By Marc Thévenin 
Ah, the good old days, when everyone had time to take their time… THAT’S A LIE! Weeks of 70 hours, no paid leave, physically taxing manual labor… Was it really better before? The Industrial Revolution, and more recently the digital revolution, changed everything for many professions, especially in terms of customer relations: social networks, CRM, etc… All these tools now allow you to be responsive, proactive, and anticipate the market. Can you imagine moving forward without them?
Let’s take a look back at the history of customer relations in pictures.
In the 70s,…
Relationship marketing, as opposed to transactional marketing, places the customer at the center of its sales strategy. This is known as the “Know, Like, Trust” principle, which involves following up with the customer to achieve their satisfaction and, therefore, their loyalty.
The 80s…
It’s mostly a look towards the future. While Back to the Future is captivating audiences, the democratization of computing allows companies to experiment with management software and the first databases are created. These are a time-saver, making prospecting and sales easier for salespeople.
The 90s…
This decade is mainly marked by the desire to reach Nirvana with this new methodology that finally has a name: Customer Relationship Management (or CRM). We’re less Grunge and more organized thanks to the data storage tools developed at the time, which are still far from those we know today.
Everything accelerates with the New Millennium!
The goal is always to achieve greater performance thanks to the various analysis tools found in CRM software. Marketing is also integrated to engage in collaborative work.
Always pushing forward…
The advent of Smart Devices in the 2010s led software publishers to rethink their products in terms of mobility. CRM is now connected and social, mobile and application-based.
It remains to be seen what the next decade will bring. We are certain that there will be good surprises.
