Customer Relations Management

Customer Relations Management

Scene : Two salesmen sitting in a restaurant. After the meal.

AARONOW

And it's not right to the customers.

MOSS

I know it's not. I'll tell you,

you got, you know, you got...what

did I learn as a kid on Western?

Don't sell a guy one car. Sell him

five cars over fifteen years.

AARONOW

That's right?

MOSS

Goddamn right, that's right.

- “Glengarry Glen Ross” by David Mamet (1984)

Introduction

Log in to UCD Connect. Go to My Library. Click Databases. Select ABI Proquest. Type “CRM” into the search function. 6953 documents found. Six thousand, nine hundred and fifty three!

Further research brought me to destinationCRM.com. One of many websites dedicated to all things CRM. The website claims 55,000 unique visitors per month, creating 815,000 page impressions . CRM magazine has a circulation of 80,000. Combined with the circulation of its leading competitor, Customer Inter@ctive Solutions , these magazines are bought by the same number of people each month as buy Time Out New York each week .

CRM is a “buzz word”? Buzz word does not even begin to describe its ubiquity. But, as even the hack salesman in Mamet’s masterful play is aware, the concept behind CRM is not new, and wasn’t even new back in 1984. The foundations for this movement probably never were, not since the first caveman sold his second rock to his first repeat customer.

So what is all the fuss about?

What was CRM?

“CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, is a company-wide business strategy designed to reduce costs and increase profitability by solidifying customer loyalty. True CRM brings together information from all data sources within an organization (and where appropriate, from outside the organization) to give one, holistic view of each customer in real time.”

The above definition, written in 2002, reflected the conventional wisdom at the time. As we can see, CRM had its basis in the twin pillars of customer satisfaction and customer service. Needs, data, surveys, buying patterns, consumer preferences and spending habits all gathered together in a single, readable, accessible database, through the magic of expensive software packages firms had invested in. The CRM equation was quite simple; “More Info = Better Targeting = Higher Profits”. The result of this happy union was the holy grail of every company’s marketing plan, customer loyalty.