Is there untapped revenue in your database?

Did you know your database is one of the most valuable assets you have as a business owner? Did you know some client databases sell for hundreds even thousands of dollars. What’s your database worth? Although you may not be interested in selling it, do you know what its value is to your business?

You should keep your database updated, sorted and periodically cleansed at least once per year. You can even establish a system to do this over a period of time so you don’t have to do it all at once. For example, contact a minimum of 5-10 people from your database per week. Depending on the size of your database, it will consistently be updated within a year’s time.

Jason Stewart talks about the value of databases on his Demandblog post “Your Biggest Untapped Marketing Asset?“ He states, the database is a significant asset that gets undervalued at most companies. Think about it: if your average cost per new contact is even just $20 (a low assumption) and you have a modest database of 250,000 contacts, then your house database is a $5 million asset. Do you treat it as such? How many other assets of that size do you have in your company? How much revenue does that asset generate for your business?

That’s an incredible number, isn’t it? Even if you only have 1,000 people in your database; at a $20 cost per contact that’s a $20,000 asset. Are you treating your database like the goldmine it is? How much time and attention are you putting into cultivating your database? By cultivating, we mean engaging each contact, separating your database into groups based on buying trends, industry, geographics, demographics and creating special marketing messages, promotions and updates just for that particular group; connecting and establishing real relationships. What’s the use and sense of constantly adding people to your database if you do nothing with them? How much goes into removing expired data and making sure the value of your existing database doesn’t deteriorate?

Get more from your database:
• Maintain information related to your clients’ needs. This could be as simple as storing information about your client (i.e. birthdays, children’s names, buying habits, interests, etc.). Keep information about their preferred method of communication – E-mail, direct mail, phone, or personal visits.
• Stay connected. Schedule time to personally touch each contact in your database with a personal call or personal note; especially on special occasions like birthdays, etc.
• Manage your contacts more effectively. Assign contacts to groups (i.e. leads/inquiries, past buyers, collaborators, referrals, where you met, etc). Grouping your contacts makes target marketing easier and ensures that your message is relevant.
• Plan and execute automated marketing campaigns. With a well-sorted and organized database, you can set-up auto-responders for hands-free communication with your clients.

Some additional food for thought about the value of your database is, when companies go out of business they actually sell their database as an asset. Do you think your competition would be willing to buy your database if you closed your doors? Is it even worth buying?

For those of you who have spent money buying leads, followers, etc. What about the existing databases of business contacts already in your database? Is there untapped revenue in your database? It just may be one of your greatest assets.