A marketing strategy that focuses only on trying to acquire new customers is like pouring water into a bucket with holes in it. By also focusing on customer identification, retention, and loyalty you can begin to look at the whole picture, understand your customer churn, and more importantly … begin to do something about it.

The reason many larger organizations are developing Customer Relationship Strategies (CRM) strategies now is because:

1. Markets have gotten increasingly difficult to penetrate, and acquiring new customers is a challenge.

2. Customers (and end consumers) have gotten more sophisticated and expect to do business on their terms.

3. Technological advancements have made it more feasible and cost effective.

When a business reaches a certain level of complexity, the processes for gathering and using customer information need to become more formalized.

In many companies, there are several customer touch points, and customers can feel like they are dealing with different companies. Compounding this is the fact that these touch points often report into different parts of the organization and have competing priorities, While this situation is fairly common, it is also damaging. It erodes a brand, it wastes marketing dollars, and it turns away customers.

In a complex environment the means to achieve favorable customer loyalty always requires a sound strategy, a focused organizational culture, and clear process definition. In many situations technological integration will enable improved effectiveness and efficiency, but contrary to popular belief CRM is not "a system". Often, significant progress can be made solely through strategy and process alignment. Each situation is different, and your level of investment will be based on the opportunity to be gained from managing customer loyalty, as it relates to your other business priorities.

Managing customer relationships is not a one time event. It is a business strategy and a way of doing business. It is a way of making your brand invaluable to your customers. There is no end point, and only your customers and your competition will dictate how fast you need to go.