A Crash Course in Customer Relationship Management

It's the marketer's newest set of tools--but not every company needs it. Customer relationship management (CRM) is markedly different from past marketing strategies. CRM allows a company to identify customers, differentiate them in terms of their needs and value, interact with them, and customize some aspect of its products or services to meet those customers' needs. This article covers the basics of CRM and includes sidebars on CRM metrics, the technology behind CRM, and a discussion of what kinds of companies should be using CRM.