PRMPT:

Personal Relationship Management Planning Tool

Team 2: Jeffrey Bogenschutz, Luke Lampe, & Waqas Tanveer
Dr. DuVal - Innovation and Technology Commercialization
PTCA Written Portion
July 26, 2018

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Intro to Relationship Management Technologies

Relationship management technologies, specifically CRMs (customer relationship

management), manage an individual or company’s relationships with current and potential

customers. CRM software is typically sold as a SaaS to its customers. Because of the introduction of

open-source software and cloud-based CRM, initial costs have lowered enough to maintain steady

profits. CRM technologies continue to improve with the implementation of AI and data analytics. As

the economy becomes more data-centric, CRM software will become more important in gathering

sales information and providing knowledge. Some experts believe CRM software will become the

bestselling enterprise software by 2021. Some of the leading players in the CRM market are

Salesforce, BASE, and Oracle. With many players in the market, companies use trademarks and

copyrights to protect their property since it is hard to patent SaaS products. Relationship

management programs and technology are currently focused on customer relationships, however

there is opportunity to expand beyond just customer relationships.

Industry Analysis

Competitors in the CRM Industry – Currently, the CRM market is dominated by 10 major

companies that control nearly 58% of the global market. Salesforce, the largest CRM platform,

accounts for roughly 26% of the $24.3 billion market (Appendix 1). This leaves the remaining 42% of

the global CRM industry in the hands of BASE and other, smaller CRM companies and platforms.

CRM software allows companies to manage the interactions and engagements between

their existing and potential customers. It does this in several ways. One of these includes marketing

automation. This automation allows companies to create personalized emails from criteria in their

customers’ data (i.e. people who purchased X product recently). On platforms like Salesforce,

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customer inquiries from several platforms are conglomerated into one user-friendly, efficient page.

Tactics such as this help improve consumer experiences, leading to a 30% increase in customer

retention and 32% increase in customer satisfaction (Salesforce).

Compatible Products - CRM platforms use a multitude of different inputs to create a

centralized dashboard for a company. Companies can integrate their social media accounts to track

what customers are saying about their product or service. Companies can link their email, website

portal, and social media chat boxes into one space to allow them to address consumers questions

or concerns. They can even integrate their phone services to automate their incoming and outgoing

calls to assist in marketing and sales campaigns as well as address additional consumer needs in a

more efficient fashion.

Each of these additional inputs can lead to a better overall customer experience. 55% of

customers said they were willing to pay more to guarantee better customer service. Millennials,

who make up 25% of the US population, are driven consumers who are willing to pay up to 20%

extra for improved service. These statistics illustrate the importance of CRM platforms for use in

business. CRM systems’ ability to work across platforms becomes increasingly important when

targeting the millennial generation:

· 48% of millennials say word of mouth advertising influences purchases more than TV ads

(Intrepid)

· 62% of millennials say online brand engagement leads to becoming a more loyal customer

(Forbes)

· 87% of millennials use 2 to 3 tech devices daily (Forbes)

With this change in how future consumers want to be advertised to, and the many different

systems that they are using, companies must work harder and smarter to meet their consumers.

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 Alternative Relationship Management Products - Companies such as Salesforce seek to

address the business need in regard to relationship management. But who is helping individuals and

new, small businesses with their relationship management strategy? Social media platforms such as

Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn can help meet some of the personal brand needs of an

individual, but other needs go left unfulfilled such as networking management technology.

Companies such as Airtable, Cloze, and Closr can integrate multiple inputs from one’s

personal life into a single, united platform. Cloze even reminds the user to reach out to contacts

whom they have not met with in a while, helping to increase networking potential and manage

their contacts.

Although companies such as Airtable, Cloze, and Closr manage to meet some of a personal

user’s needs, they have still been unable to attract a large consumer segment with only 15,000

downloads for the Closr app. This lack of market reach demonstrates that some improvements

could be made to the software or business model to increase engagement with their consumers. As

these improvements are made, more consumers will begin integrating relationship management

software into their daily lives. Few know how impactful these technologies can be, so early

adopters and new companies still have an open window to explore the very important world of

professional networking-relationship management systems (Appendix 2).

Industry Analysis Takeaways

Relationship management systems started with CRMs. Those have developed over the past

30 years as discussed above. Recently, this software has branched from large companies, into the

life of everyday businesspeople. Likely, this technology will continue to develop and be adopted by

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businesspeople and small companies. From there, it will move into every day, personal life where

users will be reminded to email siblings, call parents, and catch-up with friends.

While there are good options on the market. They have not been readily adopted. They fall

short in two key areas:

1. They are too complicated. They must be simplified to fit the end user’s need.

2. They have too broad of a focus. The current products fall in between professional and

personal use. There is a need for a system that allows businesspeople to effectively

maintain relationships from their network.

The best lesson that can be learned is in the failures of current companies to achieve widespread

adoption. Why is this? It seems that it is because of the above-mentioned reasons. There is a need

for the “Apple-approach” of simplification with a heavy focus on the core problems of the end user.

Intro to PRMPT: Stakeholders and Objective

The Team – With these ideas mentioned above, and considering the state of the industry,

we feel that there is a market gap that can be addressed with a service that provides a simple list of

people for you to talk with for the week. Rather than several complicated screens, there will be one

screen that suggests who the user should call or communicate with for that week based on the

importance that the background-AI suggests and the last time you communicated with them. Our

team has named this product, PRMPT (Appendix 3).

The PRMPT team has the highest stake in this new venture. Obviously, the team will

dedicate the most time, effort, and individual resources towards its success. The team, consisting of

Luke Lampe, Jeffrey Bogenschutz, Waqas Tanveer, and future additions, will rely on PRMPT’s

success to make a living.

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 Additionally, the culture, mission, and environment of PRMPT is extremely important. The

team will spend most of their waking hours working. As such, PRMPT will strive to build an inclusive

and exciting work space that encourages both collaboration and creativity. This will be

accomplished by frequent team meetings and updates during working hours and social activities to

build community. Furthermore, the team will focus on finding the best talent and fit for the

organization by working closely within the community and utilizing connections to young talent

such as the INTERalliance of Greater Cincinnati and local universities.

Competitors – While it seems contradictory to list competitors as a stakeholder, these

companies are important to the continued development and growth of PRMPT. Our goal is to

maintain a superior product and interact with our users more effectively by utilizing a simpler,

easier to use platform and concept.

Potential Investors – Any investors that PRMPT may have are amongst the most important

stakeholders. Through their funding, they provide sustenance for the continued growth of the

company. In return, they expect us to be good stewards of their money.

PRMPT will need an upfront amount of money to fully develop the service. PRMPT hopes to

raise around $100,000 for the first year to accomplish this goal. Over the 2-3 years of growth after

that, PRMPT plans to raise an additional $1,000,000 to support employee costs, marketing efforts,

and provide needed funding.

The PRMPT team will value its relationship with its investors immensely by exceeding their

expectations financially, customer-facing, and communally.

Contractors and Business Needs – A final stakeholder in PRMPT will be additional businesses

with whom tasks and services are contracted out to:

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• Legal team – supporting the legal needs such as contracts and establishing guidelines regarding

data privacy.

• Data companies – socially-responsible companies who PRMPT can sell data to in order to make

mutually beneficial customer insights.

• Developers – individuals and companies to continue the development of PRMPT and support

additional features. PRMPT will also look for help regarding cyber security from this segment.

• Interface designers – PRMPT believes in visually appealing and easy-to-use products. This will

require outside help to ensure this goal is met.

Members of the PRMPT team have a strong relationship with the INTERalliance of Greater

Cincinnati, an organization that assembles many of the most technology-knowledgeable high

schoolers from the Cincinnati area. This would be a mutually beneficial relationship as it would give

highly skilled, young people an opportunity to gain experience and make money, while providing

substantial benefits for PRMPT.

The User – The consumer needs to trust and feel invested in the product. PRMPT will be

primarily focused on a consumer market consisting of 20 to 34-year-old young professionals. This

demographic has likely just graduated from college and are in the midst of budding careers. This

sector weighs in at 17.2 million Americans according to the Department for Professional Employees.

They have increasing responsibility at work, requiring more time and focus. Despite this, they are

also trying to network with professionals and maintain relationships with their family, college

friends, and high school friends. It can be difficult to remember to call grandma or Susie, your best

friend since high school. PRMPT will provide a simple, easy to use screen with reminders to reach

out based upon the importance of the relationship and the time since the user last spoke with

them.

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 It is our mission to ease the difficulty of maintaining both professional and personal

relationships during busy times in life. For example, the average commute time is over 50 minutes a

day. For many people, this is time spent listening to the radio, music, or podcasts. Imagine if you

spent this time talking with your loved ones instead. PRMPT makes this simple to do and eliminates

the “who should I call now?” question. The user must simply go down the list. If grandma doesn’t

answer, call dad. If dad doesn’t answer, Samantha is next. Don’t want to call Samantha now?

Snooze until next week and call the next person. Oh! Winner! It’s your favorite aunt who you

haven’t spoken to in a month and who you know is always free at 5 PM.

PRMPT takes one more step towards automating the small decisions in your life. Its purpose

is to enhance the user’s relationship and increase the joy they get out of life by helping them to

develop those relationships that are both meaningful and important to professional and personal

life.

BHAG in the Eyes of the User – Users download PRMPT to make their lives less stressful and

most importantly, increase the quality of their relationships. At PRMPT, we will judge our successes

based off our user’s experiences. Our BHAG will be defined as 80%+ of users reporting that they

believe PRMPT has positively impacted the relationships that they value in their lives.

Tentative Sequence of Actions

Sequence of Actions – To achieve the goal of offering a personal relationship management

app, PRMPT will need to accomplish several things. First, we need to finish developing our app.

PRMPT’s app will use artificial intelligence to aggregate and organize data. The app will require

extensive hours of programming for the artificial intelligence and backend API, which will connect

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the software to the correct cloud storage. The app will encrypt incoming data from consumers for

safety purposes. Once the backend is developed, we will work on developing the interface.

We will use graphic designers to help shape the app based on the principles of simplicity,

accessibility, and ease of use. Graphic designers may be hired through a digital consulting firm or

from the renowned School of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning at the University of Cincinnati.

Once an initial version of the app is developed, a beta will be released to a predetermined

number of individuals. Individuals will come from various age ranges but will be focused on our

target range of 23-35 year-olds. The beta will allow us to make changes as needed. While the final

stages of the app are being developed, we will create a consumer agreement form with the help of

a legal firm.

Assumptions – Several assumptions are made in the time sequence. One of the big

assumptions is the consumer’s willingness to share data (contacts, social media, etc.) with our app,

as well as, potential data regulations. Because of the Facebook incident, some consumers have

become weary of sharing consumers’ data. Assuring customers of their data safety and establishing

our credibility will be a key goal. Fortunately, our current market, the United States, does not

appear to be making data regulations in the near future.

Another assumption is that our data encryption is full proof. If a company’s encryption is not

consistently updated, there is vulnerability for an attack. Our biggest challenge will be to make sure

that our data encryption is of the highest quality.

Internal and External Risks – Throughout our actions, there will be considerable amount of

risk. For one, there is the internal risk of the artificial intelligence not performing properly or the

app crashing. Even after the app begins to work on a consistent basis, there is the need for regular

updates. Another risk is our computer code becoming outdated or another competitor jumping into

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our target market. It is nearly impossible to patent computer code, so we will have to use strategic

methods to propel ourselves above possible copycats.

Our Recommendations

Product Overview – Our recommendation, is for the creation of a new mobile application,

on iOS and Android, which utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to more accurately track one’s personal

relationships and assist in building and maintaining those relationships. This new mobile

application, called PRMPT, will prompt the user to reach out to close connections and peers to help

maintain and strengthen relationships.

How it Works – The user will give PRMPT access to the information on their messages, call

history, email logs, calendar, reminders, and social media accounts. This information will then be

used to determine the frequency and meaningfulness of interactions. The frequency will be

determined by the amount of time between correspondence, while the meaningfulness will be

determined by frequency, number of messages exchanged, set preferences, and duration of

correspondences. The AI will look through social media or contact information to determine if a

relationship can be discerned from the information (i.e. “Mom” in contacts). This information will

then be used to determine a short list of people it feels are important to you.

Upon completing this backend questionnaire, the user will be prompted with PRMPT’s short

list of people it feels are important to the user. The user can go through and select or deselect the

people that are truly important. For example, co-workers may meet all qualifications to become an

“important” person based upon the frequency of communication; however, this relationship may

not be one that the user is interested in actively fostering. Therefore, having the user manually

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input some but not all the information, will speed up the initial set-up process while maintaining an

accurate representation of the user’s important relationships.

Once the user has input all needed information, PRMPT will ask the user to create goals that

can change weekly, monthly, or yearly depending on the user’s preference. The goal will take the

following format – “I want to meet with five friends a month to hang out after work.” Using this

goal, PRMPT will then ask at the beginning of each month, which five friends the user may be

interested in reconnecting with. These suggestions would come from the short list that PRMPT has

for the user that meet the “friend” categorization. Once PRMPT has the specific individuals that the

user is interested in reconnecting with, it will then notify the user of when they have time available

in their weekly schedule. This information will come from the user’s calendar and will assist the AI

with holding the user accountable for scheduling an event. Upon being prompted with the

reminder, the user will have the opportunity to snooze the suggestion or text/call their friend.

Should the user reach out to their friend, the PRMPT app will automatically update this information

and adjust the “relationship” score for that individual, as well as taking them off the weekly contact

list.

Simplify the Dashboard – One of the key ways that PRMPT will gain market share over its

competitors such as Cloze and Closr is through a reimagined dashboard focused on simplicity and

user experience. Cloze, a competitor in the CRM space, attempts to incorporate similar functionality

in its web and mobile platform, but is difficult to navigate and operate. Upon entering information

into PRMPT, the user will only have one screen to focus upon – the dashboard. The dashboard will

be a simple page where the user can add goals for their relationships and track the goals the user

has already assigned. It will show the list of people that the user should reach out to that week

based upon the AI. This simple dashboard will provide a competitive advantage over competitors as

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other small CRM platforms focus on too much additional functionality with less focus on user

experience.

Improving the AI – Setup time for applications like PRMPT can take a significant amount of

time. Going through one’s personal contacts and selecting them, defining their relationship, and

setting goals based off the independent relationships is an arduous task. By granting PRMPT access

to the user’s call, text, email, and calendar, PRMPT’s AI will determine the most important

relationships that the user has and offer its short list of important people. From this list the user can

then edit the AI’s selection should there be any important people missing from this list. PRMPT will

periodically request information from the user to improve its ability to classify relationships. This

will help to eliminate setup time for future PRMPT users.

Diversified Focus Group – Focus groups will be used to help market the product release and

refine the scope of the project. Focus groups will be beneficial in this situation as there are already

existing platforms like what PRMPT is aiming to offer. However, through focus groups, PRMPT will

be able to more clearly articulate and evaluate its competitive advantage. It will also use specific

focus groups of college students, recent college graduates, and 30-year old professionals as these

groups make up the primary target market. Through engaging with each of these groups PRMPT will

be able to diversify itself from its competitors and fine tune its product offering.

Influencers and Promoted Advertisements – In today’s world, many people engage with one

another online via social media. On social media, people can follow friends’ updates, chat, and post

status updates. Social media falls short on maintaining active and deep relationships. PRMPT is the

app that will take the user beyond simply “liking” a friend’s post. These advertisements will take

place on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and LinkedIn. They will use influencers – those with large

social media followings – to market the PRMPT app by sharing with users how it positively affects

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their offline relationships. Research has shown that influencer marketing campaigns on platforms

such as Instagram can turn a $1.00 investment into $7.65 in revenue (Medium). This strategy will

help push PRMPT’s goal of being the offline social management solution while not competing

against the social media giants, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Furthermore, advertisements

and influencers on LinkedIn will help push PRMPT’s reach into the business world and assist with

the in-person networking opportunities that LinkedIn offers.

Burst Marketing Efforts – To promote organic growth of PRMPT, burst marketing efforts will

be put into place. Burst marketing efforts take place over a short period of time and include high

visibility and high frequency advertisements on social media. These burst marketing efforts will

help drive initial downloads and increase PRMPT’s visibility on the App Store and Google Play. These

burst efforts would lead to organic downloads.

Revenue – To begin, PRMPT will offer its service for a free 4-month trial period. This free

pricing model will increase user interest at the outset and allow PRMPT to grow more quickly. After

that time, users will be charged a $2 monthly fee to use the service.

Selling Data – PRMPT will also consider selling user data to advertising firms. Data that

PRMPT will collect on is contacts, relationships, calendars, location, etc. By selling the data,

customers will be able to benefit from the service at an even lower or free cost. PRMPT believes

that the benefit of offering the free service is that more users would download and use the app

more consistently. Since 20-34 year-olds are typically less concerned about data privacy than older

generations, PRMPT believes this revenue model has high potential. Considering the current

political environment, PRMPT thinks it wise to utilize a subscription method at first and consider

this method at a later date.

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 Additional Alternative Revenue Path – After 25 relationships, the service will begin charging

the user 5 cents per relationship per month. This model would help distribute the cost of the

subscription method by placing a slightly higher rate on users who use the app the most. Research

suggests that the average number of relationships a person has is 150. PRMPT does not expect

users to input that many people however. As such, there will be a cap of $10 placed on this

subscription method

Target Market – The target market for PRMPT is recent college graduates around the age of

23 through business professionals around the age of 34. This demographic is very familiar with

social media, with nearly 74% of customers using at least one social media site (PEW). This

familiarity with social media services would make the addition of PRMPT an easy one. This also

supports the social media advertisement strategies outlined above. PRMPT should be able to

capture a significant portion of the market through burst advertisements, influencers, and banner

advertisements on social media at relatively low cost.

Exit Strategy – The end goal for PRMPT is to be acquired by a larger social media firm. By

being acquired, PRMPT will be more suited to expand to a larger audience with social media

integration. Social media companies can implement PRMPT into their services to assist with more

meaningful personal relationship building. Companies such as LinkedIn can market the service for

networking opportunities while companies such as Facebook and Twitter can expand their social

media tools and encourage users to meet in person or talk actively over the phone.

Assume the Role of a Competitor

Strong Competitor – The CRM industry is very competitive as demonstrated in the industry

analysis at the beginning. There are several companies who offer personal CRM products, which

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PRMPT is most closely classified as. Some of the companies include Closr, Cloze, Ryze, and Etch

(Cox). One of our main competitors will be Etch as that has the most similarities. Similar to PRMPT,

Etch (Appendix 4) uses artificial intelligence to gather, organize, and analyze consumer information.

Etch gets its data from the consumer’s contacts, calendars, and social media. Furthermore, the goal

of Etch is to act as a Contact Manager which, of the competitors examined, most closely matches

PRMPT’s goal.

Competitor’s Response – With PRMPT aiming to be a lower priced but simple and efficient

app, Etch can capitalize on its own array of features. PRMPT will be using influencers on social

media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter to prominently display PRMPT and its benefits.

PRMPT will have a competitive advantage with its simplicity and low price. To combat our

recommendations, Etch can use social media influencers and guerilla marketing techniques to

demonstrate its extensive features. Etch’s AI analyzes each individual contact and enriches their

information by inputting professional experience, social media profiles, and more. Etch can take

advantage of these features in its future marketing campaigns.

Our Adjusted Recommendations – Amid facing apps with more expansive features, PRMPT

can develop our own additional features into the app. The additional features will be marked as

add-ins to maintain simplicity. Depending on the market response, the additional features may

become another source of revenue or may be built into the default app. By building on a simple and

effective concept, PRMPT will have the flexibility to face and mitigate future threats.

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Appendix 1 Appendix 2

(CRM Search) Networking Importance (Mentor Works)

Appendix 3 Appendix 4

ETCH Logo
PRMPT Logo

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Sources:

1. Ryze, https://ryzeapp.co/13-personal-crm-systems-for-your-everyday-life/

2. CRM Switch, https://www.crmswitch.com/crm-industry/crm-industry-history/

3. Compare Camp, http://comparecamp.com/history-of-crm-software/

4. Salesforce, https://www.salesforce.com/crm/examples/

5. Small Biz CRM, https://smallbizcrm.com/crm-reading-lounge/crm-market-statistics/

6. Salesforce, https://www.salesforce.com/customer-success-stories/#!page=1

7. CRM Wiki, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management

8. Salesforce, https://www.salesforce.com/solutions/small-business-solutions/keep-customers/

9. Agency Ascend, https://www.agencyascend.com/blog/41-revealing-statistics-about-millennials-

every-marketer-should-know

10. AEI, http://www.aei.org/publication/the-big-problem-with-companies-slow-to-adopt-new-

technologies/

11. CRM Search, http://www.crmsearch.com/crm-software-market-share.php

12. Mentor Works, http://www.mentorworks.io/study-suggests-professional-networking-effective/

13. Project Commute Times, https://project.wnyc.org/commute-times-us/embed.html

14. Department of Professional Workforce, http://dpeaflcio.org/programs-publications/issue-fact-

sheets/the-young-professional-workforce/

15. Huffington Post, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/6-ways-to-protect-customer-

data_us_59cd51f9e4b04575111f3963.

16. Medium, https://medium.com/crobox/under-the-influence-the-power-of-social-media-influencers-

5192571083c3

17. KFF Health, https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/distribution-by-

age/?dataView=1&currentTimeframe=0&selectedDistributions=adults-26-34--adults-35-54--adults-

55-64&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D

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18. Data USA, https://datausa.io/profile/cip/520201/?compare=52#employment

19. PEW, http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/social-media/

20. Ryze, ryzeapp.co/13-personal-crm-systems-for-your-everyday-life/.

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