HOPE Systems Guide During the Day 11/22/94 Page 65

Matching Customer Requirements with Products and Services

The Securing Customers section (pages 41 and 42) mentions the benefits of saving customer interest information. Once you know the customer's prime interests, you can match them to new and existing merchandise you carry. This interest information can be entered when a customer is in the store. A search can then be performed to pull up a list of all inventory and vendor items, which in their name, features or description match the word or words entered as a customer interest.

This resulting list may be scrolled just as any other list of products. Where possible, any detailed information stored on the item can be presented to the customer, and an order can be generated..

Of course the same procedure can be done in reverse. The list of customers can be reviewed for interest matches with specific criteria on a new product available from vendors or just received.

The selection program (accessed through Sales/Turnover History on the Look Up Menu, and by choosing 5,6, or 7 on the resulting Inventory Inquiry Sub-Menu below) allows a targeted search on a list by criteria such as price, color, features, size, type and function. Through this method, customers can be directed to those specific items most likely to be of interest to them.