A company database is probably one of the most important tools that any business can own, but it’s very often overlooked as a business asset. However, if it’s treated properly, well maintained and shown a little love, it could sky rocket your business into the stratesphere! Here, we give you 5 reasons to love your database.
There are many reasons why companies use different types of database – inventory management, payroll and finance, managing business data and of course, managing customer relationships. In this article, we’re going to talk about the latter type of database – commonly known as a CRM system.
A CRM system is short for Customer Relations Management – a database which gives your company the opportunity to build strong and lasting relationships with your customers. As business is built on strong customer relations, it stands to reason that having a system that helps you do this, is paramount.
5 reasons to love your database
1. Build and retain strong customer relations
Let’s face it, finding new customers is difficult at the best of times, so it’s important that once you have them, you need to work hard to keep them. It’s much cheaper to do more business with an existing customer than it is to find a new ones, so with this in mind, it’s a no-brainer to do everything that you can to keep our existing customers. A well managed CRM system will help you do this, because as you gain more information about your clients, the more targetted you can be in your marketing campaigns. The better the relationship with your client, the higher the customer satisfaction will be in your company.
2. Better segmentation of your customers needs
Not every customer will want everything that you offer. For instance, if you’re selling agricultural machinery, some of your customers will be interested in tractors and some will be interested only in bale movers. The smart business owner will use their CRM system to segment these different customer needs and target them with correspondence only that appeals to them. The more your database is segmented, the better your marketing results will be.
3. You can be proactive in your communications
Imagine that there’s a big announcement or new initiative in your market sector and you feel that your customers would be interested to know. With a CRM system, you can get that announcement out to your targeted customers within minutes by composing and sending an email from within the system. Think how you’ll look to your customers if they get an email from you within minutes of a major announcement that affects their business. You’ll most definitely go up in the credibility and kudos stakes!
4. Better anticipation of customer needs
Keeping with the agricultural machinery analogy, think about the needs of your client during the year. Their needs and focus will be different in the winter months than it will be in the summer harvest months. Therefore, by segmenting your clients and building strong relationships with them, you can use your database to communicate targeted information, sending out the right message, at the right time, to the right customers.
5. Better protection of data privacy
Data protection is a legal requirement, and GDPR is taken very seriously. Making sure that your company is GDPR compliant is an arduous task if you don’t have a customer database. Most CRM systems already have the GDPR compliant legal requirements built into them, such as email ‘opt in’s’ and ‘unsubscribe’ buttons. This functionality will make your life easier, you can rest easy that your company is GDPR compliant and your customers will know that you can be trusted to keep their data safe and secure.
So, that’s our top 5 reasons to love your database! We’re Dynamic Sales Solutions – helping local companies in and around Gloucester keep their business looking fresh and current both on and offline. If you’d like to know more about how we can help, take a look at our website www.dynamicsalessolutions.co.uk