A common problem businesses face is their inability to develop practical use of the valuable data collected through their CRM systems. Terabytes upon terabytes of valuable information lay dormant in the coffers of numerous hard drives waiting to be mined for the riches within.

To reap the rewards of CRM data, you must develop a data mining strategy centered on supporting your core business processes. You should begin with identifying the key data necessary to increase revenue among existing customers then move to trends which will help you identify leads and the potential of new customers.

Developing a customer profile can start you on the right path to growing sales from your existing customers. Look at your best customers and identify common characteristics. From there, dig deep into their buying patterns and note the various services and products they receive from your company. The customer profile will help you identify the opportunity present in current accounts and set reasonable expectations with your sales team for maximizing the potential of your existing customers.

After you set a basis for determining opportunity with your existing customers, you have a foundation for projecting opportunity for leads and new customers. When suspects are qualified as leads, you can use your opportunity projections to more accurately forecast revenue and set reasonable expectations for your sales team.

Although the specific data you need will vary based on your business processes, the principles are the same. Identify the trends of existing customers, use the data to determine their potential, and qualify and assess leads and new customers to set expectations with your sales force. Mining the riches of data in CRM will lead to better forecasting, increased revenue, and higher standards of accountability with your sales team.

Tags: crm, customer relationship management, data-mining

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