True CRM is the ability to serve your customers by knowing them better and there is not a better place to start than the data you currently store. The wealth of information that can be stored and reported on is the key to preventing customer churn and the formula needed to bring on new clients as well as creating loyal advocates.The key to achieving this successfully is having clean data along with the right data. One of the most common problems I see when assisting companies implement their CRM system is not having an accurate handle of their database of prospects and clients.  The question now is where do you start?

Let’s take a look at some basic categories that describe the phases of your customer’s experience and questions you should have the answers to.

Acquisition- Information stored on the Sales and Marketing experience.

• Where are you finding your customers?
• What products are they buying?
• How long is the buying process?
• Who was the competition?
• What is the won/loss percentage

Retention- Information stored on the Customer Experience

• What is the retention rate?
• Why did they churn?
• What is the customer satisfaction rate?
• How much are they spending?
• What are the service inquiries?
• Are they advocates for my business, do they refer others?

Enhancement- Growth potential for your customers

• What is the cross-sell, up-sell potential?
• How long have they had the product/service?
• What are my customer’s asking for?
• How am I updating my customers on new products, enhancements?

These are just a few questions that you should be able to answer that will give you the answers to categorize your database into 3 groups:

1. Top Customers- the top 20%
2. Good Customers-ones that you can grow to the potential of the top 20%
3. Customers that could be costing you money

By categorizing your customer base you will be able to learn from the top 20% information that can be used to move your good customers up to this level. Your goal is to continuously strive to move each group up or out a level. The top 20% also gives you a benchmark win acquiring list and targeting potential customers.

Ask yourself are you storing the right information in order to answer those questions.
If you cannot please take the time up front to focus on and clean your database in order to extract clean data out of it.