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Added for You - Small Business Secret #6: No Customer Database - No Goodwill
There is no question that Richard Parkes Cordock is an inspiration.In his own personal quest to develop his entrepreneurial abilities he interviewed 25 ultra successful millionaire entrepreneurs on everything from the developing the millionaire mindset, right down to dealing with setbacks and disappointment.Fortunately for all of us, he decided to organise what he learnt into the ground breaking education program called the Millionaire MBA.....The Interview.DS: What inspired you to set up Millionaire MBA Ltd?RPC: I knew if I wanted to become successful as an entrepreneur, I needed to understand what made entrepreneurs successful. I could see that the common bond that glues all successful entre
In the case of the Sewing Machine industry, there value in their business was being able to track and manage the actual sewing machine not the customer. It was more importa
There is a dreaded and deadly disease embedded in too many businesses today. What is it? It is called APATHY or more specifically MARKETING APATHY. It is highly contagious and has become widespread among businesses. The symptoms of this disease are: lack of interest; lack of motivation; satisfaction with the status quo; lack of passion; complacency; passiveness; lack of follow-up and follow-through; and a general disregard for marketing activities. These symptoms create a formidable barrier to the success of you and your business. If you or others in your business suffer from any of these symptoms, then Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach urges you to try one or more of the top ten cures for MARKETING APATHY immediate
Let me explain … why the customer database is so important?
The role of the customer database is to tell the history and the story of your customers over a period of time. Many accountants will tell you that your customer database is your accounting package like MYOB and QUICKEN. In fact, I will tell you now that if you only use these applications you are seriously restricting the success of your business as accounting packages do not tell you the full history of the relationship between you and your customers.
The customer database is the most important tool in your whole business. It contains every bit of information about your customers where as the accounting system only contains basic contact information and what they have purchased. The sort of information that you want to store in your customer database does varies depending on the type of business you actually have.
The sort of information I would generally expect in the customer database are things like, their contact information, products they are interested in, information about what they are expecting from you, when you have contacted them and what they discussed, what marketing material you sent to them and whether they bought off that marketing material, what adverts brought them to you, what their average dollar sale is, what their predicted long term value is, any special deals you have done with them and much much more.
What I recommend to every small business owner is to try and locate an industry specific customer database. Pretty much every industry has its own customized system which focuses on the issues related to your business. If your industry does not have one, then it is really important that you invest the money into building one that addresses the issues of customer management for your industry.
Over the last few years my team and I have built a number of industry specific databases for industries like the car cleaning business, the sewing machine sales and repair industry, the carpet cleaning industry, the recruitment industry, the manufacturing industry and so forth. In each and every case, their requirements for their customer management system were very different.
In the case of the Sewing Machine industry, there value in their business was being able to track and manage the actual sewing machine not the customer. It was more importan
A must read before you form your corporation.We've talked to literally hundreds of business owners over the years. If there's one thing we've learned beyond the shadow of a doubt from those who have been sued, needlessly poured money down bottomless tax or expense holes, or whose businesses have failed, it's this: NOT ONE was excited over the few bucks they saved by using a low cost incorporator -- or worse, flying solo -- to incorporate or establish an LLC for their business.Years and untold dollars later, they sorely regret the hard work, stress, and many, many lost hours of time with family and friends -- consumed instead by lawyers, bankers, accountants and creditors, while picking up the pieces of the wreckag
The customer database is the most important tool in your whole business. It contains every bit of information about your customers where as the accounting system only contains basic contact information and what they have purchased. The sort of information that you want to store in your customer database does varies depending on the type of business you actually have.
The sort of information I would generally expect in the customer database are things like, their contact information, products they are interested in, information about what they are expecting from you, when you have contacted them and what they discussed, what marketing material you sent to them and whether they bought off that marketing material, what adverts brought them to you, what their average dollar sale is, what their predicted long term value is, any special deals you have done with them and much much more.
What I recommend to every small business owner is to try and locate an industry specific customer database. Pretty much every industry has its own customized system which focuses on the issues related to your business. If your industry does not have one, then it is really important that you invest the money into building one that addresses the issues of customer management for your industry.
Over the last few years my team and I have built a number of industry specific databases for industries like the car cleaning business, the sewing machine sales and repair industry, the carpet cleaning industry, the recruitment industry, the manufacturing industry and so forth. In each and every case, their requirements for their customer management system were very different.
In the case of the Sewing Machine industry, there value in their business was being able to track and manage the actual sewing machine not the customer. It was more importa
Sales training products come in all shapes and sizes. Where there is a different opinion about how to train effectively, there is undoubtedly another training product available for purchase. Therefore, choosing sales training products that will work for your unique situation is possible but not necessarily an easy thing to do.You are aware that a sound sales training program can mean the difference between achieving your business goals and falling short of them. You are working hard to set yourself apart from all of the other businesses in your industry. You have found and developed characteristics that make you different. It only makes sense that the training you will use will reflect these vital differences.
The sort of information I would generally expect in the customer database are things like, their contact information, products they are interested in, information about what they are expecting from you, when you have contacted them and what they discussed, what marketing material you sent to them and whether they bought off that marketing material, what adverts brought them to you, what their average dollar sale is, what their predicted long term value is, any special deals you have done with them and much much more.
What I recommend to every small business owner is to try and locate an industry specific customer database. Pretty much every industry has its own customized system which focuses on the issues related to your business. If your industry does not have one, then it is really important that you invest the money into building one that addresses the issues of customer management for your industry.
Over the last few years my team and I have built a number of industry specific databases for industries like the car cleaning business, the sewing machine sales and repair industry, the carpet cleaning industry, the recruitment industry, the manufacturing industry and so forth. In each and every case, their requirements for their customer management system were very different.
In the case of the Sewing Machine industry, there value in their business was being able to track and manage the actual sewing machine not the customer. It was more importa
A retail store display will increase customer traffic and sales dramatically. If this were not the case, why would multi-billion dollar companies spend so much money on visual displays? Learning to develop a retail environment into an appealing and stimulating platform for shopping is vital to any business in today's visually stimulated world.Store windows are one of the most fortunate things to possess as a retail location. If a store is blessed with more than one window, then it has the most verified form cheap of advertisement already. Creating beautiful and attractive displays in store windows is guaranteed to increase traffic. Although some stores in strip malls may lack windows, there is still hope for creatin
What I recommend to every small business owner is to try and locate an industry specific customer database. Pretty much every industry has its own customized system which focuses on the issues related to your business. If your industry does not have one, then it is really important that you invest the money into building one that addresses the issues of customer management for your industry.
Over the last few years my team and I have built a number of industry specific databases for industries like the car cleaning business, the sewing machine sales and repair industry, the carpet cleaning industry, the recruitment industry, the manufacturing industry and so forth. In each and every case, their requirements for their customer management system were very different.
In the case of the Sewing Machine industry, there value in their business was being able to track and manage the actual sewing machine not the customer. It was more importa
As the competition for talented people picks up, forward thinking managers need to assess how they are positioned to keep their good people and attract some more.Get the basics right People who have choices, and good people normally do, look for certain features in their employer. It continues to amaze us as we visit different businesses how little attention is paid to some of the basics in the work place.Why would someone put up with poor pay, disinterested management, run down physical surroundings, poor equipment and sub standard recreation facilities (and by this we mean something as basic as a lunch room and tea and coffee!) if they had a choice.Those are just the basics. To really compete, you
In the case of the Sewing Machine industry, there value in their business was being able to track and manage the actual sewing machine not the customer. It was more important for them to be able to know what repair work was done on the machine and how many different people had owned it. The real money in the sewing machine industry is in repairs and sales of their material etc.
Where as, in the carpet cleaning industry, the most important element to track and manage in their industry is in fact the homes that they clean not the customers. This was particularly important when you are doing housing rental carpet cleaning. In this industry, renter's can be a very deceptive group of people; one of my clients had a situation arise where the renter actually accused her carpet cleaning company of wrecking the carpet and staining the carpet and not them.
Well because my client had tracked the history of the carpet in that house, they were able to prove to the Real Estate agent, what stains were originally in the house from previous work to what was in there now. In fact, because they photograph every house once they start and when they finish, they had a full photo history of this house on file. They were able to show to the real estate agent the full history of work carried out and which stains were permanent and what were new and this meant the previous renter had to foot the full bill for the damage they had done not our client.
If my client had not invested in building this customized carpet cleaning customer database, then she could have been in a real bind. Further to this, when my client decided to sell her business, she got three times what others were getting for their carpet cleaning business, because of the value that was found in her customer database.
The company that bought her out was a National Carpet Cleaning Company and they wanted her business because of the customer history she had. This is a perfect example of how the Customer Database illustrated the true value of the Goodwill in her business to the prospective buyer. I should note, she now drives around in a white Mercedes because of the money she earned from the sale of her business.
Customer databases do not need to be expensive and they can be easily built in Microsoft Office applications like Microsoft Access. The reason many companies are using Microsoft Access is beca
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