Jim Dickie
Capturing New Accounts is at Risk Due to Poor Data Quality
Capturing New Accounts is at Risk Due to Poor Data Quality In CSO Insights 9th annual Lead Management Optimization study we gathered data on 100+ metrics from 600+ firms worldwide. Topping the list of marketing's key objectives for 2013 is helping sales capture new accounts....
Lead Management a Must Have for Marketing
Lead Management Systems Now a Must Have for Marketing As part of CSO Insights 9th annual Lead Management Optimization study, we gathered data on over 100 metrics from 600+ firms worldwide. One of the areas covered by the survey was the utilization of technology by...
Optimizing the People Who Lead Our Sales Teams Q&A
Sales Managers can make or break your year. What are you doing to help them excel at their jobs? We conducted a webinar to review the results of our 2012 Sales Management Optimization Report. These are answers to the questions from...
Accessing Intelligence on Your Customers and Prospects
In sales today we all say we are customer-centric. That would imply that we have access to the right quantity and quality of Customer Intelligence, to be in a position to know what challenges our customers are facing, what is causing those problems to...
Customer Satisfaction Does Not Equal Customer Loyalty/Advocacy
As this month CustomerThink is focusing on Customer Loyalty, I thought I would use my blog to share some of the results of our 2008 Sales Performance Optimization (SPO) study to demonstrate that if you are equating satisfaction with loyalty and advocacy, you...
GE’s Jeff Schaper: “We Change Our Focus From the Product Out to the Customer...
This month, CustomerThink is focused on Building a Customer-Centric Culture and Operation. A worthwhile goal, but how do you do that? I had the opportunity to interview Jeff Schaper when he was the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at General Electric, and thought for my...
Arm Your Sales Reps With Knowledge: The Experian SKM Story
As a multibillion-dollar global information services company, Experian is dedicated to helping organizations and consumers make commercial and financial decisions with greater confidence and control. Its stated goal is for Experian's people, data and technology to become a necessary part of every major consumer...
Beyond Customer Satisfaction: An Interview With Bob Knebel
One of the most Customer-centric executives I know is Bob Knebel, Vice President of Sales for Bombardier Flexjet. Bob is committed to continuous improvement in people and processes and is recognized by his peers as a superior change agent, capable of motivating sales teams...
What Really Differentiates You From Your Competitors?
In April, CustomerThink is focusing on How to Build a High-Performance Brand. In today's crowded marketplaces we need to make it a priority to determine how we can rise above the fray and ensure we get more than our fair share of the business...
Employees as Ambassadors: Should We Bother?
When I saw that the topic of this month's editorial focus was Turning Your Employees into Ambassadors for Your Company, two thoughts came to mind. First, how many executives would conceptually embrace the idea? Second, how many companies really invest the time, energy, and...
Don’t Believe in Metrics? Have You Heard of StorageTek?
CSO Insights is often brought in to CRM initiatives when the evaluation team is preparing the recommendation to management for how team members think should be spent on hardware, software, customization, training and support for their project. Looking at all these expenses, we are...
2006 Is the Year To Close the Gap Between What Sales Needs and What...
There is a disconnect between sales goals and the actual benefits companies are receiving from their CRM systems. That's one of the most important findings that came out of CSO Insights' 12th annual Sales Effectiveness Study. Addressing that disconnect can have dramatic effects on...
The CRM Landscape Is Expanding; Just Look What’s Out There
This year, with Oracle's completed acquisition of PeopleSoft, and its accepted bid for Siebel, one might be left with the impression that the CRM industry is shrinking in terms of players. But actually, the opposite is true. Looking back this year, I saw the...
Turbo-Charge Your CRM Project for Success: Have a Process in Place
How much of an impact can an emphasis on process have on your CRM implementation? Based on our studies. it can play a tremendous role. As part of CSO Insights' 2005 Sales Effectiveness study of more than 1,000 companies worldwide, we asked the project...
Can Starbucks Help You Jumpstart Your CRM System?
Having time to kill before speaking at a sales management conference, I ducked into a Starbucks for a "grande, half-caf latté with a twist." (Hey, I am an experienced coffee drinker) Heading toward a table, I noticed a man using the same tablet PC...
CRM 2005: Will Technology Finally Live Up to Its Potential?
Each year for the past 11 years, CSO Insights, as part of our annual sales effectiveness study, has surveyed companies on the use of CRM technology to understand what they are buying (or not buying) and the results they are generating from these investments....
The Message to CRM Vendors in 2004? Show Me the Money!
Because we have collected data on more than 2,000 CRM purchases made over the past three years, CSO Insights continues to get a lot of calls from companies planning to make CRM investments. They are trying to ensure they are getting the best possible...