Develop A Long-Term Relationship with Your Customers

Satisfied customers provide long-term, profitable buying relationships. By using the information available to you from an effective marketing database, you can:

1. Solve your customers' problems. Purchase histories, transactions and relevant statistics allow you to offer more than a product. You offer your customers a solution to their problems.

2. Communicate with your customers personally by name. Database marketing allows you to be more knowledgeable about your customers' buying frequency, dollar value of their business, and other factors that influence immediate and future sales.

3. Add value to your customers' purchases. Expand sales through additional services such as training programs, related products and services and automatic updates.

4. Develop, enhance and expand your relationship. When customers trust and depend on you, they look to you for help in solving their problems. They look forward to doing business with you and want you to service more and more of their needs.

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ

Creating A Database Attitude

Successful operation of a marketing database requires a change to a marketing culture. A marketing culture demands:

• A marketing approach rather than a systems approach. Marketing is customer-centered and all systems need to be created and managed to support customers. Ask, "How will this add value to my customers: experience and use? The technical nature of database management cannot supersede the need for marketing and customer support.

• A willingness to invest. Marketing databases require systems composed of hardware, software and experts to operate them. Loyalty programs require strategy and time to succeed. All are vital investments that are required before a database marketing program will succeed.

• Accountability and a return on investment.

Marketing promotions need to be considered as investments that require a return on investment. Reports and calculations need to be made for all decisions, and the decisions need to be accountable to show a required return on investment.

Good Luck & Good Selling!

Russ

Customer Service and Your Bottom Line

Over the long haul, there is no question that providing outstanding customer service benefits a business significantly. It strengthens the relationships with customers, provides a solid foundation for additional account penetration and keeps customer attrition to a minimum. All of this benefits the bottom line. And outstanding customer services help avoid the additional work associated with mistakes, problems and inappropriate treatment of customers. Focus heavily on your customer service levels and instill a real discipline about how customers are served. Over time your bottom line will reflect the enhanced emphasis.

Good Luck & Good Selling!
Russ

Improve Efficiency With Processes

Inefficient processes can have a profound impact on your bottom line. Bad processes lead to more hours than necessary being worked which translates into more overtime or more people. And bad processes can have a detrimental impact on customer service. Look at your processes and isolate those that seem to be the most inefficient. In a simple and straightforward manner, flow chart each step in the process and critique each of those steps in terms of whether it is necessary and/or whether it is being carried out in the most efficient manner possible. If it is not necessary, eliminate it.

Good luck & Good Selling!
Russ