Call centres and Websites are not the ultimate answer to experience marketing: in fact, they can provide a negative experience of a company, because of slow response times or poor structures and systems. Cable and Wireless made the point at their launch that "We're using the most sophist- icated communications technology known to man. Our ears." Relationships are about communication, listening and talking, and listening again. If we spend too much time talking at our customers, whether directly, on the tele- phone or through advertising or direct marketing (DM), we'll fail to hear what they are saying back to us. And failure to communicate is always the fault of the transmitter - the person attempting to perform that communication. Com- municate is THE central issue in Customer Relationship Management.
Customer Relationship Marketers can only do their best. As Sir John Egan (BAA) pointed out, you can never totally satisfy customers. They want maxi- mum value for the minimum price: "You have to do what you can to make profit in between." George Bull (Sainsbury) echoed this when he said, "Go for loyal customers, but lose customers who give no return." Developing and building relationships with our customers maximises customer retention, provides a better understanding of what they want and need, and leads to better profitability.