RQ4 Customer Database

While working at VerizonWireless, I had become very familiar with Retail IQ. Retail IQ (RQ4) is a program that provides all the features you need to manage and streamline thecore functions of your business. Within this software, there was a large customer section. Every customer who visited the store was manually entered into this customer database by a representative. They did not necessarily have to purchase anything. We were instructed by management to obtain all the information we can (First and last name, address, primary cell phone number and last four digits of social security number). With most of this information we were able to login to a customer’s account. By doing so, we were able to see all the activity within that persons account (upgrade dates, overages, etc.).

By entering all the information we obtained from the customer into our database, we were able to generate future business. After the information is obtained, we (sales team) paid close attention to the customers upgrade dates. An upgrade date occurs usually four months before the end of their wireless contract. During that time, the customer is eligible for a new cell phone at promotional pricing. If a customer chooses to upgrade their cell phone, they will also renew their contract for another two years.

Our goal as a store is to upgrade and add as many new lines of service as possible. We cannot just rely on walk in customers due to the fact that it may be a hit or miss. By doing so, monthly quota is not usually reached. Most Authorized Retail stores (franchised) use some kind of calendar application that will remind the sales team when a customer is ready to upgrade their line. Luckily for our location, our customer database had an integrated calendar. Daily, we would receive reminders indicating who is ready for a new phone. After this, the sales team would perform some cold calling. If the customer did not answer, we would always leave a message.This is how half of our business was actually generated.

Answers to Questions
1. Even though the RQ4 Customer Database greatly benefittedthe company, there were still some challenges with the system. I alwaysremember software freezing, not allowing us to perform simple tasks, issueswith saving information. Another big issue was the inability to backup ourcustomer database. If our main computer crashed, all our customer informationwould be lost.

2. Because our sales team was forced to input customerinformation/ check the calendar daily, this posed a competitive advantage amongstcompetition. Most other Authorized Retail locations we dealt with did notoperate as we did. They did not care to check their calendars daily due tolaziness. This reflected on the stores monthly numbers.

3. I would suggest for the customer database to bereorganized. There were many duplicate customer profiles and outdatedinformation within the database. I would also suggest an updated version of thesoftware. Because our database was so large, the system usually lagged and becameunresponsive; causing us to force close and restart the program.