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Actual for You - How to Set Up & Organize Your Customer Mailing List For Optimum Results
Discover the pitfalls of owning your own business BEFORE... [you make a BAD choice!]It's really BIG dollars rather than dimes... at least that's my experience over many years. Thousands can be GONE quickly if you fail to plan and work your plan toward success. That said, the first step - baby size - should be at the 'feet' of one who has been there... done it!!Invincible, right? If anyone can do it, I can!! Looking back over many years - 40 plus - it's written all over the decisions made during my early attempts at starting a new business. Yes, I spent most of my career as an entrepreneur, owning or co-owning a business. Sometimes for the 'right' reasons, at other times it turned 'south' and belly-up.At the time it didn't seem like much... my first venture out of business college. 'Excited' to say the least. 21 years old, eager, energized,
You enter a date into the two FollowUp fields to indicate when you want to send follow up literature to customers who don't order on the first try. You should put a date two weeks from the InqDate in FollowUp1, and one two weeks later than that in FollowUp2. Then, every day, you should run a search on these two fields to pull up any records that have today's date as a follow up d
While every business has, or should have a business card, often it is neglected as a part of an overall strategy. If you take the time to devise even a simple marketing, public relations, or sales strategy, your business card should be an integral part of your plan. Location! Location! Location! If you sell product, consider including your card with the product when it is delivered to your customer. Same goes for services. For example, if you are an auto mechanic, consider slipping your business card in your customer's car visor, or create a sticker business card that will adhere to a discrete area of the customer's car windsheild. If you provide regular on-site services, consider a business card magnet to be prominently placed on a refrigerator, or filing cabinet. Keep in mind, you don't need to actually sell product, or deliver service
Most business' customer lists consist of this information: Name, Address, City, State, Zip. That's it. Unfortunately, this mailing list is almost worthless. You need to have more information in your files than just that. One mail order operator has a customer database with 32 information fields! You should be able to set these up in your computer's database, or, if you don't use a computer(you REALLY should), all this information should fit on a large size index card in a card file. Here are some more useful fields to include in your customer database:
LastName; FirstName; Title; Position; CompanyName; Address1; Address2; City; State; Zip; PerPhone; BusPhone; FaxPhone; InqDate; ReferSource; FollowUp1; FollowUp2; SubDate; SubAmount; RenewDate;Purch1; Purch1Date; Purch1Amount; Purch2; Purch2Date; Purch2Amount; Purch3; Purch3Date; Purch3Amount; TotAmount; Comments; Cust#
The first 10 fields (reading across) should be self-explanatory. Almost any address possible can be put into my database without having to leave out information or abbreviate. The next three are for phone numbers. You MUST have your customer's phone numbers, when possible, to be able to follow up quickly and efficiently. Making one phone call can be the difference between a big sale and NO sale.
The InqDate field is where you record the date the customer first inquired about your products and services, and the date you sent the information, since it's always the same day (there's no excuse not to follow up your inquiries on the same day you receive them). This information, coupled with the ReferSource field, tells you when your ads are hitting, and how quickly people are responding to them. If you see that inquiries are coming in slowly, or long after the ad is out, you know that you need more action incentives in my next ad. The ReferSource field is where you enter the "key" from my ad. You should use a letter code after my street address to indicate which publication and issue the inquiry comes from. You should also code your mailings, for the same reason.
You enter a date into the two FollowUp fields to indicate when you want to send follow up literature to customers who don't order on the first try. You should put a date two weeks from the InqDate in FollowUp1, and one two weeks later than that in FollowUp2. Then, every day, you should run a search on these two fields to pull up any records that have today's date as a follow up da
Bend over backwards to stand behind the name and make it known for service and customer focus. Although this seems like common sense, it does not always happen that way. We as humans tend to look in other pastures to see what is greener and sometimes actually move there. I was recently in a training class for a large corporation. This class was teaching their channel partners how to use and install their world class software.The instructor was well versed with the ins and outs and overall had great experience with these classes. No one from the company had actually attended any of these sessions in the past, so one or two of us decided to take part. It certainly was an eye opener. We spent a fair amount of time bashing the company and saying what they should do to the product to make it work better. If that was not enough, he convinced a few participants to buy som
LastName; FirstName; Title; Position; CompanyName; Address1; Address2; City; State; Zip; PerPhone; BusPhone; FaxPhone; InqDate; ReferSource; FollowUp1; FollowUp2; SubDate; SubAmount; RenewDate;Purch1; Purch1Date; Purch1Amount; Purch2; Purch2Date; Purch2Amount; Purch3; Purch3Date; Purch3Amount; TotAmount; Comments; Cust#
The first 10 fields (reading across) should be self-explanatory. Almost any address possible can be put into my database without having to leave out information or abbreviate. The next three are for phone numbers. You MUST have your customer's phone numbers, when possible, to be able to follow up quickly and efficiently. Making one phone call can be the difference between a big sale and NO sale.
The InqDate field is where you record the date the customer first inquired about your products and services, and the date you sent the information, since it's always the same day (there's no excuse not to follow up your inquiries on the same day you receive them). This information, coupled with the ReferSource field, tells you when your ads are hitting, and how quickly people are responding to them. If you see that inquiries are coming in slowly, or long after the ad is out, you know that you need more action incentives in my next ad. The ReferSource field is where you enter the "key" from my ad. You should use a letter code after my street address to indicate which publication and issue the inquiry comes from. You should also code your mailings, for the same reason.
You enter a date into the two FollowUp fields to indicate when you want to send follow up literature to customers who don't order on the first try. You should put a date two weeks from the InqDate in FollowUp1, and one two weeks later than that in FollowUp2. Then, every day, you should run a search on these two fields to pull up any records that have today's date as a follow up d
There's a marketing concept called a SWOT Analysis. Sounds pretty daunting doesn't it?Well, don't worry it's not. It's actually very simple. And it's something that can make or break your business.What is SWOT?It stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.What do you do with it?You use it to size-up your current situation with your business so you can create a plan to be successful.Ask yourself the following questions BEFORE you start marketing:(1) What are your Strengths?What do you do well? What characteristics do you have that will help you be successful in business? What relevant experience do you have?Size up all the strengths you bring to your business.(2) What are your Weaknesses?Now it's time to play the other side of the car
The first 10 fields (reading across) should be self-explanatory. Almost any address possible can be put into my database without having to leave out information or abbreviate. The next three are for phone numbers. You MUST have your customer's phone numbers, when possible, to be able to follow up quickly and efficiently. Making one phone call can be the difference between a big sale and NO sale.
The InqDate field is where you record the date the customer first inquired about your products and services, and the date you sent the information, since it's always the same day (there's no excuse not to follow up your inquiries on the same day you receive them). This information, coupled with the ReferSource field, tells you when your ads are hitting, and how quickly people are responding to them. If you see that inquiries are coming in slowly, or long after the ad is out, you know that you need more action incentives in my next ad. The ReferSource field is where you enter the "key" from my ad. You should use a letter code after my street address to indicate which publication and issue the inquiry comes from. You should also code your mailings, for the same reason.
You enter a date into the two FollowUp fields to indicate when you want to send follow up literature to customers who don't order on the first try. You should put a date two weeks from the InqDate in FollowUp1, and one two weeks later than that in FollowUp2. Then, every day, you should run a search on these two fields to pull up any records that have today's date as a follow up d
The Internet has given people the opportunity to communicate with others and share information. It has also started something called electronic commerce making it easy for someone to buy or sell things in cyberspace.The first site that ever came up with the idea of auctioning is Ebay. This company is more than 10 years old and anyone can post an item for buying or selling.If people find buying a wheelchair lift in stores or even in websites expensive, a cheaper one that is slightly used may be found by doing a search in Ebay.All the person has to do is log onto Ebay.com and wait for the web page to appear. When it is there, the user should type “wheelchair lift” as the keyword then click on search. Within a few seconds, these will all appear and the individual will just scan through what is available to find one that is available.Most of the wh
The InqDate field is where you record the date the customer first inquired about your products and services, and the date you sent the information, since it's always the same day (there's no excuse not to follow up your inquiries on the same day you receive them). This information, coupled with the ReferSource field, tells you when your ads are hitting, and how quickly people are responding to them. If you see that inquiries are coming in slowly, or long after the ad is out, you know that you need more action incentives in my next ad. The ReferSource field is where you enter the "key" from my ad. You should use a letter code after my street address to indicate which publication and issue the inquiry comes from. You should also code your mailings, for the same reason.
You enter a date into the two FollowUp fields to indicate when you want to send follow up literature to customers who don't order on the first try. You should put a date two weeks from the InqDate in FollowUp1, and one two weeks later than that in FollowUp2. Then, every day, you should run a search on these two fields to pull up any records that have today's date as a follow up d
Easy invention ideas? Why easy? Sometimes it's just too intimidating to think about building a new type of car, television, or other complicated invention. So these are ideas for garage or basement tinkerers. Coming up with a prototype for most of these will cost no more than the money in your pocket. They are not patented yet, as far as I know.Wild Game CarrierDeer hunters regularly die of heart attacks while carrying their bucks out of the woods. The invention here would solve that problem. It would have an inflatable wheel, using coated nylon that won't puncture easily. Once you get your deer, blow up the wheel, and using the clamps on either side, you attach two poles or sticks that you cut on site. Attach the simple nylon sling between the sticks, and you have a wheel-barrow-like device that will carry a deer over even rough trails. Probably weig
You enter a date into the two FollowUp fields to indicate when you want to send follow up literature to customers who don't order on the first try. You should put a date two weeks from the InqDate in FollowUp1, and one two weeks later than that in FollowUp2. Then, every day, you should run a search on these two fields to pull up any records that have today's date as a follow up date. You canteen print labels and put them on the envelopes and literature you have ready for follow ups. You should use the next three fields (SubDate, SubAmount, RenewDate) forth newsletter you publish (if you decide to publish one). These would have the date you receive their subscription, the amount they paid (You should sometimes run special prices), and the date you want to send subscription renewal information (usually 10 1/2 months from the SubDate). You can then print labels in the same manner as you do for the FollowUp fields. Next come the Purchase fields. You should have three sets of purchase fields, one for each purchase the customer makes. In the Purch1field, enter a code for the product they have purchased. The other two fields get the date and amount of the purchase. The second and third sets of fields get the same information for the customer’s second and third purchases. The best customers to mail offers to are the ones that have purchased within the last90 days, so you don't have to worry about many customers making more than three purchases during that time period (though I hope they will!). If someone does make a fourth purchase, move the second and third sets of data up to the first and second lines, and enter the new purchase information in the third data set.
These fields are extremely important. You can instantly pull up a list of customers that have purchased within the past 90 days, or60 days, or 30 days, or even 15 days. When you rent out your house mailing list, this information is vital. The rental amount you can charge increases as the amount of time since the customer's purchase decreases. The next field in my database is TotAmount, which contains a formula to calculate the total dollar amount that the customer has purchased from me to date.
The Comments field is used to store any miscellaneous information about the customer that you think is important to know. Use the final field, Cust#, for a specially coded customer number that you assign each customer. Use this code to identify the recipient of any commissions you may pay to customers who have brought business my way. That's a lot of information, and you may be wondering why I would need all of that. Well, I've already told you how to use the purchase data fields for identifying the "age" of the customers. You can also use the TotAmount field to compile a list of customers who have bou
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