I continue to read with interest the exchange of opinions over the Peppers and Rogers piece titled “Return on Customer.” I believe that all of the responses totally missed the mark. It is not about who invented the concept of lifetime value or return on customer; rather, it is about who is actually doing it and what are the associated benefits.
If Lester Wunderman, Bob Kestnbaum, Jim Wheaton and others have written about these concepts for more than 20 years, why aren’t more marketers actually applying them? Yes, we can all come up with an example or two, but what % of marketers are actually tracking customer value overtime and using that learning as a real management tool to drive strategy? This is a great example of what is wrong with this industry–too much talk about the next “big idea” and not enough execution on what is already known.
We as an industry should stop focusing on (and trying to take credit for) new theories and instead, focus on the implementation of existing concepts. Personally, I am a huge fan of the concepts outlined by Peppers and Rogers and have seen firsthand the associated benefits, but I have met too many marketers who say they are using advanced techniques like LTV only to learn that in reality, they are not truly imbedded in their business processes and decision making. It would be refreshing to see more dialog around how these concepts are being applied in real life versus bickering over who invented what.
As direct/database/quantitative marketers, we have a great opportunity to play a substantial leadership role in helping chief marketing officers across the Fortune 1000 understand and strengthen their quantitative strategies, approaches, processes and competencies, that in turn will have a significant economic impact on their business. Our mission must be one of relevance: relevance to the “C” suite; relevance to marketing as a whole; and more importantly, relevance to the business. We cannot be relevant arguing over who invented a concept. I can assure you the CMO’s I know don’t care – do you see them responding in this column? Relevance is about action, impact and results. Why don’t we focus our energy on what actually matters – creating better outcomes for our customers!
David Williams is president and CEO of the Merkle Group Inc.
