Focusing on new business is high on the agenda for most suppliers, yet finding new trade customers isn’t as difficult – or expensive – as you may think.

In the last few years, specialist companies have emerged providing in-depth market intelligence combined with management systems that helps companies not just identify new prospects, but actively convert them to paying customers. One such system is Salestracker.

If you’re planning on taking a much more interactive approach to manage sales and marketing activity, then there are five golden rules that you need in a good web-based system such as Salestracker;

1. Add your own records. As well as the prospect data, you’ll probably have a number of your own contacts and customers you want to add to the system to keep all your information together in one place.

2. Attach documents. You will want to attach mailshots, quotes, call reports, price lists or other documents to the prospects and customers you are dealing with.

3.Sales pipeline. There is no such thing as just a “prospect”. A sales pipeline enables you to progress a prospect from initial contact through to meetings, proposals, follow-up and commitment, and project sales volume.

4.Task Management. A good task management tool will enable you to set tasks for yourself or others, track quotes, and chase prospects with an automatic email reminder system.

5.Campaign Management. Your system should enable you to create and manage campaigns and update all records automatically.

Lest we forget you also want a system that is intuitive so users can instantly create a list of prospects by products, materials (e.g. PVCu), size and location, and use this data for direct mail, telesales, email marketing or as a call list.

The moral of the story is, if you’re serious about winning new customers in 2011, having a powerful prospect database is an invaluable tool, and choosing the right database provider can make all the difference. This is where Insight Data come in…

For more information on Salestracker contact Insight Data on 01934 808293 or visit www.insightdata.co.uk

Don’t forget you can also follow us Insight on Twitter at www.twitter.com/insightdata