Heard and Overheard
"When you create the right kind of partnership with customers, they want to stand up and tell others about it."
--Deborah Nelson, vice president of marketing and customer insight, Hewlett-Packard
"CRM is not customer service software, but the broad business strategies to attract and retain the customers you want to have for life."
--William Green, COO, client services, Accenture
"We have to say, 'What have we got, what does a customer want, and how can we put that together for a win-win situation that provides value to both organizations.'"
--Marie Eckstein, global industry executive director for process industries, Dow Corning
"Unless you know what customers bought, how do you upsell, cross-sell, or give better service?"
--Zach Nelson, CEO, NetSuite
"Everything we do should be to help our marketing customers reach their goals and help our users improve their user experience."
--Elizabeth Harz, category development office, Yahoo!
"Successfully realizing ROI means working shoulder to shoulder with your vendor to meet goals."
--Robb Eklund, vice president, CRM product marketing, Oracle Corp.
"Customers are at different comfort levels [with service and sales touch points]. You have to offer them choices they're comfortable with."
--Carol Strenger, vice president for e-commerce sales and support, UPS
Buyer's Guide Companies Mentioned