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Are
You Developing Your Gold Mine? Customer
Information can be a Gold Mine for anyone willing to gather
it. Collecting, analyzing and utilizing Customer
information puts a business in a unique position in
the market place. Customers not only like personal marketing
efforts they crave them. We are not talking about using the
merge function in Microsoft word to input the name of each
customer in to our latest product offering here; as a matter
of fact we are talking about exactly the opposite. Information
technology takes many forms, but it all has the same
purpose. The more we know, the better prepared we can be. In
this case, knowing more about our customers allows us to
market to their needs. For
Example: Is there an advantage to knowing a customers birth
date or anniversary? Of course there is! Beyond the obvious
congratulatory card a flower shop may send a note in advance
of the occasion to remind what may be a forgetful husband.
Now, having saved this customer from an untimely death or
perhaps an evening on the sofa, who do you think he will buy
his flowers from? There
are hundreds of ways to collect information and each
business requires different information for their personal
marketing efforts. Modern computers allow any business to
collect and store information to be called upon so you can
offer each customer a personal customer experience. Web
site forms are an ideal way to collect information, be
careful though, don't ask your customers personal
information unless you offer a secure area on your site. |
Reversal by Microsoft Microsoft
has once again done an about face concerning Windows 98
support. (AP) Microsoft
Corp. will extend support for Windows 98, Windows 98 S.E.
and Windows Millennium Edition through June 30, 2006, the
company said Monday, reversing a decision from last month...
Support for Windows 98 and Windows 98 S.E. had been
scheduled to expire on Friday, and for Windows Me on Dec.
31, but the software giant decided to keep supporting those
systems in large part because some customers in developing
countries were not aware it was ending. This
is good news for those still using Windows 98, but don't
start doing cartwheels. Microsoft will continue offering
paid support ($35 per call) to Windows 98 users; and they
may or may not offer new security patches and updates for
the Win 98 operating system. Microsoft
has taken pressure off of Windows 98 users but the aging
technology is becoming more and more incompatible with each
tech advance. The
good news is the change in position eliminates the need for
a hasty upgrade and allows Windows 98 users the luxury of a
planned change. |
