Entrepreneurs naturally tend to gravitate to product development and in the process can overlook the benefits and minimize the challenges of consistent and comprehensive customer management. In this eLearning course we look to apply to the discipline of customer management the same elements of entrepreneurial thinking that are commonly applied to product innovation.

This course is unique because it examines the benefits of comprehensive customer management through the use of five case studies involving ancient Roman entrepreneurs. Four of the five entrepreneurs reaped great success by focusing their talents for innovation on the customer more so than their products. Each case study presented will analyze the ancient businessperson’s approach to dealing with their customers and insights gained will be extrapolated to the modern business world. At the conclusion of every module you will be tasked with applying the lessons learned to a modern market situation.

The Five Ancient Roman Case Studies include:

• Marcus Vegilius Eurysaces (referred to here simply as Eurysaces)
• Eumachia
• Aulus Umbricius Scaurus (referred to here simply as Scaurus)
• Pliny the Younger (referred to here simply as Pliny)
• Marcus Crassus (referred to here simply as Crassus)

Despite a sea of modern business books available in the marketplace, the lessons drawn from these ancient entrepreneurs and their experiences are of great relevance to modern readers interested in the essentials of customer management. This is because the actions of our selected entrepreneurs were conducted without the benefit of the information and communication technologies that we have become so dependent upon in our daily business lives today. This is not a liability however, but rather a benefit because the absence of modern management tools only serves to better highlight and emphasize the importance of the core elements of comprehensive customer management. Customer management demands much more than a tweet, an apologetic email, text, or a posted press release on the home page of a supplier’s website – good customer management requires the ongoing application of entrepreneurial thinking.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

Entrepreneurs, project managers, project leaders, team leaders, managers, and general business professionals.

PREREQUISITE

There is no prerequisite for this course. It functions as a stand-alone course.

MATERIALS

To get the most out of the course, a downloadable course work-book is provided.

This course uses sound. Please have computer speakers or a headset ready.