If you think customer relationship management is just a piece of software, you're dead wrong. Customer relationship management is about understanding your customers. It's about really knowing them as individuals, knowing what they mean to your business, and most of all, knowing what you need to do to keep their business.

Ideally, you need a profile for each of your customers. Most customers will gladly give you the information you need especially if there is a small incentive. Offer them a coupon, a special discount, a gift certificate or even movie passes. What do you need to include in the profile? Other than personal information, data you track can be as detailed or as simple as you can manage. The key point is to use a process or system.  Learn this things from your customers:

• How much do they spend with you in a month or a year?
• Who are the top 10 or 20 percent of your most valuable customers? These are your "gold" customers.
• Why do they keep doing business with you? If you're not sure about what you're doing right -- Ask them!
• How did they find you? If you know where they came from you can go back for more customers