Don Peppers
{{Distinguish|text = baseball player Don Pepper}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Don Peppers
| image =
| nationality = American
| occupation = Author, advertising executive
}}
Don Peppers is an American advertising executive, author, and was a founding partner of Peppers & Rogers Group, a global customer-strategy consulting firm sold in 2010 to business process outsourcer TeleTech Holdings, Inc..
Biography
Peppers graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1972 with a B.S. degree in astronautical engineering, and earned a master's degree in public affairs with a concentration in foreign policy from Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs in 1974.{{Cite web |title=Don Peppers |url=https://www.executivespeakers.com/speaker/don-peppers |access-date=2023-07-16 |website=www.executivespeakers.com |language=en-us |archive-date=2023-06-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622235836/https://www.executivespeakers.com/speaker/don-peppers |url-status=live }}
Peppers's career in advertising began at Saatchi and Saatchi in 1982 as an account executive. Two years later, he moved to Levine, Huntley, Schmidt & Beaver, where he was new business director and gained a reputation as a rainmaker. In 1988, he moved to Lintas as an executive vice president and in 1990 to Chiat/Day/Mojo as worldwide head of new business development.{{cite news |last1=Rothenberg |first1=Randall |title=The Media Business: Advertising: Chiat Gets 'Rainmaker' From Lintas |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/01/business/the-media-business-advertising-chiat-gets-rainmaker-from-lintas.html?unlocked_article_code=7AHj7o3y0uj0tnD0wHESal2NMwb-oX4z4DcXoTzkq8QgktbpBt7QMRVvOIsouj2f8sS_gGFb7HJxb084Hbjtpjrm-gEdAPp2sbLqh5EJNME5qf7nRbljpsXiIK0OjF-GdZ3gosleJ86eZchpq7hDAXG4fyjriTRFAkjUmo0ZtbdH-wmzbbufRNP_kv7W_a_jI1-T3TOXK3ht58tEBpQ9pQZTbGKYeF9QpXZjbOOnrAnqQQeXGwcvr-N0a4o8ECvFyUkZaLY5pUa3P_qtwLlURY2RskuPxIAbLV-IxVsZAxEU2IfxLSDXXW5-cs35p5LcdHF8AkDboTcqyfuUxb1xeNeuGcq-i4iF4ncVDwwW_iMNqdFIVonh7pWP3eKCU40JwVuF61lWB_ednQ&smid=url-share |access-date=18 July 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=1 March 1990 |archive-date=17 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230717233659/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/01/business/the-media-business-advertising-chiat-gets-rainmaker-from-lintas.html?unlocked_article_code=7AHj7o3y0uj0tnD0wHESal2NMwb-oX4z4DcXoTzkq8QgktbpBt7QMRVvOIsouj2f8sS_gGFb7HJxb084Hbjtpjrm-gEdAPp2sbLqh5EJNME5qf7nRbljpsXiIK0OjF-GdZ3gosleJ86eZchpq7hDAXG4fyjriTRFAkjUmo0ZtbdH-wmzbbufRNP_kv7W_a_jI1-T3TOXK3ht58tEBpQ9pQZTbGKYeF9QpXZjbOOnrAnqQQeXGwcvr-N0a4o8ECvFyUkZaLY5pUa3P_qtwLlURY2RskuPxIAbLV-IxVsZAxEU2IfxLSDXXW5-cs35p5LcdHF8AkDboTcqyfuUxb1xeNeuGcq-i4iF4ncVDwwW_iMNqdFIVonh7pWP3eKCU40JwVuF61lWB_ednQ&smid=url-share |url-status=live }}
In finding new business, Peppers gained a reputation for his self-promotion and outrageous tactics, such as sending flowers to prospective clients and putting life-sized cardboard cutouts of himself outside their homes, according to The New York Times. In 1995, he drew on these experiences in a book on sales techniques, Life's a Pitch...Then You Buy.{{cite journal |id={{ProQuest|211826517}} |last1=Berger |first1=Melanie |title=Book notes – A winning pitcher: Life's a Pitch and Then You Die by Don Peppers |journal=Sales and Marketing Management |volume=147 |issue=10 |date=October 1995 |pages=134 }}{{cite journal |title=Life's a Pitch...Then You Buy by Don Peppers |journal=Publishers Weekly |date=31 July 1995 |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780385474030 |access-date=18 July 2023 |archive-date=22 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622235954/https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780385474030 |url-status=live }}
With co-author and business partner Martha Rogers, Peppers wrote a series of business books beginning with The One to One Future: Building Relationships One Customer at a Time published in 1993, which helped popularize customer relationship management as a marketing strategy.{{cite journal |last1=Schneider |first1=Peter A. |title=Book Review: The One to One Future: Building Relationships One Customer at a Time |journal=Journal of Marketing |date=October 1995 |volume=59 |issue=4 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1177/002224299505900411 |s2cid=169312277 }}
Rogers and Peppers founded the consulting business Peppers & Rogers Group together in 1992. Bob Dorf joined the firm in 1993 and became its president.{{cite journal |id={{ProQuest|216415734}} |last1=Stableford |first1=Joan |title=Entrepreneurs on track with Marketing 1 to 1 |journal=Fairfield County Business Journal |date=7 December 1998 |volume=37 |issue=49 |page=12 }} The company was headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut before moving to Norwalk, Connecticut in 2000. At that time it had 178 employees in Connecticut and 218 worldwide.{{cite journal |id={{ProQuest|216414432}} |last1=Khasru |first1=B.Z. |title=Peppers and Rogers Moving Headquarters to Norwalk |journal=Fairfield County Business Journal |date=5 June 2000 |volume=39 |issue=23 |page=2 }} TeleTech Holdings, Inc. purchased an eighty percent stake in the company in 2010.{{cite journal |last1=Soule |first1=Alexander |title=Buy-back option caps an unusual deal |journal=Fairfield County Business Journal |date=16 May 2011 |volume=47 |issue=20 |page=18}}
Peppers was named to the first "Forty Under Forty" list published by Crain's New York Business in 1988.{{Cite web |title=40 Under 40 Class of 1988 |url=https://www.crainsnewyork.com/awards/40-under-40-class-1988 |access-date=November 26, 2024 |website=Crain's New York Business |archive-date=November 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104162026/https://www.crainsnewyork.com/awards/40-under-40-class-1988 |url-status=live }} Peppers was inducted into the Data & Marketing Association (formerly Direct Marketing Association) Hall of Fame, along with Seth Godin and Martha Rogers.{{Cite web |title=Don Peppers – Speaker Profile {{!}} Celebrity Speakers |url=https://www.csaspeakers.com/eng/our-speakers/profile/don_peppers |access-date=2023-07-16 |website=www.csaspeakers.com}}{{Cite web |title=Don Peppers Speaker Profile |url=https://speakers.com/speakers/don-peppers/ |access-date=2023-07-16 |website=Speakers.com |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-07-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230717153506/https://speakers.com/speakers/don-peppers/ |url-status=live }}{{cite journal |last1=Peppers |first1=Don |last2=Rogers |first2=Martha |last3=Dorf |first3=Bob |title=Is Your Company Ready for One-to-One Marketing? |journal=Harvard Business Review |date=1999 |volume=77 |issue=1 |pages=151–152 |id={{Gale|A54003854}} |pmid=10345390 |url=https://hbr.org/1999/01/is-your-company-ready-for-one-to-one-marketing |access-date=2023-07-17 |archive-date=2016-03-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306140439/https://hbr.org/1999/01/is-your-company-ready-for-one-to-one-marketing/ar/1 |url-status=live }}{{primary source inline|date=August 2023}}{{Cite web |title=Don Peppers – Bio {{!}} Keynote Speaker {{!}} Premiere Speakers Bureau |url=https://premierespeakers.com/don-peppers/bio |access-date=2023-07-16 |website=premierespeakers.com |archive-date=2023-06-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230624033450/https://premierespeakers.com/don-peppers/bio |url-status=live }}
Bibliography
- The One to One Future: Building Relationships One Customer at a Time (1993) with Martha Rogers
- Life's a Pitch...Then You Die (1995)
- Enterprise One to On: Tools for competing in the Interactive Age (Doubleday, 1997) with Martha Rogers (professor){{cite journal |id={{ProQuest|214231305}} |last1=Meade |first1=Bill |title=Enterprise One to One: Tools for Competing in the Interactive Age |journal=Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship |volume=9 |issue=2 |date=October 1997 |pages=73–77 }}
- The One to One Fieldbook: The Complete Toolkit for Implementing a 1 to 1 Marketing Program (Doubleday, 1999) with Martha Rogers and Bob Dorf
- The One to One Manager: Real-World Lessons in Customer Relationship Management (Doubleday, 1999), with Martha Rogers
- {{cite book |last1=Peppers |first1=Don |last2=Rogers |first2=Martha |title=One to One B2B: Customer Development Strategies for the Business-to-business World |date=2001 |publisher=Capstone |isbn=978-1-84112-312-7 }}
- Customer Experience: What, How, and Why Now (BookBaby, 2016).
- {{cite book |last1=Peppers |first1=Don |last2=Rogers |first2=Martha |title=Managing Customer Experience and Relationships: A Strategic Framework |date=2022 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-119-81533-4 }}
- {{cite book |last1=Peppers |first1=Don |last2=Rogers |first2=Martha |title=Extreme Trust: Honesty as a Competitive Advantage |date=2012 |publisher=Portfolio/Penguin |isbn=978-1-59184-467-9 }}
- {{cite book |last1=Peppers |first1=Don |last2=Rogers |first2=Martha |title=Rules to Break and Laws to Follow: How Your Business Can Beat the Crisis of Short-Termism |date=2008 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-470-22754-1 }}
- {{cite book |last1=Peppers |first1=Don |last2=Rogers |first2=Martha |title=Return on Customer: Creating Maximum Value from Your Scarcest Resource |date=2005 |publisher=Doubleday/Currency |isbn=978-0-385-51030-1 }}