November 28, 2006
AARM's Future
of Marketing Summit held in Toronto on November 14,
2006 provoked the thinking of the participants and
engaged them in seeking solutions. According to, Robert
T. Stacey, CEO of the Association for the Advancement
of Relationship Marketing (AARM), the Future of Marketing
Summit evolved from a growing need for marketers and
business leaders to step back from day-to-day tasks
and examine the inescapable challenges facing marketing
today and in the future.
Toronto (PRWEB) November 28, 2006 -- On November 14, 2006
AARM's Future of Marketing Summit engaged an audience of
business leaders in a lively debate about the challenges
facing sales and marketing. Robert T. Stacey, CEO of the
Association for the Advancement of Relationship Marketing
(AARM), says that "The Summit evolved from a growing
need for marketers and business leaders to step back from
day-to-day responsibilities and examine the inescapable challenges
facing marketing today. Participants walked away with new
insights into these challenges and new strategies that turn
these challenges into opportunities."
Stacey adds, "The Summit was intended to start a movement,
one intended to help companies face up to the business issues
brought on by change and innovation. AARM and its Customer
Equity Initiative are designed to provide guidance and ongoing
support as companies wrestle with the issues."
Five thought leaders provided insights into what it will
take for companies to gain and sustain profitability and
growth in today's business climate. While each presented
a unique perspective they were united in arguing that in
an era of abundance, overwhelming choice and rapid change,
customer relationships, not product is the most important
source of competitive advantage.
John I. Todor, Ph.D., managing partner of The Whetstone
Edge, LLC and author of Addicted Customers: How to Get Them
Hooked on Your Company. discussed "Today's Customers:
What They Value and How They Make Decisions." According
to Todor "Until you understand the psychology of the
customer experience, how to measure it and how to build it
into your offering, you will be forced to compete on price,
convenience and incentives." He shared methodologies
and strategies to win customer mindshare, loyal and the commitment
of today's customers.
Linda Sharp, CEO of Religence Inc., stated that business
leaders recognize that competitive advantage and profitability
lie in customer relationships. She argued, "Most businesses
have not been able to take full advantage of this insight
because they lack a critical relationship metric. If you
can't measure the customer interactions, the relationship
is invisible." Sharp shared how Religence, Inc. offers
a metric and methodology the allows marketers to measure
cause and effect across the entire customer lifecycle and
illustrated how this enables the real-time management and
resource management required for sustainable profits and
growth.
Ray Sheen, President and Founder of Product & Process
Innovation, Inc. provided insights into "Engineering
Lifetime Value into the Customer Experience." Sheen,
an engineer, takes the following position "By definition,
product development engineers are product-centric, and product
development has become a well-honed process for delivering
the next generation widget. But in most cases the product,
per se, is no longer a sufficient differentiator. Marketers
are increasingly concerned about customer lifetime value
and see the customer experience as an essential vehicle.
By working together, marketing and engineering can define
a Product Relationship Road Map--a road map that engineers
positive, reoccurring experiences into the use of products
to continue to build customer relationships after purchase."
Pamela Swingley, President of Savvy Internet Marketing,
LLC talked about how Online trends are transforming marketing.
Swingley, a seasoned veteran of traditional marketing now
argued that "fashioning effective marketing strategies
requires insights into a host of new issues: How do customers
search? How do you reach them? Why do online leads deliver
a better ROI? What are the implications of greater corporate
transparency?" Swingley is adamant. "Internet marketing
is not just a new set of tools. It inescapably changes a
company's relationship with its customers."
William Todor, Ph.D., Senior Partner of The Whetstone Edge,
LLC discussed the importance of getting employees engaged
in delivering compelling customer experiences and aligning
corporate practices with this mission. According to Todor, "Companies
must recognize that delivering compelling customer experiences
requires fully engaged employees. While employees are physically
present on the job, the majority are at least partially psychologically
absent. While this has a detrimental impact on productivity
it has a devastating impact on a company's ability to deliver
an emotionally engaging customer experience." He discussed
how the psycho-economic framework presented in the new Addicted
Customers book could be used to get employees engaged in
their job and enable win-win-win relationships between customers,
companies and employees.
Stacey wrapped up the day by noting that all the thought
leaders made the case that building strong customer relationships
is a journey, not an event or campaign. He added that the
goal of building customer relationships is to build customer
equity, the intangible that leads to trust, commitment and
a foundation for both parties to adapt to an ever changing
business climate. "Building customer equity doesn't
happen by chance" says Stacey, "Companies need
to develop and implement deliberate practices to make this
happen." He closed by saying the AARM's Customer Equity
Initiative was designed to help companies as they embarked
on the journey to building customer equity. Stacey invites
forward thinking business leader join the movement by going
to www.CustomerEquity.org.
Robert T. Stacey is the CEO of the Association for the Advancement
of Relationship Marketing (AARM). AARM is a worldwide network
of business associates and executives who are deeply involved
in Marketing, CRM and related subject areas. AARM provides
a worldwide forum for the development, understanding and
communication of the principles CRM, CEM and other practices
related to building Customer Equity. The AARM Community is
comprised of over 5,000 individuals, the majority of whom
are Senior Executives in retail, financial, manufacturing,
technology, service industries.
August 30 2006
AARM gives students a leg up
Toronto, ON - An agreement announced today between George
Brown College (GBC) and the Associates Advancing Relationship
Marketing/Relationship Management (AARM) is being heralded
as good news for students, and the two organizations. Graduates
of the just launched Strategic Relationship Marketing program
at GBC’s School of Business will be eligible for AARM’s
professional certification, as part of the GBC program’s
curriculum. Meanwhile, the College will be able to
leverage the industry knowledge and connections of AARM to
keep the school’s curriculum relevant and leading edge,
and the Association will gain new and active members in the
form of highly trained, industry-ready graduates.
“Relationship marketing is a growing field and the
industry demands the best candidates. Our agreement with
AARM provides an extra leg up for GBC grads with the added
credential of professional certification (Professional Customer
Relationship Management – P.CRM) as part of their education,” says
Margery Taylor, a Professor in the School of Business at
GBC. “Along with preparing students for entry
level positions in the field, AARM offers opportunities for
continuing education and advancement in relationship marketing. Overall,
the Association has been very supportive of GBC by inviting
students to attend executive briefings and workshops, providing
invaluable networking opportunities alongside learning.”
Robert Stacey, President of AARM International says that
his organization is known as a leader in advancing and sharing
relationship marketing best practices. “We want
to help graduates enter the industry with up-to-date skills,
and we look forward to new ways to include students within
the AARM community. Our certification is more comprehensive
than that offered by technology firms and has no technology
bias. Our focus is on the customer relationship and
whatever it takes to improve it, including, but not limited
to, technology,” says Stacey.
The first class of students in GBC’s Strategic Relationship
Marketing one-year, post-graduate certificate program starts
this September and will be ready to join the workforce and
apply to write the P.CRM certification exam in September,
2007. The program is particularly targeted to university
graduates who hold a non-business degree, but wish to pursue
a career in marketing and gain AARM certification. The
program (two semesters of classes and a four-month co-op
work term) combines the previous GBC post-diploma marketing
programs in Database Marketing and Business Marketing Analysis
that ran since 2002 attracting students from around the world,
and producing 300 graduates.
For more information, please contact:
James Quon
Media Relations Officer
George Brown College
Tel: 416-415-5000 Ext. 2268
Email: jquon@gbrownc.on.ca
Robert Stacey
President
AARM International
Tel: 647-477-2002
www.aarm.org |
