Do you maintain a dedicated marketing database of customer and targeted prospect information? If not then you need to begin to put this in place immediately. Any business can only market intelligently when it is armed with vital contact information. In fact – outside of tangible business assets such as property, machinery and stock, your marketing database is the most valuable asset. If you ever plan to sell your business one of the first things a potential buyer will want to see is your customer and prospect information.

What to include in your marketing database

Apart from the obvious contact details, for example full name, address, telephone, fax, email etc, the following list shows the information that you need to store and keep up to date:

CategorySource of contactPurchasing historyResponse to offersEmail opt in statusTelephone/fax preference statusPreferred contact methodBirthday/Anniversary datesPartners/children namesHobbiesPets

Let’s consider these items in more detail. It is very important to be able to segment your database into various categories. For example, you will want to know whether each contact is a buying customer, an enquirer that has not yet bought or a targeted prospect. Targeting is the first priority with marketing, so you want to build your database with contacts that are genuine targeted prospects and not merely suspects. In order to achieve this you need to have a definition of a targeted prospect. Here are some of the criteria that you might want to include:

Geographic areaSpending powerLikely need for your product or services

You can also categorise your existing customer base by giving each customer a quality rating. This will include their past purchases, likely potential for the future, the profitability of their business and servicing requirements. The easiest way to store and retrieve this information is to establish a category code that is made up of the various elements of your criteria. For example, a code such as “C1HP5″ could be made up of “C1″ (existing category 1 customer), “HP5″ (Post code area). Enquirers and prospects could be coded similarly with prefix “E3″ (enquirer category 3) for example and “P2″ (Prospect category 2).

The source of contact would show whether they originated from say a customer referral, an advertisement or a purchased list etc.

A purchasing history will include date of purchases, amount spent and nature of purchase.

Response to offers would list each time that you received a response to an offer from each contact. By recording their responses you are able to fine-tune the offers you make available to them ensuring that they are increasingly more appealing and appropriate. This is an ongoing process of refinement that I refer to as “Closed Loop Marketing”.

You also need to know whether the contact has opted out of any email, telephone or fax approaches. In addition, it is good practice to know their preferred contact method. For example some people would rather speak on the phone and others prefer email or contact by letter.

How to use the information

The more you know about each of your contacts the more appropriately and accurately you can communicate intelligently. If every communication offers something of interest that is informative and worthwhile for them then you will gain more respect as a supplier and garner greater responses from your offers.

Over time you will be able to add to your data with personal interest information relating to family names, birthdates, name of pets and hobby interests. This will enable you to build rapport and greater understanding of their needs, circumstances and ongoing purchasing requirements. It is only through regular, meaningful and valuable contact that you will ensure your customers’ expectations are being met and they will come back to you to buy again and again.

ISBN 0-9548916-0-0 Brian James is published author of the breakthrough book “Don’t Work for Your Business – Make Your Business Work for You” with an Amazon.co.uk 5-star rating and credited by the Chamber of Commerce.

Brian is creator of the breakthrough Triple M™ marketing methodology and founder of the Sales & Marketing Academy, an expanding membership programme for ambitious business owners providing ongoing advice, coaching and mentoring support.

Brian was recently interviewed on national television as a business expert by Experts on TV.

Brian has worked with blue-chip and small to medium sized companies across many sectors. Some of the larger organisations he has worked with include the Prudential Group and British Telecom.
He currently operates as Chairman of the Brian James Group a business advisory Group for owner managed businesses.

Database management can be a complicated process so if you would like further information on creating and managing your marketing database, you can contact me at mailto:brian@brianjamesgroup.com” target=”_blank brian@brianjamesgroup.com or via my website at brianjamesgroup.com/” target=”_blank brianjamesgroup.com/

Brian James.

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