The Customer Relationship Management Survival Guide [Paperback]

Dick Lee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2000

Few books have influenced an entire industry as much as "The Customer Relationship Survival Guide." Survival Guide has pushed the practice of CRM toward business strategy and culture change – and away from process- and technology-based CRM projects that meet predictable fates. Many companies already owe their CRM success to lessons learned from this book. Many more will before Survival Guide is finished doing its work. And yet more will find in this book the reasons why their CRM implementations failed - and how to rescue them.

But there’s more to the Customer Relationship Management Survival Guide than expert advice. Through his many speaking engagements, magazine columns and other writings, author Dick Lee has distinguished himself as both a wry humorist and a business visionary. Lee’s irreverent commentary and keen business insights make reading Survival Guide an entertaining and valuable experience – for anyone in business today.

Editorial Reviews

Review

CRM Survival Guide contains all the essential elements to implement CRM successfully. -- Bill Brendler, CRM consultant, July 2000:

I can't name three books on CRM that are genuinely helpful, but one would be this survival guide. -- David Sims, CRM writer, December 2000:

If you are even THINKING about "doing CRM" in your business, get this book and read it. -- Geoff Puterbaugh, Amazon top 500 reviewer, November 2000

From the Publisher

Perhaps only Dick Lee could have written a book like “The Customer Relationship Management Survival Guide.” His history of helping organizations become more customer-centric dates back over twenty years. He’s been among the leaders of the relationship marketing movement since it started and a pioneer in treating selling and marketing as measurable processes, not artistic expression. And his background in database marketing and developing service bureau inquiry management systems have kept him steeped in customer information management technologies. This unique background enabled Dick to be among the very first to start melding the strategic side of CRM with the tactical process management and technology aspects. And not to forget, Dick is an enormously funny presenter and person, and his writing captures his wit - making his work readily accessible to even the most indifferent readers.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: High Yield Marketing Pr (July 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967375738
• ISBN-13: 978-0967375731
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #815,788 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Where the CRM rubber hits the road, December 5, 2000

By 

Clubbeaux (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Customer Relationship Management Survival Guide (Paperback)

I know from sad experience that there are lots of books out there on customer relationship management. I can't name three that are genuinely helpful in daily work -- ever hear anyone say "I know this'll work, I got it from Peppers and Rogers" during an implementation? -- but one would be this survival guide.

It lives up to its subtitle, "Everything you need to know, before you need to know it." Lee doesn't waste a lot of time on theory, he takes the approach that if you don't know by now the importance of being customer-centric then you'll be working for someone else pretty soon anyway. There was a crying need for a book in this space, one wonders that it took anyone so long to write it.

He writes for decision-making business people who have a company to run, but who've been confused with CRM misinformation from overzealous and unscrupulous vendors and consultants. He shows you that you just might have more than you think in the way of solid CRM building blocks already on your computer in Outlook and Office, no vendor or consultant's going to tell you that. Plus I think he has the importance of technology pegged (fairly low), I can't count the number of CRM projects that have tanked because people bought a bunch of stuff, took it out of the boxes and said "Okay, what now?" I'd hate to see what Lee says about those people when he's not in mixed company.

One warning: Lee says that the time's passed for polite books about this or that aspect of CRM, that it's "time to get in people's faces about this stuff," and show what it's going to mean in real life business. If that's not what you're up for then avoid this book.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mature, clear-eyed, circumspect, well-informed, December 27, 2000

By 

Edward E. Rigdon (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Customer Relationship Management Survival Guide (Paperback)

I really like Dick Lee's book. As an instructor teaching an "electronic marketing" class, I wanted to find a place for CRM, but I was having trouble myself getting a handle on what CRM is. The author's perspective--that CRM is about organizational transformation--rings true for me. It's not database marketing, and it's not an adjunct to ERP. It's the process of creating a customer-centric organization, with the transformation facilitated by technology. This book offers both high-level and on-the-ground perspectives on the process, all based on the author's extensive consulting experience. The book's earthy vernacular put me off, at first, but I could not put the book down. It really is the book I was looking for.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great overview, not as great guide book., March 13, 2002

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Customer Relationship Management Survival Guide (Paperback)

Skip the first 140 pages, unless you'd be amused reading a sarcastic romp, where Dick Lee rides roughshod over ad agencies, direct marketers, IT managers, and sales consultants. After you get past this diatribe on why all these idiots can be cured by-- here's a revelation, listening to what customers want!-- Mr. Lee does finally get down to some useful, "how to" information. He's right that we all talk about becoming customer-driven organizations but few stick to a plan for implementing real internal change. His CRM Survival Guide isn't nearly "everything you need to know," as the publisher boldly writes on the cover, but it does eventually present some provocative tips on how to move the mountain inch by inch. Very clearly and cleverly written, but a little vague on how to put his ideas into practice. Nice for the classroom, limited for the practitioner. I get the feeling that Mr. Lee doesn't think we deserve all he's got for just twenty bucks. Maybe he's right.