CRM Software

I Love To Tell the CRM Story.

 

Industry observer Melanie Badenhorst puts the matter plainly when she writes "As a CRM practitioner, I’m tired of reading articles about why you need CRM, and why companies aren’t getting the benefit, and how to really do it."

 

Amen. I remember a pastor I had once told of a man who attended a church he pastored in Africa years ago. The man, who the pastor knew lived quite close to the church, would come to a service and listen most attentively to the sermon -- sit in the front pew (always available), take notes, strain to catch every word, nod at the good points and ask the pastor a question or two on his way out.

 

Then the man would disappear for weeks-- months. One Sunday, the pastor would see him again -- sitting in front, taking notes, listening intently, asking intelligent questions afterwards, and then disappearing for weeks. Finally the pastor asked him why, if he enjoyed the sermons so much, the man only came to church once in a while?

 

"Oh," the man replied, "I listen to everything you say about how to follow God, and when I'm able to do that much, I come back to hear some more."

 

Wish that we in CRM had the same attitude. Because, really, all these "Ten Best Ways" and "Five Common Mistakes" and "Seven Tips For" articles Ms. Badenhorst is fed up with all boil down to the same common-sense principles. But so do the thousands of movies and novels in existence, the thousands of diet and exercise books churned out each year and thousands of sermons preached each Sunday, also basically boil down to the same few things.

 

There's a need to keep retelling the old, old story. Which will be done. If you were concerned that the world would suddenly run out of "Ten Ways To Get The Most Out Of CRM" or "Five Reasons Why You Need CRM" articles in the next couple months, rest easy.

 

Yr mst ob't sv't himself has penned his share of those -- and will in the future, they're as perennial as stories of beautiful damsels in distress being rescued by dashing heroes against incredible odds who fight dastardly villains along the way and save the world in the process. Archaeologists believe the Lascaux cave paintings are actually the storyboard pitch for the very first Rocky Balboa movie.

 

Here's the Generic CRM How To Column: Know what business problem you have, identify your CRM Software choices-- what tool or new process you can use to solve it, and find a CRM Software with enough ROI to enact that process to do the job that'll solve your problem.

 

That's all the theory you need. Now don't read another "How To Do CRM" article until you've done that much, because the rest is just practicalities -- the sitting down and figuring out where your pain is, the devising a way to eliminate that pain, the identifying what tool you need to accomplish it, the getting out and visiting the tool shop and the putting what you've heard into practice. VendorGuru's a great source for the tools you need once you get to that point.

 

There. See you in a few months.