The only real competitive advantage a small business has over the big players is the ability to be flexible and personal in dealing with customers. Although  large companies have customer relationship management (CRM) systems - call  centres, for example - the problem is that there is a gulf between the customer  service staff and the decision-makers within the business. You ring the  customer service department, they are friendly and polite, but when you  request that something that does not conform with their preset systems, your  request may fall into a long pipeline that could lead to it disappearing into a  black hole.

As a small business your unique selling point is that you can respond directly to your customers' suggestions and requests and adapt your products and  services to meet their specific requirements much more quickly than a large  company ever can. Hence customer relationship management is absolutely  pivotal to the success or failure of a small business. It is your only chance of  surviving in the competition jungle. The best CRM system is your own personal  approach to your customers. However, it really helps if you have good CRM  software to start with; a call centre is probably not viable if you are very small!  (There are however, special call centre services that small businesses can use  if required, for example, for handling calls while you are asleep in your bed!)  The basis of customer relationship management is that you make every  customer a friend. This way you build customer loyalty. You must aim to  exceed their expectations, by endeavouring to help them in ways that go  beyond their requests - by, for example, helping them with problems they may  be having that may be beyond the specific remit of your company, but within  which you have some of your own personal expertise to share with them. This  is something that no CRM software can do for you. However, by tracking the  history of all your orders with a customer, you will be in a much better position  to respond to your customer in such a way as to make them feel that you have  remembered them - this is something that CRM software should do.

TOPS © is a unique kind of order processing software, because it has customer relationship management at its very heart. The whole system is built around  your customers, their order history, rather than being built around your stock  lists or accounts (although it handles these too). For example, the very first  screen you enter when you log into the system is a customer search screen  allowing you to quickly call up a customer and review all their transactions with  you. TOPS © is very much Customer Relationship Management Software as  well as Order Processing Software.

If you prefer a more specialised CRM software solution, there are plenty of products. Some are online services such as RedKiteCRM. These systems allow  you to send out highly customised and personalised newsletters, mailshots,  etc., to specified selections of your customers.

One other vital and often overlooked aspect of customer relationship management is that as an unknown in the World Wide Web you have to  convince your potential customer that you are safe to trade with. You are  probably going to ask them to send you money on the strength of a few words  and perhaps a pretty picture. You are very lucky indeed if your name /  business is already known to them. You don't have the advantage of locality  where you are known and trusted by people who live in close proximity to each  other and to you.

So how do you reassure this person sat in front of their PC that you are indeed reliable and will supply that which you say you will do. First of all you must  make your trading address and telephone number clearly visible in a number  of suitable places on your site and who they can contact - and who it is they  will be dealing with (probably yourself) should be named. The Internet is a  friendly place so make your contact name sound friendly (not Mrs. McNab, but  Annie McNab). Explain that there is always a real person there to answer any  question or even take orders by telephone or by email rather than by the 'official order form' if they are bit unsure of themselves.