June 25, 2003 Fred Newell, Author: Why CRM Doesn't Work

Co produced with Mobium Creative Group

"Marketing automation is fine, but it's not about the customer. Most marketing automation is about costs and speed. Selling efficiency is not about the customer, it's just about leveraging your resources. Value maximization, in terms of figuring out which of your customer segments are going to deliver the most top or bottom line, that's not about the customer. So a lot of the benefits that are claimed for CRM are really benefits that accrue to the enterprise, but have nothing to do with the customer" : Fred Newell

That's why Newell calls for a change. Instead of CRM, we should put the customer in charge instead and call it CMR. That is Customer-Managed Relationships. It's a good and a valid point.

Newell summarizes the journey from CRM to CMR like this: Newell focuses on an important issue by trying to explain: "Why CRM doesn't Work". He reports that only 25 to 30 percent of companies implementing CRM initiatives feel that they are getting the return they expected.

He also manages to put forward many of the real causes for CRM projects failures. Most prominently that CRM projects are more concerned about internal efficiency in handling customers (automation of sales force, marketing, and customer service) than the real needs of the customer. So at the end of the day, the firm might have saved some dollars in internal processes and manpower, but the customers are probably treated even worse than before.

* From the company is in control ... to the customer is in control
* From make business better for the company ... to make business better for the customer
* From track customers by transaction ... to understand customer's unique needs
* From treat customers as segments ... to treat customers as individuals
* From force customers to do what you believe they'll want ... to let customers tell you what they care about
* From customers feel stalked ... to customers feel empowered
* From organized around products and services ... to organized around customers