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Mining the
Gold in Your Customer Database
by Adele Sommers
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:
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“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?”
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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 and 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!
Copyright 2006 Adele Sommers
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Since
sending out the last couple of newsletters with tips
for using suggestion boxes — and what to do with
the variety of comments they collect — I've held
some very stimulating discussions with clients and colleagues
on this subject.
While
we are on the subject of new income possibilities through
better use of our customer data, let's talk about why
people buy — or don't buy — from us in the
first place.
