Francis Buttle
Francis Buttle
Dr. Francis Buttle founded the consultancy that bears his name back in 1979. He has over 40 years of international experience in consulting, training, researching, educating, and writing about a broad range of marketing and customer management matters. He is author of 15 books, has been a full professor of Marketing, Customer Relationship Management, Relationship Marketing, and Management.
Pizza Hut all a-twitter
Pizza Hut has announced its first full-time Twitterer. Following a successful internship, the lucky Tweetologist, Alexa Robinson, has the task of interacting with the...
Social media really do influence consumers… and how!
There is growing and compelling evidence that social media influence what consumers think, feel and do. Back in September 2009, Frank Sherlock of Convergys was...
Managing Relationships with Patient Advocacy Groups
Building and maintaining close relationships with important constituencies of their business networks is a critical aspect of the Strategic CRM practices of pharmaceutical companies...
It’s your funeral!
It's my age, and there's not much I can do about it. The years are accelerating faster than I can productively live them. I'm...
Where are the higher education programs in CRM?
In February last year, I announced that I was trying to compile a database of Universities that offer degree-level course units in CRM. I...
Alternate Dispute Resolution: A Solution for Unresolved Customer Complaints
What do you do when you have a dispute with a customer? This is not the same as a complaint. A dispute is a...
It’s a dirty business but……
Yes, someone has to do it. Debt collection isn't the sexiest job, or the safest job, on the planet. I've only had to do...
What to do about customer disputes?
A recent engagement with a national industry Ombudsman office revealed some very interesting insights into what causes customer disputes. A dispute, remember, is not the...
CRM: Still Misunderstood, Still Vital
Bob Thompson chats with Francis Buttle about the second edition of his book, Customer Relationship Management: Concepts and Technologies. Discussion topics: Why is CRM...
The “R” Effect: How to Adapt Your Business to a Fundamental Shift in Customer Behavior
The "R" word has returned. Politicians may have been slow to call this crisis a recession, but business has known better for some time....
Multichannel Customer Experience: There’s a Role for Technology
The emergence of multiple channels for interacting and transacting with customers has been a boon for CRM vendors, service providers and consultants. Consider banking....
Your Customer Complaints Could Be Costing You More Than You Realize
Even the best companies sometimes get it wrong. They fail to deliver what is promised. When people, processes and technology don't complement each other...
Who Is Offering Degree-Level Courses in CRM?
If anyone can help with this plea, it'll be the members and visitors to CustomerThink. I'm trying to compile a database of Universities that offer...
Research Results: Complaint-Handling Processes Drive Up Customer Retention
A colleague and I recently published our results on drivers of customer retention, in the European Journal of Marketing. EJM is a double-blind, peer-reviewed,...
Two Good Reasons Not To Focus on Customer Retention
Customer retention is the maintenance of continuous trading relationships with customers over the long-term; it's the mirror image of customer defection or churn. Customer...
Time To Lie Down in a Dark Room…..
You, dear reader, are like most people. You try your best, you do as much as you can, you are diligent and attentive. You...
Turning Customers Into Good Corporate Citizens
For many businesses, customers are only useful because they buy. You can't knock that, but there is so much more that customers could do....
Email or Web Form?
Email remains the internet's "killer application". Millions of emails are generated each day by Joe and Joanne Public, to the extent that email...
It’s a New World for Marketing, Thanks to CRM
The U.K. financial services organization, First Direct, is a failure by conventional measures. It has only a 3 percent share of the checking account...
Who Is Educating the Next Generation?
CRM may have become one of the Top 10 tools used by managers, according to a recent Bain and Co. global survey, but that...