It still amazes me when I meet businesses who have no business card or database process. The thought of business cards collected remaining with salespeople or languishing in desks fills me with horror. What happens when they leave? And where are the KPI’s or measurement around how many new contacts are going into the database each week. Maintaining the accuracy of a database should be priority for any business and is my number one bugbare.
Be sure of this, your database is the one single, most important asset you have in your business. It is your corporations very own personalised intellectual property and should be protected at all costs. After all, if all goes belly up in your business you can open up tomorrow and transact with all those who already know and trust you. If I get an incorrectly addressed letter it goes in the bin – the trust is destroyed.
At the moment, when times are tough – and it’s more timely than ever to focus on communicating – it makes one big difference if you know for sure you are communicating to the right person and that they will actually receive your message.
I learned through hard earned experience building my own business, that accurate knowledge is, indeed, power. At Taurus, we make maintaining the database an accountable and KPI’d function – something we even celebrate as a business objective when we hit new numerical and quality milestones.
Using database software, which doesn’t have to cost you the earth, means you can simply and regularly update your database. This will also enable you to communicate with hundreds of contacts at a flick of a switch. You should also be able to get detailed contact statistics and reports, which will give you vital information about your client and contact base. And make sure your database is divided up to represent different groups of people. You can then use your database system for direct marketing to engage with your various customer segments – prospects, influencers, suppliers, highest earners – and bring in new leads. Once you are up and running you can easily send through promotions, newsletters, invitations and any other updates.
I urge you that as the weather gets warmer you spring clean your database and if you haven’t got a computerised system – start one and use it to improve your business!
Top tip: If you do not have the time to update your database, hire a database administrator, a graduate or a part time mum or even someone willing to do work experience. You don’t necessarily need them full time – a few hours a week will ensure your database is kept up to date.
