There is a simple answer to the first question in the headline: all of them. The more you record about your clients, the better you will sell and the better customer support you will provide. In this article, you'll learn how to effectively record customer information, which are the most important, and how you can put them into practice.
Where to record client information
There aren't that many options. Freelancers and small companies often use excel spreadsheets where they create a separate tab for each client and continuously add data. However, this method of record keeping loses clarity with a large number of clients and requires hours of time.
Therefore, firms with more than a dozen clients and leads use a CRM, which is a business planning and customer relationship management tool. Firms can have a standalone CRM system or a CRM module within the enterprise information system.
The most important data to record
1. Basic contact information
Details such as the name, registered office and billing information of the client's company are a matter of course. It is advisable to keep separate records of the general company details and the details of the contact persons with whom you communicate. Especially if you are in contact with more than one person at the client.
The CRM makes it easy for you to record basic data by automatically downloading it from the ARES database, so you don't have to enter it manually.
2. History of communication with the client
Whether you are registering an existing client or a potential client, we recommend that you save all of your communications. This makes it easy to refresh yourself before a meeting on what the client was interested in in the past, what their situation was a year ago or what your colleague dealt with them.
From the communication, record:
- Emails,
- minutes of personal meetings
- and phone records.
3. Trade history and documents
You can record dozens of business information about your clients, depending on the type of business you have.
The most common ones include:
- how much you sold the client in total,
- how much you sold him last year,
- which offers he turned down,
- which products and services he buys most from you,
- what is the value of their current open orders
- or what percentage of your revenue comes from that client.
This and other trading performance data will allow you to plan your trading more strategically and better prepare for each subsequent upsell. With this data, for example:
- Know which products and services have been successful with clients and which have not,
- you know what volume of products and services you can sell to a client in a quarter or a year,
- you can better target advertising to the client,
- in the event of a complaint or other problem, your customer support colleague has all the information in one place.
Along with this information, keep a record in one place of all documents related to the client, such as contracts, invoices or quotes. This allows you to quickly click through from the client to a specific invoice, for example, in the CRM.
4. Events
Quarterly meetings, regular callys or perhaps service checks. You should keep a record of every previous and upcoming contact with the client so you can keep track of when things happened or if another joint meeting is coming up. If you use a CRM, link client events to your calendar so you don't miss anything.
With CRM, you can keep track of all four types of information in one place. For example, our RAYNET CRM has a fine-tuned client directory where you can find all the information clearly sorted and linked. From the client, you can click through to related contracts, documents or calendar events. And thanks to the mobile app, you can also access the information from the field.
