Customers.Com: How to Create a Profitable Business Strategy for the Internet and Beyond - Hardcover

Seybold, Patricia B.; Marshak, Ronni T.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0812930371 ISBN 13: 9780812930375

Verlag: Times Books, 1998

Inhaltsangabe

A high-tech business expert explains how to make the Web an integral part of corporate strategy, offering real-life examples of companies that have successfully incorporated Internet technology, and shares practical strategies on how to increase sales, profits, and customers with the Web. 25,000 first printing. Tour.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

<b>Patricia B. Seybold</b> is the founder and CEO of the Boston-based Patricia Seybold Group, a worldwide business and technology consulting firm. Its clients include Ameritech, Arthur Andersen, Clorox, Hewlett Packard, the International Monetary Fund, Microsoft, State Street Bank, and Warburg Pincus.

Aus dem Klappentext

bold is one of the few people with the credentials and experience to write the one book on electronic commerce everyone in business must read. Seybold has advised major companies not only on the technical requirements for a successful electronic commerce strategy, but also on the management, marketing, sales, and customer support systems necessary to create an infra-structure that seamlessly blends a company's e-commerce initiative with its overall business. <br><br>It all starts with customers. For the past several years, Seybold has been working with electronic commerce pioneers who have made life easier for their customers by figuring out what they want and designing their Internet strategy accordingly. Seybold's guide is packed with insights on how both Fortune 500 giants and smaller companies have created e-commerce initiatives that place them well ahead of their competitors. Some examples:<br><br><br>National Semiconductor made huge improvements to its bottom line by <b>targeti

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Provide a 360-Degree View of the Customer Relationship

In order to be successful in electronic commerce, everyone who touches the customer needs to be able to see the total picture-a 360-degree view-of that customer's relationship with your firm. Many organizations are currently embarked on relationship management initiatives. Yet when you examine these efforts closely, you usually find that they are addressing only one or two aspects of the customer's relationship with the organization. For example, companies typically streamline and automate the sales process. Or they focus on help desk processes. Occasionally, an insightful organization might combine the two processes and their underlying systems and data. In that case, a salesperson can be made aware of an outstanding service issue with the customer he's wooing, or a service rep would know just how valuable this particular customer is to the firm.

But even this doesn't go far enough. There are still any number of customer interactions not addressed by salespeople or help desks. For example, exactly who does a customer call with questions about a bill, when a delivery hasn't taken place, or when he has an idea for a new product or feature he could use?

Here's an example: I mentioned the evolution of Microsoft's customer database strategy earlier. Now let's look at how Microsoft is instilling this 360-degree approach for everyone who works with its enterprise accounts. Today, Microsoft provides each of its very large "enterprise" customers with its own set of Web pages. This is where Microsoft consolidates everything it knows about the account, not only in terms of software and systems installed and on order, but also regarding competitive situations (where the customer might be considering solutions from another vendor), possible strategic or tactical initiatives that the customer is considering implementing, and the customer's up-to-the-minute service records.

While the customer's account manager "owns" this customer Web site, key executives, such as Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, will consult this database before they interact with any accounts. Key consulting partners may be offered access to this information in exchange for entering their client engagement notes on the site (providing rewards on both sides for sharing the information). The benefit to customers is that they feel they are being served by "one Microsoft," even though there may be hundreds of different interactions with the company each month.

The enterprise customer and her team of professionals also have access to their own view of this customized Web site. They can view and modify their own contact profiles as well as update the records on their information systems infrastructure, and they can ask for assistance. This account-centric Web site is where key members of the customer's team can go to check on the delivery status of products ordered, request technical support, check on the status of a service call, or ask for background information on new products. It's the customers' window into their relationship with Microsoft.

What should you be thinking about in planning your own "customer-surround" strategy? To truly provide a complete 360-degree view of your relationship with your customers, you'll want to:



Provide one-stop shopping for the customer.
"Remember" everything your company knows about the customer.
Ensure that everyone in the company has access to the complete customer picture.
Put an underlying technical infrastructure into place to provide a 360-degree view.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Times Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 1998
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0812930371
• ISBN 13: 9780812930375
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 360
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar