Your list of customers who have previously bought from you is

your most important asset. These are the customers who will

provide you with return business, which is more profitable than

the first sale. But, are you getting the most from your customer

list? There are some secrets you should know, so you can squeeze

the most benefits out of your mailing list.

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. I have 32 information

fields in my customer database! 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 the fields I have in my

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 or NO sale.

The InqDate field is where I record the date the customer first

inquired about my products and services, and the date I 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 me when my ads are hitting, and how quickly people are

responding to them. If I see that inquiries are coming in

slowly, or long after the ad is out, I know that I need more

action incentives in my next ad. The ReferSource field is where

I enter the "key" from my ad. I use a letter code after my

street address to indicate which publication and issue the

inquiry comes from. I also code my mailings, for the same

reason.

I enter a date into the two FollowUp fields to indicate when I

want to send follow up literature to customers who don't order on

the first try. I usually put a date two weeks from the InqDate

in FollowUp1, and one two weeks later than that in FollowUp2.

Then, every day, I run a search on these two fields to pull up

any records that have today's date as a follow up date. I can

then print labels and put them on the envelopes and literature I

have ready for follow ups.

I use the next three fields (SubDate, SubAmount, RenewDate) for

the newsletter I publish. These would have the date I receive

their subscription, the amount they paid (I sometimes run special

prices), and the date I want to send subscription renewal

information (usually 10 1/2 months from the SubDate). I can then

print labels in the same manner as I do for the FollowUp fields.

Next come the Purchase fields. I have three sets of purchase

fields, one for each purchase the customer makes. In the Purch1

field, I 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 last

90 days, so I 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, I 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. I can instantly pull up a

list of customers that have purchased within the past 90 days, or

60 days, or 30 days, or even 15 days. When you rent out your

house mailing list, like I do, 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 I think is important to know.

I use the final field, Cust#, for a specially coded customer

number that I assign each customer. I use this code to identify

the recipient of any commissions I 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 I use the

purchase data fields for identifying the "age" of the customers.

I can also use the TotAmount field to compile a list of customers

who have bought more than a certain amount from me. Together,

these field searches can be used to produce a customized mailing

list of, for example, customers who have bought more than $50 in

the past 30 days. These would be the most responsive people to

mail to, and would render the highest rental rate of my customer

list.

I can also use certain mailing list fields to identify people who

should be dropped from my list. For example, I can search for

customers with FollowUp2 dates that are four weeks past today's

date, and TotAmounts of zero. These customers could be erased

from my list. Or, I could leave them on file, and put a word or

two in the Comments field reminding me not to mail anything else

to them, in case they inquire again. This saves me the cost of

mailing something to someone who probably won't respond. They

might, but chances are they won't.

Finally, if I get a customer who has returned too many orders, or

has defrauded me in some way, I can put that information in the

Comments field. Then, if they order again, when their file comes

up, I will see their history, and can use extra caution with

them.

As you can see, if you use foresight when initially setting up

your customer list, you will have a valuable tool that you can

use to increase your order potential, increase your income

through specialized list rental, and decrease your mailing costs

by eliminating "deadwood" from your list. This is one of the

most important methods you can use to increase your chances of

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