Writing in the Harvard Business Review, management consultants Frederick Reichheld and Earl Sasser estimate that “companies can boost profits by almost 100 percent by retaining just five percent more of their customers,” whether you are a Big Six accounting firm, Microsoft, or Olga’s Blintz and Borscht Parlor.

“Customer retention obviously has profound implications for all businesses:
Finding a new customer costs from three to seven times more than keeping an existing one, and for many large companies, up to 95% of profits come from long-term customers.”
–PriceWaterhouse Coopers.

On the over-use of the word “guru” by CRM consultants: “People use the word ‘guru’ only because ‘charlatan’ is too long”.
– Peter Drucker

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software refers to the applications that help organizations perform activities in three aspects: Operational, Collaborative, and Analytical. CRM softwares facilitate companies to efficiently gather customer information, capitalize customer buying behavior, and leverage technology investments by improving quality of sales and services.

“Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.”
– Peter Drucker

“This new customer-focus approach to business has evolved in the past few years, because retaining the customer is cheaper than acquiring a new one.”
–Hong.

“The big benefit of CRM is the visibility of everything relating to customers going on in your company. If you want to provide a better service to your customer, you have to be able to manage everything from complaints to sales opportunities.”
–Roger Cole, CRM consultant at reseller CPiO

“..in general, small companies are latecomers to CRM, so they have the advantage of avoiding the early adopters’ mistakes.”
–SalesLogix Corporation

“70 to 90 percent of decisions not to repeat a purchase of anything are not about product or price. They are about some dimension of service.”
–Barry Gibbons, former CEO, Burger King

15% of customers defect due to technical quality reasons; a further 15% leave because of price and the remaining 70% leave because contact from the old suppliers personnel was “poor in quality”.
-Forum Corporation, Mass.

“Said another way, you can succeed with CRM by being SMART: Define a customer-centric Strategy; use appropriate Metrics ; ensure your organization is Aligned with your objectives; Redesign work processes as needed;

and use appropriate Technology tools as enablers. But it all starts by putting your customers first and creating a better relationship with them than your competitors offer.”
–Bob Thompson, CustomerThink Corporation

“You don’t close a sale, you open a relationship if you want to build a long-term, successful enterprise.”
–Patricia Fripp

“If you torture the data enough, they will confess.”
–Ronald H. Coase, Nobel Prize Laureate in Economic Science
(submitted by Jessica Fish)

“Everyone lives by selling something.”
–Robert Louis Stevenson

“I am the world’s worst salesman, therefore, I must make it easy for people to buy.”
–F.W. Woolworth (1852-1919).

80% of all sales are made on the 5th – 12th contact. 15 years ago it took on average 2 – 4 contacts before concluding a sale.
–The National Association of Sales Executives

“But then you get to a point in your career where everybody around you gets results. It’s no longer a differentiator. The people who couldn’t get results peaked earlier and are in lower-level jobs. You’ve risen to a level where what differentiates people is RELATIONSHIPS. It’s political- who you know and how you know them – but it’s also about how well you use those relationships.”
Stephen B. Kincaid, Heidrick & Struggles’ Global Leadership Services

“By failing to prepare,
you are preparing to fail”.
–Benjamin Franklin. (1706-1790)

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”
–Albert Schweitzer

“I never worry about action, only inaction.”
–Winston Churchill

“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”
–Vince Lombardi

“Advice is judged by results, not by good intentions.”
–Cicero 106BC – 43-BC

If you have any CRM quotations you would like to contribute, please let us know! Your Marketing and Sales quotes are also welcome. Submit your CRM quotes here..