My thanks to Tracy Sheridan for posting a succinct description of VRM:

What is Vendor Relationship Management?

We live in a time when the information disparity that used
to exist between what companies know about products and services, and customers
know about those same products and services is decreasing rapidly.So that now, we’re in a position as customers to establish
any kind of relationship we want with companies, enabling them to essentially bid
on our business

This train’s a’comin!

full description, here:
The Long Blonde Tail: What is VRM?

VRM Defined, neatly originally appeared on TheCustomer on July 17, 2008.