Helmar.org | Argo Navis Consulting Group

Credentials

2004-08-17T12:36:00Z

Not really to my surprise, many thousands of netizens have visited these pages since they went online in July 1995, looking for more info on Database Marketing, but leaving often with a completely different perspective. Some of the comments you can find below.

CRM & Photography

Sir,

I have gone through your site, it was great to know a person that you are, with such a diversity. I loved all the photos. I'm Mandar...

Everything You Always Knew About CRM But Never Dared To Say

2004-08-17T01:34:00Z

For some years now I have been a very close observer of the CRM market - hype and all. Yet the more I read and see, the less I believe. To me CRM is like AIDS: nobody seems to be genuinely interested in the truth anymore; lies, politics and - above all - profits drive an insane PR machine that feeds on people and their tragedies in order to survive.

Back in 1999 the Gartner Group said that "more than 60% of all CRM initiatives fail", and I believe this figure being closer to 90% in 2001. As I am...

Innovative Customer Management Solutions

2004-08-16T06:04:00Z

Corporate Brain Surgery. Unadulterated, qualified opinion. Years of "brick and mortar". Years on the 'Net at strategic and front-line level. Logic and creativity. Compassion and social responsibility. The vision to look beyond the obvious. The drive for practical and affordable solutions. The determination and commitment to make you and your business more successful... ...without compromising your life or the one of those around you. Quality, insight, reliability, visionary and lateral thinking, speedy delivery and implementation - I trust this is what brought you here...

CRM: Misdesigned and misinterpreted from the start Since 1994 I've witnessed a development in the Customer Relationships Management (CRM) world that - not much later - I warned about: the almost...

Price competition vs customer loyalty - or "Drop that price and lose that slice"

2002-06-01T12:00:00Z

Long before the term CRM became "en vogue", companies were trying to tie their customers to their business. They called it customer loyalty. It meant that customers would engage in repeat purchases of products or services offered. The logic behind is still the same: it is several magnitudes cheaper to service an existing customer than to acquire a new one.

As increasing and improving customer loyalty forms an integral part of any CRM-centric transformation process, one can expect significant sums being spent on achieving just that. There exist few published...

Have I lost it? A contribution to the dbm_rm dicussion group

1996-08-17T02:03:00Z

A contribution to the DBM_RM mailing list I founded and was maintaining at the time.

I don't know if you read Gerry McGovern's New Thinking newsletter, but the latest one dealt with customer ownership, owning the future and such like. What I read couldn't be left...

The Land of Confusion

1996-08-17T01:36:00Z

I visited the Land of Confusion, searched for the holy grail, opened ancient tombs -- even talked to dinosaurs -- and came back with some interesting observations.

Why is true Database Marketing virtually unknown in South Africa? Is it just a more sophisticated form of Direct Mail? Does it mean...

The Customer: A battered Child

1996-08-17T01:31:00Z

"Get closer to your customer - or else"; "If we don't take care of our customers, somebody else will"; "With us you're number one". Phrases, phrases, and more phrases. Not a single word in the marketing world has been more abused than the term 'customer satisfaction'. It's hip to deliver satisfaction; it fills conference rooms, goes down darn well at cocktail parties, and is the favourite topic in any marketing magazine.

It's been on the international scene for quite a while - and with good reason. Locally, however, it lagged far behind. Every now and then it came up again, but...

An Imperfect Look at a Perfect Marketing Future

1994-08-17T08:15:00Z

The virtues and benefits of Database Marketing have been explained in numerous textbooks, but have rarely found proper application in the business world. This can partly be attributed to the confusion revolving around the definition of both database and marketing, the latter in this country often used to describe Advertising and Sales Promotion.

Database Marketing requires a rather deep understanding not only of Information Technology and Marketing principles (nowadays both fairly fast-moving entities), but also through-the-line staff development, adjustments to the organisational structure,...

The Future of Database Technology in the Communications Game

1994-08-17T01:40:00Z

"Once technology rolls over you, you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road". These words by US marketing consultant James Rosenfield might sound quite harsh when he warns of the potential threat technology poses when neglected by today's managers. But with an ever increasing pace of technological development, even the most hardsotten in the marketing community have to face the facts and open up to the many advantages and benefits information technology has to offer.

For more and more organisations this will take place in form of the computer database as the central resource and marketing tool. Subsequently, the use of personal media like the...

Database Marketing & Relationship Management: 10 Steps to get you started

1994-08-17T01:30:00Z

The following is my understanding of WHAT should be done in order to create the right environment for Database Marketing and Relationship Management. The HOW largely depends on the company's individual circumstances. Database Marketing is just one term used to describe the way organisations look for improving and streamlining their marketing activities in a world of increasing competition, fragmentation and uncertainty - the computer database as a marketing tool.

It is, contrary to popular belief, not just a database with names and addresses for more or less co-ordinated and integrated mailing purposes. In fact, it is more - far...