Contacts you make from meeting people can create future opportunity. When they need something from you or vice versa, you’ll be ready and so will they. People you meet could become investors, big clients, suppliers, connections, and just your average customer. Be courteous to your contacts. You don’t want to come across as spam.

Customers are your small business’ backbone. Your contact list is important when exploring ways to retain your current customers. Customer retention becomes extremely important on a competitive playing field. Customer retention becomes your main goal. What ways can you retain your current customers? Running specials, campaigns, coupons, contests and other types of discounts will help keep your current customers coming back to your establishment. This is why it is important to create a customer list and use that customer list for your business’ promotions.

How can you get your customer’s contact information and what information should you be looking to keep in your database? You could simply ask them for it when they visit your establishment, but most customers won’t give their information without something in return. This is where your promotions can be used to create a contact list to use for future promotions.

What information should you get from your customers? Names, phone number, and email are usually sufficient to send out your next promotion. Your small business wants to do a holiday promotion with a coupon attached. Your business can create a landing page specifically designed to register for the promotion while you are creating a contact list for future coupons or promotions. Contests are a great way to obtain customer information. You can have them fill out an index card and place it in slot inside your establishment. You will have to manually input the information into your contact list for promotions. Landing pages with forms are better as the information goes directly into the database.

Contact lists are not just for your customers. If you do business to business, then having your business contact list becomes just as important. It is nice when one supply chain becomes a thing of the past only to be quickly replaced by your business contacts. Business networking is also a good practice in your area and your business contact list will come in handy when you are looking for business friends to come and enjoy.

During a slowdown in your business, you can easily access your contact list and begin an email or SMS campaign to draw your previous customers back into your business. Create an email campaign using your prior or potential customer lists and send your new promotion. Whether it is a contest, a coupon, a special, or a celebration, you want to let your customers know about your new promotion. Your email or SMS campaign will jump start your customers right in your direction.

In conclusion, keeping a good contact list is not only good for customer retention, but to expand your horizons on the business front. Keeping separate lists is a good idea to pinpoint your goals and keep your business profitable.