Many businesses today carry on like playground children trying to collect as many marbles as possible, only to find that they do not know what do with success when it finally happens for them. To avoid this pitfall, stick to your business plan and your answers to the questions above. Focus only on collecting the information you know you will use to turn prospects into customers.

There are many ways to collect prospect data, and each data collection episode requires a bit of consumer trust. It is best to collect data in a way that truly shows how it benefits the prospect, which both makes that prospect more willing to provide data and helps to ensure that the data is right. Remember that the information you are collecting is the lifeblood of understanding for your programs, so work to collect accurate data, not just data.

A good application of data can prevent the major marketing sin of investing in consumer relationships that will not return gains to your marketing program. The trick here is to be able to tell the good relationships from the bad. With a system in place, you will be able to customize your data, putting customers into groups by location, their purchasing and delivery dates, customized products, etc.

Data collection
Collecting data from prospects does not necessarily require spending a fortune on software systems. Although a large corporation may spend tens of millions of dollars on a CRM system supplied by Oracle, Siebel Systems, IBM, or dozens of other companies specializing in components such as telephone call center technology, database software and Internet systems, many off-the-shelf systems are very affordable.

Because the whole idea is to customize each system to a specific company’s need, there is no universal definition of CRM, which has both business-to-business and business-to-consumer applications. You can begin today by simply creating a plan outlining how you will go about communicating with each and every prospect that walks through your door or contacts you by any other means.

This plan should include an instrument such as a customer feedback form for first-time customers to allow them to evaluate you and your company. The two-way communication need not consume your productivity time. The time allotted for CRM should be no more than 3% of your day (15 minutes more or less for most people).

Included on the form should be a place for the prospect to include their name and contact information. Use this information to begin the contact collection. Remember that it is all about building relationships so you will need to act on customer’s requests and needs. You should actually read the feedback or suggestion cards you created and follow-up personally with customers.

Another good idea is to invest in CRM software to input the valuable information you’ve collected. Many good products exist to help you with CRM such as ACT, Cyrious (which also provides estimating software customized for the sign industry), OnContact, Goldmine, and many more. Once you begin using these systems, you’ll be able to make notes about the prospect’s hours for contact, likes and dislikes, type of products they are interested in, and anything else that will help you to better market your company to them.

The goal in this marketing stage of CRM is to discover ways to collect the data of prospects and then use that data to make personalized contacts. It may take several contacts, using direct mail pieces, email, phone calls and face-to-face meetings before you can convert them to a customer. Many of the CRM products today offer documentation options to keep track of who contacted the prospect, what transpired, and what was the outcome.

CRM aims to manage customers effectively and efficiently by automating the process of managing customers. CRM offers a range of possibilities that not only helps the customer achieve a better service, but also allows your business to keep tighter control of your customers. In Part II, we will examine some of the ways you can find prospects and how you can use CRM to convert them to customers.