The phrase customer relationship management (CRM) has always interested me. It seems odd that relationship and management are used together. After all, do we really "manage" relationships? Try that with your spouse and see how it works.
Perhaps customer interaction management would better describe what we’re really doing when we track activities, tasks and customer details in a CRM system. Don’t get me wrong, I think CRM systems are invaluable business tool but do they really help build relationships?
Relationships – at least as I define them – are a one-to-one thing. We have relationships with people, not organizations and those relationships are developed as a result of personal communications, not marketing “touches”. Think about it … How many “relationships” do you have with companies that you don’t really know anyone at?
So, when we set out to develop “stronger business relationships” what do we need to get the job done? Answer … people who actively interact (on a one-to-one basis) with other people (customers, prospects, vendors, etc). It’s not a new idea; not by a long shot. In fact, it’s so old that to some extent it’s been forgotten.
Our parents and their parents had it right. In their personal life and in business they succeeded based on their reputations and the relationships they built. They sent thank you cards, and personal notes regularly and expressed their feelings in ways that no database could ever do.
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