CRM in 2018

The relationship between company and customer has changed somewhat drastically in recent years. With the radical shift towards subscription models, the world is leaning towards deeper customer connections and relationships.

We are also now faced with more choice than ever before. The old approach to customer relationship management (CRM) for the most part generalised all customer journeys, but in doing so lost too much in the detail. The tools that were used to manage customer relationships have subsequently become more important than the actual creation of relationships. Business owners got caught up in tools and data and forgot about the people behind the screens, so to speak.

There is now a better way to run a relationship-based business to ensure success in the future. Businesses need to move beyond simple deal management and use technology to amplify the ability to connect with customers in meaningful ways. Your main aim should be to drive value at every customer touch-point. Instead of managing our relationships up to closing a deal, we need to be active and engaged with our customers throughout the whole funnel and customer journey.

In the past, relationships with customers were short and simple. It was a company’s job to persuade people to make an initial purchase and thereafter the company and customer had little interaction with each other beyond the product experience. With competition never far behind, being the default vendor has become rare. We need to understand that we cannot earn all of our revenue from a single sale, but rather from the months and years after that initial sale. The days of simple, one-off sales are rapidly disappearing and we’ve moved into an era where businesses are more like partners than vendors.

We need to start viewing CRM systems as relationship-enablers, built seamlessly around the real people and unique experiences that make up your particular business. This means that the modern customer relationship extends far beyond a single point of sale. CRM systems should be designed to primarily help customers. Let us steer away from focussing on spreadsheets and one-off sales to learning how to manage long and profitable customer relationships.