I get asked a lot about how easy it is to set-up CRM. At the hands (or fingers) of a skilled consultant, it is remarkably easy. There is a theory that to really be accomplished at something it takes 10,000 hours. I am constantly in awe of professional golfers piping that 300-yard drive, but I can’t, because I didn’t put in the time to learn how.
Change – it’s all around us, just like water (at least in Wisconsin and Minnesota). When water stands still, like a pond, it eventually becomes stagnant. Lack of change can lead to a tired and stale environment. Running water like a stream, however, can be pure and clear.
Proposals, quotes, orders and invoices are common requirements of today’s business. In the past, custom report writing using SSRS and FetchXML was required to print these kinds of documents in full detail. Often a specialist was hired to build those reports and to customize them with logos and company branding.
In the past, connecting different tools to Act! was difficult, expensive and time consuming and typically required a 3rd party add-on or integration. With recent versions, however, Act! Connect simplifies the ability to set-up integrations.
Act! Connect uses the API for Act! to connect with many different tools that are available through Zapier, making it possible to connect with over a thousand different programs.
If you are a CRM (customer relationship management system) user, we want you to be as successful as possible. Here are some quick tips that come in pairs.
Activity Pairs
Whenever you enter an activity you’ve completed (phone call, email, face-to-face meeting), always remember to schedule the next task.
There has been a lot of talk lately about business intelligence (BI), especially around the CRM space. It seems like every vendor is showing fantastic charts and metrics and claiming that you, too, can get in on the BI train. What does this actually mean for you?
First of all, BI (business intelligence) requires data.
Focus may well be the one skill that allows all our other skills to come together. We are pulled in many directions, and when we finally get down to work and try to focus, we are further distracted by the myriad of tools and disparate resources necessary to complete our work.
When people ask what I do, and I start talking about CRMs (customer relationship management systems), I often observe a slight twinge or look of panic, which makes me wonder if somewhere in their history they’ve had a bad experience with a CRM.
Unfortunately, many sales professionals have had a negative encounter with a CRM database.
Last week Salesforce announced the purchase of one of the leading integrations platforms/services paying a whopping $6.5 billion. While this post is not about the finances, and whether this was a good buy at the price or not, it was a very, very large purchase – even dwarfing Salesforce’s purchase of ExactTarget at $2.5 billion.
I meet with clients daily to discuss their marketing campaigns and activities. Time and the lack of time is always brought up as a barrier to completing their marketing campaigns and goals. At TopLine Results we work with clients on marketing solutions to save time.