What do people think of Direct Marketing & CRM?

I had met a couple of my (very) old friends for lunch over the Dubai weekend. Some of whom I had not met for the last 7 years. It needed a lot of reintroduction from all sides to get familiar with what we are and what we do today. There were two Charted Accountants, a Sales Manager and one from the Airline industry.

As usual when it was my turn I told them proudly that I work for a Direct Marketing and CRM consultancy. They mistook me for someone who sells CRM software, an Oracle, a SAP or a Siebel (now a part of Oracle).

Well this was not an unusual mistake, almost two out of three people I meet don’t know what Direct Marketing is or they mistake CRM for a software package.

Here are a list of FAQs when I say I work for a Direct Marketing & CRM consultancy.

Direct Marketing

1) Oh, OK you are the guys who enable dropping of leaflets and you also do newspaper inserts right?

2) Is it door to door selling?

3) You pack material, stick labels and courier it…

4) Another name for a logistics company

5) You are working for a list rental company?

CRM

1) You sell software related to inventory management & finance

2) Ok, you are a vendor for people like Oracle, SAP etc.

3) Are you a software engineer?

4) You work for the marketing department of a software company?

I am more amused than frustrated listening to the various definitions people offer me about Direct Marketing and CRM. I have decided I should write a small note on what I do for living and carry it along wherever I go. This would help quench the thirst of all those inquisitive human beings who want to dissect the industry I work for.

That is the little I can contribute to this ocean of an industry I work for, Direct Marketing & CRM.

The next post would be the little note I am going to carry with me henceforth, do help me with your inputs to make my endeavor a success.