Neil Woodcockis chairman of The Customer Framework and is one of the United Kingdom ' s leading experts in customer management. His background is with Mobil, Unilever, Accenture and McKinsey. He has co-authored several books and many reports and articles on customer management and is on the editorial boards of leading journals. He is a regular speaker at conferences, both at home and overseas.
Andrew Greenis a director of The Customer Framework. He began his career in the Airline and Travel industries with roles in sales, marketing, product and yield management, culminating in general management. Moving into consulting, he applied his fi rst-hand knowledge of loyalty programmes and customer management to other industry sectors -including telecoms, retail, manufacturing, fi nancial services, CPG and high luxury. Most recently, on secondment to Christie ' s as their Client Management Programme Director, he led a programme of change across marketing, operations and IT that made a signifi cant impact on the bottom line and left a legacy of cross-functional cooperation and team working.
Michael Starkeyis a principal lecturer in Customer Relationship Management at De Montfort University. He is the co-author of four major reports and several journal articles on customer management. He is currently engaged in an 18-month Knowledge Transfer Partnership Programme project, www.ktponline.org.uk / helping, an NGO move from relying almost entirely on government funding to becoming self-fi nancing and customer focused.The Customer Framework ™ is a portfolio of Tools, Replicable Methodologies and Unique Intellectual Property deployed by a network of expert practitioners who support large organisations in delivering their customer management activity effectively and effi ciently.ABSTRACT Marketers are working in challenging times. Never before have we been able to get so close to our customers and engage with them in such a timely and relevant manner. Harnessed with customer relationship management, social media can deliver fi nancial benefi ts to companies no matter what sector. The benefi ts are centred around increasing ' customer insight and engagement ' and are not peripheral but fundamental to driving business performance. Financial benefi ts apply across the customer life cycle, in acquisition, retention, value development and managing cost to serve. In addition, social customer relationship management (SCRM) can deliver insight, which will help drive real customer centric innovation. Finally, the knowledge gained on customer behaviour, attitudes and mood will help drive benefi ts throughout the value chain, impacting on suppliers (for example, forecasting demand) and intermediaries (for example, shaping in-store promotions). However, pioneers in large companies face three hurdles: (a) organisational readiness, (b) over-hype and overexpectation and (c) project management failings. At the end of it all, SCRM is about people and relationships and demands a customer focus as never before. Forget that and you have little chan...
