The Commonwealth of Self Interest: Business Success Through Customer Engagement

Twenty-first century customers are demanding more than ever - they will communicate with a company in whatever channel they need to at the time they want to. They want their interactions with the company to be seamless, convenient and simple. They want to get whatever it is they want to do with your company done as fast as possible. AND they want more than just good products and services, products, services, the tools they need to control their interactions with your company and consumable experiences. All in all, if you can't compete by engaging them in ways that make them want to come back to you, you lose.

While this is a complex effort, because you have to satisfy the needs of potentially millions of customers (you want that right? Millions), it is simple in its fundamental principle - if a customer likes you and continues to like you they will continue to do business with you. If they don't they won't.  Simple, but the execution isn't because you have to identify what each of those millions of customers wants and needs and keep the provision of those individual needs cost-effective enough to be of value to you and yet still provide value to them.  Plus they have to e able to retain control over their own interactions with you - because if they lose the option of control of their conversation with you, they are gone.

To do this takes a substantial effort. That's where the Commonwealth of Self Interest: Business Success Through Customer Engagement by Paul Greenberg comes in. This book is the first of its kind to present the definitions, frameworks, strategies, programs, business operations, cultural transformation, systems technologies, and measurements to successfully engage your company's customers - whether your company is small and growing or an immense enterprise with hundreds of millions of customers. 

The changes in sales, marketing, customer service and commerce have been profound and how to navigate those changes and provide the right approaches and programs are addressed and the impact of successfully addressing those changes is shown by case studies and stories - as is what happens when you don't adjust to what your customers have already adjusted to.

Throughout the book, which is written in a entertaining and conversational style, you will find dozens of case studies, proven best practices, expert advice and analysis from Paul and nearly 20 of his closest friends - all experts in their respective fields. Paul Greenberg, known as the "Godfather of CRM" is a best selling author who wrote CRM at the Speed of Light, called "The Bible of CRM" that has been through 4 editions and 9 languages.  An adviser to many companies at the enterprise level, over the years (and there have been many of them - years that is), he has been able to piece together a strategic framework at the highest level and a lot of best practices/tips & tricks at the deepest level including things like mapping customer journeys to help you structure your company's efforts around providing and receiving value to and from your customers.  If you don't want to believe him, read Brian Solis on user experience, Bruce Temkin on customer experience, Ray Wang on digital transformation, Brent Leary on the future of the engagement technology landscape or Esteban Kolsky on why building ecosystems is a practical matter not an academic exercise. And many others.

Others may claim that theirs is the only book you'll ever need to do....whatever. This book probably isn't the only book you will ever need. No one is saying customer engagement is simple. But it is likely to be the first book you'll want to read on your journey to becoming a company that is both better for your customer and great for you.

Paul Greenberg is founder & Managing Principal of The 56 Group, LLC, an advisory firm, focused on customer-facing strategic services, including CRM, customer experience and customer engagement strategies. His book, CRM at the Speed of Light now in its 4th edition, is in 9 languages and been called "the bible of the CRM industry". It has been used by more than 70 universities as a primary text. Currently, Paul sits on the Global Advisory Board of the SEAT Consortium as the only non-sports professional of a sports business professionals organization. Prior to this, Paul has been the EVP of the CRM Association, the Chairman of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management CRM Centre of Excellence Board of Advisors, a Board of Advisors member of the Baylor University MBA Program for CRM majors, & co-chairman of Rutgers University's CRM Research Center. Paul works both with customer-facing technology vendors and practitioners to craft go-to-market strategies, engagement programs, product development road maps, marketing/messaging & outreach among other things. Paul is considered a thought leader in CRM and often called "The Godfather of CRM." He has been published in numerous industry and business publications over the years. He was elected to CRM magazine's CRM Hall of Fame in 2010 - the first non-vendor related thought leader in its history. He also writes on customer-facing matters for CBS's ZDNet high profile tech media property (www.zdnet.com/blogs/crm). He has won dozens of industry awards over the years in CRM, marketing, sales, and customer service as an influencer and thought leader. He has just released a book on customer engagement entitled "The Commonwealth of Self-Interest: Customer Engagement, Business Benefit" (He also recently launched a new blog in addition to his ZDNet blog, called "The Science of Business, the Art of Life and Live from NY..." and a podcast "The Commonwealth." Paul currently lives in Manassas, Virginia with his wife of more than 35 years and 7 cats (yes, 7) - and to be entirely clear - is a HUGE New York Yankees fan.

Editorial Director, Maker Media Publisher: Books, for Maker Media Editorial Director, McGraw Hill Education Associate Publisher, Sybex

CEO and co-founder of Salesforce, fastest growing technology company in history.