While not exactly a CRM definition, Mahatma Gandhi had an interesting view of the CRM mindset:
"A customer is the most important visitor on our premises.
He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him.
He is not an interruption of our work. He is the purpose of it.
He is not an outsider of our business. He is part of it.
We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so."
Jay, from Bangalore
Update: Tom Peters comments on the Gandhi Opening:
The following is a little heavy for me, but given the Gandhi opening above, I'll let it rip:
“What would happen if we looked at a customer and saw the face of God in them? To most people it sounds like a lofty idea. But if you see the face of God in a flower, why wouldn’t you see it in the face of a customer? If we treated customers and honored the God within them—if we loved them—we would not need a ‘quality program.’” —Lance Secretan, founder of Manpower, Inc., and most recently author of One: The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership
Why not, indeede?!http://www.tompeters.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=10176
