Newell’s 1997 book, The New Rules of Marketing –
How to Use One-to-One Relationship Marketing to be the Leader in Your
Industry, changed the face of marketing. This success was followed by
Loyalty.com – Customer Relationship Management in the New Era of
Internet Marketing, published in 2000 and now in 12 languages. The book
details the difference between yesterday’s database marketing and
today’s CRM, and is an actionable guide for understanding the Internet
as the quintessential platform on which true customer relationship
management can come to life. One reviewer from CEO Magazine called the
book, “The key to the kingdom of wealth.”
In his third book, written with daughter
Katherine Newell Lemon, Wireless Rules! New Marketing Strategies for
Customer Relationship Management Anytime, Anywhere, he shows why mobile,
wireless communication is the biggest change to hit marketing since the
development of the Internet and speaks directly to executives in
companies of every size who are concerned with keeping customers in the
“wireless world.” Newell’s insightful discussion of the transformation
of marketing and commerce due to wireless innovations is a wake-up call
for marketers around the world.
His newest book, Why CRM Doesn’t Work – How to
Win by Letting Customers Manage the Relationship, to be published by
Bloomberg Press in March 2003, proposes changing the definition of
customer relationship management from CRM to CMR. He explains:
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a
process of using knowledge about customer buying behavior to develop
stronger relationships with customers. In recent years it has been
loosely (and often incorrectly) applied to anything that suggests
customer-centricity. Some think it a matter of technology. Some still
believe it’s just the process of segmenting customers. Some think it’s a
matter of selling efficiency. Too many marketers still think CRM is just
an advanced stage of database marketing—using your customer database to
find which customers would be the right ones for a specific
product offering. They don’t yet understand that relationship building
must start with an understanding of the customer’s needs. Letting
Customers Manage the Relationship (CMR) is not another campaign and it
is not just another promotion. It is much more than database marketing,
targeted advertising, collecting information about customers, or
offering new services. It is about creating an experience, developing
relationships, and personalizing the interaction with the individual
customers in ways directed by the customers.
The new CMR is a process of turning power over
to the customer, giving the customer the power to tell us what she’s
interested or not interested in, what kind of information she wants,
what level of service she wants to receive, and how she wants us to
communicate with her: where, when, and how often. The concept of CMR is
a strategy that many marketers would be wise to familiarize themselves
with.
Fred has taught marketing audiences in the US,
Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Australia, Portugal, Poland, Spain, the
UK and the Far East. He is an author, columnist and contributing editor
for several influential international advertising and marketing
publications; a past member of the Editorial Advisory Board, Marketing
Strategy Letter, West Yorkshire, England; member of the International
Retail Marketing Network, New South Wales, Australia; visiting
professor, Universidad de Belgrano, Buenos Aires; and visiting lecturer,
The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of the
Retail Advertising and Marketing Association, International; a member of
the Operating Committee of the Direct Marketing Association’s Retail
Marketing Council; an associate member of the CRM Forum; and serves on
the Board of Directors and Advisory Boards of several start-up companies
in the US. His annual CRM Conference in Chicago is always a sell-out.
Newell’s awards include the PR News Public
Relations Award, Advertising Professional of the Year and election to
the Retail Advertising Hall of Fame.
Fred can be reached at fredericknewell@aol.com,
or at (619) 423-2050.
