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Author: Maz Iqbal


5 thoughts on “What Are The Two Antidotes to Sucking At CRM and Customer Experience?”

  1. Maz,

    As always you make some excellent points. However I firmly believe that in the case of customer experience, and for that matter any worthwhile endeavor, there must be room for understanding the full scope of what is required to succeed and the need to make small but important and measurably incremental steps to achieve your goal.

    In a recent article where I introduced the Four Principles of Customer Experience as similar to the natural laws that we must follow, I borrowed Stephen Covey’s maxim about a farmer who decides to take the summer off and then plants his fields in September hoping to fast track his crops in the Autumn. Our world is now one of instant gratification “Lose 20lbs in two days” ” Work out for two minutes a day to get fit” “Become pop star in 30 days” Alright I made that last one up, we know that Simon Cowell can do that instantly.

    The point is this. For many things that we do both personally and professionally, we must establish mini-goals and objectives that are challenging, but that can still be achievable in a realistic time frame. If we only set one goal for one week, then I agree that’s a short term fix. But a clearly laid out program with milestones and rewards is, for most of us, the only route to long term success.


    1. Hello Gerry,
      First, I thank you for moving from the stands (of reading the post) and into the court by sharing your perspective, your stance.

      I say that it is useful to distinguish between one’s stand-commitment-desired outcome and the approach one uses to live ones stance-commitment and cause the desired outcome. It occurs to me that the mark of intelligence is flexibility in approach in the service of a firm stance-commitment. If this is what you are saying then I find myself to be in agreement with you.

      Now let’s look at the assertion that you make: “For many things that we do both personally and professionally, we must establish mini-goals and objectives that are challenging, but that can still be achievable in a realistic time frame.”

      Here is my question-challenge, what is realistic? How does one know what is realistic? What are the fundamental (‘objective’) grounds for determining ‘realistic’. For example, dedicated muslims even in hot countries will go without food and water for 12+ hours, whilst doing a full days work during the month of Ramadan. Yet, we will complain if asked to miss lunch!

      Some may say that it is unrealistic to give a 10 year old a budget (clothes, stationery, entertainment, gifts …) and ask him/her to manage this budget. And this is what I have been doing with my children. None of them thought this was realistic. None of our friends thought this was realistic. And each of my children do manage their budgets – they have learned by being given the responsibility and having to carry it.

      Take schooling. If you go to the traditional schools you will encounter actors (teachers, teaching assistant, headmasters, local authority …) and the ‘system’ completely convinced that using the Montessori Method is unrealistic. Yet, there are private schools that do run, and run well, using the Montessori Method.

      Imagine what the world would be like if Steve Jobs had been realistic. I’d be using a Nokia phone rather than an iPhone. I’d be using a dull IBM-Dell laptop instead of the beautiful MacBook Air (to write this response).

      Imagine if Nelson Mandela had been realistic. Who would know of his existence? Who would be mourning his death today?

      Let’s finish with Roger Bannister and the four minute mile. The experts considered anything less than the four minute mile to be beyond the human body. And just about everybody accepted this. Then Roger Bannister came along …..

      Allow me to sum up. It occurs to me that almost all of us show up as reasonable, lead reasonable lives, and generate reasonable lives. Then there are a few who show up as ‘unreasonable’, lead unreasonable lives, and generate unreasonable results. Yet, for these people what showed up as ‘unreasonable’ for us, showed up as ‘reasonable’ for them.

      I wish you the very best.



  2. I’d never thought of those dynamics Maz, they are very enlightening.

    I used to work for the world’s most unrealistic Marketing Director. She routinely insisted on having her cake and eating it to. At the time I thought she was the most unreasonable, bloody minded woman in the world. But now on reflection I see she was invariably right.

    Enjoyed the post



  3. Hi Maz,

    Thank you for your encouraging words and thoughtful response. As I recognize that if we got in to a semantic discourse, it’s likely that your greater intellect would probably carry the day. So let me keep this fairly simple ( and please don’t ask me what is simple!)

    I agree with, and can understand, your examples of what is, or isn’t, realistic, and the fact that the world would be a worse place if the people that you reference hadn’t stepped out of their realistic comfort zone. However, my point was really to focus on customer experience and to propose that, if a small group of people came together to design a strategy, they may very well have different ideas on what was realistic. But, in that scenario, I would expect that they would come together for the greater good to agree on goals that, independently may not stretch them, but as a group and as a team are in concert as to their veracity and their ability to achieve them. In other words are realistic.

    I know that it’s not a perfect world, especially when it comes to CE, but given the current state of its deployment in many companies, then a journey of a thousand miles………

    Thank you for continuing to inspire people to go further in whatever they strive for.

    Best regards



  4. Hi Maz,
    I know of the ‘boiled frog syndrome’ idea and have used it before but have never applied it to performance standards and how they can slip. Thank makes complete sense so thank you for that. 🙂

    All the best,



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