The database for this target market is simply a complete and functional list of our present and potentially-interested customers. Inattentively, many smaller businesses fail to capitalize on the power of these present and potentially-interested customer lists. Today, the immense power of database management is available to even the tiniest business through modestly-priced PCs. In gold mining, it is commonly necessary to extract and process two to three tons of ore in order to obtain one ounce of refined gold. Astute management performs a comparable mining operation to extract the gold often hidden in the smaller business s own database.
Customer surveys offer at least two advantages.
It is a positive way of communicating with our present, past, and potentially-interested customers. Everybody craves attention. Thus, a customer survey inevitably offers a much better return in enhanced customer relations than the same dollars spent on traditional advertising. And second, a thoughtfully-designed customer survey will give us a much better understanding and factual basis of our customers and their individual needs, dissatisfactions and expectations. Some survey information may trigger an immediate response to meet a previously-unknown customer requirement or to plumb a customer discontent.