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Return on investment (ROI) quantifies how well a firm creates value from a given investment. But what quantifies how well a company creates value from its customers? For this you […]

Why you can't develop forward-thinking salespeople with a backward compensation plan Let's face it: Paying people is a perplexing problem that has nagged employers forever. When we left the Agricultural […]

One to one business enterprises interact with their customers individually, learn their customers' individual needs, and customize products to individuals' specifications. One to one enterprises and their customers engage in a learning relationship. Customers tell the enterprise what they want and how they want it. In multiple interactions with individual customers, the enterprise learns how to best meet the customer's needs of preferences., In their new book, the authors make a case for going outside your organization to meet customer needs This article is an adaptation from the authors new book, Enterprise One [...]

Imagine this weekly grocery-shopping scenario: Log on to Cyber-Foods, key in a few needed items, and you're reminded to include Braun coffee filters, Green Giant corn, and Plax mouthwash. Place […]

In our first book, The One to One Future: Building Relationships One Customer at a Time, we proposed a radically different way of doing business, given the new reality of [...]

When Chris Knox, a top salesperson at Specialty Fleet Services, volunteers to go after the business of Armadillo Gas & Power, he decides to try a new approach. After all, no one else from SFS has succeeded with Dale Landry, Armadillo's CFO. Knox shows up at Landry's ranch, asks to photograph his beloved bull, presents the photo as a gift to Landry's wife, and engineers several other encounters before Landry learns that Knox is anything more than a charming young man. Not long after he reveals his position at SFS, Knox wins the account. Sales VP Jeremy Silva e-mails the sales team, praising Knox's maneuvers. But the human resources vice president thinks that Knox breached the company's ethics code. Does Knox deserve a reprimand? Kirk O. Hanson, the executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, believes that Knox went astray not by trying to share a potential client's passion but by treating the Landrys as a means to an end -- deceiving them and violating their personal space along the way. There's a big difference between deceiving competitors and deceiving customers, explain consultants Don Peppers and Martha Rogers. SFS needs to clarify this difference in its ethics code, apologize to Landry, and fire Silva, who demonstrated in hitting the "send" button that he does not understand the policies and behaviors that build shareholder value. James Borg, a business psychologist and author, argues that Knox didn't coerce Landry into buying SFS's services but instead simply got the CFO's attention and let his persuasive techniques do the rest. Whereas coercion and manipulation satisfy the needs of only one party, persuasion is about achieving a positive outcome all around -- exactly what Knox accomplished. Armadillo got a superior product, and SFS won a new customer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L.L. Jean PROBLEM: With 20 million customers, how can this national catalog know each one? ONE-TO-ONE SOLUTION: We don't try to build relationships with all 20 million customers. Rather, we [...]

Information technology can be used to customize communications and product offerings to the needs of individual customers. This one-on-one marketing approach, if managed properly, can be a powerful tool for increasing a company's relationships with its customers. Among others, it can cement customer loyalty, boost a company's share of a customer's business and improve unit sales margins. To manage this type of relationship marketing, organizational strategies should be refocused to ensure that marketing efforts are thoroughly customer-driven.

Byline: Don Peppers and Martha Rogers Tired of the end-of-quarter panic? Want some relief from the indigestion of the chronic, last-minute quota drill? Try focusing your sales efforts on selling [...]

AS MUCH AS WE RESPECT AND admire Ray Schultz for his balanced perspective and genuine reportorial talent, we have to differ with a few of the points made in his [...]

One-to-one marketing, also known as relationship marketing, promises to increase the value of your customer base by establishing a learning relationship with each customer. The customer tells you of some need, and you customize your product or service to meet it. Every interaction and modification improves your ability to fit your product to the particular customer. Eventually, even if a competitor offers the same type of service, your customer won't be able to enjoy the same level of convenience without taking the time to teach your competitor the lessons your company has already learned. Although the theory behind one-to-one marketing is simple, implementation is complex. Too many companies have jumped on the one-to-one bandwagon without proper preparation--mistakenly understanding it as an excuse to badger customers with excessive telemarketing and direct mail campaigns. The authors offer practical advice for implementing a one-to-one marketing program correctly. They describe four key steps: identifying your customers, differentiating among them, interacting with them, and customizing your product or service to meet each customer's needs. And they provide activities and exercises, to be administered to employees and customers, that will help you identify your company's readiness to launch a one-to-one initiative. Although some managers dismiss the possibility of one-to-one marketing as an unattainable goal, even a modest program can produce substantial benefits. This tool kit will help you determine what type of program your company can implement now, what you need to do to position your company for a large-scale initiative, and how to set priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to articles in previous issues including "Siblings and Succession in the Family Business," by Warren D. Miller in the January-February 1998 issue, "Is There a Best Way to Build a Car?" by Michael Maccoby in the November-December 1997 issue, "Preventing the Premature Death of Relationship Marketing," by Susan Fournier, Susan Dobscha and David Glen Mick in the January-February 1998 issue, and "Reinterpreting the Japanese Economic Miracle" by Robert J. Crawford.

Engaging your customers in an ongoing dialogue that enables you to learn more about their particular interests, needs, and priorities is a crucial step in one-to-one marketing. Let's assume you [...]

Create loyalty by allowing clients to reach you the way they want to IF YOU RECENTLY cracked open a fortune cookie and read, "May you live in interesting times," you […]

"Quiet" intervals in sales cycles are the time to deepen relationships MOST ENTERPRISES UNDERSTAND why it's important to know the purchase cycles of their customers: If you know the moment […]

THE TECHNOLOGY ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH CREATING A CLICKS-AND-BRICKS ENTERPRISE ARE STAGGERING, BUT SO ARE THE UNDERLYING BUSINESS CHALLENGES. DON'T FORGET: IT ALL BEGINS WITH A BUSINESS STRATEGY for customer relationship […]

The answer is. Well, yes and no THERE IS NO single "best" form of channel management. Instead, the way you manage relationships with channel partners will vary by industry, product […]

Capitalizing on online sales means integrating channels ANTICIPATING A REPEAT of last year's amazing online shopping spree, e-retailers have been beefing up their inventory control and order-fulfillment capabilities. But enticed […]

The One To One Manager: Real World Lessons in Customer Relationship Management Don Peppers and Martha Rogers recount true stories of the men and women with the vision, courage and [...]

Becoming your customers' ally is a powerful way to build loyalty DO YOUR CUSTOMERS trust you? If not, you're back to square one---competing on price. As a company tries to […]

How to turn your call center into a customer interaction center WANT TO TEST how well your call center representatives relate to your customers? Use lemons. That's what First Direct, […]

WOULDN'T IT BE GREAT if you could make offers to individual customers without having to spend a nickel on printing and postage? And without having to wait for the production […]

A little shared information can mean a lot of new sales One of the best ways to increase customers' profitability is to cross-sell to them. Problem is, at most companies […]

Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D. RADICAL. THAT'S THE best word to describe the potential impact of marketing automation on business. Problem is, marketers aren't taking advantage of all of […]