The Importance of Databases

It can seem so technical. Only large companies are going to have extensive databases about all of their sales along with any other information they feel like keeping track of. For the small business owner, using something a little less formal might be better, you might think to yourself. If you work freelance you might even just try to remember who your clients are by simply remembering. After all, if your customer base is small enough, why not just keep track of it in your head?No matter what the size of your company is and no matter how big or large your clientele base is you should always be prepared to use a database to keep track of all of the information.I can’t stress enough how important this will become for any kind of business. I’ve been in the position before of thinking I was only going to need a very informal method of keeping track of sales and customers, only to quickly realize I was mistaken. More and more my databases became a lot more extensive, until I was mad at myself for not having enough information from my earlier sales all because I wasn’t doing things right.The kind of stuff you keep track of isn’t always going to be about only the basics like sales. Of course, you’ll definitely want to have that information. After all, if you plan on doing anything like direct marketing, it is going to be important to know exactly how much color printing to get done by knowing how many people to send to.But you can go beyond the basics to more detailed information. Do certain clients have personal preferences on times of day to meet up, or maybe other little habits that make them different? Do they have a family, a business of their own, or certain hobbies they really like?When you’re dealing with a lot of customers it isn’t going to be as easy to keep all of this information straight in your head unless you just happen to have picture perfect memory. Why not put these tidbits of info into your database as well?Now you have the ability to send personalized advertisements to them. Get the most from your color printing by sending them something that will have a better chance of appealing to them. If you know you’re going to be getting a product in that fits well with a particular person’s hobby, why not send them something telling them about it?The mere fact that they can see you remember that much about them is going to improve your standing with them. People like to feel special, and being remembered certainly makes them feel special. These days there are so many effective database programs on the market there’s no reason not to make use of them. If you haven’t already, start up a database of your own and start putting everything you can into it.  You never know when the information is going to come in handy.