Your Most Valuable Asset – Your CRM -Customer Relationship Management System

Your Customer Relationship Management System (CRM) is one of the most important items in any business (as well as personal contacts). The more information you can gather on your contacts and customers, the better opportunities to connect with customers, which will lead to increased growth in the business. You can develop plans to monetize your CRM with various products and services. Also, an effectively managed CRM will result in more referrals and remember it’s a lot less expensive to maintain a customer than to go out and acquire a new customer.

Recently, I was a seminar and the presenter made a great point, “Your retirement income is dependent upon your CRM”. The point he was making is that with the volatility in the market on retirement assets, elimination of monthly pension plans for many individuals, along with a bankrupt social security system your most important asset in many cases to generate future retirement income is your CRM (business and personal). The key is to establish a tribe of contacts that can be valuable for any of your future endeavors. As we continue to see more individuals “rewire” vs. retire many continue to review their passions and see if there is an opportunity for monetization of the expertise. Remember you are a brand and make sure your relevant in today’s global marketplace. Google your name and see what comes up, hopefully a long list of topics. If your not, time to get to work and become relevant.

A well-established CRM allows you to have a group to market to in the future with your value-added specific services and products around your expert knowledge basis. An interesting example is Facebook with 900 million subscribers and they mainly own one thing, data (name, email, etc.). Think of how they potentially can monetize their message to advertisers. It’s a simple model to consider, if you have 1000 loyal followers (contacts in your CRM) that you continue to not just communicate to but also sincerely connect with on a regular basis. Imagine if you were able to have them spend $100 per year on your value added service or product. You can do the numbers; it opens up significant income opportunities. It’s important to be engaged with your contacts on a regular systematic basis. There are many CRM systems available in the marketplace that automates the process via emails, newsletters, etc. A few to consider are Infusionsoft, Constant Contact, SalesForce, One Shopping Cart. We all are can be experts in various areas centered on our passions and the key is to consider monetizing the expertise over time.

Top 25 Data Fields to Consider for your CRM

1. Date they became a relationship (anniversary card, promotion of products and services, discounts all around their anniversary)

2. Date of contact, last updated, by whom

3. Name and Nickname

4. Address

5. Home, Work, Cell phone

6. Birthdate and place

7. Outstanding physical characteristics

8. Company name

9. Any clubs they are a member, active in the community

10. Any area’s that the customer has a strong feeling

11. Where did they attend high school, college?

12. Hobbies

13. Family – marital status, spouse name, wedding anniversary

14. Children’s names and ages

15. Children’s interest, sports, etc.

16. Favorite restaurants

17. Vacation habits

18. Kind of car

19. What they are most proud of having achieved

20. How far do they live from you?

21. Specific Preferences

22. Have they purchased products, details?

23. If it’s a new customer where did they come from (competitor)?

24. What are their main priorities?

25. Google Search – have you done one on your contacts, anything unique?

Connecting Opportunities – As you build the CRM system there are various opportunities to connect with your customers with the system:

1. Survey to customers and give them something for value for participating

2. Monthly Newsletter

3. Up-selling your Products and services

4. Sending out a video to all customers via email

5. Having your customers opt-in to your website

6. Online Appointments

7. Specific email marketing around special events, coupons for birthdays, etc.

8. Opportunities to build a library of customer testimonials.

Action Items:

1.Implement specific timeframes to update and complete all required fields in CRM

2.Establish Goals and deadline to get certain number of customer’s “complete” in the CRM

3.Structure a plan for implementation of one or several connecting opportunities

Building a strong CRM system will open significant opportunities in all aspects of your life. The key is to start today with a goal and focus on connecting with individuals over the long term. Remember to always give more than you receive!