Customer Relationship Management! When we hear this term it conjures up a lot of ideas about how a business views their relationship with the average everyday modern consumer. Are they looking for loyalty, is it a one night stand or are they in it for the long haul hoping for a lasting relationship for years to come. Customer Relationship Management or (CRM) as it is more commonly known can be renamed to a more appropriate phrase. CRM in its broadest sense to be truly effective really should be called Customer Relations Marketing. Just a slight twist on how this is viewed means that the need to understand the needs, wants and desires of your customers and potential customers is the single most important factor.



One industry in particular today, the automotive industry is most affected by this trend. How a customer is treated when they walk into their dealership can mean the difference in making a sale and getting repeat business and having your name drug through the mud for treating someone as though they were nothing more than another number.

In today's world where the first introduction between a customer and a dealer can be made from a computer monitor and keyboard, a dealer must work twice as hard to win over that customer. The old adage of do unto others is paramount in relating to today's customers. They do not like being considered faceless numbers in a data base somewhere. Establishing a rapport with a new car buyer begins the very first moment the customer enters the front door. What is the motivation that has brought them to your dealership?

For those dealers that have been around for awhile such as Ford NH, Los Angeles Toyota, and Dallas Mazda, they have been through enough automotive sales training programs that try to help set some guidelines for how to establish the rapport or relationship with the shopper that may not make sense for today's new age customers. Knowing the reasons why consumers make the decisions they do helps direct the dealer towards what they need to offer in the way of services.

New dealers such as Audi Seacoast and Porsche North Shore are trying to appeal to their customers by blending a little bit of the traditional with the more modern pizzazz available with many website designs. Today's customers want to be entertained while shopping and the torrent of Flash and Glitz that comes with so many of the new web sites are designed to grab your attention and pull you in.

Recently I overheard one sales person say that after introducing their self, they like to sit with a customer and get some basic information because it helps them to better understand the needs of the customer. It's using principals like this that will allow dealers to continue the approach of hands on, get inside the head of the customer with what are they looking for and find out what more can I offer to cause someone to go from computer screen to a dealers front door.