=Lists of Customers.= Every concern whether it secures business through the mails, by means of personal salesmen, or both, should have a list of its customers properly classified and arranged for easy reference. This should be something more than a list of names and addresses; certain essential facts about each customer--such as his business, the name of the buyer, the credit rating, and amount of purchases--should be recorded.
All of this information can be placed at the head of the ledger sheet, but it never should be necessary for another department to consult the records of the accounting department for information needed daily. The information given by the customers' list is of most value to the sales department and should be kept in that department.
[Illustration: Fig. 28. Monthly Record of Purchases of a Customer]
For customers' lists, cards are most largely used, and are most satisfactory. Cards are readily classified, new names can be added at will, and old names are removed without disturbing the balance of the list or the general arrangement of the cards.
The follow-up card can be used as a customer's card, but should be moved from the follow-up to a separate file; or a new card can be made when a prospect becomes a customer.
On the back of the customer's card a form similar to Fig. 28 should be printed. This is intended for a record of the purchases of the customer and provides for a monthly record, covering a period of five years. The amount of purchases is entered monthly from the ledger. In a business in which the purchases of each customer are infrequent, each order should be entered with the date, in place of the monthly summary.
_Classification of List._ The value of a list of customers is greatly enhanced by a careful classification of the names. Lists of those engaged in the different trades and professions can be bought, but no list is so valuable as one made up of the names of those who have answered your advertisements, or with whom you have done business.
[Illustration: Fig. 29. Card File for a Classified Customers' List]
Most houses sell goods to those in different trades or occupations. A manufacturer may sell different lines, or the same line, to jobbers, retailers, and consumers; a mail order concern may sell to farmers, mechanics, and small retailers; a retailer may sell to men and women. To sell each different line to a different class of people, requires different arguments--a new line of selling talk must be used in each case. While the personal salesman has an opportunity to size up his prospect, and make his argument fit the individual, the letter salesman must fit his argument to a _class_. To drive home the right argument, he must be sure of the class to which his prospect belongs. He cannot hope to form the personal acquaintance of his prospects, but must rely on a proper classification.