Mining the Gold in Your Customer Database
by Adele Sommers, Ph.D.

Have you ever stopped to consider the wealth of hidden revenue potential that may lie buried in your customer database? The resident data could be worth a small fortune in the way of untapped possibilities. This article lists various ways that you and your company can utilize this precious resource more effectively.

Past purchasers and current prospects in your database represent potentially warm to very warm leads for future business — unlike people you contact via cold calls, who have no relationship with you at all. So if your organization is not making every effort to up-sell, cross-sell, pamper, placate, or otherwise retain previous buyers and prospects, think of the revenue it may be forfeiting!

If you haven’t mined your data extensively, consider doing the following things, each of which has a crucial purpose:

1) Ensure the accuracy and completeness of your customer/prospect data.

2) Take the temperature of your customers and prospects — are they happy?

3) Expose hassles customers are experiencing, so you can begin fixing them.

Start with a Telephone Campaign

You can begin this process with a call to each key customer and prospect contact. One issue to resolve is which department in the organization should do this. Does either “everyone” or “no one” own the customer data? Then perhaps you should volunteer yourself, or suggest appointing someone to do this important job.

In case you need to give anyone a rationale for pursuing this effort, here’s a good one: Marketing research reveals that customers who’ve purchased something from your company at least one time are far more likely than non-customers to do so again. This is a compelling reason for getting on the ball and mining for gold!

Let’s assume that you’re ready to get started with your telephone campaign. What do you say and do? You could plan to use a checklist of talking points to cover in each call. The scope and depth of the conversation will depend on the willingness of the contact to continue the discussion, so it’s ideal to cover the basics first.

Gold Mine #1: Ensure the Accuracy and Completeness of Your Data

Especially if the database has not been kept up-to-date, or has recently been upgraded, merged, or otherwise significantly massaged by technology, the first points to cover would be the correctness of the information. In one such scenario, you might start by saying:

“Hello, [contact name], this is a courtesy call from XYZ Corp. My name is [name] from the [ABC department]. I’m calling to confirm whether our records are up-to-date and complete, as we've recently conducted a major upgrade of our databases to better serve our customers. May I take a few moments of your time to verify your information for our records, and to answer any questions you may have about our products and services?”

Assuming that the answer is yes, you can proceed to verify the current contact information, customer or prospect status, items purchased, and so forth.

Gold Mine #2: Take a Customer/Prospect “Temperature Reading”

If the conversation seems to be flowing well, you can next assess how happy the contact is with whatever has transpired so far.

If it’s a prospect, you could ask, “Are you comfortable with our continuing to contact you periodically to verify your pending needs? What timing would work best for you?”

If it’s a customer, consider asking, “Are you pleased with your products and services to date? Are they doing exactly what you wanted them to do?”

If the customer's answer is no, proceed to Gold Mine #3. If the answer is yes, you can continue to probe more deeply into the “happiness factor” by asking for:

• Testimonials/success stories. Try to make arrangements to collect statements that can be kept on file, and get permission to use them.

• Additional needs. A related reason for this call might be to apprise people of new offerings. Using a needs assessment checklist, delve into what’s new or different about the contact’s situation since your last conversation. In so doing, you can update your records regarding whether businesses still have the same needs as when they purchased or considered your wares earlier. Perhaps they’ve grown and want more of the same, or even some of the new!

• Referrals. Does the customer know of anyone else who could use the same products or services, given the customer’s name as the referrer?

• Permission to be used as a reference. Ask whether prospects can get in touch with the customer for details on positive experiences.

• Suggestions for greater improvement. Is there anything that could make the customer’s experiences even more enjoyable?

• Willingness to test future upgrades. Would the customer be willing to try out updates before they’re released to the general public?

• Opinions on potential offerings. If your company wants to learn what consumer reactions might be for a possible product or service, here’s a way to find out.

Gold Mine #3: Uncover Any Hassles Your Customers Are Experiencing

If the contact is unhappy with your offerings, don’t shy away from hearing the news. Consider that this is the perfect chance to mine more valuable data that will turn into gold after you and your team sift through it (see more on “customer hassles”). For example, you might learn that:

• There are immediate but basic problems that you can help remedy right away.

• Major malfunctions are occurring that should be documented and fixed.

• Gaps exist in the internal hand-offs for converting prospects into customers.

• Customers or prospects need something that you don’t offer, which could spark ideas for new offerings, accessories, and promotional campaigns!

In conclusion, your customer/prospect database may represent an under-exploited source of new income streams. The information gained from simply updating your records can lead to new or improved offerings and precisely targeted marketing campaigns that open revenue doors. Therefore, you have everything to gain by taking charge of this resource and mining its treasure!

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About the Author

Adele Sommers, Ph.D. is author of “Straight Talk on Boosting Business Performance: 12 Ways to Profit from Hidden Potential.” To learn more about her book and sign up for more free tips like these, visit her site at www.LearnShareProsper.com

This article may be distributed freely on your Web site, as long as this entire article, including the links and full “About the Author” section, are unchanged. Please send a copy of, or link to, your “reprint” to Adele@LearnShareProsper.com.

Copyright 2006 Business Performance Inc., Adele Sommers, All Rights Reserved.

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