I am in Las Vegas for the Unica user conference where we are considering the future of marketing (and how Unica can help you spend a lot of money, naturally). Darcy Bevelacqua from Harte Hanks had a neat line. As a consultant, she gets called in to help companies to define their direct marketing (and customer relationship) approach and to implement it. Her first question is, Do you have a customer strategy?, and the answer is almost inevitable yes.

She then goes to Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service and seperately asks the question: Who is your best customer?

If she doesn’t get the same answer, then she knows you do not have a customer strategy, not matter what your corporate slide-ware says.

She never gets the same answer.

What would the results be in your organization? Why is that?