How companies marketing in Ireland can improve by using CRM

One thing I repeatedly find as I work with small business owners in Ireland is that very few of them maintain any kind of records or computerised database of clients and prospects (Customer Relationship Management CRM system).

No matter what type of business I am dealing with, whether it be a retail unit or a service business 80 percent of the time there is no list of existing customers. Of the business owners that do record details of their past customers only 6 out of 10 are using a computer based system that allows for efficient retrieval and reporting of data.

These figures are very worrying. Huge amounts of money are being spent by the owners of these businesses. Attracting new prospects can be an expensive process so it is even more worrying that existing customers that have been so hard to come by in the first place are allowed to slip through the net.

The cost of selling to an existing customer is 60 to 100% less than the cost of having to acquire a new one and convert them to customers. Current clients of your business have experienced your service before and know how to find your premises. You have built up an relationship and track record with them so it is a pity to waste it. So in my mind it is more important to first look after the customers you have already rather than spending huge amounts of money in trying to attract new clients.

You wouldn’t expect to see a musician spending time and effort creating a new album and selling just one copy, then leaving it on the shelf and then going away and making another album. It makes much more sense to keep selling the same album as many times as you can as the cost of creating it has been borne once already.

Now that you are aware of the importance of building your customer list you need to think about how you can implement such a system in your business. Each time you do a transaction with a customer you should be recording their details, ideally in electronic format. To keep costs low in the beginning you could even use a spreadsheet to do this.

What would happen if 3 days after they purchased from you they were to receive a card thanking them for doing business with you? Do you think that would make you begin to stand out from the competition? Perhaps then 4 weeks after the purchase you could give them a call just to see if everything is working properly for them. This kind of non threatening way of keeping in contact keeps you at the front of your customers’ minds and will make them more likely to refer others to your business.

Three months later send them a special offer to 'valued existing customers only'. It really doesn't matter what you do as long as you do something.

Looking after your past customers will give you better business results in the long term, instead of just focusing on looking for new clients all of the time

Article Source: http://publisherscloninghouse.com

About the author: Matthew Eve is a writer and runs his own marketing consultancy in Ireland.See more of his writing at his irish marketing blog
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