It finally hit me. I can use my new Dragon NaturallySpeaking software. So I’m dictating my first blog post using speech recognition software as well as scripting out my first video training lesson using speech recognition software.

One thing I observed is that old habits die hard, and I am even in the IT field.

I believe the speech recognition tools really handy if you’re, thinking what you want to write on the fly. But if you’re really confident with the keystrokes and the commands to run a piece software you’re probably not going to switch to speech recognition quite as easily.

Here is to my first post using speech recognition, I think it’s pretty neat.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG3OYVFxBmI

Now, I can control ACT! and enter my notes by simply talking.

E-Mail marketing remains the most cost effective tool when it’s a targeted message to the relevant audience.  Is it a panacea for everything ? Well, not really; however, it should be a critical piece of your marketing arsenal.

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• E-Mail
• Internet (Al Gore was still inventing it)
• Mircosoft Windows
• Social Media
• Tablets
• Laptops
• Local Area and Wireless Networks

Personal Computers had the Intel 80386 chip running at 33mhz (megahertz). Today, personal computers running the Intel Core2 Duo Processor E7600 can run at 3.06ghz (gigahertz).

Why did ACT! survive as a brand despite all these changes in computing ?

• ACT! remains easy to adapt
• ACT! can be customized
• ACT! has adapted to the latest changes in technology
• ACT! is an easy start for a small business owner to make order out of chaos when it comes to managing relationships.

For you to get the most out of ACT! (or any CRM), you need to know which business processes you wish to improve. ACT! streamlines your sales, marketing or customer service processes so you can acquire a competitive edge.

Think about what you wish to improve, and then we will make it easier with ACT! and other CRM tools.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0lbdErXnjQ

Some common software packages include:

• Sage ACT!
• WiredContact
• Salesforce.com
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM
• SugarCRM
• ZohoCRM

Now to review the differences between these packages can take more than a quick blurb. For one client on a three user setup for a system focused on marketing and mobile access, I highlighted 40 feature comparisons.

Many of the  same features exist among all the products, so you want to consider ease-of-use, flexibility, licensing options and tech support costs.

What’s best for you ?  Since your business has unique qualities and processes,  you should talk the software publisher and/or a consultant.  The consultants have the in-the-field experience to know what works and can have more experience on data conversions between software publishers.  Meanwhile. the publishers focus on building the feature set and ensuring stability.

Deduping a database from scratch. How would you go about it?

Our customer database has quite a few duplicate records in it (both businesses and contacts). How would you go about the initial dedupe? What steps would you put in place to ensure records aren’t duplicated in the future? Is there any tech to help do this? Thanks!

My answer:

Each CRM has third party tools that help with the mechanics of this.

You should examine…

1) How many criteria do you believe are the most consistent ?
2) Do you want the computer to replace the newest record ?
3) What do you do with the “leftovers” ? For example if two people have different phone numbers, you replace one, how do record the “leftover” ?

How do you eliminate it completely ? hmmm…That’s a tough one.

As a start, you could use e-mail as a match. Of course, then what if a client offers his personal and not business address for one person, then, not the other one ? Company and contact name are good starts.

I believe you have to set a couple criteria that flag you if one of three criteria meet the duplicate standard; then, let the user decide

How do I use Microsoft Outlook for CRM ?

I posted my answer on LinkedIn.

Outlook is great for what is called a “PIM” at one point. Personal Information Manager. Outlook is great for E-mail, quickly adding contacts from e-mail into distribution lists or categories and calendar management for yourself. Many SmartPhones have ready-made conduits to synchronize contacts to Outlook as well.

The difficulties using Outlook as CRM would include:
1) Creating proper conversation notes and sharing them
2) Documenting conversations by date/time stamp
3) Contact Security
4) Sales Forecasting
5) Mail-Merge to Word
6) Creating effective user fields to classify contacts by more than one field such as “category”
7) There are zero reporting tools in MS Outlook to measure your performance

Then, what’s the best ?
It simply depends. For one client, I am comparing 40 features including total cost of ownership for two CRM packages.

So, I will say “ask more questions” about your own business process that you want to improve. Constrain that by how you want to pay and of course, how much you wish to spend. Some products are a “buy once & pay for maintenance”. Others are a monthly fee that includes updates and tech support.

Good Programs
*ACT!
*WiredContact
*Zoho

Salesforce has some affordable entry level solutions also.

I installed WiredContact,  and I didn’t have to care which tablet or phone the reps have.  Finally, I can focus on the business process to improve and not chase anyone for fixes or updates.  It just works!

I simply customize a web page behind the scenes.  The mobile device is just reading a standard web page, and it does not require extra apps to buy, download or break/fix.

Even better, I don’t have pitch an additional license within the same implementation.  Client saves money, and I get it done.