Customer relationship management (CRM) has been defined many times to mean many things. At a corporate level, this is often associated with a move to de-skill and automate sale and support relationships with customers – and I am sure we all have our own opinions about call centres and marketing campaigns. Paradoxically, much of the evolving discipline of CRM is targeted toward the relatively simplistic and less rewarding model of dealing with individual customers rather than a company.
You could argue that CRM is a state-of- mind that already exists within chambers and that, by taking an interest in what is done for customers and trying to understand their needs, relationships may be improved and business increased. This informal approach tends to deliver the art of CRM; it can offer some effective gains, but it is likely to rely on the skills and enthusiasm of an individual, being difficult to repeat and impossible to transfer throughout an organisation.
