Suggest You - Business

Business Mail Forwarding - Is It Worth The Cost
Business Mail Forwarding, have you heard of it before? If not and you are a small to medium sized business owner, you are urged to take the time to familiarize yourself with business mail forwarding. It might just be the extra push that your business needs to begin seeing profits.Business mail forwarding is a service that is offered to many business owners. It involves giving business owners an alternative address, which can also be used as their business mailing address. If you choose to subscribe to a business mail forwarding service, you will give your customers or clients a new, alternative mailing address. Should they need to send you anything, such as an order or a payment, their mailings will be sent directly to your alternative business address. At that address, the individuals or company in charge of handing your business mail forwarding account will forward, or send, your mail on to you, at your real, physical business location.The cost of subscribing to a business mail forwarding service will all depend on who you choose to do business with. For the most part, you are charged a monthly fee. It is also important to note that additional fees may be imposed for large packages and such. Despite a variation in price, it is not uncommon for the standard monthly fee to be anywhere from fifteen to thirty dollars a month. Although this is a relatively cheap price, you may be wondering if it is worth it. If so, you are defiantly not alone; each year a large number of business owners ask themselves the same question.Whether or not a business mail forwarding service is worth the cost will depend on your wants, as well as your needs. How is your business doing financially now? Do you have as many clients as you had originally hoped that you would have? If not, where is your business located? Are you located outside of the United States or in a small, relatively unheard of city or town? If so, did you know that your location may have an impact on the number of clients you obtain? It can, in some cases. A business mail forwarding service will likely give you an alternative business address that is in a well-known city, inside the United States. This familiarization may make it easier for you to obtain new clients, just because they recognize the city where your business is “located.”What is nice about many business mail

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eSalesForce, eCustomerCenter, eMobile, My*Entellium ASP

Product: Neocase Company: Neocase Software, Inc. Price: <$1,000 per seat w/server; <$100 a month on demand Features: Parent/Child Cases, Contract and Service Level Agreement Management, Self-Service Solution, Customizable Partner Portal, Searchable Knowledge Management Tool, Dashboards and Reports

Product Name: Parature Company: Parature Inc. Features: eActivity, eAsset, eChat, eContact, eDownload, eForum, eKnowledge, ePortal, eProduct, eReport, eSurvey, eTicket Web-based Product: Pivotal CRM Company: Pivotal Corporation Features: Pivotal Sales Suite, Pivotal Marketing Suite, Pivotal Service Suite, Pivotal Partner Management Suite, Pivotal Analytics, Pivotal Technology, Pivotal Mobile CRM, Manufacturing, Financial Services, Home Building and Real Estate, Healthcare Payers, Medical Device Manufacturing ASP;MS-SQL

Product: NetSuite CRM+ Company: NetSuite Inc. Price: CRM Software From $129/user/month Features: Real-time Dashboards, Business Intelligence, Sales Force Automation, SFA: Order Management, SFA: Upsell/Cross-Sell, SFA: Incentive Management, Customer Support & Service, Partner Relationship Management, Marketing Automation, Productivity tools, Document Management & Publishing NetSuite CRM+ is a web-based CRM solution.

Product: Maximizer Enterprise CRM Company: Maximizer Software Inc. Price: $499/user + Features: Sales Force Automation, Outlook integration, Wireless CRM, Web-Based CRM, Marketing Automation, Customer Service and Support Management, Customization, Business Intelligence, Workflow Automation, Accounting Link, Partner Relationship Management, StemCell Technologies, Inc., W&O Supply, Inc., Microsoft Windows, SQL, .NET, Outlook, Office, IIS

Product: ADAPTcrm Company: ADAPT Software Applications, Inc. Price: $1,000 to $1,500 per seat Features: Campaign Management, Accounting Integration, Sales Management, Service Ticket Management MS SQL 2000

Product: OfficePax Company: eTouchware, Inc. Price: $179.00 per seat Features: Group Calendar, Email, Invoicing, Time Management, Project Management, Group Contact Management, File Sharing MS Access; MS SQL

Product: e-Synergy Company: Exact Software North America

Fire Branding Customers to Your Business
The idea of fire branding customers comes from my grand daughter, Taylor. She applied a tattoo to her shoulder and was pleased as she displayed a small peace symbol about the size of a peanut. Each time I looked at her shoulder, I was reminded of the little symbol and what it meant. It made me think about how great it would be to fire brand customers with my business name. I thought of countless ways of placing my logo around the world to spread the right image.I realized that several companies are fire branding their image everyday. All I have to do is see a red and blue swirl and Pepsi comes to mind. A few yellow arches and hamburgers with fries make me hungry. A consistent image is what makes this work for them.Turning Drab to Fabulous Having a consistent image creates an impact with customers. Later this month I will be attending a few conventions where my image and my booth must create an impression. I will fire brand my image from the shirts I will be wearing to the consistent stationary and sales collateral on display. My sales video has been reworked to link my logo to an image of myself as I promote my sales management consulting business.Creating brand awareness is the dream of every marketing executive. Consistent branding is the only way to make this work. A logo is the customer link to your business and yourself as a salesperson. The more consistent you are with it, the stronger your brand becomes.One company that can help create a fire branding impact is Letter Click. The Letter Click Company is an Email Services Provider (ESP) that brands your email consistently. If you want to try out their service, give them a try for 30 days. I’m sure you will be pleased with the results. I have been using their service for a few months and recommend them.Talk the Talk Consistently The fire branding idea also reminded me of how important it is to have a consistent message about what we offer to our customers. Taylor asked me what I did for a living. Although I normally have the right answer, I struggled with the question. The 30 second sales script didn’t flow like it should, this challenged me to rediscover the right words and develop a consistent talk track.If a friend asked you what you do, can you answer the question consistently? Now I can say, “I teach businesses how to develop their bu

Customer Relationship Management has been a holy grail for Big Business for the past ten years. So what about Small to Mid-sized Business (SMB) applications? If you talk to CRM software vendors they will claim that CRM systems help SMBs become more efficient, drive more sales (your ROI) and increase the accuracy of your forecast.

A few consultants have an alternative view: they see CRM as a process rather than a software product. A CRM process allows you to effectively manage your customer interactions (get to know your customers). This way you actually get to use the nice shiny tools that the CRM software vendors offer.

While I tend to agree with the latter, my experience with databases is as my algebra teacher used to say: GIGO! (Garbage-In Garbage-Out).

Regardless of which view you take, you’re going to need to do a lot of research and soul-searching within your organization in order to get the most from your CRM. Here is what you need to think about to get started:

What is Customer Relationship Management?

Well...the answer depends not only on who you talk to, but also on who you are.

If you are a sales rep, CRM simply means effectively using Outlook or Act or some other contact manager to track potential customers as they move through your sales cycle.

If you're a business owner or CEO then it means tracking all of your customer's information as they touch your organization at key points. This is how you know when they'll need to buy your widget or have their new wiget serviced or whether they'll want to know about an upgrade to a particular line of widgets.

As the owner, CRM means you will be able to provide your employees with access to customer information at all levels of your organization from a centrally managed location. This improves service and aids in customer retention.

The big idea here is to keep vital knowledge about your customers within your organization, even if your employees change.

Is CRM Right for You?

It depends on who you are, and how you apply it.

If you're a Big Company CEO then you've probably already sunk millions into a strategic alliance (bought their product) with Oracle or SAP. Then you paid their developers millions more to automate your broken business processes. This generates tons of overtime hours from overworked employees as they fix customer issues "in the back office". Fortunately, your stock went up anyway because you talked big to Wall Street analysts about your million dollar magic database system which makes your organization appear more efficient. Operational inefficiencies are quietly choking this organization, but your golden parachute will probably open out as soon as the fan begins to blow your way.

HOWEVER, in all likelihood if you are reading this you're probably not a Big Company CEO. Perhaps instead you run a mid-sized private company with multiple regional locations. In this case you may have several different systems that require your employees to spend their time faxing documents back and forth between departments. Despite this your customers are pretty happy because they get to speak with Sally (their favorite customer service rep) everyday and the product gets out the door.

OR you’re a small business owner that knows almost all of his customers by name because you’ve managed to enter MOST of them into your Outlook address folder. SOMEDAY you’ll be able to find the rest of those business cards from last year’s convention. Anyway, you’ve managed hire a few key employees that remember the rest of your customer’s names, what they’ve ordered and when they’ll need to re-order new stock. Because of this you can usually come close to a forecast of next month’s sales.

Now for the nitty gritty:

So, what can CRM do for a Small to Mid-sized Business?

Properly applied, CRM can:

* Make every customer count - The cost associated with finding a customer means that you need to make every customer count. While it’s important to secure new business, it’s your repeat business that means long term success. * Help you know your customers - When you're a small business knowing your customer means knowing what they need now and what they may need 30/60/90 days from now. This knowledge is often the key to survival. * Generate cross-selling (making suggestions) of product enhancements or alternatives. * Target marketing communications to your customer’s specific needs. * Increase customer retention and repeat business. Repeat business from existing customers means reduction in overall cost of sales.

Okay. So you’ve decided that you’re sold on CRM and you want to buy a system to bring in those customers, get inside their heads and bring ‘em back for more. Now you’re going to need to know your CRM options in terms of software systems.

Pros and Cons of ASP vs. Boxed Software:

There are two models for CRM. Application Service Provider model and software based. There are a number of advantages to both the ASP and software models.

Application Service Providers ASPs offer web-based CRM services. The ASP model is a decent option if you want to implement a solution quickly and your organization lacks the in-house talent or resources to customize an existing application or build from the ground. ASPs are good bet if you’re an internet based business or small business that needs a fast and low-cost start-up solution.

Pros * No software updates to manage or install * No servers to support or purchase * No back-ups of critical customer information required * Generally low start up cost (hardware, software and training included)

Cons * ASP's can go out of business, taking critical customer information with them * High-speed internet connection required * Internet connection outage means critical customer information is not available

Boxed or Off-the-shelf software Several software manufacturers produce CRM solutions that work with existing packages (Lotus, Outlook). Often these companies offer stripped down or basic versions of their packages targeted to small businesses. This can be low-cost solution if you’ve already invested in standard Microsoft business applications and can deal with most of the standard modules they offer. If you’re flexible and willing trade some functionality for convenience and price then boxed software may work for you.

Pros * Application is theoretically available on a 24/7 basis * No high-speed internet connection required * Business critical information is securely stored on company servers and back-ups are easily accessible * Business is not immediately interrupted due to a change in the developers business situation

Cons * Generally high-start-up costs (server hardware, software and training) * On-going support required: Back-ups, updates and service packs etc. * Data can often be stored in a proprietary format that will require conversion in to new format

Other CRM Solutions: Custom Development If you’ve the budget, time and patience then a gaggle of consultants, CRM solution providers and software engineers will beat down your doors to develop a custom CRM system that works flawlessly with your existing systems. I’d recommend this option only if you’re spending other people’s money, get a big bonus and then are able to leave the company before it falls apart. If you do select this path, carefully work through your specifications with your “partners” and good luck! Managed Solutions ASPs offer to create a customized brand-version web of their web CRM applications. These are usually on a dedicated server and often sell for a flat development fee PLUS lots of other customized options. It can be solid choice if you’ve got the budget and are willing to be flexible with some of the functionality.

Who Are The Players?

Unfortunately, in the CRM market the question is more like who isn't a player. Using the broadest terms you can call a Rolodex a CRM system. The important thing is to define CRM for your organization.

Regardless, here’s a quick list:

Product Name: Sage CRM Solutions Software: Sage SolutionsFeatures: Customer Care, Marketing Automation, Microsoft Outlook Integration, Offline Synchronization, Sales Automation, Wireless PDA Access, Customer Care, Marketing Automation, Microsoft Outlook Integration, Offline Synchronization, Sales Automation, Why On-Demand CRM Microsoft Windows, Microsoft SQL; Oracle DBMS'.

Product Name: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 Company: Microsoft Price: $5,000 to $50,000 Features: Sales, Customer Service, CRM Mobile, Marketing, Suns Legacy Partners, Hutchinson and Bloodgood, Kindermusik International Microsoft Windows;Microsoft SQL. ASP/Web interface environment; Microsoft .NET Framework

Product Name: SAP Business One CRM Company: SAP America, Inc. Price: $11,250+ Features: Sales Opportunity Management, Business Partner Management, Service Management built-in reporting, internal workflow and alerts, highly customizable, embedded CRM.

Product Name: Oncontact V Company: Oncontact Software Price: $1,000-$1,500/user Features: CRM Account Management, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, Toolkits Microsoft C#;Microsoft .NET platform.

Product Name: Entellium CRM Company: Entellium Price: $50 per user / month

eSalesForce, eCustomerCenter, eMobile, My*Entellium ASP

Product: e-Synergy Company: Exact Software North America P

Canvas Printing is a Wonderful Medium For Promotion
New advanced techniques are evolving and traditional technologies are being upgraded. And so businesses are inspired by this and are using new techniques for promotion. Canvas printing is one such method that has its own importance because of its innovative and artistic quality. This is a magnificent method to make your business or your other purpose popular. This also helps many professionals to show their artistic quality. It shows your talent and can prove your ability by bringing some unique concepts. Your innovative ideas and thoughts will give a new meaning to your canvas printing. Your art work will make your advertisement look more attractive and decent.Canvas printing is a popular form of art media that can be an effective tool for your business. It should be presented in such manner that it catches a wide audience. You can hire a professional who is efficient in performing such kind of work. If you are not able to find a skilled and experienced person to make your purpose solved then you can hire the services of a firm who is able to make your promotion work eye-catching. Every business whether new or an old one, needs promotion from time to time to keep itself aware in the market. This strategy is helpful in making the businesses well familiar among the users. It is the liability of the business owner to make such business plans that suits your profile. Your messages that you want to convey should match with business so that you can make audience aware about yourself.Canvas printing can be done in any size depending on the business requirement. Apply of different colors on canvas adds elegance to this artistic piece of work and you can represent it colorful the way you desire. The use of vibrant colors makes canvas look more attractive and charming. You can get various aspects fulfilled through canvas printing. You can use it for some other purpose apart from getting huge publicity. You can use it for a cause or for some personal motive to showcase their artistic talent. Basically, a canvas is a fine piece of cotton cloth stretched on a wooden frame where you can advertise about your products or services or for some other purpose. It depends on the experience and talent of the artist to make the promotion unique an eye-catching so that maximum people can come across it.In other words you can call it the reproduction of original

worked employees as they fix customer issues "in the back office". Fortunately, your stock went up anyway because you talked big to Wall Street analysts about your million dollar magic database system which makes your organization appear more efficient. Operational inefficiencies are quietly choking this organization, but your golden parachute will probably open out as soon as the fan begins to blow your way.

Now for the nitty gritty:

So, what can CRM do for a Small to Mid-sized Business?

Properly applied, CRM can:

Pros and Cons of ASP vs. Boxed Software:

There are two models for CRM. Application Service Provider model and software based. There are a number of advantages to both the ASP and software models.

Who Are The Players?

Regardless, here’s a quick list:

Product Name: Oncontact V Company: Oncontact Software Price: $1,000-$1,500/user Features: CRM Account Management, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, Toolkits Microsoft C#;Microsoft .NET platform.

Product Name: Entellium CRM Company: Entellium Price: $50 per user / month

eSalesForce, eCustomerCenter, eMobile, My*Entellium ASP

Product: e-Synergy Company: Exact Software North America

The Change of the Retail World
Running around to several different stores to get supplies for your business is not just a waste of time; it's a waste of money. A business owner needs a place where he or she can get all the supplies they need; supplies to help further what the business is trying to accomplish.Years ago, a business owner would go to countless stores to get the things they need to run their business efficiently. Back then a person would spend a whole day doing that by driving around aimlessly looking for a place that has exact things. One place would sell printers, but they wouldn't sell fax machines, so they would have to go find a place that sells that. Luckily with the evolution of the retail environment, you can get most of what you are looking for in one place.For example; In Germany, they have an establishment called Viking Office Products. If that name doesn't sound familiar, it is Germany's version of Office Depot. This place is basically the place you go to if you have an office business. If it is printing paper, they have loads of it in different lengths and dimensions, as well as printers. And since you are buying those things, you might as well pick up a computer, because it has those too.Come to think of it, you actually don't even need to drive there if you don't really want to. You can do the lazy thing and go online to many office supply providers websites and have the items delivered directly to you. E-commerce is one of those things that has come around as a great benefit for people who can't make it out of the house that much, but have a home business. Just go right to the website and browse through the various options it gives you.Businesses like these have great customer service and quality. Employees that work at an office retail store are trained with in depth knowledge of everything in the store. If you have a question about the type of color cartridge that will work for your printer, it is pretty easy to guess that they know, and if they don't they will do everything they can to find out how to help you.The development of ways to enhance your business is always growing. With new age retail chains changing the way people supply their business through a one stop shop store and a very efficient e-commerce website, there's no reason to believe that things can only get better.

bring in those customers, get inside their heads and bring ‘em back for more. Now you’re going to need to know your CRM options in terms of software systems.

Pros and Cons of ASP vs. Boxed Software:

There are two models for CRM. Application Service Provider model and software based. There are a number of advantages to both the ASP and software models.

Who Are The Players?

Regardless, here’s a quick list:

Product Name: Oncontact V Company: Oncontact Software Price: $1,000-$1,500/user Features: CRM Account Management, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, Toolkits Microsoft C#;Microsoft .NET platform.

Product Name: Entellium CRM Company: Entellium Price: $50 per user / month

eSalesForce, eCustomerCenter, eMobile, My*Entellium ASP

Product: e-Synergy Company: Exact Software North America

Make Change Easy - Get Involved!
There are wild variances in how much involvement organisations are brave enough to offer their people in change. From those organisations where they just ‘tell’ (sometimes by text message even!), to the most enlightened extreme, where they enable wholesale contribution to the change process.Such organisations actually create the time and space to involve as many people as possible, in the issues surrounding the need for change.This organism of change, where the organisation fully respects (an important word in this context), the ability of individuals to contribute, not in a patronising way, but more in a synergistic and fully contributory way, enables two significant and positive steps.Firstly, involvement in the creation of change solutions, empowers people in what can be a very disempowering situation. They begin to have a role in their own and their organisation’s future.This leads to a second significant point. The ownership of the solution shifts, so that individuals get really bought into the need for change and that they can contribute, sometimes much more than can be expected. Their empowerment values them as never before.This can, with acute awareness on the part of senior managements, move the organisation from fire-fighting when things go wrong, to an ongoing search for quality, review and questioning of assumptions. This becomes as Ricardo Semler found in his wonderful book, ‘Maverick’, rewarding holistically, for the organisation, the employees and also the locality as a whole.A marvellous example of embracing change, freeing a business owner and exemplar leader, and his team to realise their true potential.An exercise to consider...Think about changes where you have been involved.How were the changes launched to you?What were your feelings at the time?What are your feelings now, in retrospect?What might have made the experience better, in light of the information above?How might you have ‘done it differently’?In your own organisations, what opportunities do you have for involving your people in change?How could you explore this further?What could you do in the next month?What will yo

budget, time and patience then a gaggle of consultants, CRM solution providers and software engineers will beat down your doors to develop a custom CRM system that works flawlessly with your existing systems. I’d recommend this option only if you’re spending other people’s money, get a big bonus and then are able to leave the company before it falls apart. If you do select this path, carefully work through your specifications with your “partners” and good luck! Managed Solutions ASPs offer to create a customized brand-version web of their web CRM applications. These are usually on a dedicated server and often sell for a flat development fee PLUS lots of other customized options. It can be solid choice if you’ve got the budget and are willing to be flexible with some of the functionality.

Who Are The Players?

Regardless, here’s a quick list:

Product Name: Oncontact V Company: Oncontact Software Price: $1,000-$1,500/user Features: CRM Account Management, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, Toolkits Microsoft C#;Microsoft .NET platform.

Product Name: Entellium CRM Company: Entellium Price: $50 per user / month

eSalesForce, eCustomerCenter, eMobile, My*Entellium ASP

Product: e-Synergy Company: Exact Software North America

Best Way To Send A Note Home
As a parent, you may have experienced problems recently during and in the aftermath of the storms.’Communication difficulties … … you not able to get to work quickly, having to stay at home to work because of storms, floods, no transport, no electricity, events cancelled suddenly… … you are concerned about your child’s welfare, is their school open, closed, does a child need collecting urgently, or do you sometimes struggle to contact your child’s school at busy times, do they have difficulty contacting you when you wish they had let you know personally about developing situations… There are many reasons why working, home and social life might be disrupted.With today’s world, communication and concern go hand in hand, yet many of us know it could be so much simpler. Contacting all, some or individual parents, easing pressure on home-school and school-home communication is simple with our communication technology solution… and it can be adapted for any group activity including not-for-profit organisations. Created by IT and education professionals who have impressive qualification and experience of working on communication systems for major corporate organisations and smaller companies in addition to substantial schools based experience, we offers a wealth of features that solve the ‘just in case’ scenarios that prevent or slow up schools returning to a more normal status and frustrate parents. Because of our very low cost base, and large global staff, we are available 24/7 365/366 days per year – should you or the school need us, so if you have a problem, you can instantly have a large flexible workforce to help, that won’t tie up essential and main telephone system and leave a mountain of communication problems for support staff to deal with the following day.Need more help now? Too late to put something in place instantly for the school? Need something to help you personally cope with missed work? Don’t worry, there are two ways of helping you NOW.www.hire-a-temp.co.uk offers an instantly available workforce where work is delivered over the internet, and the company, Hire-a-Temp is based in the UK! They use their own carefully vetted employees also available 24/7, but you manage them as though they were your own staff – and you don’t pay UK taxes, so costs are much lower than going to a local recruitment agency, AND, you

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eSalesForce, eCustomerCenter, eMobile, My*Entellium ASP

Product: e-Synergy Company: Exact Software North America Price: $5,000 + Features: Web Shop, Event Manager, Sarbanes-Oxley, Software Development Kit (SDK), Customer Relationship Management, HR Management, Document / Knowledge Management One-X; MS-SQL

Why can't we be friends?

Fast forward 2 years later. Your CIO has quit, the budget has been cut and your CRM implementers are sending flaming emails to each other about whose fault it is that billing’s screwed up. It’s possible that your CRM project has turned into a stanza from the Mariners Tale (origin of the term "albatross around my neck") for a few key reasons:

*Lack of commitment. In order for most organizations to become “customer-focused” upper management must lead the cultural change. This requires first admitting you have problem, followed by a genuine attempt to view your operations from the customer’s perspective. Without this painful process your CRM will help your organization screw up more efficiently. This means losing customer relationships and revenue.

*Lack of communication can prevent buy-in. In order to make CRM work, all the relevant people in your business must know what information you need and how to use it.

*Lack of leadership could cause problems for any CRM implementation plan. Unless your management (you) is willing to lead by example and push for a customer focus on every project, CRM will not help you. If a proposed plan isn't right for your customers, don't do it. Send your teams back to the drawing board to come up with a solution that will work.

Eating the Elephant: Small Bites, Chew Slowly

Some organizations try to install every single module at once in order to get it over with quickly. This can be a sign of lack of commitment with in your company.

Look hard at those that are pushing for an “aggressive implementation” timeline because most likely they’re working an agenda…the failure of the implementation. Take a deep breath and remember that any business approach that brings cultural change will generate resistance.

Breaking down your CRM project into bite-size pieces with small pilot projects and simple, measurable and realistic milestones will often keep the feeling of success surrounding your project going and draw-in all the necessary departments. Small focused groups allow you the flexibility to make on-the-fly adjustments without increasing the political noise level.

More Is More

When it comes to data, always get more than you need and peel it back. It’s easier to reduce the amount of data you need than to attempt to create new.

Thorough analysis of the data you’ve collected is necessary to insure that what you’ve collected is truly mission critical.

Grab Your Sox and Drop Your…

Understand the rules around Sorbanes-Oxley. If you have more than a few employees then yes, you’ll need to setup a project leader or team to insure that your system is “SOX Compliant” and leave it at that. There are a number of great resources to assist you in understanding the legislation on the internet…go look ‘em up on Google.

Solution Providers: Marry in Haste, Repent at Leisure

For any organization CRM is a large investment so choose your “partners” with the same care you’d choose your spouse.

Considering that the divorce rate is at 50% it's obvious that people often make expensive mistakes when choosing a partner. In this case, the wrong partner could cost you your business. Before you impulsively join in a “strategic partnership” with a solution provider you may first want to ask them a few key questions:

The Company
* How long has the supplier been established?
* Who are their partners?
* Who are their suppliers (Office equipment, software, development etc.)
* What are their Mission, Vision and Core Values? Look at those statements carefully. Often those are not ideals that have been achieved but where they want to go.

The Product
* Be sure to understand the licensing, purchase and on-going development costs. Seems obvious but it’s worth saying. What are the specific costs associated with the product; i.e. a one-off purchase price, an annual renewable license, a charge per user etc?

Drive Before You Buy
*Does the supplier offer any form of evaluation software so that you can try before you buy?
*Do they have an analysis or assessment process prior to installation?
*Will they do a pilot implementation for a specific area?

Specifications
*Is the system scalable to grow with my business?
*Is the system written in open-source code? Is the code written to industry standards? Is there a developer community?
*What operating systems does it support?
*What are the bandwidth requirements?
*What are the client-side requirements? Hardware? Software?
*Are there special service packs, patches or other OS or applications updates that need to be installed prior to implementation?
*Ask for a security statement. What security risks or potential risks are associated with this product?
Support
*Will they assign an implementation project manager (NOT a sales rep) to co-lead the implementation?
*How much is charged for technical support? Is it on a per call basis? Monthly? Is it 24/7 coverage?
*Does the supplier provide consultancy and, if so, at what rates?
*Can the supplier recommend any third-party developers that make use of their core CRM products?
*Is there an active independent user group where experience and ideas can be freely exchanged?
*Can the supplier provide references for businesses in your industry sector using their software?
*Does it offer training in the CRM solution and, if so, at what typical cost?

The Final Analysis

OKAY. What have we learned so far?

*CRM has broad applications, benefits and drawbacks. There’s no easy CRM push-button solution.
*CRM is a process that requires cultural change aided through the use of technology tools.
*CRM software will not instill customer centered focus within your organization.
*Customer centric behavior is driven by leadership example, communication and ultimately organizational buy-in.
*Beware the need for speed! Implement your system using small achievable milestones to build on success and use that success to draw in participation from other departments
*Choose your supplier carefully and ask LOTS of questions.
*Get more data!
*Good Luck…you’ll need it.

=========================================================================================================================== Jason Baselice, Managing Associate for *net.marketing associates (www.netmarketingassociates.com). You can contact Jason at: j@netmarketingassociates.com

This article maybe freely distributed without modification and provided that the copyright notice and author information remain intact

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This article presents the argument for focusing your copy on the benefits rather than the features of your product.

Printing, find the cheapest and go with it, after all it's just a waste of money. Nothing could be farther than the truth. If you care about your business read on.

We need to know how our customers regard us. Are customers clear about who we are & what we can do for them? Go Google yourself to find out how are you known in the Marketplace.

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