3 Tools to Manage Customer Information

Consider changing your tracking system as you grow

No one has to tell a business owner about the value of keeping good customer records. They're essential for so many tasks — from sales and marketing and customer service to accounting and financial forecasting.

But what may not be obvious is which customer-tracking system makes most sense for a growing business. A simple Excel spreadsheet may have been fine when you first started up. But as a business grows and its customer base expands, a more sophisticated means of tracking and analysing customer data may be necessary.

There are many ways to manage customer information — but what works for one business may not be right for the business next door. Start by considering features and benefits of three popular systems for collecting and tracking customer data — a contact manager, a database sysem and customer relationship management (CRM) software.

Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager (BCM) Update
With this easy-to-use contact management tool you can organise and access all of your customer contact information in one place. Available as part of Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003 and Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003, BCM enables you to:

•	Create, track, and manage accounts, business contacts and business opportunities.
•	Access Activity History to see activities related to an account, business contact, or business opportunity consolidated all in one place.
•	Automatically associate incoming and outgoing e-mail messages and appointments with your accounts, business contacts, or business opportunities so you can easily find them later.
•	Link tasks, notes, phone logs and files to your accounts, business contacts or sales opportunities so you can retrieve them quickly.
•	Attach scanned files to your contacts to help reduce the need for loose papers.
•	Generate reports to quickly filter and gain insight into customer trends and sales opportunities.

A new feature in the BCM Update is the ability to share all of this customer information individuals have accumulated across a PC (peer-to-peer) network. That means you can share contacts, accounts, customer histories and opportunities with managers and colleagues. A common database updates all computers on the network with any changes. This provides a comprehensive overview of customer information and makes it easier for co-workers to fill in for each other.

Microsoft Office Access 2003
As part of the Microsoft Office System, Access is included with Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 and Microsoft Office Professional Enterprise Edition 2003. The database management system was designed with tools that are sophisticated enough for developers, but also relatively easy for new users to learn.

A database is basically a collection of information related to a particular subject or purpose and makes organising, accessing and sharing that information more efficient. For instance, perhaps only some of your customer contact information is stored on a PC. The rest may be stored in a card file at the front desk, in your accounting office in a file cabinet or in a sales department spreadsheet containing order history. If a customer’s phone number changes, you would have to update that information in all three places. Using an Access database, you would only have to update information in one place — the customer’s phone number is automatically updated everywhere you use it in the database.

Of course, one of the reasons you want to collect information in a database is so you can share it efficiently in support of your business needs. Using Access 2003, you can easily share your data with others through reports and Web pages.

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Reports — A report can be an effective way to present your data in a printed format. With Access you have control over the size and appearance of everything on a report, so you can display the information the way you want to see it. For example, you might print one report that groups customer sales data and calculates totals and another report with different data formatted for printing mailing labels for a direct-mail piece. Wizards can help you create different types of reports, including charting your data graphically.

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Web pages — Access offers a variety of ways to share your data with others on the Internet or an intranet, making your information immediately available to a wider audience. This can be particularly useful if you have sales teams travelling or working from different locations. You can export forms, reports and data sheets to HTML that can be published to a Web site. You can also export tables and queries directly to a Windows SharePoint Services site.

Both BCM Update and Access may be appealing because — as part of the Microsoft Office System — you may already own them. But if your focus is building more profitable relationships with your customers, you may want to consider the benefits of software designed specifically for that purpose.

Microsoft CRM
Maintaining good customer relationships isn't typically the responsibility of any one person or department — everyone who comes in contact with a customer has a role. That may be the receptionist, the sales team, your customer service reps and the people in your business office. With CRM software, all of those people can quickly access and share information, ensuring customers get the same dependable service every time they contact your business.

Here are just two ways Microsoft CRM can streamline processes, allowing your team to spend more time with customers and less time on paperwork:

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Customer service — Employees can quickly assign, manage and resolve incidents with automated routing, queuing and service request escalation. Additional features include case management, communications tracking and auto-response e-mail.

You can also generate reports that help identify common support issues, evaluate customer needs, track processes and measure service performance.

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Customer intelligence — A complete view of accounts means you can identify top customers and prioritise service needs. Comprehensive reports help you forecast sales, measure business activity and performance, track sales and service success, as well as identify trends, problems and opportunities.

Another important consideration: With Microsoft CRM, you can configure user interfaces and workflow processes for a custom solution that fits your business needs right now, and then scale the installation as your business grows.

And business growth, after all, is what maintaining good customer records is all about.

Product Links

•	Microsoft Business Solutions CRM
•	Windows XP Professional
•	Windows Small Business Server 2003
•	Office Small Business Edition 2003

Tools

•	Small Business Office Templates
•	Product Advisor
•	Solution Advisor

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Quick Tips

Many small businesses use Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 to seamlessly support key customer information tools, such as CRM and Office Small Business Edition.