Microsoft CRM Implementation for Large Corporation overview

Microsoft Business Solutions CRM is now approaching the phase of being mature product and the CRM solution you may consider for large publicly traded company.  Our view point considers the fact of multiple platforms and systems coexistence and balancing: UNIX, Linux, Microsoft Windows, Java, .Net, PC, AS/400, RS6000, Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes Domino, etc.  This increases the cost of maintenance, but decreases the risk of being trapped to one vendor/solution.  So far weve seen successful implementations of Microsoft CRM in the following industries: Distribution, Logistics, Non-Profit, Chemicals, Pharmaceutical, Placement/Recruiting, Medicare/Hospitals, Retail, Wholesale, Education, Beverages, Services, Defense, Aerospace, Oil & Gas.

• In-house Implementation.  This is non-expected paradox.  Multiple clients, especially large companies, do it themselves.  The reason is Microsoft CRM utilizes all spectrum Microsoft Technologies: Exchange, Active Directory, .Net, Full-text search, etc.  Microsoft oriented IT people understand it and like to be involved.  So, you should consider self-implementation first.
• Integration.  Microsoft CRM has relatively simple business logic and sits in Microsoft SQL Server, which enables customization and integration with third party systems and databases.  If you have Microsoft Great Plains you can use MBS CRM-GP integration tool, based on BizTalk.  If you have UNIX-based ERP/Accounting, you can deploy MS SQL linked server to bridge MS CRM and ERP.  The same would work for Oracle ERP Oracle Financials.  Navision has third party integration tool and the one from Microsoft is on the way to be released.  Axapta is also candidate for the integration.
• Customization.  Microsoft CRM SDK describes majority of MS CRM objects and classes and enable VB.Net or C#.Net developer to build-in custom .Net application for Microsoft CRM existing screens.  And this is actually the way of the integration you realize integration in the custom .Net application.
• Messaging.  Microsoft CRM uses MS CRM-Exchange connector in its standard functionality.  However if you have IBM Lotus Domino email server you can deploy MS CRM-Lotus connector, developed and supported by Alba Spectrum Technologies.
• Data Conversion.  You should use Scribe for initial data migration.  However you need some programming work if you plan on bringing advanced data (email attachments from Siebel, for example)
• External consultants.  You should consider customization and integration initial design as candidates for outsourcing.  Then, when coding is done and implemented you may switch to your internal developers to support custom pieces.
• Nation-wide support.  Microsoft CRM is very innovative from the support side.  It means that Microsoft CRM partners tend to go to the nation-wide and international market to sell, implement and support the application.  Being web application Microsoft CRM could be accessed, customized and modified from anywhere.
• Internationalization.  Microsoft Business Solutions promotes MS CRM worldwide and has local versions of the product.

You can always have us help you, give us a call: 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is consultant and CTO in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) Microsoft Business Solutions partner, serving clients in Illinois, New York, California, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Arizona, Virginia, Minnesota, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Russia.  He is Microsoft Great Plains certified master, Great Plains Dexterity, Microsoft CRM SDK C#.Net, Crystal Repots developer.  You can reach Andrew: akarasev@albaspectrum.com

CRM Offshore Software Development

CRM stands for Customer-Relationship Management, and adopts the basic of self-service channel such as the Internet.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a business strategy built around the concept being "customer-centric". The main goal is to maximize revenue through improved customer satisfaction and focused interactions at each customer touch point.
The above can be achieved by understanding the needs of the customer that based on their purchasing patterns.
Customer-Relationship Management Customer-Relationship Management follows the principal of customer interaction,
allowing each customer to let you know how he or she wants to be treated.
CRM is a mechanism to make the supplier more aware of customers' buying habits and frequency at which he/she buys.
CRM solutions can improve efficiency of sales, marketing and services by making the supplier more attuned to the needs of the customer.
Some features to be recognized while achieving the customer satisfaction are:
1) Customers own their own information
2) Customers need total accuracy and at times won't understand the viewpoint of the supplier
Advantages of CRM Solutions.
CRM solutions provide a technology to enable your customer services, sales and marketing efforts by allowing a 1st-time visitor to visit the site again,
repeating the visitor to subscribe to a newswire so that we can tell him/her what we're doing to the site, subscribers and commentators to submit contributions
so that we broaden and deepen the content we provide and subscribed members of the site to purchase product and services
and provide us with funds. Typical CRM functionality includes the following:
1)Visitor login and account maintenance
2)User profiling and user agendas
3) Customer tracking and unique customer record
4) User reporting
5) User feedback and suggestions
6) Site relevance and content optimization
For more information log on to www.a1technology.com , an offshore outsourcing company

The author of the article is John Parker, A-1 Technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company

Microsoft CRM Customization if you give up overview for consultant

Microsoft CRM is designed to be customizable. However this is new system and you could be not comfortable to do it on your own. In this small article well try to reassure you if you can do it or point to the right direction if you would like to subcontract it to professionals. Lets begin

Microsoft CRM is CRM answer from Microsoft Business Solutions to traditional CRM vendors, such as Siebel, Onyx. Microsoft CRM customization techniques are very diversified and based on the whole spectrum of recent Microsoft technologies. The main terms you should know are: Microsoft CRM SDK 1.2 and Visual Studio.Net 2003. And of course you should be familiar with all the legacy internet technologies, such as HTML, XML, XSLT, JavaScript and be good C#/VB/Net developer.

If you are developer who is asked: how do we customize Microsoft CRM read this and you will have the clues on where to look further.

1. Microsoft CRM SDK this is software development kit with C# and partly VB.net examples it is supported by Microsoft Business Solutions technical support. It is all web services based calls, if you are C# .NET developer you are excellently positioned to do this type of customizations. This is the preferred customization scenarios and this should be easily upgradeable customization.

2. Legacy SQL Data integration. This is also easy and safe. If you have SQL database, sitting on the same or linked SQL Server you can create ASPX .Net application and simply integrate it into CRM. You can place it on the navigation bar or menu in isv.config please refer to MS CRM SDK

3. Legacy ASP integration this is somewhat more sophisticated. You have to deploy HTTP handler to be a middle party between CRM which is .Net based and ASP which is legacy IIS. The trick is you have to have INI file with security settings to penetrate into MS CRM with proper credentials, calling web service.

4. Microsoft Exchange Programming. Microsoft CRM has Exchange connector which moves CRM incoming email to MS if it has GUID in its subject. You can alter this logic (for instance - move email to CRM if it doesnt have GUID but it is from the sender who is contact or account in MS CRM). Refer to MS Exchange SDK onsyncsave event handling. Then simply apply some MS CRM SDK programming

5. Direct SQL touch in #4 above I described you the scenario with MS Exchange handlers this would be ideal world if MS CRM SDK does the job. But in real world this is not always true you have to do direct flags correction in CRM database (like making Activity closed, moving email attachments/octet streams, etc). This is not supported by MBS technical support but you can rescue to this technique if you have to make job done.

6. MS CRM Customization tool you can feel free to use this this is rather end-user tool and we dont describe it here read the manual. Weve described above the options to use when this tool doesnt do the job

Happy customizing! if you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies USA nationwide Microsoft CRM, Microsoft Great Plains customization company, serving Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Denver, Houston, Phoenix, New York, Atlanta, Miami, Canada, UK, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Germany ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.

akarasev@albaspectrum.com

Microsoft Great Plains & CRM in Transportation & Logistics overview

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains and MS CRM (client relation management system) are very popular in various industries and market niches. In previous article we described Microsoft Great Plains implementation for transportation & logistics company. Having more material, we would like to share with you how you can leverage Microsoft Business Solutions products to automate your business. Well try to be both technical and business processes specific and be laconic to comply the rules of tiny article.

• Cargo/Shipment Tracking System. Transportation & Logistics industry is pretty mature and you more likely have industry standard (like Efreight) or custom system. So, if you plan to implement new ERP it should be tightly integrated with your cargo tracking system.

• Customer Base. This is the question of the core application. If you have to sell to a large number of prospects and track their relatively small shipments you should first consider Microsoft CRM, which has Sales and Service modules. In this case you should enable shipment status lookup from MS CRM screens. In the case when you ship to limited number of large customers you are focusing on the profitability of the shipments and looking at Great Plains as the core system.

• Agent Settlement. This seems to be logistics industry feature. You use agents and settle their AR/AP invoices on the monthly or weekly basis. In Great Plains you should use customer/vendor consolidation, available for Great Plains Professional version. Plus you will need Great Plains Dexterity or .Net customization to link SOP and POP invoices in the settlement process.

• eConnect. Each logistics business has unique business processes and this is why we see software developers in staff plus strong IT department. This makes eConnect (Microsoft Great Plains SDK) very popular among logistics companies. You can create Great Plains objects: Customers, Invoices, Purchase Orders, etc. Plus it allows you to eliminate GP licenses cost you can have users work with Great Plains through web forms

• Integration Technology. In the case of both Great Plains and Microsoft CRM you use MS SQL Server linked server technology. Then you deploy MS CRM SDK, Dexterity, Heterogeneous Stored Procedures.

• Programming Tools. You use Visual Studio.Net to program MS CRM lookups, in some cases you can use WebMatrix, but we do not recommend tools, which do not have rich debugging features.

• Reporting. Crystal Reports is the tool of choice. You should create heterogeneous SQL view and base you Crystal Report on this view. Microsoft CRM security suggests you to use MS CRM SDK or built-in Crystal Reports Enterprise to comply.

• MS CRM Messaging. Microsoft CRM Exchange connector has relatively straightforward mechanism GUID in the message header. If you need advanced messaging capturing emails, based on contact email or domain you main consider advanced connector, developed and supported by Alba Spectrum Technologies. In some cases you would like to use Lotus Notes Domino as email server this is also possible.

You can always have us help you, give us a call: 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is consultant and CTO in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) Microsoft Business Solutions partner, serving clients in Illinois, New York, California, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Arizona, Virginia, Minnesota, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, Asia, Russia. He is Microsoft Great Plains certified master, Great Plains Dexterity, Microsoft CRM SDK C#.Net, Crystal Repots developer.

help@albaspectrum.com

6 Steps to Effective Customer Relationship Management

Nurture Your Customer Relationships Simply put, customer relationship management is a way of tracking and nurturing your customer relationships throughout the customer's life-cycle, as they move from prospect to customer, to repeat-buyer. Once a customer buys from you, it is much more profitable to make efforts to keep that customer, than it is to acquire a new one, because there is now trust between you. If your customer is happy with your product, then that customer is much more likely to buy from you again in the future, much more likely than a new prospect would be. That's why customer relationship management is so crucial.

Don't badger your customers to death with every product and affiliate offer you come across, especially if the products are unrelated to the product the customer originally purchased. Email your customers ONLY when you have something good to give them, some really helpful information, or when you have a really good, high-quality offer that would interest that particular customer. For instance, don't email your Internet Marketing customer a "Free Gift Certificate" to your gift store.

Automate Your Customer Relationship Management Well, how do you automate customer relationship management in your e-business? You use email, and a dynamic database. You use auto-responders to stay in touch. I'm not talking about your regular auto-responders that deliver a vacation or "out of office" messages while you're away, either. I'm talking about sequential auto-responders.

Use Sequential Auto-Responders In Your e-Business Sequential auto-responders allow you to pre-format and load a series of pre-typed messages to your prospects and customers. You benefit by not having to follow-up with these customers manually each time. Instead, your auto-responder delivers your messages on a timed interval set by you. To your customer, it looks as if you sent out each message yourself. This way, you stay in touch with your customer and not let them forget about you. When they have a need for one your products or services, your business will hopefully come to mind first and they will re-visit your site directly or by clicking a link in one of your emails, as a loyal repeat customer.

Personalize Your Messages for a Warm Feel! (Mail Merge) Most decent auto-responders have mail-merge capabilities. This is the ability to merge personal information into your emails, like your customer's first and/or last name or their email address, etc. This personalizes your email messages even further and gives your customer some "warm and fuzzies". What's more you set all this up just one time, and any new prospects or customers will get the same message series without you having to lift a finger.

If the sequential auto-responder you're using has mail-merge capabilities, then it will automatically take that customers name and incorporate it into the email series you have set up. Usually the auto-responder service you're using will have some sort of tokens set up for this purpose. Look at the example below. Let's say your customer or prospect's name is Bob.

Hello, $firstname, - That translates into: Hello, Bob.

You could also do this with a customers email address too, like "$email". The token would be replaced with the customer's email: bob@bob.tld Do you see the power of mail-merge?

Use Lead Capture and Subscription Boxes For instance, you could set up a simple box on your sales or download page that asks the customer for his/her name and email address in return for some free product, or simply just to subscribe to your newsletter. If you set up a page specifically for this purpose this is called a "lead capture page". The information entered by the customer into your subscription box can be mail merged into the follow-up messages sent by your auto-responder.

Stay In Touch Keep in contact with your prospects and customers. Set your auto-responder series to deliver your messages over an extended interval. There are several e-books and articles dedicated to this topic; however, if you want the first, most informative and still the king of auto-responder help, get "AutoResponder Magic". This e-book once sold for about $17, but you should be able to find it free many places on the 'Net. It has a plethora of information regarding auto-responders, as well as many examples you can build from.

Ettione Stuckey has a passion for ecommerce and Internet Marketing. He is an accomplished webmaster, who runs several ecommerce websites. He understands the science and application of ecommerce technology and concepts. Benefit from his efforts at www.ProWebWare.com

How to Build Customer Relationships

Building a lasting relationship with your customers is a vital marketing strategy in ensuring the existence of your business. Making your customers unhappy even once can impact their likelihood of ever revisiting.

Small, local stores, retailers, and companies, can sometimes offer more personable service because of their focus on the quality and uniqueness of their products not sold anywhere else. Honoring the customers' needs is what brings them back for more. The customers who approach you will not necessarily be a part of the local crowd--therefore it is important that you take the time to make a good impression to improve business. Running a small or local venture can be mixed with challenges all in its own, but with effective marketing you can overcome all the odds. What better place to promote that concept than on your web site?

Before you have your web site up and running, first develop a marketing plan as to what you would like to achieve through it. As an extension of your philosophies and style, you will want a web site that reaches out to your customers and lets them learn about you at the same time. Once you have that together, then you can plot out the components of your site. Here are some tried-and-true ways to offer optimum results:

* List sales dates, and offer deals, discounts, or coupons/vouchers for customers to print off and use. * Use your web site to offer email or postal mail updates to all customers who choose to be on your mailing list to which they can subscribe online. * Offer free or discounted shipping on orders processed via your specifications. * Offer to include a small free gift as a thank you to customers for their business. * Suggested features to include on your web site for customers to view are a pictorial catalogue, biographies of key contacts, employees, or owners/managers, and map and pictures of your business. * Include a Frequently-Asked-Questions (FAQ) section for self-help in case customers are experiencing trouble browsing or shopping online. * Clearly explain your products or services, including all applicable fees so customers are not unpleasantly surprised when they obtain a quote or make a purchase with your business. * State your policy of returns, damaged goods, or refunds where applicable. * Vary your selections by season, holiday, or event. Marketing yourself as a novelty producer in your industry will help you come out on top. * Make sure your web site is well-maintained at all times, where technical difficulties experienced on your web site are kept to a minimum to avoid losing impatient customers. A small, local business that is not prepared to handle an influx of customers will lose to a larger competitor. * Provide a feedback section for customers to offer suggestions and rate their overall satisfaction. You can also opt to email a survey to customers who shop online with you.

With careful planning, your small business can be well on its way to surpassing local recognition and make its way to the top of the list for successful ventures!

Jennifer McGroary is a WAHM who has been operating her own home-based web design and consulting business since 1999. Jennifer helps local small businesses, family-owned, & home-based businesses maximize their profits without spending money on advertising. To learn more, visit http://www.cssites.com

Cement Stronger Customer Relationships By Following The Confirmation Letter ABC's

As more entrepreneurs enter into online commerce, many make a common mistake: they get so involved with the technology that they forget that there's a live person on the other side of the computer screen. They forget that they're dealing with PEOPLE.

As a result, the Internet has begun to get a reputation for being cold...lacking in the personal touch. And it's this personal touch that forges a strong customer bond. Ignore this and you may find your customers drifting over to your competition.

You must give them a reason to stay loyal!

Did you know that sixty-eight (68) percent of customers who quit buying from a company do so because they feel that the company doesn't care about them? Just their wallets?

And never assume that since you don't hear any complaints that all is well. Of the above mentioned sixty-eight percent, 96% will not let you know how they're feeling...they'll just disappear.

And though they wouldn't tell you, rest assured that they'll probably tell their friends - statistically, one person usually shares a bad experience with nine other people. And 13% will even take this one step further - spreading the bad experience to 20 or more.

Can you see, by not reinforcing customer satisfaction and loyalty, that this could become a costly business mistake?

Savvy marketers make sure to establish this human connection early...one of the easiest (though often overlooked) tools to launch a strong relationship is a well-executed order confirmation message.

A well-planned confirmation message is often the first contact a merchant makes with a customer after the initial sales letter. It doesn't have to be elaborate...just make sure you're not missing the basics.

For instance, does your message hit the following ABC's?

A - (A)cknowledge Their Positive Action.

By instantly reinforcing their wise decision to purchase your product, you may be able to head off a number of cases of 'buyers remorse,' thus cutting down on refunds.

With ezine signups, by sending a confirmation message, you're reminding a prospect that they'd requested the information. Often subscribers forget that they've signed up. Or, someone may have signed them up without their knowledge or approval - a confirmation message notifies them of the action.

Some ezine publishers are using their confirmation message to set up a double opt-in, requiring a new subscriber to physically respond that they wanted the subscription. Done by requiring a return email or click through, this has become an effective way to offset spam complaints and unauthorized sign-ups.

B - (B)enefits They'll Receive From Their Purchase or Free Subscription

After a transaction, the confirmation letter should reiterate the benefits of signing up or purchasing a service or product. Reinforce this positive action by reminding a customer of the value they will be receiving (this also underscores their perception of you as a quality merchant).

C - (C)larifying Terms Of Product Delivery

If the product is digital, and will be delivered sequentially (like an ezine or mini-course) the confirmation letter will remind the customer or prospect how often to expect an installment (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly). A gentle reminder makes for good customer relations, and, again, cuts down on potential accusations of spamming.

If the product is available immediately, the confirmation should reconfirm that it is digital, available through instant download, and then give clear instructions on the steps involved. Not everyone is a download veteran; you can't assume that they'll know what to do. Head off any potential frustration with step-by-step instructions. To those that need this extra help, you'll be an instant hero.

By keeping it personal, anticipating requests and questions, and by extending professional courtesy, you will be on the right track to forging a strong online relationship with your customers -- ultimately leading to a smoother and more profitable online experience for everyone involved.


Paula Morrow heads http://www.idealmarketingcorp.com She specializes in public relations, information marketing and creating cashflow systems. Her newsletter, IDEALProfits, is now read in 12 countries. Subscribe and receive 5 BONUS ebooks! http://www.idealmarketingcorp.com/subscribe.html


As a result, the Internet has begun to get a reputation for being cold...lacking in the personal touch. And it's this personal touch that forges a strong customer bond. Ignore this and you may find your customers drifting over to your competition.

You must give them a reason to stay loyal!

Did you know that sixty-eight (68) percent of customers who quit buying from a company do so because they feel that the company doesn't care about them? Just their wallets?

And never assume that since you don't hear any complaints that all is well. Of the above mentioned sixty-eight percent, 96% will not let you know how they're feeling...they'll just disappear.

And though they wouldn't tell you, rest assured that they'll probably tell their friends - statistically, one person usually shares a bad experience with nine other people. And 13% will even take this one step further - spreading the bad experience to 20 or more.

Can you see, by not reinforcing customer satisfaction and loyalty, that this could become a costly business mistake?

Savvy marketers make sure to establish this human connection early...one of the easiest (though often overlooked) tools to launch a strong relationship is a well-executed order confirmation message.

A well-planned confirmation message is often the first contact a merchant makes with a customer after the initial sales letter. It doesn't have to be elaborate...just make sure you're not missing the basics.

For instance, does your message hit the following ABC's?

A - (A)cknowledge Their Positive Action.

By instantly reinforcing their wise decision to purchase your product, you may be able to head off a number of cases of 'buyers remorse,' thus cutting down on refunds.

With ezine signups, by sending a confirmation message, you're reminding a prospect that they'd requested the information. Often subscribers forget that they've signed up. Or, someone may have signed them up without their knowledge or approval - a confirmation message notifies them of the action.

Some ezine publishers are using their confirmation message to set up a double opt-in, requiring a new subscriber to physically respond that they wanted the subscription. Done by requiring a return email or click through, this has become an effective way to offset spam complaints and unauthorized sign-ups.

B - (B)enefits They'll Receive From Their Purchase or Free Subscription

After a transaction, the confirmation letter should reiterate the benefits of signing up or purchasing a service or product. Reinforce this positive action by reminding a customer of the value they will be receiving (this also underscores their perception of you as a quality merchant).

C - (C)larifying Terms Of Product Delivery

If the product is digital, and will be delivered sequentially (like an ezine or mini-course) the confirmation letter will remind the customer or prospect how often to expect an installment (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly). A gentle reminder makes for good customer relations, and, again, cuts down on potential accusations of spamming.

If the product is available immediately, the confirmation should reconfirm that it is digital, available through instant download, and then give clear instructions on the steps involved. Not everyone is a download veteran; you can't assume that they'll know what to do. Head off any potential frustration with step-by-step instructions. To those that need this extra help, you'll be an instant hero.

By keeping it personal, anticipating requests and questions, and by extending professional courtesy, you will be on the right track to forging a strong online relationship with your customers -- ultimately leading to a smoother and more profitable online experience for everyone involved.


Paula Morrow heads http://www.idealmarketingcorp.com She specializes in public relations, information marketing and creating cashflow systems. Her newsletter, IDEALProfits, is now read in 12 countries. Subscribe and receive 5 BONUS ebooks! http://www.idealmarketingcorp.com/subscribe.html
 

Paula Morrow is webmaster of http://www.idealmarketingcorp.com and has extensive marketing experience earned from 20 years in the public relations, entertainment and advertising worlds. Now applying this experience to the Internet, she enjoys creating cash-generating systems and coaching new marketers on innovative ways to promote their businesses both online and off.

What Is Sales Force Automation?

The use of computer software to automate the tasks in business of information exchange, monitoring and controlling inventory, sales, order tracking, analyzing sales forecasts, evaluating the performance of employees, and customer management, is known as sales force automation.

The term is often used interchangeably with CRM--customer relationship management--though this term does not necessarily imply any kind of automation in business. It is really when a sales force automated system is combined with a marketing information system that it becomes a CRM.

Sales force automation systems are claimed to have the ability to improve the levels of productivity and efficiency within sales personnel. There are many reason for this. Some are as follows:

Sales force automation systems are claimed to have the ability to improve the levels of productivity and efficiency within sales personnel. There are many reason for this. Some are as follows:

* They no longer need to write out reports; these can be generated semi-automatically.

* Via a company Intranet, or via the Internet, reports can be sent electronically, which negates the immediate need for printing them out.

* Sales staff can be provided with product information and training in sales techniques without the need for time-intensive seminars.

* Staff morale can be improved if the amount of record keeping can be reduced, and the rate of sales closing can be increased through the use of additional automated tools.

* The software could generate more and better qualified sales leads.

* Precision forecasting can enable staff to take advantage of opportunities that may not have been obvious otherwise.

Sales force automation systems, such as the GoldMine? software or the ACT!? software, can create competitive advantages. Productivity can be expected to increase as a result of sales people using their time more effectively and more efficiently. This will apply to the sales manager as well. Mobile sales personnel will submit their customer information more frequently, most likely following each sales call instead of once a day or once a week.

If used wisely, sales force automation systems could increase customer satisfaction. All that needs to be done is to perform careful analysis of the information obtained, then allow the system to service the customers more expertly, based on the results obtained. Managing the pipeline effectively will serve to maximize the number of opportunity availability occasions. It will also serve to raise the level of quality obtained, thereby giving your customers a greatly increased sales experience with your company.

A competitive advantage should be gained through this as customer satisfaction is likely to lead on to a definite increase in customer loyalty. This in turn will reduce the costs of acquiring new customers through repeat business, which will serve to increase the overall profit margin.

When your mobile sales people can enter their sales data in a single database, which is available to everyone, then updating and tracking all activity becomes simple. Progress can be monitored and profit opportunities can be identified, as well as being able to avoid or minimize problem areas. Powerful reporting of pipeline activity coupled with accurate analysis will enable your sales team to act whenever necessary, always backed by the right information. Productivity can increase enabling the sales process to become transparent and efficient.

Syed Ali, is the lead CRM consultant for a Toronto based company. His company offers, GoldMine Software and ACT! Software Syed can be reached at Tel : (905) 815- 1995 ext 22, email :asyed@cqsolutions.com