THE BENEFITS OF UNDERSTANDING YOUR CUSTOMERS

Understanding your customers helps you to sell more. The more you know about them and their needs, the easier it is to identify opportunities to sell them new products and target them with appropriate offers.

Profiling existing customers also makes it easier to find new ones. You can look for similar prospects, and sell to them in a similar way.

However, you must make sure that you comply with data protection regulations for any personal information on existing and potential customers that you collect, keep and use. There are specific rules for e-commerce.

You can use the information you have on customers to improve efficiency. Keeping a central record of customer details and sales reduces errors and speeds up transactions.

You can also improve customer service. Better access to information helps you deal with customers more quickly. You can tailor product offerings and provide personalised treatment. The right information makes it easier to identify and resolve any problems.

Finally, understanding your customers helps your planning. You can predict what they will buy, and estimate how much stock you need. Linking customer management to purchasing can dramatically improve profitability.

LEARN ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMERS

Your customers are a valuable source of information, so you should aim to collect data that lets you identify your customers and how they behave. This will vary depending on your customer profile. If you sell to individual consumers, you might want to know about their age, gender, income and so on. For businesses, you might want to know what industry they operate in and their size.

You should also try to find out what they think about you and your products and services. For example, learn what they like and dislike and why they choose to use you.

If you have just a few important customers, it's worth getting detailed feedback from them. Companies that sell to individual consumers sometimes use customer surveys.

If you sell online, you can use your website to capture some information automatically.

Of course, as well as collecting the information, you need to store it. The most effective way is to use a central database.

However, you must make sure that you comply with data protection regulations for any personal information on existing and potential customers that you collect, keep and use. There are specific rules for e-commerce.

 MAKE CUSTOMER INFORMATION AVAILABLE

Making customer information available to employees can make them more productive. For example, you could give sales staff access to financial systems so that they can check orders and payments. You need to decide what information different employees might need, and how to make it available to them.

Technology can help. For example, you can share correspondence and other information on your computer network. Using caller recognition, staff can view an incoming caller's details and purchasing history before even answering the phone. Integrated IT systems help different parts of your business to share what they know.

It's important for information to be accurate. It's a good idea to update records regularly, taking care to delete duplicate entries. You could also consider giving customers online access, so that they can update their own details themselves.

You must ensure that any confidential or important information is protected against misuse or accidental deletion.

Remember you must also comply with data protection rules for any personal information on existing and potential customers you collect, keep and use. This may affect your IT systems and those staff that have access to the information.

Chris Wilkinson.                              

Certified Business Behaviour & Attitudes Analyst.               

Business Coach.

Tel: (905) 275-2907 (Mississauga).

E-mail: buspilot@bell.net