When it comes to making the business case for consumer loyalty, the industry doesn't have a better advocate than Martha Rogers.

Rogers' first book with co-author Don Peppers, The One to One Future (Doubleday, 1993), laid out a vision of a not-so-distant future where new technology would permanently alter the way companies interact with customers. The book compared the advent of online business to the Industrial Revolution, saying: "Products will be increasingly tailored to individual taste, electronic media will be inexpensively addressed to individual consumers, and many products ordered over the phone will be delivered to the home in eight hours or less."

Fifteen years later, much that the book forecast has come to be, and the effects on customer loyalty programs are as well-documented as they are far-reaching. As CEO of the Peppers & Rogers group, a customer loyalty consulting firm that's now a subsidiary of Carlson Marketing, Rogers continues to examine the customer relationship and its impact on the bottom line.

Her latest book with Peppers, Return on Customer: A Revolutionary Way to Measure and Strengthen Your Business, makes the case for why and how companies should place less emphasis on short-term profits and more on retaining their best customers.

With seven books under her belt, what's next? Rogers says she and Peppers plan to address a different side of the equation—empowering and educating employees to strengthen customer relationships. "It's something we're being asked to do more with clients," she says. "We're spending more time with partners in human relations and training."

By encouraging deeper examination and innovative solutions, Rogers puts herself among a very small group of leaders not content to let the message spread itself.

Fast Fact: In the past year Rogers has spoken to a diverse range of organizations, from software and insurance companies to the AARP and the Mayo Clinic.
This page is protected by Copyright laws. Do Not Copy