In one sense, managing customer relationships is as old as the hills. Kristin Anderson?s grandfather operated a grain elevator in a small town in Minnesota. Carl T. Anderson knew every farmer by name. These were his customers .. . and his neighbors. He knew the names of their families, where they went to church, and whether they or their parents or their parent?s parents had immigrated from Norway, Sweden, Germany, or Finland. He knew which farmers would produce the best grain regardless of the weather and which farmers where struggling just to make a go of it. And he knew how important it was to stay connected to all of them. Carl T. Anderson was a customer relationship manager, though he would never have used that term. For him, CRM wasn?t a system or a technology. It was a way of life, a way of living. It?s hard to create that level of customer connection today. Yet, that?s just the challenge you face. Wherever you are in your organization, whatever your title, your success hinges on your ability to be as good at CRM as Carl T. Anderson was . . . even better. ?Wait just a minute,? you may protest, ?my customers are scattered from coast to coast, continent to continent. We do business over the Internet, not over coffee.? That?s exactly why we wrote this book. CRM today is about keeping the old-time spirit of customer connection even when you can?t shake every hand. CRM today is about using information technology systems to capture and track your customers? needs. And CRM today is about integrating that intelligence into all parts of the organization so everyone knows as much about your customers as Carl T. Anderson knew about his.
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