Are you Renting your business?

One of the first things I talk to my clients about is how they store and manage their customer data information. More often than not, it is the first time they have had that conversation. Most trainings & tools are a one hit approach. As if a parade is passing by, the 'sellers' job is to present their best pitch to see if they can get the passers-by to buy their goods & service. The old adage "some will, some won’t, so what, NEXT" exemplifies that attitude. That business model looks like an ongoing process of talking to strangers.

In building an asset database, it is more like stocking a pond, and then fishing from there over a lifetime. It is the art of stocking the pond in the first place that determines the degree of success one can have. As we refine our marketing strategies we are more likely to attract the fish best suited to what we have to offer. I believe our greatest resource is the relationships we cultivate; customers, referral sources and business partners.

If you look at this subject from a more traditional business approach ~ one Google search: the value of a customer database, gave me over 10,200,000 matches.

One of the first being an article, The 24 Essential Database Marketing Techniques, by Arthur Middleton Hughes. Mr. Hughes makes several critical points that are often overlooked by the home-based entrepreneur:

"Customer Lifetime Value can be calculated in any industry, business to business or business to consumer. It is used to direct marketing strategy. It is powerful and it works."

He also talks about Customer Communication:
"Personalized customer communications, based on data in a database, can be shown to increase customer retention, loyalty, cross sales, up sales and referrals. They are effective and they work. They are the principal reason why you build a marketing database."

The number one job in most business ventures, and especially in Direct Sales and Network Marketing is the building and developing of a database of people who become your customers, referral sources and business partners.

Creating a database with value is the key to building an income producing asset. That is accomplished only when your Plan is about marketing to and servicing your audience with focus and consistency.

When we create a focus for our business, and then consistently expose our marketing strategies to our database over and over, month after month, year after year, we establish credibility. And when we keep track of what we do, when we do it and what kinds of results we get we become better and better at creating strategies that attract and maintain a database of the highest value.

That is how we build the asset. Without a database, it's like renting your home. We get to live there and use it but when we move, the owner is the one who possesses the asset. Investing in a database is like buying your home. You own it and the responsibilities that come with it.

As you take care of your property over the years you gain a greater value to your asset. As an entrepreneur, it is exactly the same. As you take ownership of your database, building and developing relationships with the people in your contact management system, your attachment grows. You know it is truly your business that you are growing and nurturing. We are stronger entrepreneurs. Our customers get better service. We make more money. Everyone is happy.