Your supplier is offering 50% off a product and you know if you bought a batch you could up-sell them to your existing customers with a good mark up. You run a sales report to see who has bought it before and you go to your customer database to pull out categories of prospective customers you know may be interested in it now. You send out an email campaign and if you have targeted the right customers, hopefully make a tidy profit.
Does this task fill you with dread or would you be confident that your customer database can quickly give you the information you need to instantly capitalise on this promotional offer?
Worth a read: CRM: Different Things to Different People
The importance of keeping good customer databases
Successful marketing campaigns are based on precision targeting; the right offer at the right time aimed at the right people.
You probably recognise that having an integrated database for customers will boost marketing efforts, reduce operational costs and increase customer satisfaction. In practice however, you probably use a variety of fragmented files and databases, designed to suit an individual, business area or department but not the company as a whole.
There are few assets more valuable to a business than its data. Unfortunately this vital resource is often overlooked and poorly maintained.
In tough times, customer service is more important than ever. During a recession the value of a customer actually increases because it costs so much more to acquire a new customer.
Worth a read: 4 Key Benefits to Great CRM Systems
A central and secure location for all your customer interactions will enable you to get to know your customers, respond quickly to their problems, offer superior service and generally build up a good rapport with them. It will also enable you to keep in touch with your customers and generate repeat sales by offering targeted promotions and rewarding them for purchasing from you.
In addition, the information held in your customer database will help you recognise various key trends and essential intelligence for identifying different purchasing tendencies of your customers. With this information, managers, sales and marketing personnel will be able to better manage relationships with your customers.
Centralised database + quality data management = superior customer service
It is important not to under-estimate knowing your customers and understanding how best to meet their needs. If you want to make sure that you have an edge over your competitors then having great and effective data management for your company can be very empowering.
By using a centralised database system everyone in your organisation will have a full and complete view of all customer interactions, you will reduce duplication and improve accuracy whilst making it easier for you to manage.
Current customers are the lifeblood of your business. Stay in touch with them!
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