Siebel Systems, not surprisingly, used customer testimonials on its Web site. Then Nucleus Research Inc., came along. The Wellesley, Mass., firm contacted 66 “reference customers” on Siebel’s site and heard back from 23. Here’s what they had to say.
“Siebel Customers Report Exceptional ROI Gains” —Siebel corporate advertisement | “61% of Siebel Reference Customers Report Negative ROI on Software Deployments” —Title of Nucleus Research study | |
“Our customers do not perceive us as an arrogant company.” —CEO Thomas Siebel | “They’re very arrogant, very full of themselves. Their service staff is unresponsive.” —Siebel customer, Nucleus’ report | |
“This report [was] conducted on behalf of Siebel Systems by Satmetrix Systems.” —Siebel “Customer Satisfaction Report” | “We took an equity interest in [Satmetrix] a couple of years ago.” —CEO Thomas Siebel | |
“We’re calling everyone and asking, ‘Do you still stand by this success story?’ “ —Spokeswoman confirming all testimonials | “If Nucleus is wrong, then why hide the case studies?” —Nucleus President & CEO | |
“It is not clear who [Nucleus] talked to. [The report] is anecdotal and we would not expect anyone to take it seriously.” —Siebel VP Phil Robinson | “If you survey your parents and they both say they don’t love you, you can’t complain about the sample size.” —Nucleus VP Rebecca Wettemann, 9/26/2002 | |
