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|  |  Article by Neil Saviano - Managing Information November 26, 2008 Gathering, processing and using customer information with varied technologies is, and will continue to be, a dominant contributor in maintaining dealer profitability and growth. A dealer’s benchmark in their overall effectiveness in managing and using technology-based customer information should come from the answers to the following questions: • How much do we know about what are customers are buying and not buying from us, and how they are buying? • How much do we know about our customer demographics that influence buying? • How do we use the information we have to implement effective and ongoing sales and marketing programs? • How do we gather and use information that helps us to monitor our activities, namely the information management and sales and marketing processes being driven by sales and customer service? The answers to these questions strongly relate to a dealer’s use of the technologies currently available. Industry back-end systems obviously compile customer buying history, but technology is needed to relate this history to areas such as the level of current customer penetration and retention. These metrics are critical, as penetration and retention directly determines profitability on a customer-by-customer basis – both short and long term. Sales and marketing analytical tools are available to help dealers and their salespeople look at each customer and the level of penetration and retention on a one-to-one basis. Technology is also needed to help dealers develop benchmarks such as, customer profiles and how it relates to the level of penetration and retention needed to assure customer sales growth and profitability. CRM and Sales Force Automation software provides a place to put this information for easy access and retrieval for sales and marketing campaigns as well as usage by CSR’s in their every day customer-facing activities. In essence it answers the question: The information is there – now how do we act on it to drive business and profits? Some examples of information dealers work with includes: customer size (as it relates to overall potential), various office equipment, furniture styles and colors, special product and printing needs, competitors, levels of contact, etc. The Sales Force Automation components of popular CRM software technology provide the functionality to efficiently and effectively “act on” this information. Customer classifications that identify, as an example, levels of customer penetration can be grouped together to form a target segment for a campaign. The campaign can be efficiently and effectively automated and contain a series of strategic calls, visits, e-mails and other promotional efforts. Managing information that goes beyond buying history and business potential also plays a key role in customer development; this relates to business demographics and other customer - centric information. Beyond some of the information listed above, some other examples are: type of vertical industry, location and number of locations, customer personal issues and any other customer information that is worth remembering, and used for semi-automated and automated campaigns along with individual customer targeting. This is the kind of information that helps dealers make a value-added difference with a customer in a volatile marketplace. Products and services that address specific customer needs within their vertical and make it easier for them to do business with a dealer, and do business overall, can go a long way in building and sustaining relationships. In the July / August issue of this publication Ron Books, the COO of ECI2, so aptly related to some of this when he stated: “The more areas of a customer’s business a dealer is servicing, the more difficult it will be for the Power Channel to steal that account.” Taking it one step further, it creates a barrier to entry for most competitors.
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