Feedback Form
Home Features Mastermind Forums About Advertise Blog Network Contact Be An Author

Know Your Customers - Or Perish!

Know Your Customers - Or Perish!

Most companies (large and small) don’t know their customers very well. Certainly, some people within the company usually have intimate knowledge of key contacts, information, history, and details about customers, but that information isn’t institutionalized as often as it should be – which means it can leave with your salespeople! Remember, you own this data.

To that fact, add this one: The most valuable component of any company’s assets is its customer data. Forget your balance sheet, long-term assets, and short-term assets. Without your customers, and the information regarding those customers, everything else is meaningless. Clearly, some framework of capturing customer data is vital for business success. Capturing and using that data is called “Customer Relationship Management.” To get the most out of your sales team, you must have a system to gather this data.

There are numerous contact management systems on the market to be used on a personal computer. ACT! and GoldMine are two of the most popular ones, but more are released each year. Data can also be gathered on paper forms (check out www.mackay.com for the “Mackay 66” questionnaire – this is an excellent template). Essentially, you want to preserve any key information that affects your ability to do business with your customers. This includes (but is not limited to) contact names, company size, and any variable data that indicates how much of your “stuff” they can buy. To implement a data-gathering system, follow this simple process:

Define the information you wish to capture about your customers. The best way to do this is by identifying your top customers. Your “top” customers are not necessarily those customers who produce the most top-line revenue; they are the ones that produce the most profit. While some business owners prefer to use profit margin as their favorite measurement, I’m of the opinion that the only thing you can spend is profit dollars – so in measuring your top customers, I’d advocate ranking them by profit dollars generated.

Once you have your top customers identified, it’s time to look for similarities and patterns. Hopefully, there are common elements that join them. Look for those similarities and then identify those areas as data fields to preserve. Examples of fields that would fit this definition are Industry, Number of employees, Annual revenue, Square footage, etc. List all the fields that identify good customers. You’ll also want to list basic information like name, address, key contacts, phone, etc.

Choose a platform for your CRM system – software or paper, etc. I’m a big believer in software systems like ACT! And GoldMine, but there are others out there. Software makes it easier to run queries and segment your market, as well as generating good reports on your sales efforts. If you decide to use software, you’ll want to customize your database through the “User Defined” fields to capture your key information. Software will also allow you to preserve notes on activities performed with that customer.

If you decide to use the old-tech paper method, you’ll need to make up some customer information sheets with blanks for key fields and contact information, as well as space for notes. You’ll need to keep copies of the papers in a central location, and your salespeople will need copies as well. If this sounds like a lot of work (particularly when it’s time to update and correct information), it is. All the more reason to use a database contact manager.

Make the salespeople/customer service people responsible for gathering the data in their customer interactions. Your salespeople are not the owners of the data; they are custodians whose job it is to make sure that the data is complete and current. To that end, salespeople and customer service people should regularly review customer data with an eye toward completing or updating it with each customer interaction.

Follow up to ensure that data is gathered and maintained. This is best done by periodically surveying your database for blank fields, old activities, or long gaps between updates and corrections. This should be part of the performance review process – the salesperson’s duty is to keep a “clean house” with respect to the customer data under their control.

Finally, it’s as important to make data accessible internally to sales and service personnel as it is to make it inaccessible to outside personnel. Make sure that your communications and security processes are intact, and review them often.





Know Your Customers Or Perish - To learn more about this author, visit Troy Harrison's Website.

Like this article? Share it with your friends

Article Feedback
 Article Feedback No article feedback found.
  Leave Your Feedback
article feedback

Article Feedback
Jay Kubassek
(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek)  In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.

 

As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)

 

Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. 

 

Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper.  Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website


To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us.

About The Author


Troy Harrison
(Visit Troy's Website) SalesForce Solutions is owned and operated by Troy Harrison. Troy has been a top salesperson and sales manager for over fifteen years, and has turned around territories and entire sales forces. While working for a national managed services provider, he turned one of the company's worst sales forces into a two-time consecutive National Champion, with six President's Club salesperson awards and two National Champion Sales Manager awards. From there, he has worked as a "turnaround specialist," producing as much as 67% annual growth in sales and profitability. A track record of consistent overachievement against quota, and a thirst for selling knowledge, has produced one of America's finest sales consultants and trainers. This knowledge becomes yours when you retain Sales Force Solutions! Not an industry specialist, Troy has produced success in industries ranging from mass merchandise to industrial equipment, from managed services to building materials, and in companies from $2 million in annual sales to $1 billion in annual sales. If you have an underachieving sales force, we can fix it. If you have a good sales force, we can make it great!

Troy Harrison is a Silver author on EvanCarmichael.com
About The Author

View Author Blog
View Author Blog

View Author Video
View Author Video

Free Downloads


Troy Harrison's

Complete
List Of
Sales
Articles

Name
Email
If you enjoyed this article, get Troy Harrison's Complete List of Sales Articles For FREE!

More Troy Harrison
Know Your Customers Or Perish
The First Rule of Selling Have a Plan
Managing Sales Activity for Success
Free Downloads


 
 
 


Evan Elite Authors
Casey Gollan  
Stephanie Robey  
John Alexander  
Evan Elite Authors

Become An Author
Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details.
Become An Author

Evan's Latest Video
Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media
Evan's Latest Video

Business Opportunities
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"

How to Start An Online Business

Click Here To Learn More
Business Opportunities



Evan's Newsletter
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Name:
Email:
Evan`s Newsletter

Free Downloads
Effective Art Of Networking Icon Effective Art Of Networking
Your Life Your Legacy Icon Your Life Your Legacy
TeleSeminar Etiquette Icon TeleSeminar Etiquette
Vertical Market Ad Network Icon Vertical Market Ad Network
Webinar Plan Icon Webinar Plan
Free Downloads - Complete List

Entrepreneur Tools and Guides
Top 50 Marketing Blogs To Watch In 2008
Top 50 Marketing Blogs
Top Blogs To Watch In 2008
 
Top 50 Blogs For Startups To Watch In 2009
Top 50 Blogs For Startups
Top Blogs To Watch In 2009
 
Entrepreneur Tools and Guides

SEO For Africa
SEO For Africa
Aubin Kacou Yopougon, Cote D'Ivoire,
Aubin Kacou
Yopougon, Cote D'Ivoire
SEO For Africa

If I Were A Startup...
Erez Zevulunov, $150k to $504k in 2 years
Erez Zevulunov
$150k to $504k in 2 years
Catherine Daw, > $4 Mil in revenues
Catherine Daw
> $4 Mil in revenues
If I Were A Startup... - Complete List

Famous Entrepreneurs
Sam Walton, Wal-Mart
Sam Walton
Wal-Mart
Gordon Ramsay, Gordon Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay
Famous Entrepreneurs - Complete List

Entrepreneur Advice
Keith Ferrazzi, Never Eat Alone
Keith Ferrazzi
Never Eat Alone
Donald J. Trump, Trump University
Donald J. Trump
Trump University
Entrepreneur Advice - Complete List

Popular Articles
(Premium Authors)

     Here's why you should build creativity in the workplace.
By Donna Williams
     Make your meetings more productive with these three simple steps.
By Donna Williams
     How should you handle advertising in a recession?
By Donna Williams

Have A Suggestion?
Toronto Salsa Classes / Toronto Salsa Lessons Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
Have A Suggestion?

More Evan Carmichael
More Information