Amazon.com Review
As the thinkers have said, you should strive in all situations to know yourself and know your enemy. Most of history's great thinkers, however, were not in business. In business, you have to know your customer and understand how your company interacts with him or her. The current term for this is
customer relationship management (CRM), and
The CRM Handbook is the best textbook for managers on the mechanics of CRM. It's a standout in a field that's filled with squishy books that go on at length about how important CRM is, but which lack details. Jill Dyché provides lots of factual information, real case studies, carefully considered commentary, and reasoned criteria with which to evaluate CRM products and strategies. Though you'll certainly want to supplement Dyché's work with vendors' product literature and implementation proposals, you'll get a lot from her carefully researched book.
Dyché devotes some of her (fairly slender) volume to CRM background information but quickly gets to the issues that managers confronted with CRM decisions need to consider. She makes great use of bulleted lists, scorable quizzes, and checklists (sections about what questions to ask vendors, and why, are particularly good) that you can use right now to gauge any organization's suitability to CRM and determine how they need to change in order to get the most out of their systems. --David Wall
Topics covered: Customer relationship management (CRM)--as a business practice and as a set of technologies--explained for managers and corporate planners. CRM fundamentals, CRM product selection, and internal promotion of CRM are all covered well.
Review
Praise for The CRM Handbook~"Want to avoid being one of the estimated 70 percent of companies who have tried implementing standalone CRM systems and failed? Confused by what your IT suppliers are telling you about CRM? Then you need to read this book! Jill provides a comprehensive, practical, and easy to understand view of CRM and shows you how to successfully implement an enterprise customer-focused solution." - Kevin Bubeck Director, North America Information Strategy, Coca-Cola~"CRM could be viewed as the ERP of the 2000s. As such, there will be multiple winners and losers as the marketplace places some large and strategic bets on this technology. In any case, Jill Dyche has captured the importance of the concepts and value derived through CRM solutions. Those needs will evolve, of course, but companies will always need the basics that have been discussed." - Brian Berliner Co-founder & EVP, Product Development, Acies Networks~"The CRM Handbook provides information for the business person who is trying to understand CRM and how it can effect his/her business. It goes beyond the hype of the acronym and dives into the real issues that a company needs to consider before implementing a CRM solution." - Joy Blake Scott Director, Marketing and Communications, Fastwater, LLP"I haven't read anything that has such a practical approach. I view the book as having multiple benefits. It gives a good definition of CRM functionality but also gives detailed guidance of how to approach CRM in your organization." - Francine Frazer Principal Consultant, Net Perceptions~"Even better than defining CRM, Jill took on all of the hyperlanguage around CRM and clearly differentiated the various incarnations of CRM. It's also usefulto know what can go wrong and the potential affects of such missteps. Too few authors level with readers about pitfalls!" - Linda McHugh Director, Professional Services, Cygent Inc."~The guides based on the business tools that Jill uses with her own clients are fabulous." - Robin Neidorf President, Electric Muse/Clio's, Pen Research & Interpretation, Inc.~"The language is easy to read and easy to understand. Terms were well explained so that someone with no prior CRM experience could easily understand the text." - Marcia Robinson President, e-Business Strategies~"An excellent study into what defines today's best practices in the CRM industry." - Gareth Herschel Senior Research Analyst, Gartner Research"Jill writes very well. Her writing communicates subjects and topics in a very easy to understand way. At times, I felt like I was listening to her speak or discussing a subject. She is a good communicator! Jill did a very good job of covering all subject areas on the different topics of CRM. I am most impressed with Jill on pointing out all the possible mistakes and creating 'lessons learned' advice which most authors frequently omit." - Mary Chan Information Management Consultant, Kagiso Inc. ~"Jill Dych's The CRM Handbook is a good read for CRM novices and seasoned practitioners alike. Dych's well-written, pragmatic approach to understanding CRM's evolution and purpose is a map to a successful CRM program. Dyché uncovers the truth behind the CRM software vendor hype, highlights some common roadblocks to CRM project development, and describes how to delineate and prioritize CRM initiatives." - Don Peppers Partner, Peppers and Rogers Group
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