Exactly what is CRM The idea itself is nothing new; its roots have been around since trading began. The principle of looking after your customers so that they come back regularly is, after all, merely basis of good trading. In an increasingly competitive commercial world however, strong customer relationships take on an increasing importance. With cost of selling to a new customer being five times cost of selling to an existing one you can’t afford to lose established business.

Yes, you still want new markets, and yes, for various reasons customers will still disappear. The important thing is to minimise this loss and make sure reasons behind it don’t stem from something you are doing – or more significantly something you are not doing.

Which is why good Customer Relationship Management is vital – and why process has now been refined to make it more effective than ever.

What does CRM Involve? In essence, making your customer feel special by understanding his needs and fulfilling those needs in a personal manner which will keep him coming back for more.

Going that extra mile and providing service beyond that which was expected takes your customer to next stage, where he becomes a ‘raving fan’ of your business - and you can’t have too many of those. Achieve this and your customer suddenly becomes part of your sales force, telling everyone he meets how good you are.

This can actually be achieved without computers and software. A good memory and a card index can keep track of customer’s preferences and buying patterns. Newsletter campaigns, post sale follow-ups and special offer mailings can all be organised - given time; except that this is where it so often falls apart. For most companies time is commodity in shortest supply.

Identifying Challenge This is where you find first steps into CRM. Contact Management or Personal Information Manager software can provide substantial benefits. A database of customers for envelope labelling, simple word processing and calendar functions can save an enormous amount of time. The latest breed of contact manager software can do this quite efficiently across small groups of people, an office based sales team for example. So what’s point of moving to a full CRM strategy? Why not stick with a simple address book style contact manager?

Project management consulting, therefore, is a job of frequent changes and travel. It is demanding on project manager, and company hiring a project management consulting team needs to ensure that they choose right person first time.

Choosing Project Management Consulting

Your project manager is your primary hiring consideration. Your project manager should have experience in your industry, and he or she should be able to describe to you how they were successful with previous consulting jobs. Most crucially, they should be able to tell you how they put together a team.