A
list of customers who have previously bought from you is your most
important
asset. These are the customers who will
provide you with return
business,
which is more profitable than the first sale.
But, are you
getting
the most from your customer list? There
are some secrets you should
know,
so you can squeeze the most benefits out of your mailing list.
Most
business' customer lists consist of this information: Name, Address,
City,
State, Zip. That's it. Unfortunately, this mailing list is almost
worthless. You need to have more information in your
files than just that.
I
have 32 information fields in my customer database! You should be able to
set
these up in your computer's database, or, if you don't use a computer
(you
REALLY should), all this information should fit on a large size index
card
in a card file.
Here
are the fields I have in my customer database:
Product
Code
Publication
Issue
Purchase
LastName
Of Customer
FirstName
of Customer
Address1;
Address2
/ POBox
City; State;
Zip;
Amount
Paid
Ship
Date
Phone
Number
Almost
any address possible can be put into my database without having to
leave
out information or abbreviate. The next
three are for phone numbers.
You
MUST have your customer's phone numbers, when possible, to be able to
follow
up quickly and efficiently. Making one
phone call can be the
difference
between a big sale or NO sale.
The
InqDate field is where I record the date the customer first inquired
about
my products and services, and the date I sent the information, since
it's
always the same day (there's no excuse not to follow up your inquiries
on
the same day you receive them). This
information, coupled with the
ReferSource
field, tells me when my ads are hitting, and how quickly people
are
responding to them. If I see that
inquiries are coming in slowly, or
long
after the ad is out, I know that I need more action incentives in my
next
ad. The ReferSource field is where I
enter the "key" from my ad. I
use
a letter code after my street address to indicate which publication and
issue
the inquiry comes from. I also code my
mailings, for the same reason.
I
enter a date into the two FollowUp fields to indicate when I want to send
follow
up literature to customers who don't order on the first try. I
usually
put a date two weeks from the InqDate in FollowUp1, and one two weeks
later
than that in FollowUp2. Then, every day,
I run a search on these two
fields
to pull up any records that have today's date as a follow up date. I
can
then print labels and put them on the envelopes and literature I have
ready
for follow ups.
I
use the next three fields (SubDate, SubAmount, RenewDate) for the
newsletter
I publish. These would have the date I
receive their
subscription,
the amount they paid (I sometimes run special prices), and the
date
I want to send subscription renewal information (usually 10 1/2 months
from
the SubDate). I can then print labels in
the same manner as I do for
the
FollowUp fields.
Next
come the Purchase fields. I have three
sets of purchase fields, one
for
each purchase the customer makes. In the
Purch1 field, I enter a code
for
the product they have purchased. The
other two fields get the date and
amount
of the purchase. The second and third
sets of fields get the same
information
for the customer's second and third purchases.
The best
customers
to mail offers to are the ones that have purchased within the last
90
days, so I don't have to worry about many customers making more than
three
purchases during that time period (though I hope they will!). If
someone
does make a fourth purchase, I move the second and third sets of
data
up to the first and second lines, and enter the new purchase information
in
the third data set.
These
fields are extremely important. I can
instantly pull up a list of
customers
that have purchased within the past 90 days, or 60 days, or 30
days,
or even 15 days. When you rent out your
house mailing list, like I
do,
this information is vital. The rental
amount you can charge increases
as
the amount of time since the customer's purchase decreases.
The
Comments field is used to store any miscellaneous information about the
customer
that I think is important to know.
I
use the final field, Cust#, for a specially coded customer number that I
assign
each customer. I use this code to
identify the recipient of any
commissions
I may pay to customers who have brought business my way.
That's
a lot of information, and you may be wondering why I would need all
of
that. Well, I've already told you how I
use the purchase data fields for
identifying
the "age" of the customers. I
can also use the TotAmount field
to
compile a list of customers who have bought more than a certain amount
from
me. Together, these field searches can
be used to produce a customized
mailing
list of, for example, customers who have bought more than $50 in
the
past 30 days. These would be the most
responsive people to mail to, and
would
render the highest rental rate.
I
can also use certain mailing list fields to identify people who should be
dropped
from my list. For example, I can search
for customers with
FollowUp2
dates that are four weeks past today's date, and TotAmounts of
zero. These customers could be erased from my
list. Or, I could leave them
on
file, and put a word or two in the Comments field reminding me not to
mail
anything else to them, in case they inquire again. This saves me the
cost
of mailing something to someone who probably won't respond. They might,
but
chances are they won't.
Finally,
if I get a customer who has returned too many orders, or has
defrauded
me in some way, I can put that information in the Comments field.
Then,
if they order again, when their file comes up, I will see their
history,
and can use extra caution with them.
As
you can see, if you use foresight when initially setting up your customer
list,
you will have a valuable tool that you can use to increase your order
potential,
increase your income through specialized list rental, and
decrease
your mailing costs by eliminating "deadwood" from your list. This
is
one of the most important methods you can use to increase your chances of
success.
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