CRM Customisation

Posted on September 2, 2010 by admin

Next Generation CRM platforms need to offer full customisation. With the number of flexible design tools and components for .net and other development platforms there are no excuses for CRM providers not to offer truly simple customisation tools that can be used by non IT minded individuals.

Both business that are different and ones that have similarities deserve the right to customise their business process and workflow management to achieve business efficiency and differentiation. When implementing a CRM solution it is important to customise the CRM application to your business, not customise your business to suit your CRM.

What modules need to be customisable?

To a certain extent all CRM modules should have a certain amount of customisation. If we consider any small to medium size business, there are a number of areas they would ideally like to customise. For example unless they can customise the following they will have to resort to using Copy and Paste, Word, Excel, ms Outlook and other manually intensive software tools that slows down customer service, increases operational costs and ultimately reduces your profits. The following is a brief list of the areas required to customise when driving the highest levels of efficiency:

Contact Management data fields Sales Process Sales Pipeline Lead Management Action/Tasks Management Workflow Management Event Triggers Quotes, Invoices, Letters, Faxes, emails & SMS (For each individual customer) Messaging System

Being able to customise the above will enable you to maximise your customer service experience ultimately delivering tools to GREATLY enhance Customer Relationship Management.

When considering CRM Customisation it is important to remember that all customers are different. Delivering customised personalised services to your customers will enable you to constantly keep one step ahead of your competitors.  This means that potentially your processes, workflow and communications need to be individualised to each specific customer. Every customer wants to be treated as an individual and if we are to enhance our customer relationships we need to know what, when and how they want their product or service.

Last but not least is your organisations human factor. Most organisations work best when you implement Specialisation and Division of Labour.  Behind the scenes most business utilise numerous staff and processes to deliver what the customer sees as a GREAT EXPERIENCE.

To summarise CRM Customisation is not a luxury it’s an absolute necessity, it doesn’t have to cost a fortune if you invest in the right solution. Every CRM solution has a certain level of customisation but not many can be truly configured by non IT minded users meaning you don’t have to spend tens of thousands on expensive integration, customisation and development.

So when considering a CRM business solution make sure it is customisable if you want to maximise business efficiency, staff retention, customer relationships and company profits.

20 years in the IT, Telecoms, Software and Finance Industries on technologies such as IP, 3G, GPRS, GSM, Mobile Networks,CRM, Case Management & Computer systems. Very passionate about Sales, Marketing & Technology, for more information on related post visit http://www.3gb.com.au/Blog/post/CRM-Customisation.aspx

What Is CRM and How Can It Help Recession Proof Your Business?

Posted on September 2, 2010 by admin

Customer relationship management (CRM) can be described as the art or science of using information to find, acquire and retain customers. It covers a wide range of people, processes, and technology questions associated with marketing, sales, and service. CRM actively deepens the knowledge you have of your customers to meet individual customer needs. It provides a holistic approach that unifies all points of customer interaction.

At the core of any customer-centric business strategy and culture, CRM is supported, not driven, by technology. Nonetheless, it does involve redesigning some of your functional activities around your customer.

Customer relationship management is not just about buying CRM software technology. However, some technology is required to enable a CRM strategy. Its value and long term benefits are not possible without remembering that the driving force is often human relationships. CRM is repetitive in nature, to be improved on a regular basis – it is not a destination, but a journey.

CRM will transform strategy, business functions and operational processes. Its goal is to retain customers and increase customer loyalty and profitability. In difficult economic environments relationships with customers is your most precious asset and is the foundation to weather economic downturns.

The companies that can weather economic storms have some basic attributes that make them customer –centric. These recession proof attributes include being agile, adaptive, responsive, diversified, customer focused and orientated, having a high tolerance for change and having minimal staffing footprint and overheads. Most importantly however these businesses have stable customer foundations and strong cash flow that must be protected at all costs.

The question is how can CRM solutions help with these attributes?

Recession Proofing
Selling your products and services becomes more difficult during a recession as your clients and prospects tighten their belts. CRM addresses your ability to address your own cost base by:

Reducing the cost of acquiring new customers
Maximising the profitability of existing customers
Reducing the cost to service customers
Minimising the cost of sales and marketing
Optimising your internal productivity rates

Customer Loyalty & Efficiency
Keeping your customers when all your competitors are knocking at their door is fundamental to a stable and sustainable operation. CRM gives you an integrated knowledge about your customers, their issues and requirements from sales and marketing, customer service and your accounting department.  Used wisely, CRM will help you:

Optimise customer loyalty and lock-in
Minimise customer churn
Ensure the quality of your service is of the highest standard and meets client expectations

Generate Revenue
Having a clear and in depth understanding of each of your customers allows you to be proactive and flexible in the products and services you can offer them. CRM with its integrated information can help you by:

Ensuring maximum revenue from each customer by recognising all the opportunities as opposed to individual ones.
Minimising loss of future customer revenue through flexible packaged offerings that might include products, services and support.
Reducing fluctuations in recurrent revenue streams by having longer term contracts in place
Lowering the chance of customer switching rates through comprehensive and diversified offerings and long term contracts.

Customer centric companies are investing in CRM software to ensure that they excel in their relationships with their customers. The path towards this is a key business strategy, not a technology one whether you decide on an in-house CRM system or take advantage of easy entry web based CRM software system. Ultimately, a CRM solution can be measured by customer retention and referrals, the growth of high value customer segments and the increase in the productivity of your own business.

Antony Dutton is Managing Director of Aaromba – CRM software & service management software specialists. Aaromba uses best of breed technology and methodologies, designing solutions to improve sales and marketing for CRM software. Working with over 800 clients Aaromba specialises in Microsoft CRM Software and web based CRM software.

Commence CRM 20th Anniversary Celebration Includes Discounted User Licenses

Posted on September 1, 2010 by admin

Today Commence Corporation is providing customers with the opportunity to deploy solutions in-house or hosted via the Internet. The service organization and distribution channel continue to grow and now offer a wide array of services for businesses of all sizes. This growth ensures customers that Commence and the business partner community will be around to support business for another twenty years or more.” On January 6, 2008 Commence Corporation (www.commence.com) will celebrate its 20th year in business.

Originally founded as Jensen Jones in 1988, the company’s mission was to provide customizable desktop automation programs that enabled customers to improve communications within their organizations. While considered rudimentary today, the program provided the ability to share a company phone book, calendar and to do list with other departmental personnel. The software was considered groundbreaking and Commence became a pioneer in the Personal Information Management industry. Twenty years later the company has emerged as one of the leading providers of desktop automation tools and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. Commence products are sold and supported in twenty-two countries worldwide.

According the Commence President, Larry Caretsky, “We are proud of our accomplishments and the value we continue to provide to our customers. Today, several thousand businesses rely on our products and services to capture, manage and share vital customer information in order to make informed decisions about their business. Many of our customers have been loyal users of our products for more than a decade and dozens of business owners have called me personally to say that Commence has played a significant role in the growth and success of their businesses. It is very rewarding to receive these calls. Customer loyalty says a lot about our company and has provided us with the staying power to navigate through the challenging and consistently changing technology sector.”

Caretsky is highly appreciative loyal clients and their continued support of the company and its products. As part of the firms 20th year celebration, loyal customer are being offered the opportunity to expand use of Commence by providing the ability to purchase additional end user licenses a substantially discounted cost. Caretsky says, “It’s our way of thanking you for your business.”

Commence Corporation

www.commence.com

Larry Caretsky

Marketing@commence.com

1-877-Commence

Integrating Accounting, ERP and CRM Systems

Posted on September 1, 2010 by admin

Developing a series of integrated systems is the simplest way to realise the hidden value in your IT investment.  An integrated system eliminates the double entry of customer details. It provides key financial information to those that need it allowing customer-facing staff to check immediately on credit status, to generate orders and quotes or to complete a transaction on the phone all through a single CRM system.

Features of an Integrated Accounting, ERP and CRM System Accounting Information

Give customer-facing personnel the information they need to deliver excellent customer service Display credit limit, current balance, aged debtors and other information directly in your CRM application Drill down to see open sales orders, quotations and invoice history

Invoice and Order History

View all sales orders and quotations by status

View invoice number, date, etc. Reference PO numbers, prices, tax, discount, quantities and freight information View order date, number, and ship-to information Evaluate open invoice due dates, balance and status Drill down to product details

Sales and Product Information

View year/month-to-date sales View sales by product quantity, total value and price View by last purchase date

Sales Orders and Quotes

Allows front office staff to enter sales orders and quotations into the accounting system Generate quotes and orders directly from your sales opportunities, using products and unit pricing imported from your accounting system Orders are submitted to the accounting system and then validated with current pricing, shipping and tax information

Linked Accounts

Avoids replication of data, deploys a ‘smart link’ strategy Users can create and link accounts or can link to existing accounts Changes are submitted and synchronised automatically

Upload Product and Price Lists

Synchronises your accounting system products into your CRM system Specify the warehouse/s that you want synchronised Build sales quotations or sales order templates with\ appropriate information

Benefits of an integrated Accounting, ERP and CRM System

Eliminate Duplication of Work

SME’s that integrate their CRM systems with their back-office solutions will experience a number of benefits. One of the most obvious is ‘once-only’ data entry, whereby a customer’s details are input only once through your CRM system and then automatically updated across the accounting and management system. It also works the other way round, with new or amended entries in the accounting system automatically updating the CRM database. Not only does this save time by reducing duplication of effort, it also means that potential mistakes and conflicting data are minimised.

Sales Advantages

Salespeople have greater flexibility in managing their accounts and can respond more quickly to customer requests, whether they are in the office or working remotely. Integration between your CRM and your accounting system provides your sales professionals with access to relevant information. Without having to leave their CRM screen, they can view customer data such as credit status, account balance, payment due dates, order history and turnover. Whilst not connected to the network, remote salespeople can also change account information and enter sales quotes and orders using cached product and pricing information. These can then be submitted for processing and are synchronised into the back-office system automatically.

Integrated Accounting, ERP and CRM System Provider:

Companies like Sage India can provide integrated ERP and CRM system. you can visit http://www.sagesoftware.co.in/ERP-CRM-Solutions-Software-Company-India-ERP-CRM-Integrated.aspx to know more about software.

Content Writer on different software products.

Making Your Mortgage CRM Matter

Posted on September 1, 2010 by admin

Whenever you are dealing with a lot of money, the people with an interest in that money will also have a lot of interest in how well you handle your business. And, as the customers, they may judge your competence as a business by the kind of customer service you provide. That is why customer relationships management (CRM) is so important when you deal with mortgages. To provide the best mortgage CRM though, you will need to be very detail-oriented and time-efficient.


Almost everyone who buys a house has had the experience of applying for a mortgage and that means there are a lot of customers in the market. Even though they are plentiful, mortgage customers may be hard to find though. After all, you don’t usually see signs like “mortgage needed” in front yards when you drive around the neighborhood.


This is where leads come in handy. Leads are designed to connect interested customers with a business that can meet their needs. Leads cost money though and they require a lot of time before they turn into deals. When businesses first buy leads, they are only a name and some contact information. But as soon as your employees contact them, every lead needs to be transformed into a person and a potential customer. This is done through two-way channels of communication and information technologies that help you keep track of so many customers and their needs.


For example, tasks on any given day might include contacting a customer and introducing yourself, learning their needs, sending a welcome email, returning their phone call, and making a deal. With the right technology, a lot of these tasks can be done automatically and the rest of them can be organized and prioritized easily. A history of your client interactions can be a useful tool in assessing your progress as well.


As you work more efficiently, your communication with customers will improve and your relationships with them will grow stronger as well. And, as you learn and meet their needs they will feel more comfortable turning part of their financial concerns over to you.


Whether someone is buying their first home or refinancing, they have a lot of businesses to choose from when they are looking for a mortgage broker. There may even be a number of people contacting them in an attempt to earn their business. Set yourself apart from the other providers by improving your mortgage CRM.

Leads360 (http://www.leads360.com) can teach your company the best way to improve its mortgage CRM. With their tools you can improve your efficiency, your customer relationships and your profit margin. If you want to stand out make your customers feel like individuals. Art Gib is a freelance writer.