Issue 3 2021

CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 3 2021 27 , Walk The Walk And Talk The Talk Trusted with some of the most valuable customer data in the world, organisations come to Raare Solutions to help execute customer acquisition, engagement, and retention. To start, Esther begins by providing us with a brief overview of the firm and offers more insight into its clientele. “As an CRM agency, we typically specialise in transforming data into direction. What exactly does that mean? Well at its core, we use our business expertise and technical excellence to execute customer engagement programmes. This means three things, first, we help clients conceive customer journeys from a communication perspective. Second, we specialise in bringing those journeys to life through operating and executing programmes through our clients’ campaign orchestration solutions. Finally, because of our expertise in the art and science of customer engagement, we help clients with everything from product evaluation and selection, strategic consulting, conquest strategy and training.” Approaching clients in the right manner has been a crucial factor behind the firm’s success, and as Esther points out, it typically engages in two key exercises when first meeting up with the client. “First, we take time to understand their goals, the obstacles to achieving those goals, the cost, and consequences, and then partner in conceiving solutions that help meet their goals. Raare Solutions is an operational CRMagency specialising in the design, execution and support of CRMandmarketing platforms. Following her well-deserved success in the Global CEO Excellence Awards 2020, we got in touchwith Esther Poulsen to find out more. Second, in larger engagements, we conduct a discovery exercise to understand their organisation in four domains, data, technology, customer experience and organisation/process. This helps the client and ourselves completely understand their landscape and allows us to make better decisions in terms of strategy and execution.” Understanding the customer, reaching them on channels that they prefer, and delivering personalised and engaging content remains fundamental to marketing operations. “With customer needs and purchasing power radically changing, it has become even more critical to pay attention to brand experiences to keep customers engaged during wildly changing buying habits,” Esther notes. “In this regard, it’s important to reach out to customers in a way that resonates. Now, as we look ahead to the post-COVID19 era, we find ourselves thinking of how those changes in buying behaviour can be nurtured or realigned as the “new normal” comes to life in 2021.” Prior to becoming CEO of Raare Solutions, Esther started out in IT managing customer support systems before moving in to application development and enterprise solutions programming. Eventually, after a period as an enterprise architect she moved on to more strategic and managerial roles for companies like Lucent and BMW of North America, before starting her own company. Moreover, as she points out, fulfilling these Jun20389 previous roles gave her a taste for life as a CEO. “My technical background, and our philosophy of conceiving and appreciating simple, elegant and scalable technical solutions has certainly aided the firm in its attempts to deliver the right message to people. When people consider customer engagement, everyone thinks of the creative message, so it’s important to ensure brands are delivering the best experience to their customers.” Finally, Esther discusses some of the challenges she has faced during her time as CEO before outlining some of the firm’s plans for 2021 and beyond. “In July last year, I unexpectedly lost my beloved husband and soulmate of 25 years. In the days before he died, I found myself working late several nights. That last evening, completely unaware of what was to pass the following day, I decided to push away the keyboard and sit with him on our porch with our dogs, just talking about nothing in particular and just enjoying each other’s company. To have that last night with him was an incredible gift from the universe. Ultimately, you never know what is going to happen, so treasure and remember your time with your loved ones. Those memories energise you for the career and professional life you are building, and believe me, the regret of not taking more of that time is difficult to overcome when the one you love is no longer with you. “Moving forward, for a luxury automotive client, we are currently deep into the transformation to an Adobe-based omnichannel marketing and engagement platform. For the first time, we will use dynamic audiences, machine learning and AI to build not just the next best offer, but also the next best experience.” “Virtually every company has recently been engaged in pivoting their business to address the sudden, monumental changes in social and economic trends due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the recovery has been uneven with some sectors recovering relatively well, while others still struggle with some of the restrictions. As a result, we are advising our clients on how to maintain engagements at all levels, and to help restore customer journeys in ways that resonate with customer sentiment and readiness to purchase. While there have been many challenges this year, we are excited to see our projects come to life and deliver performance and value.” Company: Raare Solutions LLC Contact: Esther Poulsen Website: www.raare.com