Hire a CRM Consultant
A Facebook friend recently posted that he was looking for a CRM product. Within an hour’s time he had received dozens of suggestions ranging from Zoho, SugarCRM and Salesforce to non-CRM products including Excel, Outlook and Mail Chimp. A few of his buddies even recommended that he build something in Access. These responses led me to believe a couple of things:
Most users often feel their CRM...
Using Act! CRM to Boost Your Sales
A recent survey conducted by the American Research Group, Inc. showed that Americans were planning on spending an average of $861 on gifts for the 2014 holiday season. This number has increased by 8% compared to the 2013 holiday season and experts agree on the fact the online shopping will continue growing. And according to a survey from CreditCards.com, 75% of Americans have made an impulse buy during...
Should I Switch from ACT to Sales Force
Boy, do I hear that question a lot! Sometimes I get a variation (feel free to substitute the name of the current CRM product du jour for Sales Force).
Here’s the deal. I know folks like you – I call them ACT fanactics. I had 500 of them wait in line to get into a seminar I ran in August, 2002 on a not so sunny night in South Florida introducing the all new ACT 6. I guarantee I wouldn’t...
Is Your Business the Underdog?
I love sports and I’m a sucker for Cinderella stories so I was pretty excited to see that Butler made it all the way to the NCAA Basketball Championship final this week. After all, if my beloved Gators couldn’t be there I was glad to see that my dad’s alma mater was represented. Maybe I’m prejudiced, but it seemed to me that most of the country was rooting for Butler. Most of us like...
How to Lose 10 Database Pounds
I’ve lost ten pounds since the holidays! Having been on the Injured Reserve list with a knee injury for over a year I packed on the extra weight. I’ve been fortunate enough all my life not to have to deal with weight loss issues so I wasn’t sure what to do. Quite frankly, the thought of paying hundreds of dollars for artificial meals or drinks wasn’t appealing so I tackled the problem...
Six Ways to Make Sure Your E-Mail Isn’t Flagged As Spam
A few years back I worked with a large cruise line company. Although the cruise line spared no expensive when it came to onboard amenities, the CEO flatly refused to spend money on an ESP (e-mail service provider) to help send out his e-marketing campaign to his very large user base. Within a very short period of time, he managed to get his entire company domain black-listed to the point where...
Being Penny Wise and CRM Foolish
I got a call from a potential client the other day who wanted help in converting his existing databases into the latest version of ACT; he was a long-time ACT user and had accumulated over 20 databases. He then went on to explain that unless I could match the $15/hour price quoted to him by the kid down the street he wasn’t interested in my services. Shortly after that I received a call from...
It’s A Smaller World Than We Think
I recently ran across a wonderful story in the Washington Post about two high school kids who stumbled across an abandoned baby on their way home from school 20 years ago. The baby, only hours old when the kids found her, were ultimately turned over to authorities. The child was eventually adopted but not before the kids had a chance to visit her in the hospital and gift her with a teddy bear. ...
Let Me Sell You Some Swamp Land in Florida
I love my tennis buddies even if they are a bit technically challenged. Take away their AOL accounts and they’d never be able to access e-mail; to them a browser is someone who’s not yet ready to make a purchase. I found it quite interesting that lately many of them were switching cell phone carriers because they just “had to have” an I-Phone. I know they’ll never use the device for...
Protecting Ourselves from Ourselves
My dad taught me that when I pointed my finger at someone (or something) I was in fact pointing two fingers back at myself. Think about it the next time something goes wrong with your computer.
I recently corresponded with a very irate ACT user. He had tried in vain to install ACT without success. He had hired a “computer expert” who had tried to help him, again with no success. Of course he pointed...
