The result: I struggle right along with Leonard to make sense out of the experience of meeting someone whom he has met many times before. I carefully read his notes and studied his photographs. But it wasn’t enough. The interactions between Leonard and the other characters in the movie aren’t relationships because they have no shared story.

From this vantage point, I picked up a new insight in my 15-year struggle with the challenges of implementing effective CRM systems. The Southwestern Bell service experience illustrates why companies are motivated to invest in CRM. But the movie Memento vividly shows how creating relationships is about a whole lot more than compiling lists of related information?no matter how many millions of dollars you might spend in the process.

More Than Memories

Your data may be information with respect to transactions and events, but that doesn’t go far enough. Relationships demand that we arrange experiences in patterns that tell a story about our shared past and suggest a positive road into the future. These patterns aren’t just something that can be done with CRM; these patterns are the heart of the customer relationship.

Companies that think implementing CRM systems will solve their service woes are likely to be disappointed. Creating relationships means investing in software and highly customized service initiatives that transform isolated memories into a shared story that links you and your customer. Without the context provided by these shared stories, you’ll have trouble finding any R in your CRM?or in your ROI.

Brian Mulconrey is a CRM consultant based in Austin, Texas.