Database Marketing Increases Dell’s Sales
Database Marketing Increases Dell’s Sales
Dell Computer Corporation has been the world’s largest direct-sale vendor of personal computers. One way the company distinguishes itself from other suppliers of PCs is by acting quickly on the masses of datait gathers from customers. (The company receives over 50,000 telephone calls or electronic mail messages daily.) “Information is a valuable competitive weapon,” says Tom Thomas, the chief information officer. “Our whole business system is geared to collect it.” Many of the 50,000 daily messages received by Dell are from potential customers who dial 800 numbers or send e-mail to reach the company’s sales representatives. The rest are from current users of Dell machines, asking the technical support staff for help. The employees who take these calls work on PCs linked to a computer that contains the company’s customer database, which has well over 1 million customer entries. The sales representatives enter information about each call as they receive it, recording names and addresses along with product preferences and / or technical problems. The company stores all this information and much more in a single database shared by employees in various departments, from marketing to product development to customer service.
The data yield significant marketing and sales guidelines. The company tailors its e-mails and advertisements to each recipient. The rate of response to its mailings to small businesses rose 250 percent once Dell used customer feedback to refine its pitch.
Dell organizes its sales by three types: individual consumers, businesses (small, medium, large, ISPs), and public (local government, federal, education, health). The marketing data are organized accordingly. Also, data by country are available. Data are kept by product. In 2000, Dell diversified to wireless products and greatly increased its server and storage products.
Experience from the database also guides the sales representatives who receive
Dell Computer Corporation has been the world’s largest direct-sale vendor of personal computers. One way the company distinguishes itself from other suppliers of PCs is by acting quickly on the masses of datait gathers from customers. (The company receives over 50,000 telephone calls or electronic mail messages daily.) “Information is a valuable competitive weapon,” says Tom Thomas, the chief information officer. “Our whole business system is geared to collect it.” Many of the 50,000 daily messages received by Dell are from potential customers who dial 800 numbers or send e-mail to reach the company’s sales representatives. The rest are from current users of Dell machines, asking the technical support staff for help. The employees who take these calls work on PCs linked to a computer that contains the company’s customer database, which has well over 1 million customer entries. The sales representatives enter information about each call as they receive it, recording names and addresses along with product preferences and / or technical problems. The company stores all this information and much more in a single database shared by employees in various departments, from marketing to product development to customer service.
The data yield significant marketing and sales guidelines. The company tailors its e-mails and advertisements to each recipient. The rate of response to its mailings to small businesses rose 250 percent once Dell used customer feedback to refine its pitch.
Dell organizes its sales by three types: individual consumers, businesses (small, medium, large, ISPs), and public (local government, federal, education, health). The marketing data are organized accordingly. Also, data by country are available. Data are kept by product. In 2000, Dell diversified to wireless products and greatly increased its server and storage products.
Experience from the database also guides the sales representatives who receive