The Revenue Growth Habit: The Simple Art of Growing Your Business by 15% in 15 Minutes Per Day

29Growth Technique #12: Categorizing for Revenue Growth—How to Organize Your Lists

A list is the key to the second track of revenue growth. All of your company-to-many communications are only as effective as your list.

But a list's real power comes from the categories you include in it.

Data people call this segmentation, which I can accept. But sometimes this, is called slicing and dicing, as if we're making some kind of salsa. Just think of them as categories. If your list is in a spreadsheet, these are simply additional columns to allow you to quickly sort your list, select a group of email addresses, and send those people something valuable. If you're using a database or a CRM, there are probably several different places to utilize categories like this. Pick a field, or a group of fields, and stay consistent. The start is the key!

To determine your categories, think about the specific industries you work in and the kinds of people you sell to. Think about your geography. And also consider the size of the customers and prospects you sell to, as well as the amount they spend with you annually.

Five Examples of List Categories

Here are five categories you might consider:

1. Industry: Because people in, say, the oil and gas industry care about different things than people in the airline industry. This way you can send value that people in each area care about. I would limit these to your top 5 or 10, with an “Other” listing to catch everyone who doesn't fit into your top ones. ...