CRM (Customer Relationship Management) has become one of the more popular catch-phrases among marketers and businesses in the past few years. The problem is that if you asked 100 CMOs what CRM is, you'd probably get 100 different answers. Most believe (in its simplest form) that it's a method of communicating with the people that purchase their products or services. In a short sense, they are absolutely right. Having someone's name and address or e- mail address in a database does not really constitute a CRM system however.
I am not going to debate the definition of CRM, but rather challenge you as a business owner to think about the proper use of the customer information you have amassed. First of all, have you indeed gained a prospect/customer's permission to market to them? Just because they purchased or requested information from you in the past does not really mean that you have free reign to bombard them with communications that probably are not relevant to them. Sadly though, this is what a large percentage of companies call "marketing."
The best way to reach the people you want to reach with the right message at the right time, is to ASK them for their preferences, and then ACT on those replies. Granted you may never get 100% of them to reply, but as Warren Buffet once said, "One girl in a convertible is worth five in the phone book." In other words, one customer that IS willing to share their preferences with you is worth more than five names in your database. This of course, is provided that you properly apply that information you collected.
Today, the most successful companies will be the ones that can develop (and manage) a personal relationship with the people that are interested in their product. Technology certainly plays a role in the grand scheme of things but it will never replace a human interaction.
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