By Dave Close, Reynolds Consulting Services

Attracting a new customer costs far more than caring for an existing one, especially in this tough economy. So it should be no surprise that your customer name file is the most valuable asset in your dealership. If you don't agree, ask a dealer with the same franchise in your area if they'd sell you their data.

Your name file doesn't contain just demographic and contact information. It saves your customers' sales information - for vehicles, service, body shop, and parts. This information is invaluable for mailings, e-mail campaigns, and customer care decisions, but only if it's accurate.

The Inspection
If you're unsure about the condition of your name file, ask these questions:

• When you search for a name, how many variations do you find for the same name with similar addresses?
• Do you know how much it's costing you to send multiple marketing materials to the same person?
• Do you think a customer care decision based on inaccurate data could cost you that customer?
• Do you know how to avoid most duplicate names in the future?
• Who owns the name file and is responsible for maintaining it on a regular basis?

If you haven't thought about these issues before or don't know how to solve them, it might be time to have your name file serviced.

The Tune-up
A consistent process is the key to keeping your name file at peak performance.

• Designate someone in your dealership to own and regularly clean your name file.
• Standardize how all employees search for and add names, including when and how to use punctuation and abbreviations.
• Decide how long an inactive customer - in sales, service, parts, and accounting - should be maintained in the ERA system before being purged from the file. (They may have moved away or have an active duplicate record. Finding duplicate records and combining them preserves sales history.)

The Specialist
Get as little or as much help as you need. Reynolds Consulting Services can help you set up your name file specifications for best optimization. We can guide you in setting up an in-house process to properly maintain your name file. We also offer a database cleansing service that catches updates like change of address and postal requirements.

You have to maintain a vehicle to keep it running smoothly. The same is true for your name file. Keep it clean and get the best mileage from your data.

Dave Close has 31 years of automotive retail experience and has been with Reynolds Consulting Services for 15 years.