The customer file is a valuable document for your business because it allows you to list all your customers, and even your prospects.
Useful for your communication and/or sales activities, it is essential to keep it up to date and provide as much information as possible.
Follow our advice to create your customer file and download our free template to create yours quickly.
Why set up a client file?
In addition to listing your clientele, the customer file has many advantages and will be very useful to you for:
- Save time: by grouping your clients in one place you'll save time when searching for specific information. It will also be very easy to update contact details, for example.
- Analyze your clientele: by recording precise information about your customers you can analyze their buying habits and draw conclusions about your commercial strategy.
- Set up communication actions: thanks to your customer file you can easily export your database and the desired information for mailings and personalize email campaigns.
- Implement sales actions: by knowing your clients' needs, budgets, or purchase frequencies, you can develop appropriate and relevant offers.
Note that to manage your customers and prospects there are also free CRM software.
What does a client file contain?
The data to include in your customer file depend on your industry, but in any case you should be as precise as possible.
In general, you should indicate the following information for each of your customers (and possibly prospects):
- Type (customer or prospect)
- First and last name
- Gender (male / female)
- Address
- Date of birth
- Date of first contact
- Phone
You can then add purchase history, dates of sales appointments and/or phone calls, planned actions, budget, desired project, source of the contact, etc.
The more information you provide, the better you know your target.
How to collect information?
You can enter new customers when they make a purchase. They can also give you their contact details when requesting a quote or placing an order form, directly at a trade show, during sales meetings, or when they contact you directly.
For prospects, you can collect their information by running contests, using online forms, or inviting them to create a loyalty card.
Excel client file template to download
To help you set up your customer file you can download our free Excel template.
This downloadable Excel client file is designed for any business that needs a basic example of a customer database. It’s perfect for small businesses that don’t want to invest in a complex CRM to get started.
To make it easier to use, many fields are already filled in — you only need to add your information. Cells are also formatted and dropdown lists have been created to allow faster data entry.
With our client file template, you can easily adapt it to your industry by removing or adding columns according to the additional information you want to collect.
Access your client file online
We recommend putting your client file online. Instead of using the Excel file directly on your computer, prefer an online version with Google Sheets or an online Excel alternative.
This will allow you to create a client file and access it from any device with an internet connection. Also, you will no longer risk losing your client information.
