Kim Proctor, Customer Experience Consultant at www.customersthatclick.com

CRM is a way of orienting a business toward building relationships with customers.

These relationships need to last and have value on both sides (for the business and for the customer). CRM is a way of operating, not just technology or tactics, it is a way of thinking and organizing a business for success . CRM-oriented businesses have higher retention rates, more repeat business from existing customers and customer evangelism (word of mouth). For example, Southwest Airlines and Costco are CRM.