A Roadmap to Sales Success

Vol. 1 No. 10 June, 2004 - "Importance/Use of a Customer Data Base"

LAST of a SERIES - New series starts next month - see below

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"Good order is the foundation of all things." - - Edmund Burke
Feel free to pass this along if it can help others. ". (Sales Partners) provides excellent advice to managers on how to manage sales personnel and the tracking processes needed to oversee a sales team." - - Jeffrey LaRiche, Chairman and CEO, Castle Worldwide		For help with sales issues: see "Ask your Sales Partner". Submit your questions to info@salestraininginc.com. All Questions will be answered via e-mail. Ask your Sales Partner: Ken asks: "Whose names should I put in my data base?" SP: EVERY CONTACT! (Coded as to their status: customer, prospect, influencer, friend, etc.)

About the “Roadmap …”

Each issue of the “Roadmap to Sales Success” will contain items of interest to the business (especially the sales) community.

In addition, each issue will also feature one in a series of “progressive” articles to help you through the “Sales Cycle.” Following is the schedule:

No. 1	-	“The Importance of Sales/Salespeople”
No. 2	-	“Understanding Your Offering/Your Market”
No. 3	-	“Reaching Your Decision - Makers”
No. 4	-	“Things to Say When You Do Make Contact”
No. 5	-	“Offering Your Offering - in the Best Light”
No. 6	-	“Handling Obstacles/Objections/Concerns”
No. 7	-	“Closing a Sale”
No. 8	-	“Cultivating Lasting Relationships”
No. 9	-	“Networking for Results”
No. 10	-	“Importance/Use of a Customer Data Base”

This Month’s Sales Tips …

"It takes as much energy to
wish as it does to plan" - - Eleanor Roosevelt

"We live and die by time and we must not commit the sin of turning our back on time." - - Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) Cast Away

Upcoming Events involving Sales Partners:

06/03/2004	-	Knightdale Chamber Business Expo

Please see:
http://www.salespartnersinc.com for details

Importance/Use of a Customer Data Base - - Vol. 1 No. 10 - - June, 2004

LAST of a SERIES -

New series starts next month:
"Tales from Sales Street" - real-life examples of
successful selling situations.

"The trouble with organizing a thing is that pretty soon folks get to paying more attention to the organization than to what they're organized for." - - Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little Town on the Prairie

What is a "Customer Data Base" anyway?

First, a definition: a " Contact Data Base" is, simply, a collection of information about your contacts (duh.) It can be on little slips of paper, Post-it® notes, index cards, whatever. Of course, the easiest and most effective medium is your computer.

The computer data base can be a simple spreadsheet, a customized program, a part of your e-mail contact list (ex. Microsoft Outlook ®) or a specific software application (ex. ACT!™).

Below, we'll discuss some types of systems.

For now, the most important things are:

Have SOMETHING.
Have something that you like and will use.
Have something that will help you achieve your goals.

"Having and USING a contact management system (customer data base) is the foundation of sales success." - - Joyce's Law #9 (This probably should have been the topic of Newsletter #1.)

Rationale: We want to be able to easily access important contact information, and we want it to be as accurate and timely as possible. If we have the data available to us on the computer, then we don't have to "fish" through papers, notes, etc. to find it. Also, we can make sure that we're following up with contacts in a timely and proper fashion.

Some types of contact management systems:

These come in several "flavors". Some examples are: Basic Contact Management, Sales Force Automation, and Customer Relationship Management. You can look at them as more or less comprehensive offshoots of the same theme: an accurate repository of important contact data.

From: http://www.commerce-database.com

"Contact Management definition: Contact Management software provides access to detailed contact information. Contact management software enables the business to maintain a deep knowledge of key contacts and facilitate collaboration between sales, service, and marketing teams."

From: http://www.whatis.com

"Sales Automation software is a type of program that automates business tasks such as inventory control, sales processing, and tracking of customer interactions, as well as analyzing sales forecasts and performance."

From: http://www.SearchCRM.com

"CRM (customer relationship management) is an information industry term for methodologies, software, and usually Internet capabilities that help an enterprise manage customer relationships in an organized way."

For descriptions of various types of systems, please see:

http://www.knowledgestorm.com/search/browse/1397/1397.jsp

What's best for you?

What's best for you is what meets your needs and is something that you will USE - faithfully.

What kind of information should be kept?

Besides the obvious: name, address, communication/contact info, the possibilities are almost limitless. It is important to take the time at the beginning to set it up so that it's easy for you to use. Code the data so that you can quickly extract what is needed: category of contact, priority, buying motives, preferred method/frequency of contact, etc. - for reporting/marketing/other purposes.

How many contacts?

It largely depends upon the offering: the lower the price, the greater number of contacts needed to be successful. In business-to-business sales, a good "rule of thumb" is 4-5 times the number of people that you can MEET in a year, of an average number of appointments. Example: let's say that you need to make 3 appointments per day. That equates to 15 per week or 750 per year (the good Sales Manager gives you 2 weeks of vacation!)

At 4-5 times, that means you need more than 3,000 active contacts in your data base! Why so many? Primarily because you may not be able to meet with everyone whom/when you wish.

Where do you start?

Start "somewhere" then build up and qualify: customers, prospects, influencers, friends, relatives; A, B, C, priority, etc. Cultivate contacts with "results" in mind.

Updating/refreshing your data base.

Set time aside - at least once per week - otherwise, it will get away from you and not be entirely useful. With today's technology - PDA's, etc. - you can even do it in "real time."

Once you have your data base constructed and systematic, it becomes easier and routine to work your "territory".

SUMMARY of this "Roadmap ." series:

This concludes the initial series of the " Roadmap . " Hopefully; these 10 newsletters have been a useful, informative, and enjoyable resource for you. Your comments are invited: info@salestraininginc.com

Next issue:

Be on the lookout for next issue of “Roadmap …” where the topic will be the first of the series: "Tales from Sales Street" - real-life examples of successful selling situations. Until then, Good Selling!!


Helpful Hints this month: If you're having network issues or want to upgrade your skills, see: http://www.netwktraining.com/ Like to have a website that actually does something to help your business? Please see: http://www.webdesignstudio.com/ Want help with your Life/Career? Go to: http://www.lifecareerplan.com/ And, of course, to improve your sales situation, please see: SALES PARTNERS, INC. ^SM http://www.salespartnersinc.com/		SALES PARTNERS, INC. ^SM Helping companies and individuals: * Grow Revenue * Improve Sales Productivity * Enhance Customer Relationships Submit your question/comments to: info@salestraininginc.com Subscribe to the “Roadmap …”