This week's CDCD has a specific technology focus, as related to your marketing efforts.

I want to focus on Peter Drucker's comment, "The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer". This is true and sounds simple enough, so why do so many companies find it so difficult?

I believe the answer lies in their unwillingness to take absolutely massive action and I mean...

massive action

If the purpose of your business is to create and keep a customer, then the purpose of your marketing effort is to bring those potential customers to your doorstep. At the end of the day, marketing is a numbers game:

The more prospects you put in at the top, the more customers fall out at the bottom.

Given this simple logic, you'd think that more businesses would focus on ways of getting more prospects into the hopper in the first place - and this is what I mean by taking "massive action". I believe the people running small businesses are scared to taking massive action for the following reasons:

1. They think it'll cost too much. They don't understand the economies of scale that can exist in marketing. They believe that marketing to 100 prospects is 10 times the cost of marketing to 10 prospects. 
2. They're not mentally prepared for statistical failure. Not everybody is going to be interested in your offer. That's the nature of marketing - but who cares if you win five profitable deals from brand new customers you would never have found any other way? Learn to accept that some people simply don't want what you have to offer - difficult when you've put your heart and soul into making the perfect product or service - but a reality.
3. They're not mentally prepared for success. I actually had one business owner tell me that he didn't want to take 'massive action', in case everybody said, "yes" and he couldn't cope with the extra work! Please, get real! First, not everybody's going to buy - that's just a statistical improbability. Second, having too much business is an easier problem to solve that too little business - it just comes down to planning and money.
4. They don't have the organisational ability to take massive action, because they see it as just doing more of what they already do at the moment - and not something totally different.

We'll return to these themes throughout the year, I'm sure, but right now I want to focus on the fourth item, "organisation". I believe that the vast majority of micro businesses do not have adequate (or any) customer relationship management (CRM) systems, other than the owner's brain. This is the reason most owners of micro businesses won't take massive action - they (wrongly) believe that they'll have to carry it all in their heads.

Waste of time and prone to huge error.

I've researched computer based CRM systems for a while and spent my money on a few, only to be disappointed at what they achieved for me. Common difficulties were:

• Too complex to use
• Wanted (or presented) too much information, (DOB of dog, etc)
• Did not integrate well with exiting e-mail system

I am delighted to say that I have recently come across a web-based CRM system that seems to solve these problems.

I strongly recommend that you have a look at "Highrise" CRM. (Just put "highrise crm" into a search engine - you'll find it). I've started using it for one, specific project and overall have found it very effective. The other one you might want to look at is "Javelin". Of course, there are many on-line CRM systems. but I've found that many of them just seem to replicate the disadvantages of their PC-based predecessors. Highrise takes a very different approach and has a really nice, easy to use, intuitive user interface.

Just to be clear: I have no relationship, financial, professional, or social with Highrise of Javelin. I'm currently using Highrise and like what it does, so I'm passing that message on for you to take a look if you want to. I intend to test Javelin in due course too.

As usual, please do keep in touch and send me your thoughts, comments and questions directly.

Best wishes to all.

Chris Davidson
Editor, Professional Speakers Journal
editor@professionalspeakersjournal.com