By Chris Bucholtz

I’m always looking for good examples of CRM people can understand. The concept is encased in a layer of jargon that works against it with neophytes, and since CRM is usually accompanied by a technology component, the very sound of the acronymn triggers the tune-out reflex in about 85 percent of the population.

So I hunt for an example of good CRM that most people can relate to. I think I’ve found it:

Mr. Hooper.

You know – the shopkeeper of Hooper’s Store on Sesame Street, played by actor Will Lee. Most people know the character, but it never occurs to them that he was a practitioner of CRM.

For example, he knew his customers. Granted, that was easy because there were about 30 of them and half of them were puppets. And he had a script explaining who they were (substitute a CRM solution-driven report for the script and the analogy holds). His generosity at the store and in the neighborhood helped build loyalty. He also always had whatever his regular customers were looking for – how many places have you seen that offer birdseed milkshakes? Clearly, this guy was incorporating customer feedback into his product development thinking.

Now, take the artificially constricted universe of Sesame Street and imagine Mr. Hooper trying to serve the larger world. He’d have to have some assistance – like the automation provided by CRM solutions – to scale up his level of service. He might have to strategically tune that service (not so much time spent with the guy in the garbage can, for instance) so he could devote resources to the proper activities for growth.

All right – I can’t see Mr. Hooper getting too whipped up about capturing more market share, either. Plus, he died 26 years ago, back when the underlying concepts of CRM – knowing the customer, selling the way the customer wanted to buy, providing merchandise or services attuned to what the customer has expressed interest in, building loyalty – were just known as good ways to do business.

If you have any better examples of characters or people who might personify CRM at its most basic and easily-understood levels, I’m all ears – Snuffleupagus-style.