May 2010

Magazine Features

V Is for Victory—But the Victory Isn't Yours

The V also stands for vendor—as in vendor relationship management, which argues that customers are the ones in control of their relationships.

It's Not Your Relationship to Manage

Just as you finally come to grips with CRM, the customers themselves have turned the tables—and now they're managing you.

Manifestos Are Conversations

More than 10 years after upending the balance between companies and customers, the authors of The Cluetrain Manifesto reflect on its creation—and its lasting influence.

Book Excerpt: The Tribal Experience

Customers may be newly empowered, but they still want to be delighted. Can you still deliver?

The Trouble with Tribal

In the drive for the tribal experience, Self-Service 1.0 no longer works.

The Tribal Evangelist

Your biggest fans can be your best marketers—provided you do everything in your power to enable them.

Front Office

Customers in the Cockpit

Just because companies cede control of a customer relationship doesn't mean they cede influence.

Reality Check

Has CRM Lost Its Revenue Mojo?

Innovation is the only thing that can help—and you may be overdue.

Customer Centricity

Putting the 'Self' in Self-Service 2.0

The real revolution is enabling customers to define their own interactions.

The Tipping Point

The New Behavior of the Social Customer

Divining the right path requires the right data.

Connect

Boarding the Cluetrain

Transparency and authenticity are the cornerstones of trust between a company and its customers.

Pint of View

The Rise of the A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.

The Abbreviation Coalition for the Regular Overuse of Nothing You Meant is now called to order.

Insight

Google Bets on Buyers' App-etites

Within the search giant's Apps Marketplace, small and midsize application providers can integrate with cloud-based offerings.

Can Marketers Behave Themselves?

As empowered customers traipse across the Web, they leave ever-juicier bread crumbs of behavior in their wake. The government may step in to limit what marketers are allowed to scoop up.

Required Reading: Funneling the Future

The flatter the world, the further the reach of the empowered customer. In his new book, Flip the Funnel, Joseph Jaffe explains how that may finally bring down silos once and for all.

CRM On Twitter: May 2010

REAL ROI

From Infection to Deflection

An antivirus company turns pro-self-service.

Don't Fence Me In

A supplier of mesh and fencing materials learns the secret to corralling new customers: attracting them in the first place.

A Is for Adoption

A provider of contact center solutions implements CRM to eliminate shelfware and to use tools the company already had in place.

Secret of My Success

Seeing Customers Clearly

Online eyewear retailer EyeBuyDirect.com brings its customer feedback into focus with Kampyle