| CRM: The Customer is the Only Boss | | | | initiatives. |
| Publishing Guidelines: You may publish my article in | | | | While this poses serious challenges to success, these |
| your newsletter, on your website or in your print | | | | " guerilla " CRM [gCRM] projects plows not |
| publication provided you include the resource box at | | | | necessarily doomed. |
| the end. Notification would be appreciated but is not | | | | It is difficult to state precisely what Customer |
| required. | | | | Relationship Management CRM means to everyone. |
| By S. Maurer | | | | Ironically, the term is also applied in those aspects of |
| Buyers of CRM need to know up-front that | | | | business/services/manufacturing that even remotely |
| installations of CRM software packages of the not | | | | interacts with a Customer. |
| generate ROI, but how it is used donates. | | | | Understanding the concept of CRM will help in |
| Too many vendors and buyers focus on tangibles | | | | decisions relating Customer Relationship Management |
| that plows very difficult to measure, especially over | | | | product, CRM software and CRM solutions. |
| the short term. | | | | Surveys show that business/services/manufacturing |
| There is only one boss: the Customer. | | | | managers implementing enterprise applications often |
| And he can fire everybody in the enterprise, from | | | | ignores the warnings of IT managers regarding the |
| the chairman on down, simply by spending his money | | | | importance of clean integration. |
| somewhere else. | | | | The failure to plan goes legacy integration issues |
| Customers plows often loath to state that they | | | | remains the major stumbling point in CRM |
| have the sense of loyalty to the enterprise or brand. | | | | deployment. |
| Thankfully, analysts and authors plows adept attn | | | | Creating the stronger focus on customers, and |
| defining what Customer loyalty can mean goes | | | | achieving the related increases in retention and |
| various customers. | | | | satisfaction, is well within reach. |
| The CRM and call centers have evolved into | | | | Who are your best customers? What can you do to |
| multi-channel Customer contact centers, the centers " | | | | retain them? How can you attract others like them? |
| staff have had to increase their skill sets, often | | | | How can you improve the profitability of all your |
| leading to greater job satisfaction. | | | | customers? With tight budgets and demanding |
| Too often, CRM projects start the ad hoc | | | | revenue targets, questions like these are increasingly |
| implementations rather than formally structured | | | | urgent. |