Have you Kept A Database Of Your Customers?(contd)

Continued from yesterday:

Now that you have your Database how do you organize it?

The least difficult thing to do would be to have a bundle of 3"x5" index cards. Now, this depends on how large of a customer base that you have or if you rather have it all automated.

For those that want to automate their business, due to customer volume and the products or services that need to be handled, this choice would be the best. Since we are living in a computer age, software and computers(hardware) are really inexpensive now days.

Can you remember when(computers) they were huge and cumbersome? We sure have come a long way in this field. The bottom line is, anyone that cannot afford the software or hardware for this particular job, probably should not be in business anyhow.

There are a lot of software databases, you might want to do a search engine on this to find out which one would best fit your needs. The only thing that you have to know is; what type of Operating system that you have. Windows, a Mac. Or?

The bottom line to Database Marketing is to ask your customer what they want or need and to facilitate the acquisition of that product or service before your competition beats you to the punch.

The old rule of KISS(keep it simple stupid) still applies. don't make this an issue, just get it done. Your customer is waiting! You can use those index cards, if a computer makes things too difficult for you.

Have you Kept A Database Of Your Customers?

If you are fortunate enough to have a Database of customers, you now need to maintain a Database of those customers.

The more information that you have regarding your customers, the better you can target what you can market to them. Find out things such as their interests, desires, needs, if possible their birth date etc. The more you know about them, the more you will be able to market to them.

Let's say you have a garage and one of the things you do on a continual basis is change oil and filters. Now most people know when to change their oil and filter. However, if you send that customer a post card or even call them before their next oil change is due, you can beat your competition to the punch. Not only that but you will be surprised how your customer will appreciate this personal reminder.

When I was growing up as a teenager, I had a Milk Route. It was my job to know exactly when my customers needed milk. We later expanded that list to cover just about all the dairy products. Now days, your local stores and supermarkets really hurt your local milkman. The point I am making here, is to set up a way to build rapport with your customer. The more you interact and communicate, the more likely that customer will be loyal to buy from you rather than your competitor.

Now with the event of the huge department stores and supermarkets, building a relationship with your customer is more important than ever. A relationship with your customers, is the edge that you will have, that the big chains do not.

Now we have been talking about supermarkets, stores etc., but as you can reason things out this Data Base marketing can apply to any business.

Tomorrow, we will discuss some marketing tools to accomplish the organization of your Database.