The United States hasn’t cornered the market on customer relationship management (CRM). Here at the International Direct Marketing Fair this week, many exhibitors and speakers were focusing their attentions on CRM and how U.K. marketers are implementing the concept into their businesses. Gary Slade, senior vice president, Watford, Hertfordshire-based Sitel UK Ltd., said that as more and more companies sell the same products, service becomes even more of a differentiator. He cited telecommunications as an example, noting that entertainment companies like Virgin have gotten into the mobile phone game. “Companies have been saying ‘the customer is king’ for years,” he said. “Now, they’re beginning to behave that way. Cradle to grave does not exist anymore, not without a lot of work.” It is becoming vital for companies to cut across business lines to generate opportunities. Slade noted electronic’s giant Phillips is looking to create more cross selling opportunities between divisions to get a bigger piece of its customers’ appliance business. “Customer satisfaction is better – and cheaper – in the long run,” he said. Claire Middleton, business development director of DraftDigital, noted that it can be difficult to implement a CRM initiative because there are so many touchpoints with a customer today. “It takes time,” she said, noting that many companies have difficulty integrating their data because their database is built around a legacy system originally implemented only to take orders. “God forbid you have to use it to market to the customer.” A lot comes down to having the right information on file and knowing how to use it to build a relationship. “You can bet that the one variable needed is the one you haven’t got,” she said, noting that sometimes it’s near impossible to predict what would be the magic bullet. A healthcare insurance provider, for example, found out that whether someone drank decaffeinated coffee was an indicator of their propensity to be concerned about their health. “Anyone who isn’t listening to their customer doesn’t deserve to be in business in three years time,” said Malcolm H.B. McDonald, a professor of marketing strategy with the Cranfield School of Management. During a keynote presentation on Wednesday, McDonald told the audience that if their company was particularly good at CRM, they should seek out his bank as a client. “Would somebody please go and talk to my bank?” he asked the amused audience. “I’ve been a customer of theirs for 48 years and they don’t really know who I am.” The bank, he said, recently sent him a direct mail offer for 10 products, six of which he already had. The manager of his branch told him that he’s be an excellent candidate to take advantage of the bank’s Internet banking program. “I said, ‘yes, I see. You want me to do all the work and you won’t charge me any less. That’s a crap proposition, isn’t it?’ The manager responded ‘well, when you put it that way, I guess it is’.”

The final numbers weren’t in at press time, but organizers said Thursday it appears attendance at the International Direct Marketing Fair won’t hit the record levels set in 2000.

Unaudited figures for the first two days of the fair and its sister concurrent shows Marketing IT, TelecommercExpo and New Media Marketing put attendance at 8,481. When figures from Thursday are final, its estimated that about 12,000 people will have visited the event. This is about average for the fair, but below the 14,000 people who attended IDMF and NMM last year. Sue Baker, a spokesperson for Reed Exhibitions, noted that the 2000 record is attributable to the dot-com boom.

The 2001 IDMF had 6,222 visitors; NMM, 979; TelecommercExpo, 395; and Marketing IT, 885. Admission is free and visitors were allowed to travel between the four events.

This is the first year the telecommerce and IT events were broken out as separate events. Organizers were unsure if they would remain as separate shows for 2002, or be rolled back into the DM fair. Exhibitor reaction to the new shows was mixed; most interviewed said traffic was lighter than expected and that the location – at the end of the hall past the more established shows – probably deterred some visitors from checking out the booths there.

This was also the first year the fair was held at the new ExCel exhibition center in the Docklands area of London. Reaction from attendees and exhibitors alike to the facility itself was favorable, but many noted getting to ExCel was a little more difficult than Wembley, the show’s previous site. Organizers hope the opening of several new hotels nearby next year will make things easier for attendees wishing to stay in the area.