As the thinkers have said, you should strive in all situations to know yourself and know your enemy. Most of history’s great thinkers, however, were not in business. In business, you have to know your customer and understand how your company interacts with him or her. The current term for this is customer relationship management (CRM), and The CRM Handbook is the best textbook for managers on the mechanics of CRM. It’s a standout in a field that’s filled with squishy books that go on at length about how important CRM is, but which lack details. Jill Dyché provides lots of factual information, real case studies, carefully considered commentary, and reasoned criteria with which to evaluate CRM products and strategies. Though you’ll certainly want to supplement Dyché’s work with vendors’ product literature and implementation proposals, you’ll get a lot from her carefully researched book. (more…)

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) includes the methodologies, technology and capabilities that help an enterprise manage customer relationships. The general purpose of CRM is to enable organizations to better manage their customers through the introduction of reliable systems, processes and procedures. Implementing CRM will link CRM systems implementation with organizational change for the first time. It focuses on the implementation of CRM and uncovers the micro political, behavioral, psychological and knowledge issues that are all too often neglected in CRM implementations. (more…)