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Provide Superior Service, Get More Customers

Thursday, November 19, 2009 by Jace Modavi

Customer Service

With a very few exceptions, businesses today cannot afford to ignore the customers who want to reach them online. More and more, “service” today means “Internet presence,” as increasing numbers of people go online to get information – whether it’s hours of operation, product and price information, or troubleshooting common problems. If you don’t have that information available and easy to access, you might lose a potential customer.

So your online presence is the first glimpse of your service that many people will see. How do you maximize this first impression? Let’s take a look at how one small florist has embraced the multimedia opportunities presented by the Internet in order to show their customers the level of service they provide.
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Communication Can’t Be Automated

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 by Jace Modavi

Contact Management

A sales force automation system can give you templates for follow-up emails, and a knowledge management system can give you step by step troubleshooting directions to pass along to customers, but make no mistake: you can’t automate communication.  You need to be genuine and transparent in your dealings with consumers; you need to put a personal face on a corporate logo.  But that doesn’t mean that a CRM system can’t help.
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Fans vs. Customers: What You Should Aim For

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 by Jace Modavi

Practical Application

In this day and age (you know, the one with a tight economy, Web 2.0 tools, and fierce competition in the marketplace), getting and retaining customers is tough.  With consumers making more sacrifices these days, a traditional advertising campaign isn’t as effective as it used to be.  That’s because consumers are going the extra mile and researching the products they’re buying, making sure the brand in question has a solid reputation, helpful support, and, of course, the best product.  They’re turning to the Internet and to trade publications and to their friends.  You can make the greatest impact by turning to their friends too.

Make the jump and find out why.
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Coca Cola’s World Trip

Monday, November 9, 2009 by Jace Modavi

Coca-Cola

Few companies have as much sway worldwide as Coca Cola. With its instantly recognizable logo, to the cult following of its customers, Coca Cola has an influence in nearly every part of the world. Now, with the help of their customers, Coca Cola is spearheading a unique campaign that will bring people together from every corner of the globe. While it’s a few days over 80, Expedition 206 will bring together a group of three Coke fans to travel the world over the course of a year, visiting each of the 206 countries where Coca Cola sells products. Their goal? To find out what makes people happy.

Coca-Cola Expedition 206 – Project Introduction Video from Expedition 206 on Vimeo.
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The Vermonster: Social Media in Action

Friday, November 6, 2009 by Jace Modavi

Networking

Here’s the setup to this one: large corporation tries to stop smaller corporation from producing a product with a similar name.  It started as a classic trademark protection case.  What followed, however, took any course but the traditional one, as social media – not lawyers – dictated the terms of the settlement.

You might have heard of Monster energy drinks, but you’ve probably never heard of the small Rock Art brewery in Vermont. Unless you actually live in Vermont, of course, in which case you might be familiar with their popular brew called “The Vermonster.”

Click it:
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The Cloud and The Grid

Monday, November 2, 2009 by Jace Modavi

Grid Computing

There are two competing schools of thought when it comes to delivering CRM tools.  The first is through traditional methods, with software and servers.  This gives you a home-grown on-premises system, traditionally referred to as grid computing.  The other is a still-emerging technology that’s been on the market for about a decade now, and is one that I prefer.  Cloud computing delivers apps and information over the Internet, so you don’t have to worry about servers, network infrastructure, and other things that are expensive when they stop working.
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Trick Or Tweet: Building a Customer Service Solution Around Twitter

Friday, October 30, 2009 by Jace Modavi

Twitter

Everybody likes free stuff, and with Halloween coming up, what better time than now to talk about it?  After all, at Halloween, we all get – er, used to get – a sack full of free candy.  Remember when you used to get home from a night of trick-or-treating, you’d dump your bag – I used a pillow case – on the family room floor, compare hauls with your friends and trade the taffy for the Reese’s peanut butter cups.  Everybody likes candy, but let’s be honest: it was about 3 bucks worth of chocolate.  We were excited because we got something for free.  So why don’t we get excited when we look at the opportunities offered to us by social media?
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It’s Not Like Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks: Automating Your Existing Sales Force

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 by Jace Modavi

Sales Force Automation

Sales force automation is not your father’s sales technique, that’s for sure.  However, it’s not all that different.  Yes, it uses computers and automation techniques that are new, it makes life easier on sales reps in the field, it connects sales team members and uses marketing information in ways that we never could have before.  But even Willy Loman would recognize that sales deals aren’t closed by computers, they’re closed by sales reps.  And so, while sales force automation is new and different, it doesn’t change the sales game that your reps have been playing; it makes them better at it.
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Got Apps?

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 by Jace Modavi

Got Apps

Businesses choose CRM software because it automates the basic functions of the job that tend to waste the most time.  Mundane tasks like call logging, email follow-ups, and contact management all take time out of the day that could be better spent.  With a decent CRM solution, you can have all of these processes done for you. With a really good CRM system, you can do more.  But what if your industry requires that you complete tasks that most CRM systems don’t bother with or aren’t prepared for?  If you can’t find the apps to do what you’re looking for, you can create your own.  Most CRM vendors have easy point-and-click software so that you can create an app that does what you want without spending thousands of dollars on software development or taking your IT department away from the project they’re working on to help.
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Cloud Control: Is Security a Concern?

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 by Jace Modavi

Security

Security is a concern for every business, but even more so when those businesses are entrusting their data to a third-party hosting service.  When considering if cloud computing is right for you, security is certainly an issue you want to explore.  Having your information compromised could cost you business, tarnish your reputation, and expose your customers to scams and attacks.  There can be a certain degree of buck passing in regards to security in these cases – “we didn’t lose the data, our cloud computing vendor did!” – but this only garners so much support in the court of public opinion.  So it’s up to you to make sure that whatever data storage solution you come up with is the right one for you and your customers.  After the jump, I’m going to discuss some of the security measures you should look for in a cloud computing vendor, and offer some tips on maximizing your security efforts.
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