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Chuck Schaeffer

Chuck Schaeffer
Chuck is the North America Go-to-Market Leader for IBM's CRM and ERP consulting practice. He is also enjoys contributing to his blog at www.CRMsearch.com.

The Customer Relationship Management Evolution in 2022

There are a lot ways the Customer Relationship Management software market continues to evolve. But from my vantage point I find the most telling evidence…

Welcome to the Future of Sales

The sales profession is in transition. It is quickly shifting from an offline, seller-driven, push-based model toward a digital-first, data-driven and buyer-focused response. There are…

A 3 Step Framework to Reallocate Sales Time for Improved Sales Performance

Sales managers are acutely aware that sales reps spend less than half their time selling. But Best in Class sales companies pursue continuous efforts that…

How Much Should You Invest in Innovation?

Apple invests 5% of its revenues in Research and Development. Facebook invests 13%, Google 16% and Amazon now invests 28%. So how much should you…

The Salesforce CRM Renewal Dilemma

For many Salesforce customers the CRM renewal comes with a surprise. They are told they need to upgrade to the next CRM pricing tier, or…

CRM Software Request for Proposals: Valuable Discovery or Waste of Time?

Most CRM software RFPs fail to surface measurable weaknesses, limitations and differences among competing CRM systems. There are three methods to improve upon ineffective RFPs.…

Is Salesforce Worth the Price Premium?

Salesforce CRM is a market-leading solution, which comes with a significant price premium. When does a higher price pay dividends?

How to Choose the Best CRM Software for your Retail Company

When looking for the best retail CRM software many novices evaluate technology features. That is a mistake as CRM software features and functions may or…

The Final Four Competitive Advantages

 By Chuck SchaefferBeing competitive starts by understanding exactly how customers make purchase decisions, what they want from their suppliers, and how you use that information…

The Productivity and Payback of Employee Engagement

 By Chuck SchaefferEmployee engagement is a top contributing factor to high-performance growth cultures and an undeniable producer of productivity and payback. But what exactly is…

How to Measure Customer Centricity

 By Chuck SchaefferCustomer-centricity is integral to culture, a precursor to strategy and essential for sustained customer growth and retention. However, companies don't get to decide…

Association and Nonprofit Best Practices To Acquire, Grow and Retain Members

Membership organizations, which include associations, non-profits, clubs and other member-based groups, are under increased pressure to acquire and retain members. According to this year's...

Microsoft Dynamics 365 – Hits and Misses in the New CRM Release

Microsoft shared the 2017 Spring (version 9) Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement release (previously known as Dynamics CRM.) From my perspective, the biggest enhancements are...

How to Design Your 360-Degree Customer View

The often cited but seldom realized 360-degree customer view is a holistic customer profile record that captures five types of customer data from across...

The Top Reasons CRM Fails

It's no secret that among the five biggest types of business applications, CRM software has the highest failure rate … by a landslide. The analyst...

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2017 — What Matters Most in the New Release

Microsoft released Dynamics CRM 2017 today. However, with the new release comes a new name of Dynamics 365 Enterprise customer engagment apps. From my...

Dynamics 365 – The Future of Microsoft Dynamics

Dynamics 365 was announced today as the next generation of Microsoft's Azure-hosted business services. From an ERP and CRM software perspective, Dynamics 365 is...

CRM Software Market Share Report 2016

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software buyers often consider CRM market leaders to have staying power and be relatively safer bets. CRM software publishers use...

Agile Best Practices for CRM Software Deployments

Agile is a group of principals which promote collaboration among self-organized and cross-functional teams, close customer involvement, iterative and adaptive implementation methods, and the...

Salesforce versus Microsoft Dynamics CRM

A Head to Head Comparison of the Top 2 CRM Systems 1. User Experience Advantage: Salesforce 2. Sales Force Automation Advantage: Salesforce 3. Marketing Advantage:…

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