Search

One of the main selling points of CRM is that it is supposed to help companies zero in on and cater to their most valued customers. Problem is, 'most valued' [...]

Anyone who has been engaged in CRM initiatives for some period of time--or, failing that, anyone who has been a parent--knows that announcing something is 'good for you' is rarely [...]

Surveys have shown that the more times customers have to contact an organization to resolve an issue, the lower their overall satisfaction. Moreover, the fewer times customers have to contact [...]

If the many surveys on e-mail response rates (and customer reactions to the same) ICRM has reported on suggest anything, it's that many organizations need to refine their approach to [...]

Loyalty on the part of retail customers is in danger of becoming as quaint (and dated) a notion as chivalry, according to some marketing experts. ICRM believes they may be [...]

While perusing the SOCAP bookstore at the recent conference in Miami, ICRM couldn't help but be drawn to a new title, Why CRM Doesn't Work: How to Win By Letting [...]

Perhaps it was the state of the economy, the tough crowd of consumer affairs professionals in attendance, or the Florida heat--ICRM isn't sure what caused it, but the Society of [...]

If you've found it difficult to get your sales and marketing personnel to aid and abet your cross- and up-sell initiatives by sharing their customer information, welcome to the club. [...]

As ICRM has noted more than once, your frontline staff can make or break all your good CRM plans. And when customer service staff are treated well, they treat customers [...]

One of the more compelling arguments for CRM is that it can help companies gather more information straight from the customer's mouth--or e-mail, as it were. If you have the [...]

* The butterfly effect and your CRM initiative. 'I fervently believe in something called the 'butterfly effect,'' writes systems guru Rick Duris (Libertyville, Ill.; 847-367-1310; e-mail: rick.duris@btgi.com) in the May [...]

* Three keys to making the best connections with your customers, according to the MIT Sloan Management Review (Cambridge, Mass.; 877-727-7170; mit-smr.com) article, 'Creating a Superior Customer-Relating Capability,' by George [...]

* Should it be 'CRL' instead of 'CRM'? 'Customer relationships are not managed, they are led,' says Vincent DeFazio, DM/CMC (www.vincedefazio.bigstep.com), explaining his recently developed Knowl-edge-based Customer Service (KCS) training [...]

While every CRM initiative worth the investment relies on the support, dedication, and commitment of frontline staff (and those who support them), it's not unheard of for CSRs and support [...]

Privacy is a hot-button issue with customers in most industries (for examples from the financial industry, see the sidebar, 'Privacy in the Headlines') and, as such, it deserves the full [...]

'For many firms, CRM is like quicksand--once you're in, it's hard to get out,' quipped Roger Blackwell, professor of marketing at Ohio State University and founder of Roger Blackwell Associates [...]

* Six ways to better link pay and CSR performance, according to Bruce Katcher, Ph.D., president of The Discovery Group (www.discoverysurveys.com) and author of the article on his company's Web [...]

Looking for a way to distinguish your business with customers and prospects? Answer your e-mail, for heaven's sake! This basic step will put you head and shoulders above the competition, [...]

If you had to deliver any bad news, say about a salary freeze, to your contact center staff in December, you may have encountered more than a few employees who [...]

* Call center-era metrics put a damper on CRM. Listening to customers and acting on what is learned are crucial steps to CRM results. Unfortunately, many companies are 'falling flat [...]

In last month's ICRM, we reported that none other than CRM authority Dick Lee asserted that developing customer-centric strategies is the number-one predictor of CRM success. Nonetheless, customer centricity was [...]

In our litigation-happy society, it should come as no surprise that CRM has inspired more than a few lawsuits, especially in a field where you deal with vendors for whom [...]

For all the ink (virtual and otherwise) spilled on the topic of CRM failures, ICRM still hears enough success stories to believe that CRM is more than a worthwhile, business-minded [...]

Say what you will about customer loyalty and all the rest (for yet another look at this topic, see the sidebar, 'Loyalty Guru Responds to Critics'), it makes sense to [...]

A major CRM initiative-sapping problem in contact centers today is too much reaction and not enough prevention. Or, as John Goodman, president of TARP (Arlington, Va.; 703-524-1456), put it in [...]

* Metrics monitors make it. AMR Research 'reports that 58% of CRM projects are launched without a business case or set of metrics to be monitored,' writes Tom Kaneshige in [...]

Far too many companies rely on vendor promises where data integration is concerned, ignoring the adage, 'garbage in, garbage out,' and hoping technology does conquer all. It doesn't, if anything's [...]

In our continuing coverage of the rest of the CRM story--i.e., that which doesn't involve just technology--ICRM is always looking for new explanations as to why CRM projects fail to [...]

* Remember ERP? Forget it at your peril! Enterprise resource planning (ERP) taught organizations some painful lessons, lessons they'll be doomed to repeat with their CRM initiatives if they aren't [...]

* CRM and billing: An alternative to putting late-paying customers on the defensive. A correspondent to CFO & Controller Alert (Malvern, Pa.; 800-220-5000) offered this winning approach to getting tardy [...]

Professionals in charge of CRM initiatives likely see themselves as both managers and leaders. However, a wide gulf separates the two. Although you may be acting as both a manager [...]

While much attention has been paid to the technological and financial aspects of CRM initiatives, ICRM believes a low-tech, make-or-break component of any CRM implementation hasn't had its due. Specifically: [...]

Simple CRM? Sounds like an oxymoron to us and, in truth, it probably is. Anything that involves a change of priorities with such dramatic cultural, technological, and systematic implications as [...]

* Are your frontline performance management processes working in your customers' favor? Not according to John Seddon, managing director of Vanguard Consulting (www.lean-service.com), in his provocative Customer Republic magazine (access [...]

* A 'cafeteria plan' that any contact center can afford. A company that 'was always big on open communication between top management and lower-level employees' came across a better way [...]

According to the available research, any return on investment (ROI), much less an impressive one, is an elusive outcome for most CRM implementations. That's why a presentation by Ron Swift, [...]

It's impossible to know just how many organizations poured money into making their Web sites things of beauty and technological ingenuity, hoping that customers would flock to them and invigorate [...]

Whether one calls it putting the customer first, customer focus, or a host of other terms, the concept of customer centricity has been in the CRM vernacular for a while [...]