for it and enables it – really encourages it. (Evidence: Any time I even mention Green Bay across the country, the first question folks have is still related to Favre.)
While many fans are taking sides – especially the local fans – I would say the majority of football fans are genuinely excited to see what will happen when the season starts – and when the Packers-Vikings Monday Night game 10/5 at the Metrodome becomes the highest rated/most watched cable show of all time. (If he doesn’t retire or get hurt first of course.) And while many CRM users are taking sides in the marketplace – Microsoft Dynamics CRM continues to grow leaps and bounds and really offers an intriguing power of choice as well. Just like Brett Favre.