Carrying a Cell Phone is Only Half the Battle

Posted on December 7, 2011 by

When a customer calls your desk or you call your customer from your office, you have all the information you need right in front of you.  But when you leave the office, the details about your customer are left at the office.

Last week it happened to one of my friends: He had left the office and ended up unprepared for an important call.  A gold star customer called and wanted to renew their contract right away with his company.  The customer asked him to give him a 20% discount.  Not wanting to miss the opportunity, he fumbled and agreed, even though he did not know the details of his contract.  The meeting with his boss didn’t go so well the next day.

So what can you do to make sure you are on the ball when you are away from the office? Many CRM companies will now provide you with a mobile version of their application, which works as CRM on the go.  These are pared down versions of your regular CRM application and are easily accessible from your smartphone.  Having CRM on your mobile device will allow you close critical deals with ease, even when you are not at the office.

Soffront CRM has recently introduced a new easy to use version of their mobile module.  To check out Soffront mobile, click here.  For more information on how Soffront can help increase your productivity when you’re on the move, call 1-800-SOFFRONT or schedule a free demo.

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Having trouble organizing your day? It’s CRM to the rescue!

Posted on December 1, 2011 by

We all struggle juggling with our priorities and complain there’s not enough hours in the day to finish everything on our task lists.  Between work and family life, keeping up with the day’s activities can be a real pain.  And although the technology age promised more manageable days and streamlined tasks, many of us find technology has just encouraged an increase in our workload.

So how can we prioritize our workload and streamline our work processes to be more efficient?  Just the task of going through daily emails, understanding the context, and answering them in order of priority is a task that slows many people down throughout the day, reducing their productivity.

But how do we stay afloat in the never ending cycle of increasing technology = increased workloads?  Savvy workers use a CRM (customer relationship management) system to stay organized and to prioritize their tasks throughout the day.

Here are a few great ways to leverage the awesome power of an effective CRM solution to keep you organized and productive:

Integrate your email accounts into your CRM. Integrating email into your CRM has huge advantages, such as ensuring your emails, contacts, and tasks are all in one easily accessible place.

Send batch emails.  Rather than spending the time crafting an email to each individual person you need to follow up with, you can send personalized emails to multiple recipients which are automatically saved in the CRM records for future reference.

Use follow-up reminders.  A CRM can schedule various reminders so you can easily keep track of who to follow up with and when.

Attach notes and documents to contacts.  You can attach various notes and other documents such as quotes or purchase orders to a contact’s record so you can access it easily and retrieve it in an instant.

Use auto-responders.   You can set up auto response emails to certain email requests that you get regularly so that you don’t have to retype the same information over and over for similar requests, and do it all without having to lift a finger!

Although technology vs. workload could be a never-ending battle, you can stay ahead of the curve for now by taking advantage of an effective CRM solution.  Soffront CRM spans sales, marketing, customer service and more.  To find out more on how Soffront CRM can help you organize your day, call 1-800-SOFFRONT or schedule a free demo.

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No CRM is an Island

Posted on November 23, 2011 by

Most companies have many different departments working on many different things to accomplish one goal: producing a product or service to the satisfaction of their customers.  Unfortunately, even in this day and age of advanced technology, many times each department keeps to themselves with little interaction with other departments.  This can create a huge problem when things go awry.

For example, if a customer calls the shipping department of an online shoe store and says they never received their shipment, the shipping manager might check the records, see that there was an error, and send the shoes out to the customer.  Problem solved, right?  Not necessarily.  Because what the shipping manager didn’t know was that after speaking with him, the customer called customer service to complain as well, and the customer service representative put in a request to shipping to send out the package.  Now the customer will end up with two pairs of the same shoes, making the company look unprofessional and also losing profit at the same time.

With an effective CRM solution, no man or department is an island.  Everyone uses the same system, and is able to access the entire history of interactions with a specific customer from start to finish.  That means that in the earlier scenario, the customer service representative would have immediately seen that the shipping manager already corrected the error and would not have sent out another pair of shoes to the customer.

If you want to ensure that all the departments in your company are working together as one well-oiled machine, then look into an integrated CRM solution.  Soffront CRM’s modules span sales, marketing, customer service, help desk, and more.

To find out more about Soffront, call 1-800-SOFFRONT or schedule a free demo.

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3 Tips for Better Networking Success

Posted on November 16, 2011 by

Business networking has exploded in recent times. Every day you are likely to find many networking events in your area.  Networking events are a great way to meet people! Here are some tips on how you can make the most of these events.

Tip #1: Watch the Time

You have limited time at networking events, so use it effectively. Arrive early, about 15 to 30 minutes before the event starts, so you can start meeting people right away. Don’t spend too much time talking to one person. You need to meet as many as possible in the short time you have. It’s not rude to say, “It was great meeting you; let’s keep in touch! There are a few more people I would like to meet today.”

Tip #2: Make Good Use of Business Cards

Always bring plenty of business cards and always ask people for their card when you meet them. Since you will be speaking to a lot of people, it’s a good idea to take notes on the back of the card. You should also prioritize the cards. Use a system such as numbering 1, 2, or 3 on the card to designate who to contact right away, who to send email to, and who to discard. Also, take pictures using your smart phone with people you meet to remember the face with the name.

Tip #3: Follow Up with Your Contacts

When you return from the event, don’t let the cards sit on your desk like most people do. Make sure you enter or scan them into a contact management system. If you don’t enter your new contacts right away, you will probably not follow up with them. Once they are in your contact database, you can also enter your notes from the networking event. Be sure to invite them to join you on LinkedIn and other social networks. Add your new contacts to an email marketing campaign that will send periodic emails about your products and services to keep them up to date.

Effective networking requires many things, but there are a couple items that can ensure your success: a contact management database or CRM (customer relationship management) software, and email marketing. There are many choices in the market for each of these individually, but Soffront combines both CRM and email marketing at an affordable price.

Soffront provides two CRM solutions. Soffront CRM for mid-size businesses and Snapshot CRM for small businesses. These products combine these two functions at an affordable price. They are also simple to use, which will save you a time. For more information on how Soffront can help your small to medium-sized business, visit www.soffront.com, and for small business CRM, check out www.snapshotcrm.com.

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Mobile CRM: The Cutting Edge of Sales Force Automation

Posted on November 9, 2011 by

A recent IDC study provided a five year forecast of the world’s mobile workforce that will have an enormous impact on CRM. “As mobility continues to play a key role in enabling companies to achieve greater productivity worldwide, IDC expects the global mobile worker population to increase from 919.4 million in 2008 to more than 1.19 billion in 2013, representing nearly 35% of the worldwide workforce,” said Sean Ryan, research analyst for IDC’s Mobile Enterprise group.

The Worldwide Mobile Worker Population 2009-2013 Forecast found that: “The United States has the highest percentage of mobile workers in its workforce, with 72.2% of the workforce mobile in 2008. The U.S. will remain the most highly concentrated market for mobile workers with 75.5% of the workforce, or 119.7 million workers, being mobile in 2013.”

Gartner stated that 90% of organizations will support corporate applications on mobile devices by 2014. What does this mean for your company and your CRM system? In order to stay on the cutting edge, your workforce and Sales Force Automation must be mobile. Many businesses provide their employees with mobile phones. More and more departments are being outfitted with 4G smartphones and tablets. This is the future of CRM. Is your company ready to lead the mobile CRM revolution?

Soffront Mobile CRM  provides real-time information to your sales force via Soffront iPhone, Soffront Android, Soffront BlackBerry, Soffront PDA, Soffront Laptop and Soffront WAP (for WAP enabled cell phones). For more information about Mobile CRM providers, schedule a free software demo.

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Six Ways to Increase CRM User Adoption

Posted on November 2, 2011 by

CRM user adoption is simply the number of people in your company who are actually using and benefiting from your CRM system. And to what extent they are benefiting from it. It is not the number of licenses your company is paying to the CRM vendor.

Often times a company has subscribed to 100 user licenses, but only about 20 people are actually benefitting from it. Meaning they are actually closing more deals or closing more customer issues than before the CRM was in place. Some are probably doing the same as before. And the rest are doing worse than before because they are still trying to figure out how to do things or don’t like to do it.

It is a challenge to increase CRM user adoption. Here are a few ideas:

1) Methods such as istock_000005140727smallweekly trainings and feedback sessions can increase adoption. Make sure the feedback sessions are a place where people can express or vent their views both positive and negative. Create CRM champions who can teach other team members.

2) Make CRM available on mobile platforms people are most comfortable with such as iPhone, Android, and Tablets.

3) Recognize that everyone learns their own way and at their own pace. Some don’t pay attention until they need something. Then they will ask how to do something. Some are organized and take notes and try to learn. And there are others who think CRM is a waste of time. The list goes on. So, one plan does not fit all. Make plans to fit the users. It may seem like a lot of work, but it’s worth the effort.

4) People need to see immediate benefit from CRM for themselves – not for the management or for the company. While most people appreciate when company or management benefits from CRM, they want to know how CRM can increase their earnings without working anymore than they are already.

5) If you are in charge of the CRM implementation, you should be a user yourself. That’s really hard because you can only play one or two roles. How do you play many roles? You listen to everyone and appreciate what they have to say. Play their role for a day or two. I know this is hard to do since you are also very busy.

6) So, the bottom line is that CRM must be saving people time. They are already working hard. When they hear they have to do something more, they are skeptical and stressed. They need TLC from you! You need to feel them at different levels at different roles. You need to think like them and work hard at it. It’s not easy but someone has to do it. Make sure your manager knows how hard a job it is.

Contact Soffront at 1-800-SOFFRONT to find out more information about user adoption and other topics or to schedule a free CRM demo.

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Is There Such a Thing as Bad Cloud Computing?

Posted on October 26, 2011 by

Bad Cloud ComputingJust as there are many types of clouds, there are many types of cloud computing. Learning how to identify the different types of clouds enlightens you on developing weather conditions of technology, while learning more about the different meanings of cloud computing can help you avoid bad cloud computing. Customer relationship management software solution provider Soffront Software offers the following guide.

Public vs. Private

The first distinction is the public cloud versus the private cloud. Generally, the private cloud represents a cloud application you host yourself or is hosted for you on dedicated equipment by a third party. This includes solutions available only over a private network, but which utilize some cloud approaches such as scalability through virtual servers.

A solution utilizing a private cloud approach does not offer the savings on infrastructure so often touted as one of the advantages of cloud implementations. However, private clouds do offer some advantages in certain applications for medium and large enterprises.

A Cloud of a Different Color

Cloud computing is about offering computing services as a service rather than a product. When considering a cloud solution, it is helpful to know just what service (or services) is being offered.

Software as a service (SaaS) is perhaps the most common type of cloud solution offered. Platform as a service (PaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) are also available.

A Note on Security

Considering the variety of approaches to which the term “cloud computing” is applied, specifying security problems or solutions for cloud computing is meaningless. The particular variety of cloud computing you intend to use will have its own set of security issues, as will the particular application.

Bad Cloud Computing

Given this information, what is bad cloud computing? The answer is simple: whatever doesn’t work for you. Whether it’s a private cloud solution when you need a public cloud solution, or IaaS when you are looking for PaaS, or even a particular application which cannot guarantee the level of security you require. Implementing the wrong cloud solution is like planning a picnic and having it rain.

Clear Skies

Soffront Software offers an end-to-end customer relationship management software solution as a cloud-implemented service. With over 15 years of product maturity, we’re a leader in providing cloud solutions. Contact us to schedule a free demo.

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