where are we?

There are many definitions of CRM, even different explanations of the letters in CRM, but is it really a mere business strategy, is it more than that? is it about profitability and sales increase or is it about customer loyalty? or is it about customer needs?

Some experts mention that there are 3 key elements to a successful CRM implementation: Technology, People and process. if we have a customer focus organization, this may be true, but what if we don´t? how can we change if our processes are aiming towards product excellence? Do we really know our customers and the value of them for our business?

Knowing the customer is key, but how to get to know them so we can better serve them?

is the CRM approach valid to all kind of businesses from Home based business to large corporations? are there differences in the CRM concepts depending on the customer segment we work with?

Do we know today how many customer we have? what are they buying? why? when or with what frequency?

do we group our customer in value groups? Do we understand our current processes and identify which ones do not add value to the customers? and what about our employees? do they care about the customer or do they care about their own pockets only?

These are more questions than answers or concepts, but we really need to think about it deeply before thinking moving forward.