Biographical Information

Articles for William F. Brendler

Building a Customer-Centric Culture

I contend it's because most of them believe that their corporate culture is too hard quantify, too hard to deal with. Ask a CEO to explain corporate culture and his or her answer is often humorous: "Oh, that's the soft stuff." I disagree. Getting people to use new information technology in innovative ways is the hard stuff. Getting people to help the customer use the new technology to run their businesses better is the hard stuff, too. And putting that technology to work, that's the soft stuff.

People and Processes Make CRM Work

Are you reducing the challenges your people have to go through to get work done for your customers? In most companies there are many process gaps. Process gaps occur when the customer wants one thing but the process produces something else.

CRM Works--Only If You Create the Right Environment

Why do so many CRM implementations fail? Too many companies try to change technology without changing culture. What they need is a collective mindset.

CRM Requires a New Management Mindset

CRM technology makes it easy to spot customers that have defected. The real challenge is to find customer care people who will make use of that information to improve the service.

Defining Your Company's CRM Rules of Engagement

Companies need to develop guidelines for involvement -- or rules of engagement for different levels in the organization -- so CRM team members understand how and where their skills will be utilized.

Getting CEOs Onboard With Your Customers

Change-management guru William Brendler highlights how CEOs think about the impact of their customer-centric competitors.