Beyond "e": 12 Ways Technology is Transforming Sales & Marketing (Hardcover)

by Stephen Diorio (Author) "YOU CANNOT PUSH A SQUARE PEG THROUGH A ROUND HOLE..." (more)
Key Phrases: interactive direct marketing tools, market coverage model, chief customer officer, American Airlines, Long-Term Imperative, General Motors (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The dizzying barrage of new marketing technologies is leading to confusion, the rule of hype, and bad marketing investments and decisions. Beyond "e" is designed to help sales and marketing executives look beyond current e-business fads to understand the fundamentals that will distinguish sales and marketing leaders in the future. The book provides a blueprint for using advances in technology--including but not limited to the Web--to get more marketing power for less money.

Drawing on case studies from leading marketers such as IBM, Eastman Chemical, eBay, CitiGroup, GM, Dell and many others, author Stephen Diorio explains how sales and marketing leaders can:

* Identify where technology can help them grow their businesses faster and get more mileage out of their sales and marketing dollars;
* Develop an action plan to take action today and create competitive advantage tomorrow;
* Anticipate the dramatic changes technology will bring to traditional marketing operations, marketing channels and customers in the coming decade.

The winning strategies in Beyond "e" are based on original best practices research and interviews with thousands of customers and sales and leading marketers, and technology trend analysis from the META Group--the leading IT advisory firm.

From the Back Cover
If E-Commerce Isn't A Silver Bullet, What Is? How to Use CRM Tools, Interactive Marketing, Online Marketplaces and Other New Technologies to Drive Revenue Growth

Five years into the "e-business revolution" most businesses are still struggling to harness the power of new marketing technologies and stretch their sales and marketing dollars. Beyond 'e' will help sales and marketing executives see through the smoke of current e-business fads to understand the fundamentals of marketing strategy, and how to apply them in the midst of powerful and confusing new technologies. Beyond 'e' reveals how leading-edge businesses­­from IBM, Eastman Chemical, e-Bay, Citigroup, Dell, and others­­use cutting edge technology to to improve everything from sales force efficiency to brand management and email marketing.

Based on thousands of interviews with sales and marketing managers in Global 2000 companies, this essential guide to smarter marketing through technology covers:

• Ways to repackage or redesign products for Web-based distribution channels
• New approaches for managing an ever-expanding number of third-party distribution channels
• Ways to transform your call center from a phone-answering department to a high-impact sales team

Beyond "e" explains the benefits of today's complex technologies in language anyone can understand, and reveals what marketing executives must do over the short- and long-term to master today's technologies­­and win customers.

"Beyond "e" hits home on the emerging theme of sales force effectiveness, and looks beyond the e-business fads that have burned many managers. It's a tactical handbook for anyone struggling with the fundamentals of using technology to maximize their sales and marketing efforts."

--Don Peppers, President, Peppers and Rogers Group

"Beyond e goes beyond the typical marketing fluff. We began implementing these ideas immediately"
­­Robert Stagno, Vice President of Worldwide Direct Marketing, IBM

"...An outstanding blend of strategic insights and pragmatic
advice."
­­Dale Kutnick, CEO of The META Group

"How will sales and marketing executives survive the next technology cycle? How can we turn technology chaos into advantage? What are the best opportunities to take right now? This book will help you answer those questions for your organization, using strategies based on the innovations and forward thinking of some of America's top companies..."
­­From the Foreword

Technology has transformed the ways that marketers must approach operations, channels, and customer bases ... and changes in the next decade will be even more dramatic. Beyond "e" shows marketing managers how to successfully blend current and future technologies into their existing marketing strategies, broadening their marketing reach while simultaneously focussing on the wants and needs of particular groups and even individual customers.

Each of the book's twelve chapters outlines how technology will impact a particular aspect of sales and marketing, laying out specific management strategies for taking advantage of these opportunities. Based on research conducted by IMT Strategies, Beyond "e"provides insightful analyses and hands-on recommendations, including:

• Branding strategies to meet the changing needs of online buyers
• How to integrate interactive direct marketing tools into existing marketing mixes
• Six fundamental ways that networks will revolutionize the flow of information
• Techniques for mastering customer service delivery across many channels
• Seven short-term tactics to protect margins and boost market share
• How to maximize new, technology-enabled, peer-to-peer networking systems
• Ways to transform call centers into strategic traffic cops
• Strategies to organize around customers and processes, instead of products and business units

Far too often, successful marketing and business strategies are squeezed and distorted to make them fit into flashy new technologies. Beyond 'e' puts the cart once again before the horse, providing new tools to support rather than replace current selling approaches and showing marketers how to use today's exciting web-based technologies to create solidly constructed, effective, and powerful marketing programs.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (November 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071376496
• ISBN-13: 978-0071376495
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #829,617 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A marketing book of real substance, January 3, 2002

By A Customer

Having taught a variety of marketing courses at the undergraduate, graduate and executive levels, I am always looking for books that present the ways in which new technology (and the Internet in particular) are affecting market relationships. Often these texts are full of exaggerrated "war stories" or can be easily summarized into a few general points. Steve Diorio's book, in contrast, is current, meaty and well substantiated. He not only provides several examples of recent successes and failures but synthesizes this new information into the age old framework of serving the customer and firm by adding value to both. I highly recommend this book to any marketing professional as well as any professor who wishes to bring their marketing strategy or course content into the 21st century.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond e...goes beyond the e hype, December 13, 2001

By	Charles B. Jacobina (Reston, Va USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Steve Diorio, outlines in 12 ways how technology is transforming the way the customer and the company will interact in the future. He has done an outstanding job of making sense out of all the e hype over the last three years and makes clear what works and what fails as e business becomes more of a digital business strategy. I highly recommend his book to any executive that is thinking about building a sustainable business strategy.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FINALLY... someone with substance!, December 15, 2001

By	Gary Ellsworth (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

Finally a book that doesn't force-feed you candy-coated customer experience stories that are interesting but don't tell us anything we do not already know.

Having read most of the more celebrated sales and marketing books of the last decade, this one actually has some substance behind it. I was thoroughly impressed by the amount of research and experience that stands behind this book. Instead of providing a few nice anecdotal cases about customer-centricity or customer loyalty, this book provides a comprehensive view of how technology is changing sales and marketing practices throughout an organization and across all brands. Most importantly, it provides you with actionable insights into modern sales and marketing best practices.

If you have been as frustrated as I have with the superficiality of recent sales and marketing books, then you should definitely give this one a try.