Motivating CRMers is a mountain of a challenge

Regular Diary readers may remember a story a while back about the Business World Atlas, which mapped out places like Customerland and Terra Innova to help guide companies – like some kind of crazy business Sherpa – through the treacherous world of commerce (MW January 26).

Readers may also recall tales of top marketing types ascending the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro (MW February 9).

Now it seems as though the two ideas have been combined. Delegates at a conference in May are being urged to “climb Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM) mountain”.

Obviously this is an extremely tough task, so the computer boffins at SPSS, a “leading provider of predictive analytics software” which is organising the conference, have sourced some serious help in the form of the experienced mountaineer David Breashears.

He will cajole the 300-odd CRM professionals up the mountain, when he delivers a “keynote” speech at the meeting.

The Diary hopes everyone gets up and down safely, although they are in safe hands.

Breashears launched a major rescue effort while climbing Mount Everest during severe blizzards in 1996.