If you're in the business of reaching customers, a possible recession could mean it's time to invest more into your marketing.

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Episode #5

Format Changes There are a number of format changes to the show. Lots & lots.

What are they, you might ask? (no?)

1. Experience on the Edge is once a week - around 35-40 minutes - Tuesdays
2. The interview show will be monthly with an occasional additional special. It'll be a separate show called "Luminescence" (isn't that a COOL name?)
3. Brent Leary and I will be doing CRM Playaz at least twice a month with the launch TBD. Watch these pages and our blogs
4. Finally, EOTE has a new format internally too. The news continues, but then we analyze lists that I find, lists top of... worst of.... lists that I create and I get lists that you create and blab about them. Finally, we do the customer experience story with the lessons learned in that.

I Read the News Today Oi Vey

1. Forrester finds that CRM still doesn't do it for 260 companies
2. Microsoft tries to "acquire" Yahoo. No comment - but Techcrunch has one
3. Emarketer finds that lots of folks listen to podcasts

Lists

I announce a contest to change the lame name "Lists" to something else, invite reader submissions of lists, and take a look at the Inside CRM Top 25 Influencer List in some detail

Experience Matters

By highlighting several examples including one at the Intercontinental Hotel in Toronto, I show how granularly the customer experience is examined by customers and how disproportionately customers weigh results. An individual bad thing can outweigh multiple good things if it irritates the expectations of the customer.

Music for This Episode

1. Intro: Muddy Waters Got My Mojo Working from the album, The Lost Tapes by Muddy Waters Buy at Amazon.com
2. News: I've Got News from the album, The Wheel Man by Watermelon Slim & The Workers Buy at Amazon.com
3. Experience Matters: Use Your Experience by Charles Bobus. Courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network
4. Outro: Rollin' by Maria Daines. Courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network

This is a good one if you like hearing me calmly rant about things in CRM. Listen in. We're rockin' and rollin' Got GREAT music too.

Hugh McLeod of Gapingvoid fame provides a great primer on the concepts of what he calls "

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Episode #4:

Behold The Future of CRM - Forecast for 2008 from the Experts - and from Me

This final episode of the year looks ahead to the future of CRM in 2008. CRM next year will continue to both rise and to change.

What Can We Expect?
There is a lot that's covered so listen, okay? I can't write without getting knarly fingers and its late so just tune in. But here are a few of the highlights:

1. Software sales expected to be at $8.3 billion (Gartner);
2. Battle for platform leadership will continue to grow as many other players get on board (Pombriant);
3. Social search will come to the fore in 2008(Gillin);
4. Public sector, retail, financial services and health services will be the emotional verticals that will drool over CRM in 2008 (me)

This is only the tip of the holiday iceberg that I cover in my most interesting and possibly frenetic episode.

There are a few announcements to take note of:

1. We are adjourned until January 8 when we come back with our next episode and more content, new music, better sound and a renewed vigor
2. Brent Leary and I have come up with the name of our back and forth monthly edgy segment: The CRM Playaz (don't even TRY to get the URL. Brent already has it)
3. I won the InsideCRM 2007 Blog of the Year Award!! Yay!!

Finally, the music attribution you've been waiting for. This one is REALLY simple:

1. Intro and Closing: Waiting for the World to Change (cover) by Chris Lombardi
2. Forecast from the Cliff: Forecast by GSE Prophet
3. MyCRMCareer Commercial: The Long Train (cover) by Mark Henson Band

SEE YOU ON JANUARY 8TH. HAPPY HOLIDAYS

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