Microsoft CRM Customization: Integration with third party SQL Application/Database

Microsoft CRM Client Relationship Management package from Microsoft Business Solutions was initially designed to be customizable with Microsoft Visual Studio.Net and one of its programming languages C#.Net or VB.Net. You can use ADO.Net, Web Service, Transact SQL scripting and stored procedures, deploy such SQL Server tools as Linked Server to all ODBC/OLEDB compliant database, including ORACLE, Sybase, Ingress, DB2, Unidata, Pervasive SQL, Ctree and even Lotus Notes/Domino. In this small article we would like to give you the clue on programming the integration with SQL third party Database.

First use Microsoft CRM SDK to initiate communication with Microsoft CRM, we have it in C#:

String[] arr1 = coll.AllKeys;

int loop1, loop2;

for (loop1 = 0; loop1 0?1:arr1.Length); loop1++)

{

String[] arr2 = coll.GetValues(arr1[loop1]);

for (loop2 = 0; loop2 < arr2.Length; loop2++)

{

strAccountId = arr2[loop2].Replace("}",null);

strAccountId = strAccountId.Replace("{",null);

}

}

if (Page.IsPostBack==false)

{

// Server should be set with the name of the platform Web server

string Server = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["ServerName"];

// VirtualDirectory should be set with the name of the Microsoft

// CRM Virtual Directory on the platform Web server

string VirtualDirectory = "mscrmservices";

string strDir = "http://" + Server + "/" + VirtualDirectory + "/";

// BizUser proxy object

Microsoft.CRM.Proxy.BizUser oBizUser = new Microsoft.CRM.Proxy.BizUser ();

oBizUser.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;

oBizUser.Url = strDir + "BizUser.srf";

// CRMAccount proxy object

Microsoft.CRM.Proxy.CRMAccount account = new Microsoft.CRM.Proxy.CRMAccount ();

account.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;

account.Url = strDir + "CRMAccount.srf";

Then you use ADO.Net for calling stored procedure with parameters to do the integration job:

try

{

string SQLStatement="ICS_UpdateAccountPrivate '"+

strAccountId +"' , '" + this.TextBoxWorkPerformed.Text +

"' , "+doubleEncode(System.Double.Parse(this.TextBoxAnnualRevenue.Text))+" , "+

intEncode(System.Int32.Parse(this.TextBoxNumberOfEmployees.Text.Replace(",","")))+" , "+

doubleEncode(System.Double.Parse(this.TextBoxAverageGrowthRate.Text))+" , "+

"'"+this.DropDownListOwnership.SelectedItem.Text +"' , "+

intEncode(System.Int32.Parse(this.RadioButtonList.SelectedItem.Value))+" , "+

intEncode(System.Int32.Parse(this.TextBoxCredit.Text.Replace(",","")))+" , '"+

this.TextBoxComments.Text+"'";

System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection tmpConnection =

new System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection(ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["ConnectionStringICS"]

);

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, based in Chicago, California, Texas, Florida, New York, Georgia, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Canada, UK, Australia and having locations in multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com), he is CMA, Great Plains Certified Master, Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer. You can contact Andrew: 1-866-528-0577 andrewk@albaspectrum.com.

akarasev@albaspectrum.com

 

CRM - An evolutionary concept to communicate with your customers

An evolutionary concept in communicating with customers
There is probably no other time in history when business conditions have been as difficult and competitive as they are today. Companies are pressuring their managers to work harder and smarter to sell their products. One vital factor that most companies tend to forget is that customers are the only reason they are in business. In turn, customers are curtailing their buying, because the tough times are impacting them as well. It is time Australian corporations realise that customers are not just numbers on a sales graph. They need to help their customers to run a more efficient and profitable business so that they can keep them as customers and keep them coming back.

Existing customers - prime prospects! It should really go without saying that your prime source of new business is your existing customers. You already have a track record with them. They trust you and your products. It is easier to sell more to them than it is to find new prospects. It is less expensive too. Management guru Peter Drucker said it all when he said "On average it costs you five times as much to get a new customer as it does to hold an existing one". Jan Carlzon, the man who turned SAS from a huge loss maker into a profitable airline in less than two years echoed Druckers thought when he said, "All profits come from customer satisfaction". Both were right and their advice is exactly what is needed today.

Communicating with customers There is a myriad of ways to communicate with your customers. All the old time methods, such as, sales letters, telemarketing, brochures and so on, sometimes work, most times they dont. It is a hit and miss situation. If we are to retain our customer base we need to upgrade our communication methods to take advantage of todays technology.

Lets look at one area that companies use to communicate with customers, the customer newsletter. The main problem with customer newsletters today is, that in the main they are self-serving and not at all what a customer wants or needs. They waffle on about how good the company is and the brilliance of their products. Emphasis is placed on their company instead of where the emphasis should be placed, on their customers. The main objective is to retain existing customers and hope that they in turn recommend our products. To do this we must ensure that they see our communications as being useful and valuable to them. Our communications must assist our customers to do better in their businesses, which means that they will be able to spend more money with our company. We cannot achieve this objective if we continue to send out communications that prattle on about how good we are. Remember that, your customer is only concerned with that which benefits their company.

With the traditional media so fragmented and expensive, it is proving difficult to reach the right target audience at a cost-effective price. Your customers are also more sophisticated than ever before so you need to be the same. Your customers are constantly looking for ways to improve themselves, their people and their operations and any help you can give them to improve their business operation will undoubtedly have considerable benefits for you.

Communicating with customers A new way of communicating with customers is just being introduced onto the corporate business scene. With Internet marketing being the modern way to reach your prospects you can now send your own fortnightly business magazine to your existing customer base to help them to improve their businesses and by doing so cement your relations with them.

By doing this you offer your customers meaningful help. In corporate communication content is king and this magazine contains articles on management from over 150 of the greatest management gurus in the world. Experts like Anthony Robbins, Al Ries, Zig Ziglar, Amanda Gore and scores of other great thinkers whose combined wisdom will help your customers do better business leading to better business for you from your existing customers who, of course, are your prime prospects. The magazine also contains your advertising and articles from your company. Such a company communication puts your sales messages on your customers desk every fortnight. Using this idea you get the biggest names in business working for your company every issue. You can get full details on how you can make this idea achieve your CRM and sales goals by visiting http://jamesgaw.com/magazine or by calling James on (617) 32893889 (Australia)

James Gaw is a management educator, international speaker and author of the in-house training product QuickCourse. He can be contacted on (07) 3283 3889 or by email at amarquis@petrie.starway.net.au. Website: http://jamesgaw.com

Business Growth, Customer Relationships and Profit: How do you Build Valuable Relationships?

My experience of working with small businesses is that sales growth relies on relationship building. This is a skill that you need to employ continuously, with all your business contacts.

Prospects

You are surrounded by prospective customers who do not know you nor do they know what benefits you offer. When you approach cold contacts, the statistics suggest that you get a 1% to 3% response rate whether you use direct mail, telephoning or door knocking.

Warmer contacts develop after you have met a new prospect several times or when a client gives you a direct referral. As you meet the warm contact to build your relationship, listen for what they need, explore their interests, and ask about their purchasing habits.

When you know what they want and you have educated them in what they want to choose, these prospects develop into hot contacts, who are ready to trust you and to buy from you.

Customers

If you have a delivery cycle, you can continue to build your relationships through keeping your customers informed how the delivery process is progressing. No one likes surprises, so if the delivery slips or you find that there are quality issues, help your customers to plan around the delivery issues and they will appreciate the care you invest in communicating with them.

After you complete the sale, continue to track your customers' needs by maintaining sufficient contact that you can respond ?just in time?. People value this extra service especially if your competitors think that customers place volume orders in response to cut prices.

When you make a sale well, a customer can often refer you to three new customers so you can draw a good profit from creating long term relationships with customers.

Clients

Generally it costs 30% less to sell a second and third time to a current customer than it does to convert a prospects into a new customer. Where customers buy from you several times, you can gain useful market intelligence if you ask them what they value about your services and products. Feedback from these repeat customers will point to the benefits that give you a competitive edge.

Where your long term relationship enables you to fit into your client?s purchasing habits, you can relieve stress in their business and ease their life: this makes them keen to work with you again and again. Although deep client relationships take time to build, they create a barrier that can exclude competitors from entering your market.

Supporters

Some regular customers will support you by recommending you to their colleagues. These recommendations can take prospects directly to the stage of being customers with very little of your effort.

So keep these supporters informed about your plans and developments, and introduce them to people who matter in your world. Where you can encourage them to feel involved in the success of your company, they will repay your relationship in growing profits.

Nothing beats doing a good job and if you continue to deliver an excellent service over a long period, your customers will continue support your business growth. So the fastest route to business growth is to take a long term view on growing your relationships.

Adrian Pepper coaches people through business and personal difficulties, helping companies figure out what to do, how to move forward and what to get organised. You can contact him through Help4You Ltd, through his website at http://www.help4you.ltd.uk or by phone +44-7773-380133. At http://feeds.feedburner.com/help4you, you can listen to his podcast for small businesses.

What Is CRM, Customer Relationship Management?

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

It?s hard to find a definitive definition of what CRM means. So I?ll outline the broad meaning and then give some examples.

You may have heard of the terms CRM and Customer Relationship Management in regards to software. Well CRM is not just a piece of software. It?s more than that.

The CRM Customer Relationship Management software is a vital component, yet the whole business needs to understand CRM Customer Relationship Management in all departments and functions of the business and behave appropriately to make CRM Customer Relationship Management work.

An effective CRM Customer Relationship Management will include methodologies, strategies, software, and web-based capabilities that help an enterprise organize and manage customer relationships.

Why use CRM Customer Relationship Management?

CRM Customer Relationship Management is used to help businesses (a.) understand their customer, and (b.) understand their customers? wants and needs and (c.) help the business serve them more efficiently and effectively

In turn this will help the business to improve customer satisfaction, increase staff productivity, slash operational costs and maximize the effectiveness of each customer interaction.

Let?s talk about these three different areas.

CRM Customer Relationship Management to Understand The Customer

In a CRM Customer Relationship Management application and approach a user will collect as much information about a customer that they can. They?ll collect names, addresses, contact numbers, age, sex, number of children etc. A CRM Customer Relationship Management process does this to, amongst other things; help ?classify? their customers.

A benefit of a CRM Customer Relationship Management system is that a user can help analyse which types of customers are best for their business.

Then once they know what customer ?types? are best they can then market to them in a ?personal? way ? using the information gained about them.

CRM Customer Relationship Management to Understand The Customers Wants and Needs

As information is collected about the customers? personal life, information is also collected about their buying habits and stored in CRM Customer Relationship Management software.

Humans are creatures of habit. By analysing the information collected about the customer and their buying habits the CRM Customer Relationship Management can be used to help the business identify what the customers would most likely want or need to buy.

For example, if your CRM Customer Relationship Management information lets you know that your best customers typically like buying ?red apples? in November for an average sale price of $15. You can prepare a marketing approach that is sent out to them prior to November that will steer them towards buying $30 worth of apples.

The customer sees it as useful because it?s something they like to do at that time of year, and you?re offering them a reminder and perhaps an incentive to buy more. The business benefits by structuring the offer to increase the sales value and therefore increasing the profit return.

CRM Customer Relationship Management is Useful to Also Target New Customers

Information gathered in the CRM Customer Relationship Management will help the business to target more of the preferred customers. An analysis using CRM Customer Relationship Management software could tell the business, for example, that single males between 30 to 35 years of age that earn between $50,000 and $60,000 are the best type of customer for the business.

Knowing that information from the CRM Customer Relationship Management, the business can then hire a list from a direct mail list broker of all the single men that fit the description and target their marketing towards them.

The CRM Customer Relationship Management activity of improving the relationship with the customer is to help keep the customer more loyal to the company and thus improve the profitability of the business.

CRM Customer Relationship Management to Help Efficiency and Effectiveness of Business

A good CRM Customer Relationship Management application will help the business to become more efficient and effective.

The business can become more efficient because if a customer contacts the business, within seconds the customer service representative can produce the customers file. This will tell the employee all about the customer and their interaction with the business.

So a CRM Customer Relationship Management saves time for the business and is able to help the employees deliver high levels of personalised service.

A CRM Customer Relationship Management software program and approach can help the business become more effective. An example would be marketing.

Knowing all the information about the customers, the marketing strategies can be targeted towards the customers in a personal way. Thus marketing to a defined target market with a past history the potential of improved results is far greater than marketing to a ?cold? list.

This article should only be viewed a very broad overview of what CRM Customer Relationship Management is.

On this website you?ll find more detail and resources to help you understand and use CRM Customer Relationship Management for your business.

Casey A Gollan, The Business Growth Specialist for CRM Software Center - All the general information and resources for everything CRM - Customer Relationship Management. Visit http://www.crmsoftwarecenter.com and http://www.caseygollan.com.au

Mortgage Lead Generation Software

U.S. mortgage companies are in a fiercely competitive market and often have difficulty attracting new customers. The more clients they can lure, the more promising their business prospects become. To succeed in attracting new clients, companies need to concentrate on making their endeavor more time-bound.

The mantra for them to succeed and to come out with flying colors is to streamline their organization as far as their functional aspect is concerned. In doing so, most of the companies find themselves racing against time.

A good time management technique in relation to the company?s business philosophy can really help. Against this backdrop, good mortgage leads can boost their effort and are an integral part of the burgeoning mortgage business.

Good mortgage lead generation software minimizes the speculation on the marketing process and puts companies in a position to spare valuable resources and concentrate on other vital spheres of the business. Companies can take recourse to mortgage lead data from a standard database or can resort to vigorous marketing campaigns and can produce the required leads to suit their convenience.

Another important lead channel can be created through telemarketing. It can be an appropriate tool to furnish an unhindered and inevitable flow of leads. This helps loan officers to close down on prospective clients rather than wasting precious time in locating prospective borrowers.

Soft ware incorporated in systems dealing with lead distribution aims at making the end user consisting of salespersons more competent. It enables the end user to choose precisely the sort of lead design that they would like to obtain.

Mortgage Loan Software provides detailed information on Mortgage Software, Mortgage Loan Software, Mortgage Banking Software, Mortgage Broker Software and more. Mortgage Loan Software is affiliated with Real Estate Investment Software.