The Most Valuable Data for a Small Business
We're looking at customer intelligence this month, and you'll read stories about the best ways to use information you gather about your customers. But sometimes, we need to step back and start with basics.
Many small businesses may just be starting out with collecting data. Those of you who have been doing this for some time might have some insights. What have you found to be the best information to know about your customers, beyond the basic gender, income, age and whether they would recommend your product or service?
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John Markus
Oops?
Did I post this comment to the wrong thread?
Sorry if I did, where should it be if this is the case?
Gwynne Young
Small Business?
John,
This is probably more appropriate in the Best Practices: Small and Medium Business.
If you post this in the appropriate topic, I'll delete your posts here for you.
Gwynne Young, Managing Editor, CustomerThink
Alan J. Zell
What data is most important for small business?
Gwynne, You’ve asked on of those “how high is up” type questions when you ask what is the most important data for small businesses. From whose prospect? For example:
* what the business is doing against the plan (which is, at best, a guesstimate of what will be)?
* cash flow – as without this data, all other may not have much meaning?
* inventory rate of usage – too much of what does not sell well and too little of what does sell?
* how the 80/20 Rule helps/hinders moving forward?
* who is buying. not buying what, when, why?
In today’s busy business world, for small businesses, the tendency is to work with statistics instead of getting out and selling. Owners niche themselves behind computer systems and put novices in front of customers. Knowledge is not numbers as numbers are only abstract figures that can be read a lot of different ways depending on who will be told what they are. But the best computer input is from talking, listening, reacting to what customers not only buy or don’t buy but why they don’t.
Where some CRM my come in handy for a small business is in creating some second sales – repeat sales. However, there are other types of second sales – add-ons and sales by referral. Add-ons, most often, happen at the time of the sale unless the person doing the selling sets up a second sale i.e. “If this works/fits, then it’s time to add . . . . “ (which does not happen very often) and one may never know if a new customer came in due to learning of the business and its products/services from a customer.
While it may not seem so, but to many small businesses, the repeat customer is a big customer and add-ons and referrals are “found money.”
Somewhere between numbers gathered and gut-feeling or hands-on experience one might find a which data is most important at a particular time. Today’s data may be very important today and useless tomorrow when other data comes to the forefront.
AlanAlan J. Zell, Ambassador Of Selling, Attitudes for Selling
azell@aol.com www.sellingselling.com
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