When CRM is no more about the customer....

I remember my days at University. One of my professors kept reiterating that good business is always about giving the best to your customer. Almost four years down the line, I wonder at those remarkable words. Circa 2012, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) sector is slowly being tranformed from an empowering force into a gimmicky buzzword, one that appeases Wall Street gold diggers and panders to Silicon Valley's unimaginative pseudo-technocrats.

The mantra "CRM" includes two keywords: customer and relationships. Good businesses always focus on their customers. Great businesses go one step further, always looking to genuinely connect with their customers. However, the lousy ones just identify ways to "market" their commodities and "manage" their own bottomlines. "Commodities". Hmmmm...

Lets consider the two sets of folks -- those who sell CRM stuff and those who use CRM stuff. The problem with the first group is that they are more interested in selling their own stuff than understanding what their users want. They consider themselves to be the modern era's dream merchants. Alas. If only that were true. Most of them are nothing more than a poorly crafted repackaging of the erstwhile snake oil charlatans. Ofcourse, there are a few folks who really understand how to provide their users with a serious competitive advantage. Unfortunately, they are a minority in the vast abyss of mediocrity. Now, consider the second group. The ones who actually use CRM stuff to find and target their customers. Somewhere down the line, these people forget that their so-called target consumers are actually real people with real needs who seek innovation that can not only improve their lives, but also enable them to clearly make a positive impact on their private life, worklife, and all other activities. Instead, the requirements of consumers are "commoditized". At some point, those consumers anxious for great products are themselves "commoditized" by these agents of "selling" and "managing".

No surprises then when most people today tend to focus on selling, marketing, managing operations, and above all maximizing their margins. How great would it be if these people went back to the basics of CRM! Why not focus on "what do my consumers want and why and what can we do for them" instead of "how can we sell whatever we have and make a grand splash"? I wonder....

A few closing thoughts. All is not lost. CRM industry can definitely come back with renewed vigor. Both the creators and users of CRM stuff need to rethink their current way of doing things and change. Listen to their customers. Understand their customers. Most importantly, "work" with their customers. Re-emphasize the truth about CRM that it is really about forging relationships with one's customers at every step.....ya, every step.