I work at a bank, essentially in sales.  We try and sell people different products that we have.
You must be pretty good at marketing then? People make it seem complex, but marketing is really just the study of exchange relationships.
I find that when you are able to form relationships with your customers it makes the job a lot easier.  The 'sale' doesnt seem so bad when you can market it the right way.
Exactly, it's all about keeping the customer as the focus of the activity. That's probably why marketing is considered one of the two premier components of business management.
Yeah in my line of work th marketting isnt necesarily about the sale...they market the 'sale' as the best possible solution for the customer.  Customers dont feel like theyve had something sold to them, they feel as though we've given them a solution for their problems.
That's a smart way to frame it. Do you use data anaysis of the customer's history, like in the area of customer relationship management?
yeah we do, we have a program that analyses what the customers already have and it sends us 'leads' as to what they are missing to complete their profile.  so we can call them to discuss it.
Through the CRM approach and the systems used to facilitate it, businesses learn more about their target audiences and how to best cater to their needs.
Software history.
The concept of customer relationship management started in the early 1970s, when customer satisfaction was evaluated using annual surveys or by front-line asking. At that time, businesses had to rely on standalone mainframe systems to automate sales, but the extent of technology allowed them to categorize customers in spreadsheets and lists. In 1982, Kate and Robert D. Kestnbaum introduced
, and if that first idea is good then you are on the right track. It's not a sign of creativity to have 65 ideas for one problem, that's just a waste of energy. I also don't think you need to go anywhere particular to be creative; people just use that as an excuse. But I do think a lot of creativity depends on your relationships with other people, your personal relationships, your partner or whatever. Your personal happiness or unhappiness comes out in your work, it's