Staying Organized Outside of CRM
Productivity has increased dramatically over the last 20 years, but at what cost?
We are overwhelmed. All of us.
During the 2008 recession, businesses learned they can get an employee to fill the jobs of two or three people for fear of losing their own. The impact on everyone’s quality of life has been devastating. How do you keep everything straight?
You may think of me as a CRM guy who designs databases for a living, that I am uber-organized. In some ways, I am. But I get overwhelmed, too. That’s just life in the 21st century. There are many items in my day that don’t fit neatly into a CRM construct. For instance, new product ideas, client solutions, articles of interest, meeting agendas, even my website color scheme.
A few years ago, a client gave me a book called Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen. The GTD method takes these items and places them where they can be acted on later.
Some people use post-it notes. Over the years, I’ve found that Evernote is a far more powerful tool. Others out there include Microsoft’s OneNote and Zoho’s Notebook as part of the Zoho One platform. I combine Evernote with CRM to keep everything on point, even the stuff I do that’s not associated with an individual contact in CRM. This works for me, especially when I have to reference a Power BI formula I wrote over a year ago, for example. Pairing the GTD methodology with great CRM keeps my desk clean, yet I have access to what I need at any time, wherever I go.
I combine CRM & Evernote to keep things organized.
How do you manage to keep all your plates spinning? Everyone has a life hack.
Private Equity and Its Impact on Software as a Service
I came across this article, and I found it interesting as my industry goes under dramatic change.
Over the last 5 years, business to business software has taken on the SaaS (Software as a Service) model. It makes sense. The software publisher has incentive to adapt to subscriber needs, the consistent cash flow to continually improve the product, the means to support existing customers and adjusts it to ever-changing hardware and operating systems.
Now, the world of private equity has jumped on this megatrend as well. They can see consistent returns, and they can map out a five year plan with relatively predictable revenues. Sounds great for everyone, right? The software publisher fulfills their vision. Customers enjoy the new features. The private equity firm provides a capital boost and cashes out in 4-5 years. Everyone wins. Maybe.
But what if cash flows don’t meet expectations? Or what if previously acceptable returns aren’t enough for institutional investors who expect year-over-year growth? Will they apply pressure to cut costs and increase prices? Who takes the hit?
“..But don’t mistake their ultimate loyalty: it’s to the money, not the business. Whenever the business isn’t aligned with the money, they will side with the money.” — Inc. Magazine (October, 2018)
We’re platform agnostic and routinely work with both closely-held (Zoho & WiredContact) and investor-owned (Act! & Benchmark One) CRM platforms and vendors.
Yet, we’re sensitive to these industry developments and watch them closely.
Choosing the right provider, one that meets our clients’ unique circumstances, is almost always a nuanced and involving process. We’ve been doing this for over 20 years and enjoy these conversations, and we believe our approach is quite unique for the industry. If you’re reviewing your current system’s features, functionalities and relevance to your business processes, feel to press the button and book a discovery call.
How to disable the pop up blocker for WiredContact
When you run a report or require an alarm in WiredContact, you need to make an exception to your browser to allow a pop up for your WiredContact site. Here is how to do it in Chrome and Edge.
Chrome
Edge
What is CRM - Has it changed since 2012?
I made this video in 2012, and my branding and platforms has evolved a bit. However, I still see many core principles remain the same. Although we have to say good bye to the Blackberry, CRM builds what’s now known as a customer-centric enterprise. After all, how can you build good customer experiences if you don’t know anything about them?
Increase E-Mail Delivery Rates for E-Mail Blasts from your CRM
Before you setup any ESP (Email service provider) for your CRM, you must setup your DKIM and SPF records. You may be asking, “What in the heck does that mean ?”. I will very briefly explain it; then, cite some resources.
ESP (E-mail Service Providers) such as Swiftpage (now Act!), MailChimp or Constant Contact send e-mails using their servers on your behalf. Your clients’ ISPs and spam filters will detect the ESP’s sending the email. However, some clients’ filters are setup to reject this because a hacker could use the same technique to spam you as well.
So an industry consortium created the SPF and the DKIM record. The SPF and DKIM records gets added to your DNS settings so other ISPs know that your ESP is actually legit when sending emails on your behalf.
Here are some links for a couple providers.
- MailChimp
- Constant Contact
- Act! Marketing Automation
- Zoho CRM
- Zoho Campaigns
- Benchmark One (Hatchbuck)
Once this is setup, this is another step closer to avoiding the junk box.
If you don’t know what a DNS record is; then, work with your I.T. contractor to set this up. When we work with our clients, we partner with your I.T. contractor to update this.