Data Mining For Professional Service Firms - The Marketing Mother Lode May Already Be in Your Files

Nobody needs to tell you about the value of information in today's world - especially the value of information that could help you grow your practice. But it occurred to me that you probably have more information in your head and your existing files, you understand? Tap into this goldmine of information for the development of powerful and effective marketing plan that will draw customers into the door and push up their profitability.

a way to do this is with data mining, the process of using existing customer data and demographic trends to highlight, forecasts and plan strategies.

In other words, what other companies have been doing for years: Analyze your customers in industry and business size, type and volume of services used, the amount billed, how quickly they pay and how profitable their business is for you. With this information, you will be able to spot trends and put together a strong marketing plan.

To mine the data effectively, your marketing department needs access to the client demographic and financial information. Your accounting should provide numbers for services billed, discounts given, is actually collected and receivables aging statistics. You May identify a particular service that is used to a greater extent than the average for the Industry Group, revealing a market segment worth pursuing. May you find or industry group that represents a significant portion of their collected income, but the job is only marginally profitable due to the depreciation and discounts. In this case, you May want to shift your marketing focus.

You should also look at the client's revenues and profitability up to the age of customers. If your percentage of new customers is high, this could mean that you retain a sufficient number of existing clients. If you see too few new clients, you May be in for problems when the client is a natural friction is balanced, new customer acquisition.

The first step to effective data mining is that everyone in the company using the same information system. This allows everyone in the office that needs the names and addresses of clients and contacts have access to this information. Require that all record notes of conversations and meetings in the system. Of course, the system should also receive information that users do not want to share, such as the number of private client and customer personal contacts. That way, everyone can use the system for all, which makes them more likely to use it fully.

your information system can be either contact information or software for customer relationship management (various packages on the market) or you can have a system custom designed. When considering software to facilitate data mining, look at three key factors:

1 Ease of use. If the program is easy to use, will not be used, and will end up being a waste of time and money.

2 Accessibility. The system must allow data to be accessible from anywhere, including laptops, handheld devices, Internet or mobitela.Podaci should be available from a variety of applications so that anyone can use in the office all the time, no matter where they are.

3 Sharability. Everyone should be able to access information, but also need privacy and editing rights so that you can assign or restrict the variety of users can view and input.

Do not miss out on the issue of information security. In addition to allowing people the ability to code specific entries as private, keep in mind that anyone with access to the system and the ability to either steal information or sabotage your work. Talk with your software vendor about the various security measures, but do not let too much security makes the system unusable. Protect yourself with a noncompete agreement and nondisclosure agreements, and be sure to back up your data regularly.

Finally, expect some employees to resist when they seek to change the system they've been using. You may have to sell them on the benefits outweighing the pain of making changes and learning a new system - which means you need to be completely sold on it sami.Managing Partner, or leader of a company, should be driving these initiatives to succeed. When that fails, you'll be able to focus your marketing dollars and efforts on the most profitable areas with the least cost, with a huge positive impact on the bottom line.