Your customer database is one of the most valuable business assets you have. If you are able to keep your customers for many years and do business with them repeatedly you have a foundation that will keep your business growing and prospering long into the future.


What information should your database contain:


* The names and addresses of all your active customers Cullen Gillaspia Texans Jersey , that is anyone who has made a purchase from you in the past year. Your file should also include the phone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses of all your active customers. To keep this data up to date and accurate, make sure you review it a least once a year.


* The names, addresses, phone, and fax numbers of all your inactive customers Kahale Warring Texans Jersey , that is, those people who haven't purchased anything from you in over a year.


In addition your database should have a section for good customers and one for customers who are not good. For example, customers who are not so good would be those who don't pay their bills on time, who complain a lot, and people who order but cancel. When you who know who these difficult people are, it's easier to avoid wasting time or money on them.


You should have all this basic information in a secure database on your computer. If you don't have this information in your database Max Scharping Texans Jersey , then you need to reconstruct it from invoices or any other records you've kept regarding people who have purchased from you.


If you haven't kept good records and can't reconstruct the data about your customers or clients, then start from scratch and ask every customer you deal with to give you their name, address, phone and fax number, and e-mail address. You must do that with each customer.


When you are capturing there information it is always good to ask them for their birth day (not year) as well, because when you know their birth day Lonnie Johnson Jr. Texans Jersey , you can send them a gift of some kind each year, or at the very least, send them a birthday card. It's a nice personal touch that will set you apart from your competitors.


It is very important that your database also includes a record or each purchase a customer has made, what they purchased, and the date when they purchased it. This information is very valuable because it will show you a person's buying habits, and once you know their buying habits Tytus Howard Texans Jersey , you can position yourself to sell into and around the pattern.


For example, if you notice that Customer X bought many of the vegetable-seed packets that you sold in your nursery last year, you should call, send a letter, or e-mail to Customer X a week or two before you take delivery on next year's seed packets. If customer X is really into gardening, he or she will love you for giving him or her an early alert Deshaun Watson Texans Jersey , and this customer will probably make an even bigger purchase of seeds the second time around. In addition, Customer X might buy some gardening tools or perhaps one of the new gardening manuals that you hope to have on display next season.


You need to know who buys more than anyone else. But it's important to separate out the names of those heavy buyers because they deserve more of your personal attention. High volume customers are the people most likely to respond to an add-on offer or an up sell or cross sell on a special promotion. Those are the customers or clients you should put in the hands of your strongest salespeople.


It's important to realize that your database is universal. Once you know who your biggest and best customers are, you can contact them by phone, letter, fax, or e-mail Justin Reid Texans Jersey , or by a personal visit and sell them things even before you have to lay out money for inventory.


Database marketing means classifying the customers you have by studying what they buy. It means marketing in a targeted way to your big customers, your little customers, your multiple-purchase customers, your single purchase customers, and to the people who haven't bought yet. Target each of those segments separately, and tailor your selling messages specifically to that segment.


Start focusing on your biggest and best customers today DeAndre Hopkins Texans Jersey , because that is where you will make the easiest and most profitable new sales.


Copyright? 2005 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.


Some wise human once said "Learn from the mistakes of others. There isn't nearly enough time to make them all yourself." Hence this article. Here are five of the most annoying and common web design mistakes.


1. Slow download time - Don't be that site that is filled with the coolest gizmos in the world. You know, animation, music and other "cool" things. Why? Because nobody is going to go to it because it takes too long to download. A nice clean site that downloads quickly will get you much further than a site with all the fixings that takes forever to download.


2. Unreadable text - If a user has to struggle to read the text on your web site, chances are they won't. Here are some common readability issues:


A. Low contrast text and background - Don't use light colored text on a light background. Also, don't use dark text on a dark background. Text is most easily read with extreme contrasts between the background and text. Black on white is about as good as it gets for readability. Red on black is pretty bad. Yellow on white isn't so hot either.


B. Text on a busy background - Text is most easily read on solid color background. Putting text on textured backgrounds can make it much harder to read.


C. Small Text - Text that is really tiny may look cool Cullen Gillaspia Youth Jersey , but is hard to read. If you must use small text, make sure changing the text size in a browser will change the size of your text. Using style sheets can some times over-ride a browser's ability to increase text size.


3. Unpleasant designs - Designs that use too many colors, colors that clash, or a messy layout, are just plain hard to look at. A site should be pleasant to look at, not a chore.


4. Long pages - Long pages . Wholesale Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys China Wholesale Sports Jerseys Wholesale Cheap Jerseys Wholesale Nike NCAA Jerseys Wholesale New Nike NBA Jerseys Wholesale College Baseball Jerseys Wholesale NBA Jerseys Free Shipping Cheap College Jerseys From China Cheap Authentic NBA Jerseys