Customer Relationship Management

isn't just for the big guys.

It's for everyone.

Some entrepreneurs get so busy chasing new business they get sloppy about taking care of what they already have.

For most businesses, the big opportunity

is to keep your best customers.

It’s much easier and more economical to sell a satisfied customer than to find and develop a new one. According to a study by the American Management Association, about 65% of most firms’ business comes from the customers they keep. They also say it costs about five times more to get a new customer than to sell another widget to one you already have. Those two reasons are enough to make you want to keep what you’ve got. But there’s more:

With a CRM program you can gather data and use it to develop models of predictive behavior that help you hone the timing and the message of your marcom. This brings you closer to predicting the R.O.I. for your efforts. What’s more, happy customers can be powerful advocates that help drive new business to your door.

Of course, CRM programs are not without critics. Some cite a high rate of failure by programs that don’t deliver as promised. But isn’t it quite possible that some people who bought into the program were expecting a silver bullet? CRM is not a silver bullet. It’s just one more weapon for the well-stocked arsenal..

Maybe customer relationship management isn’t the right term. It’s really about human relationships. And the heart of all human relationships is effective communications. So maybe we should be talking about CCM, or customer communications management.

But why get bogged down in semantics? The term CRM is good enough for the firms that research the subject. Forester Research has predicted the investment in CRM will be up to $73.8 billion by next year. Others. predict the investment will hit $101 billion next year.

For the little guy, it’s important to recognize that CRM can’t be done with just a change in attitude. Monday morning pep rallies can motivate, but CRM requires a process. It’s a process that’s not about you. It’s about them. It identifies customers, differentiates them, interacts with them, and helps you attempt to please them ----and retain them.

Here’s a suggestion: Log on to Amazon Books. Search for “A Crash Course in Customer Relationship Management.” You’ll find it on a $4.00 digital download of a Harvard Management Newsletter. Click it and in a blink it’ll be on your desk top.

It’s only five pages, but it’s meaty. It’s also a good starting point before you go to Google where you’ll get the rest of the story.