Dialing for Dollars: Merging Marketing and Technology for CRM Success

My previous two columns focused on how to make sure your Dynamics CRM project succeeds. After all, there are no gains at all from a failed system.

But once you have an implementation process that gives you a successful system, you want to see some great returns.

In this column I provide several innovative ways that two of my customers have used their CRM systems to obtain great returns. The technical term for their approaches? Way Cool. While you are reading these, think about a process you might want to implement in your own organization, because I have a great offer at the end of this column.

The two initiatives I describe here are very different from each other, but they do have several things in common:

1. They both rely more on good marketing approaches than on technology,
2. They both leverage and control the processes through technology, and
3. In both cases, the process encourages users to embrace the technology

Case 1: Selling High-end Copiers

Background: Most highend copiers are leased on three-year leases. Most firms replace their copiers at the end of the lease. There is a ...