The twentieth century. This word may be a new term, but this operation process may be as old as trade, or even older than money. The first recorded trade example dates back to 20000 years ago. During this time, in what is now Papua New Guinea, there was a trade of obsidian knives between islands with precious obsidian deposits and islands without these deposits. . In the early days, obsidian was praised globally for its suitability for knives and other cutting tools, and was traded in early Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
Considering that you want to be a successful trader and maintain a sustainable business, you will realize three important things, which have changed little over the centuries:
Your buyers and sellers in the supply chain,
where
they are
, and what they want to buy or sell. Even in the Paleolithic era, there must be an understanding that selling to existing customers is easier than finding new ones, and it helps cultivate this relationship. We are not sure how this information is stored, whether it is just submitted to memory (competitors cannot access it), or whether some early customer lists are maintained. When you consider the risks involved in taking a camel across the Gobi Desert or taking a boat out to sea, these early merchants were experts in marketing and sales, and it makes sense to have excellent customer knowledge.
Where there is trade, there must be accounting
Who owns what, who owes whom much, requires some form of symbols and permanent records, and some form of accounting has been practiced for thousands of years. Names and locations are naturally part of the accounting records and are the earliest form of customer databases. Therefore, when we discuss when the concept of CRM will be introduced, we need to look far away. CRM started a long time ago. This is also the reason for successful companies, governments and countries.
Towards the 20th century
We iterated through various forms of record keeping, accounting methods and equipment updates, and invented the first commercial computer. Since the late 1950s and early 1960s, companies dominated by banks, stock exchanges, and government departments have a lot of money to spend. They eagerly adopt and continue to pay attention to the automation of accounting records. With the sharp drop in computer prices, even small businesses were able to participate in the computer revolution in the 1970s.
In the early years, sales staff kept the customer list in their newsletter or business card case. It is becoming more and more obvious that automation can play a role in other areas of the business, especially in sales, and CRM systems have emerged in just a few years.
Automated sales and marketing.
As far as we know, CRM started in the 1980s. Robert and Kate Kestnbaum are pioneers in database marketing. This is a form of direct marketing that performs statistical analysis on a customer database to determine which customers are most likely to respond to marketing activities. This concept began. Kestenbaum and Robert Shaw brought us new concepts and methods in terms of customer lifetime value and channel management. There are many debates about who invented CRM, but if you take Bob Kestnbaum's contribution to modern marketing and strategy as a criterion, he may be considered an inventor.
Regarding the controversy about the invention of CRM, there are two Texans: Pat Sullivan and Mike Mooney, who are believed to be the people who invented CRM. The product they invented is ACT! ACT has undergone many name changes and acquisitions, but it is still there today. Although the acronym ACT stands for "automatic contact tracking," it is likely to be the first automated CRM.
Digital Mobile CRM
Advances in technology have affected the CRM market, new equipment and new channels, whether it is for internal use or for customer-facing use. When Siebel launched its "Siebel Sales Handhold", other suppliers quickly launched similar products. Market demand creates demand, and suppliers respond quickly.
Salesforce did not cause a big sensation when it launched in 1999; most competitors think cloud services are a fashion, not a good tool for CRM. Salesforce initially focused on small and medium-sized enterprises. When competitors realized that customers were migrating to the cloud, Salesforce had become the world's largest CRM provider.
So far, the market for new CRM products does not seem to have reached a saturation point. New companies continue to enter the market with cloud products, while existing vendors have changed their product models to provide cloud alternatives to traditional websites. The latest change is the rise in social data and the need to interact with customers on various social platforms.
With the advent of smart phones, mobile phones have become a more urgent service. The rate of change is so rapid that many vendors are struggling to keep up with the latest developments, from chatbots to big data and artificial intelligence.
Although CRM products have matured and can be expected, customers still encounter difficulties in closing transactions. This is because in this revolutionary era, they are also striving to maintain the relevance and sustainability of their business model.
See what will happen in our turbulent future. Perhaps the phrase "Customer Relationship Management" and its acronym should also be changed, because it now contains much more than when it first started.
Who created this name?
There is even a lot of debate about who coined the term CRM. It is probably from academia or consulting institutions. To be sure, as early as the 1980s, it was used by some companies as a new label for sales staff. Therefore, people who attribute its origin to the 90s are a bit off the mark. It doesn't matter who created the name, CRM is here until it is replaced by a new acronym that is more suitable for Industry 4.0.
This article is reproduced from snow beast software
more exciting recommend please visit @ snow beast Software's official website