CRM Unplugged: Releasing CRM's Strategic Value [Hardcover]

Doug Turk (Author), Philip Bligh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 23, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0471483044 | ISBN-13: 978-0471483045 | Edition: 1

Building and maintaining a customer-centered enterprise cost-effectively is a hot topic and key business issue. This book provides the definitive work on how to derive return from investment. It shows readers strategies for successful CRM implementation into a company, and how to achieve a good ROI through CRM, and also details best practices.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Experts estimate that more than fifty percent of all Customer Relationship Management (CRM) implementations will be seen as failures from a company’s viewpoint. However, implemented the right way, CRM is useful, profit-enhancing, and even vital to businesses. Focusing on the implementation of effective customer strategy and driving return (i.e., through customer insight vs. simply loyalty), CRM Unplugged demonstrates how CRM should be defined, approached, and profitably applied to any size business.

CRM doesn’t hinge on technology–it depends upon attracting and serving customers in more lucrative ways by changing how the collective parts of a business collaborate on customer activities. Written by two leading experts, this accessible book discusses how to consider technology as an enabler of new policies, processes, and collaboration so it plays a supporting, rather than a leading, role in CRM.

CRM Unplugged offers a variety of lessons learned from real-world companies that have implemented CRM. Since most investments in technology are costly, the dos and don’ts addressed in these cases are invaluable because they help the reader identify the high-impact areas of his or her business. CRM’s big punch is its ability to strengthen these high-impact areas–those parts that comprise the unique competitive advantage of a business.

CRM Unplugged provides best practices for:

• Identifying why CRM is not creating returns
• Creating strategies for successful CRM implementation
• Achieving a positive ROI concerning CRM

Offering the most up-to-date, comprehensive coverage of this hot topic, CRM Unplugged is a valuable, profit-increasing tool for CEOs, other senior managers (such as VPs), and project managers.

From the Back Cover

Praise for CRM Unplugged

"The authors supply countless examples of companies that have successfully implemented CRM, and show us the way to do the same."
–Philip Kotler
author of Marketing Insights from A to Z

"CRM is no silver bullet, but it is a golden opportunity for companies that take the time to integrate CRM tools with their own source of competitive advantage. This book outlines the steps that need to be taken to achieve success. I highly recommend it."
–Al Ries
coauthor of The Origin of Brands

"Turk and Bligh understand that Customer Relationship Management is not a software category; it’s about supporting competitive advantage, enforcing demand-driven business processes, and applying continuous customer information and analytics to create long-term ROI. This no-nonsense guide describes the larger scope and context of CRM beyond sales, marketing, and customer service, and provides real-world examples and methodologies for making sense of the real goals of customer relationship management."
–Laura Preslan
Research Director, AMR Research

"CRM Unplugged is an excellent summary of how to approach a customer strategy within a company. I wish the book had been in print before we embarked on a major technology initiative in 2003. It would have been very useful for our executive team, and some of the mistakes we made could have been prevented."
–Jim McKnight
CEO, AutoTrader.com

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (April 23, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471483044
• ISBN-13: 978-0471483045
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 0.8 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,176,686 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Customer Strategy "How To", April 30, 2004

By 

Brian Burch (Holland, Mich.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: CRM Unplugged: Releasing CRM's Strategic Value (Hardcover)

Don't let the title scare you, this is book is all about customer strategy--a "how to" book on effectively implementing customer relationship management. Relying on their experience, Bligh and Turk demonstrate how CRM SHOULD be executed--using a customer demand-driven approach. They include some amazing real-world examples from Fortune 500 companies including Dell, Wal-Mart and Pepsi to deliver this point--CRM initives implemented the right way are essential to the success of a business. Failures are covered too as learning opportunities. Chapter 2 has a case study about how Halloween 1999 was Hershey's scariest ever, a fantastic example. Each chapter ends with a "Key Points" summary to make reading easier and quickly review the material. If you think CRM is just software, pick up "CRM Unplugged", it should help change your perception.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quick, practical, innovative approach to CRM, May 22, 2004

By 

David A. Karp (Flower Mound, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: CRM Unplugged: Releasing CRM's Strategic Value (Hardcover)

This book provides thought-provoking and practical advice about how to drive sustainable business impact from customer-facing initiatives. The advice is based on a careful blend of well know frameworks from leaders like Professor Michael Porter and years of experience from the authors and leading corporations. The descriptions of how to use CRM to increase competitive advantage and improve profitability are particularly intriguing, as they elevate CRM from a business initiatve to a business imperative.

The authors have included plenty of examples of real world successes and failures, and hence keep the book rooted in practical and actionable guidelines. I highly recommend this book for CRM novices and experts and for technical and business professionals, as there is important advice in here for everyone.