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If you want to sell your business in five years time for $5 million, what’s one of the assets your prospective buyers will be looking for? Your systems and procedures manual of course! How can you expect anyone to want to buy a business that has been run for years by the knowledge you have accumulated in your head over your business lifetime?
One of the most critical systems to get right is your customer data-base and customer relationship management processes. They are the cornerstone of successful marketing. After all, it makes sense to market and sell to those people who have already bought from you before looking for new customers, and the only way to do that is by ensuring you have kept your client contact details and information on a great data-base system. There are excellent stand-alone and on-line systems available, it’s simply selecting one which best suits your requirements.
The most important principle to apply with customer data-bases is KISS (keep it simple stupid)! It is better to keep core information on all your customers and be rigorous at keeping it updated than to have lots of information on some customers and virtually none on others. A good data-base allows you to do some great analysis to target your marketing and regularly keep in touch with your customers. The rule is “systemise the usual and people manage the exception”.
Systems are not only essential for business but also everyday living. Systems give us freedom. It is important to systemise the mundane activities in our personal and professional lives to not only ensure they get done, but also that we are not wasting mental energy on those mundane tasks or activities.
When you systemise your business you increase its value. Systems including databases, operations manuals, training manuals, employee guidelines, policies and procedures all become assets of the company.
(Extract from “Small Business, Big Brand”, Carolyn Stafford)
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