“Why CRM Doesn’t Work: How to Win By Letting Customers Manage the Relationship” by Frederick Newell Report

What are the key points in this book?

Is it possible that CRM has failed corporations? Is it possible that, efforts put in CRM have been misconstrued for a marketing strategy rather than a consumer retention principal? The author is emphatic about how ‘customer relations management’ has failed in many corporations. He introduces the context of how consumer relations management eats into a company profits.

The author profoundly explains how strategies aimed at establishing consumer needs have failed. The cause of this failure is attributed to poor interpretation of what CRM is all about. This book highlights how customer relationship management is at standstill. He attributes this to misconception about building relationships through CRM instead of building value. This book strains to bring out the meaning of value as the core-marketing concept rather than establishing relationships with consumers as laid bare in CRM.

The book also brings about the context of consumers as being in control of the purchasing process rather than corporations. This context aims to explain why consumers do not need to be hunted and managed. They want to control what the want to purchase (Newell, Godin 4-8).

What are the new ideas about CRM are brought about in the book?

The author comprehensively highlights how corporations are failing to make a profit through CRM strategies. He brings to light the context of consumer seeking freedom to purchase. Corporations putting efforts to find clients are making a corporate mistake. Consumers want to share information, and in return, they want speedy implementation of their recommendations to improve service and products.

The book also explains how corporations mistake technology for marketing. The author explains that, technology only creates avenues for emerging markets. Two, technology provides better product position, improves modalities to enhance consumers purchase decision-making process, and influence on consumer decision making.

Customer relationship management is portrayed as an inconvenience. Both consumers and the companies are in control prompting imbalances. The author emphasizes on companies using CRM only as a data gathering mechanism rather than use it as a decision-making model (Newell & Godin 4-18).

This book explains how corporations have failed to get consumers that can provide the company with the financial rewards to help the company grow.

In a nutshell, new CRM concept the books projects that corporations must identify consumers who will be there long enough to provide rewards that will foresee long-term corporate growth. It is important that customer relationship management is a burden to corporations since its essence is misconstrued leading to loss of revenue in an attempt to invest in it. The author explains how CRM should allow consumers to make their decisions while corporations only manage how service and products are provided based on consumer insights and recommendations. Company managers are advised not invest on technology as marketing avenues, rather as product positioning tools and consumer reach avenues (Newell& Godin,2003)

Relationship between this book’s ideas and other marketing concepts

The concepts of customer relationship management idealized in this book do correlate with relevant classroom teachings. The author seeks to identify where corporations fail in business processes aimed at improving consumer purchase decision making. Teaching modules also attempt to explain how managers should approach consumer relationship management. The objective of classroom readings per the modules is to advice managers how consumers should be approached treated and retained for the long-term benefit of the company. The book actually, corrects managers and their entire sales and marketing teams where they fail in management of consumers. The author proffers advice about how corporations should approach them to managers. The aim of the book is to help managers identify ways of establishing correct customers who will return on long-term basis to provide the corporation with long-term financial gains. This book is a guideline on how to create consumer retention for long-term financial rewards. This will help a corporation enjoy long-term profits. Embarking on market research to establish new markets for products and services will help corporations increase sales and customer bases. This helps increase the market share, profitability and financial goals are achieved.

How to manage consumers through allowing them to manage their needs is explained as an essential marketing tool. It provides consumers with flexibility to make purchase decisions. Managers are advised that improving sales and marketing strategies should be a consistent process. Thinking outside sales box and looking at ‘for how long the consumer shall come back’ is explained as an effective strategy to bring long-term financial rewards that can spur corporate growth and profitability. Managers are advised that, using technology to identify and tap into new markets is the correct approach when investing on technology.

How this book is helpful to managers?

The concepts of marketing are important to managers who are constantly looking for better strategies. This book provides managers with a clear guideline on how to think beyond selling today (Newell& Godin, 2003). The author exemplifies how corporations have failed through consumer relationship management due to ambition to manage the consumer. At the same time, the author provides insights about how this can be corrected and approached. Managers will benefit from the inspiring resolves, ideas and clever strategies provided in this book.

How this book is helpful to business students

Learning business is essential especially if one is looking forward for management career. This book provides insights about management, customer relationships management and business development. Such concepts arm a business student with sufficient wisdom on business development, business management and consumer culture, behavior and trends. This knowledge makes a very good businessperson, manager or business development manager.

The book also provides knowledge about how marketing platforms can be improved to provide insulation against business bad weather. This is through establishing a clientele that will be provide the corporation with long-term financial returns through consistent purchase relationships. This knowledge provides the leaner with skills on how to shape a corporation and develop it to a successful corporation.

Who are the ideal target readers for this book?

This book is a good read for sales and marketing managers, customer relationship managers, business development managers and management executives. In fact, this book is ideal for people who own business, and those who are in management positions. The book will provide them with solutions to their objectives in consumer insights, management and consumer retention strategies.

Personal Opinion about this book

This book is a comprehensive marketing guideline. It offers inspiration to managers who are facing lackluster through inspiring them to look outside the sales box and establish long-term customer relationships. These relationships should provide insulation against impeding business storms, consistent sales and financial returns to promote growth and development of the company (Newell& Godin, 2003).

This book provides enough knowledge about how managers can build corporations through identifying consumer behavior, proper product/service placement technologies and avoiding huge expenses on marketing. The overall effect is a savings trend, revenue consolidation and rapid corporate growth due to a returning clientele that is satisfied and encouraging others to come and buy from this corporation.

The book profoundly explains how managers should handle customer relationship management. The objective here is to provide managers with knowledge about the importance of independent decision making approaches when handling consumers, using this decision making model is a research tool to identify consumer needs and implementing such recommendations to improve service delivery, consumer needs and products.

Bibliography

Newell et al., Why CRM doesn’t work: how to win by letting customers manage the relationship. Princeton, NJ: Bloomberg Press, 2003.