One of the enduring myths about technology is that it changes the basic nature of things, whether it is how you spend your leisure time or how you do business. In fact, the principles of both leisure and entrepreneurship have really never changed. The tools we use to accomplish our goals, however, have changed dramatically.
Take for example the idea that, in business, you want to reward your loyal customers. This did not take a new computer or software to figure out. What the right software can do, however, is pore over a few thousands client records a whole lot faster than you can look at spreadsheets. What you then do with the results is similar to what your father would have done – just a lot faster.
Companies use all kinds of incentives, like bulk buying and buyer rewards, to increase sales in existing markets by leveraging insights into customer buying patterns. One of the best ways to get a handle on what your customer records really tell you is by using a CRM System (also known as Contact Management Software).
With CRM, you can also tailor specific offers/ incentives to individual clients, avoiding more generic and ineffective messages. This can be done through the insights you gain into customer preferences, attitudes, payment habits and response to various marketing efforts. Tabulating all of this by hand, using a spreadsheet, or even by using off-the-shelf database software, would be grueling. Fortunately, there are CRM (Contact Management Software) tools that you can use for immediate benefit.
A fishy example
If you sell seafood to restaurants, say, you would have perhaps hundreds or thousands of customers, all with different histories. If you consider customers with a history of buying halibut, you can bet they will probably be buying more, and on a regular basis. But it may be that they are also interested in other fresh seafood, and you already know that they are the sort of folks who want their seafood as fresh as possible, right off the dock, if possible. If you customize your sales efforts and mine your customer data, you can identify new opportunities, as well as bring existing ones to new prospects. It all comes down to knowing how to learn from your data.
If you do it right, customized sales and marketing efforts will build customer loyalty at the same time that it helps to increase sales – top-line growth. You can use a variety of methods, as you always have (one hopes), from shopping-cart methods to direct mail and e-mail blasts. The right Contact Management Software (CRM) will allow you to slice and dice your customer records, as they say, to look at things in new and different ways. In addition to following your good hunches and using time-tested methods, CRM software can present things in such a way as to give you entirely new ideas. As long as you are open to change, and willing to think differently, you can continue to innovate.
Mining the data
Of course, many variables affect company sales efforts, and CRM alone is not the magic bullet. A good CRM (Contact Management Software) system will support your efforts, even spur some creative thinking, but it cannot bring success at the push of a button. You need to put some thinking into how you will mine your individual customers’ purchasing histories, and devise ways to use the information to customize sales appeals and offer customers new reasons to buy from you (as well as reinforcing the existing reasons). Whether you end up contacting and informing the customer via e-mail, phone calls, direct mail or personal interaction, you will have new things to offer and new, better deals for their unique situations. It all flows from the knowledge you have obtained and saved in your CRM, so now it is merely a matter of getting to it.
This does not have to involve a ton of work, but it will take some creative thinking to do it best. You already have the information, and if you are already using some sort of software tool (whatever it is called), you have the ability to track and analyze your customers’ behaviors. If you do not have a solution in place, there are CRM packages that will do the job for you, and they do not have to be all-encompassing, company-wide, top-down solutions that will force other changes you don’t want to make. Simple, straightforward CRM tools have everything you need to mine your customer data and find the top-line growth that is hiding among the bits and bytes of information.
Bottom line
It is always a good idea to focus on increasing your sales in existing markets, as well as developing new prospects and customers. They are both business growth strategies that will bring you additional sales and profits. Remember the old saying, that one regular customer is better ten one-time buyers (or more). You should do what you can to customize your approach to every customer you have, and using a solid, straightforward CRM (Contact Management Software) solution is the way to do it.