By Sharla Sikes

We’ve established that customer relationship management has become if not a necessity, then at least a powerful tool in today’s sales world.

So let’s say you’ve got your CRM system set up, and you want to make sure you’re getting the most function out of your investment.

Let’s begin with the analytic tools. Do you know who your most profitable customer is? That’s only the beginning of what you can learn from data you already have, but it’s going to take some housecleaning to make it work for you.

If you have a bunch of spreadsheets and databases serving different functions in different locations, it’s time to consolidate.

“Multiple spreadsheets, databases or systems are a familiar feature for many SMBs but it’s impossible to do any profitability analysis until you have a single version of the truth,” says Jason Nash at ComputerWeekly.com.

Move all data into one location, and verify its accuracy. Current, correct information is time-consuming but necessary; an out-of-date database can hurt you. Data cleaning is a “major issue” in CRM systems. There may be a learning curve here, but consolidating your data is a “foundation” for getting the most from your analysis tools. Now, it’s a tool you can use to track patterns and trends; extract specific data to view in different ways; mine data in order for more information on relationships, classify it and use it to forecast future trends; and correlate commonly used e-mail addresses, Web addresses and other text.

Once you’ve cleaned up and streamlined all of this customer information from all sources, such as departmental/divisional databases, including sales, manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, finance, service and more, you’re ready to begin a targeted marketing campaign.

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