Connected CRM: Implementing a Data-Driven, Customer-Centric Business Strategy

258 Pages·2014·4.614 MB·English

by  David S. Williams

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C O N N E C T E D
CRM
TM
3GFFIRS 01/22/2014 14:9:6 Pageii
3GFFIRS 01/22/2014 14:9:6 Pageiii
C O N N E C T E D
CRM
TM
I M P L E M E N T I N G
D A T A - D R I V E N ,
A
C U S T O M E R - C E N T R I C
B U S I N E S S S T R A T E G Y
D A V I D S . W I L L I A M S
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData:
Williams,David,1963-
ConnectedCRM:implementingadata-driven,customer-centricbusinessstrategy/DavidWilliams.
pagescm
ISBN978-1-118-83580-7(cloth);ISBN978-1-118-86312-1(ebk);
ISBN978-1-118-86319-0(ebk)
1. Customerrelations—Management. 2. Relationshipmarketing. 3. Strategic
planning. I. Title.
HF5415.5.W58232014
658.8012—dc23
2013044784
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
3GFTOC 01/09/2014 14:23:55 Pagev
Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgments xi
PART ONE CONNECTED CRM
(cCRM) 1
Chapter1 History:There’sNeverBeenaBetterTime
toBeaMarketer 3
Chapter2 Macro-Trends:APerfectStormofBig
Data,Digital,andDirectConsumer
Engagement 15
Chapter3 IndustryPerspective:BusinessModel
Matters 27
v
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vi Contents
Chapter4 ConnectedCRM:BuildingCustomer
StrategyasaBusinessStrategy 61
Chapter5 CustomerStrategy:CreatingYour
CompetitiveAdvantage 71
Chapter6 Experience Delivery: Finding the Sweet
Spot for Expert Customer Integration 107
Chapter7 FinancialManagement:YouCan’t
OptimizeWhatYouCan’tMeasure 133
PART TWO cCRM OPERATING
MODEL 155
Chapter8 InfrastructureandProcess:Dismantling
theSilosThatHinder 157
Chapter9 OrganizationandLeadership:Permission
IsNotSponsorship 183
PART THREE WHAT’S NEXT? 203
Chapter10 MakingItHappen:RealizingYour
Customer-Centric Transformation 205
Notes 223
AbouttheAuthor 227
AboutMerkle 229
Index 231
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Preface
Thereisonlyonevaliddefinitionofbusinesspurpose:
tocreateacustomer.
—Peter Drucker
It’s been 60 years since the prolific Peter Drucker declared,
“Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the
business enterprise has two—and only two—basic functions:
marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce
results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing,
unique function of the business.”
After all this time and boundless technological progress,
Drucker’s fundamental truth still holds, maybe even more so
today. Simply put, I believe when companies embrace an
approach based on “customer strategy as a business strategy,”
they can create sustainable competitive advantage.
I’ve spent more than two decades entrenched in the customer
relationship marketing (CRM) business. And although CRM
hasalwaysbeencenteredontheobjectiveofimprovingrelation-
ships with customers, it has evolved from CRM 1.0, which was
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viii Preface
heavily focused on the software and technology required to
manage customer relationships, to the present-day CRM 2.0,
whichismoreabouttheexperience.Today’sfocusismoreabout
creating a direct dialog with our customers, maximizing their
lifetime value, finding new customers who behave like our best
ones,andultimatelymaximizingreturnonmarketingspendand
shareholdervalue.Sowhatqualifiesmetowriteabookaboutit?
Well, I think it’s safe to say that marketing executives aren’t
likefirefightersandrockstars.Littlekidsdon’tgrowupaspiring
to become CRM gurus, and I’m no exception. But as it hap-
pened,Ididaspiretobeanentrepreneur.Insteadofdoodlingon
my notebooks in school, I was constantly sketching product
designs, business plans, and organizational structures. In fact,
fromthetimeIwaseightyearsold,Iknewmypurposeinlifewas
to be a business owner. It didn’t really matter what kind of
business; in fact, my first proprietorship was a landscaping
company that I started in college. When I was 22, I went to
workasabrokerforaPhiladelphia-basedinvestmentbank,with
the ulterior motive of finding a way to acquire a business that
had a potential for greatness.
At the time, I had a client who was looking to sell his small
dataprocessingcompany,calledMerkleComputerSystems,Inc.
Having been unsuccessful at convincing him to let me represent
him in the sale, I began to consider the possibility of buying it
myself. With the help of an investment from another client, I
began the process of acquiring Merkle in a leveraged buyout.
Before I knewit, at theage of 25,I was the CEO of a$3 million
company,operatinginanindustryaboutwhichIknewvirtually
nothing. As Merkle’s twenty-fourth employee, I underwent the
usual onboarding procedure, with sink-or-swim training on the
company, industry, and business process. What had I gotten
myself into?
By the early 1990s—as data collection and management
methods improved and analytics became more sophisticated,
working together to inform marketing programs with targeting