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02.08.10 What Valuable CRM Data Are You Missing In Your Database?  By Bob Sullivan My last two posts, Heading in the Right Sales & Marketing Direction and Golden Customer Rules point out the importance of knowing your best customers and treating them like you want to be treated. So, what's the best way to accomplish these vital sales and marketing needs? Answer: By havingaccurate data in an effectively designed, consistently updated, well-maintained marketing database and...treating that database like gold. Consider just a few of the following stats resulting from recent surveys conducted by some of the top sales and marketing research firms: • At least 50% of your sales success depends on having an accurate, up-to-date database • Following best practices in data quality generates a 66% increase in revenue • Lead tracking and measurement can increase the close rate by 25% to 50% • 10 to 25% of customer/prospect records contain critical data errors Bottom Line: If you don't already have one, then make it a priority to properly plan and implement a database/CRM system of your current customers and prospects. Collect and maintain information such as: full name and title, company name, address, phone, fax, email and website, product interest, buying time frame, SIC codes, annual sales, industry information, and any other data that relates to their company, business and industry. For more information on databases and accurate data, I invite you to read "When Was the Last Time You Reviewed the Completeness of Your Data", and Lead "Scoring and Data Quality: How Much is Dirty Data Costing You?" Believe it or not, there are many companies that still use a spreadsheet as their database and the simple data contained in those to track their customers and campaigns. Scary! For them. So, asking again - what's in your database? It would be interesting for all of us to see what data is tracked, how it is tracked, and how accurate that data is. Comments About the Author: Bob Sullivan is President of InfoGrow Corporation, a national sales & marketing consultant and applications provider that enables clients to leverage information and technology for increased sales & marketing effectiveness. |
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