Smaller companies often have customer data that is potential gold too and doesn’t require big investments to reap the rewards. I am working with a $20 million dollar business (I want to keep them anonymous so I will just tell you they are in the luxury goods business) that can simply increase its revenue by leveraging customer data. As I asked them questions about the data that they had and how they were using it, a few things became apparent to me as significant “low hanging fruit” opportunities”.  Here are the facts:

1. They had 1500 customers that purchased at between $5000 to $10000 over the past 18 months.
2. Only the top 100 customers are contacted by the company on a regular basis.
3. There is no process to routinely contact customers in place.
4. The company uses catalogs and e-mails to notify existing customers and prospects about new products and purchase opportunities.

So I asked the CEO if he believed there would be an increase in revenue if we put a simple system in place to call these 1500 customers over a two-month period.  He said absolutely. So we are putting a plan in place for 10 employees to reach out to these customers and notify them about upcoming special opportunities. That’s it, nothing fancy. I feel pretty confident that they should see a 5-10% increase in revenue over the next six months from this initiative alone.

This is a great example of turning “low hanging fruit” data into revenue.  Most companies have opportunities like these with their current and/or old customers.  It is just a matter of giving it some thought, putting a plan together and executing. I believe that most companies are not doing this because 1) they are reactive vs. proactive and 2) their salespeople are focusing on new customers at the expense of old or current customers.

P.S. – As a side note I can tell you that this business does not have a sophisticated CRM or automated marketing platform. I believe that after the calls are made, implementing a more robust CRM system and/or automated marketing initiative will lead to further gains from existing customers as well as prospects.

P.P.S. – I came across an interesting report from a company called Revenue + Associates on the low adoption rate of marketing strategies by lower mid-market businesses.  The report’s findings are consistent with the talks I have had lately with CEOs of like-sized companies.  I am amazed by how much money these companies are leaving on the table.