Why keeping customer records could be instrumental in your business’ success

The simple administration task of keeping records of your customers will pay dividends in terms of your business’ success. Knowing who is buying from you, how often, and having contact details allowing you to be able to keep in touch with them will be invaluable in sales, marketing, customer service, even financial forecasting, and will keep your business customer-focused.

This is especially true in a small business, where customer relationships are everything. If you can keep on top of names and preferences and offer a friendly service as a result, you’ll see a significant amount of repeat business. People like a personal touch, so you can also keep personal details: names of family, preferred football team and so on.

These records might be as simple as a spreadsheet comprised of names, companies, and contact details or you could install something much more sophisticated.

For example, customer relationship management software (CRM) can help you track and analyse customer data as your business grows. CRM isn’t just for big businesses though – software has been specifically designed for small firms too.

The software will keep records of sales history, preferences, contact details and more, and will let you access this information in an easily manageable way, allowing you to target the most valuable customers. The software can also link to accounts software, giving you a more holistic view, and can record people’s spending patterns, budgets and more. Not only does this free up the time of your employees who don’t have to carry out these routine tasks, but knowledge, after all, is power.