Bob Janet: A Simple System for Bigger Sales and Profits
Customer information is key to sales success
July 2008 By Bob JanetYears ago I was embarrassed in front of a customer because I did not remember his wife’s name. I should have remembered her name because they had purchased electronics, furniture, appliances and tires from me for more than a dozen years. I vowed this would never happen again. Since I have a terrible memory I started writing everything down about every customer on white index cards. Everything: name, address, telephone number, fax number, spouses name, every birth date of every member of the family, mother and father in-laws names and special dates, brothers and sisters, girlfriends names and special dates (including anniversary of their meeting), what they had purchased from me and when, what I thought they might purchase from me in the future, etc... Everything.
Right about now you’re probably thinking how much work that is. It really isn’t if you start after the first engagement with the clients and add new information to their cards every time you meet them. Once I had the information, which I’m sure my competition never bothered collecting, my sales, average ticket prices and profits increased.
Here are a few examples of the process I used to collect the information:
If you were in my electronics store to buy a new television and I happened to also show you a stereo system, I wrote down on my card that you were interested in a stereo system. Then a month before your birthday or a birthday of someone in your family I would call you to say the stereo system you were looking at was on sale.
The system worked especially well in my jewelry store. Everyone looking at jewelry always mentioned other pieces they wished they had. All I did was write the item down on my index card, waited for an occasion - birthday, anniversary, graduation, etc... - and contacted them.
When you purchased tires from my tire business we would measure the amount of life left in your brakes, ask when you needed an oil change and then called you when we figured it was time for you to replace your brakes or change your oil.
I can go on and on and provide thousands of examples because my index cards became my major form of marketing. Those white index cards were my main marketing system and made me so much money that I called them my “gold cards.”
