Understanding The Power of database management

In the Post Covid world of today, DATA is a major non-negotiable force in the marketplace if you want to stay relevant and successful.

In this post, I’m going to share with you the power of database management.

A lot of business owners don’t know how powerful data can be in their businesses, hence, they pay little attention to it.

Managing my database has resulted in many positive experiences for me. However, it was not always so.

I have also experienced the negative effects of not managing databases and I’ll share a few true-life experiences with you.

Years ago, we started a new estate project and rather than advertising it to the general public, we simply shared it with our existing database, using a private placement promo email.

Millions of people responded and keyed into the project. For us, it was a good positive experience of having and leveraging our database.

Another time, we hosted an event and had thousands of people in attendance. Over 500 people bought my products and registered to be my mentees and realtors.

About a month after that, I didn’t get any report from my team concerning the event. So I asked them to send me the data of the registrants to find out what was happening.

Guess what? None of the data was imputed into the system nor utilized. They actually misplaced the entire database sheet and we only saw it again years later when we were moving office.

This is an event we spent millions of naira to host. And just like that, we lost a lot of money simply because there was no database.

Every entrepreneur today must realize the importance of having solid, well-managed, and maximized customer data. It will go a long way in helping you and your business. 

Database management is now a major course that people pay a lot of money to study.

You might need to start going for those courses and send your team to take them as well.

Also, there are diverse tools now available to help you capture and manage your data.

Types of Databases to Consider

1. Pospective Customers

These are people who have either responded to your adverts or made inquiries about your products. They have not yet patronized you but have the possibility of doing that. You need to keep them in your database and update them regularly with offers and new products. 

2. Fresh Customers

These are new customers that are just patronizing you for the first time, they have the potential of becoming repeat customers and also bring referrals, so wisdom demands that you also keep them in the know and update them about things. 

3. High-Networth Customers

These are either those who bring in your major income that adds to your bottom line or people who have the ability to do big businesses with you if they come on board since funds is not a problem to them. You need to know how to treat them so as to win them and also be patient to wheel them in. You don’t catch a shark with a canoe.

4. Low-End Customers

These are customers who do not have huge spending power nor spend much but they are key to continual cash flow. Mass market customers in real estate fall into this category. They may not be able to pay once for your land but their 20k monthly helps cash flow.

5. Regular Customers

These are people who patronize everything you offer and have become your “fans” and raving supporters. Wisdom demands that you identify them and treat them as valuable customers because they help build your brand and spread goodwill that money cannot buy.

How can you update these people regularly? Use email marketing systems like MailChimp, FloDesk, SendPulse and so on.

For starters, these email marketing systems will give you access to their platforms for free until your list grows to a specific count.

Then you’ll start paying monthly or annually. You need to do all you can to make sure your business is standing.

Simple Database Systems to Use

If you Google ‘Database Management Systems’ you’ll get a lot of technical results on how to do it. However, there are simple ways you can achieve this.

1. Manaul Storage

In this case, if you’re collecting names, addresses and phone numbers of customers, you can get someone on your team to write them out, or preferrable, type and print them out. Once that has been done, take the printouts and file them in a metal cabinet.

2. Hardware

Have a drive where you store this information. Once you’ve typed them out, send them into a hard drive and keep the hard drive in a safe place. Make sure the drive is properly labelled so that if you have more than one, it won’t be mixed up.

3. Cloud Storage

These days, you can buy a space in the cloud and store your data. Google cloud storage will give you 15GB for free to store your data. Apple iCloud storage will give you 5GB for free. Once you’ve used up these free plans, go ahead and pay for the paid plans.

Again, I say, if you do not take your database management seriously, you will lose a lot of customer data and an opportunity to scale your business.

Conclusion

If you need to take online courses on managing databases please do so. If you already know how to do it but you’ve ignored it for a long time, start restructuring things.

I look forward to your testimonial and pray that the coming months will be a season of testimony.

P.S. Get my book How to Increase Your Value in the Marketplace and upgrade your value in the marketplace.

KEEP YOUR DREAM ALIVE! 

Yours for Wealth Creation

Dr Olumide Emmanuel.