Rules of E-mail Marketing
Not only is e-mail marketing exceptionally cost-effective, email-marketing has the highest Return on Investment of any form of direct marketing. Last month, Chris Gordon, Channel Manager at Swiftpage,...
View ArticleHow to Compare CRM Reviews
There are many people and websites trying to do CRM reviews to compare different CRM applications. The problem with relying on CRM reviews from other sources is that reviews are about CRM systems in...
View ArticleThe Pillars of Social CRM
I recently sat in on one of Microsoft’s “Meet the Experts” live webcasts about Social CRM. Microsoft® Dynamics CRM Director, Matt Keenan, led the discussion and explained to us the pillars that compile...
View ArticleSugarCRM Customers, Check Out SugarCON 2012!
Sign up anytime in March and receive a 10% discount when you enter "Technology Advisors-March" in the promotion code box. For those who don't know, SugarCON is SugarCRM's annual conference for both...
View ArticleAll leads are not created equal
As marketers, one of our primary goals used to be (and still is to a different extent) to get as many leads as possible. It isn't that we weren't concerned with quality previously; we were simply...
View ArticleThe Social Process
A couple weeks ago I blogged about The Pillars of Social CRM after listening to a discussion led by Matt Keenan, Microsoft® Dynamics CRM Director. I recently got into a discussion with some colleagues...
View ArticleSugarCRM 6.5 Redefining the CRM User Experience
Word on the street is that SugarCRM plans to define the CRM user experience with their 6.5 release this summer. I'm sure we'll learn all about at next month's SugarCON but let's take a moment to drill...
View ArticleLeads vs. Contacts
Most of the leading CRM's now have contacts and leads separate. The first question is what is the difference between a lead and a contact? A lead is basically an unqualified prospect. You don't know if...
View ArticleMore Than Just Raw Data
For some organizations, providing a list of contacts with demographic information (i.e. raw data from InfoUSA) might be a decent enough start given where they are today. In other cases, providing a set...
View ArticleCRM Selection: What factors to consider
If you are looking at CRM solutions for the first time, or are using CRM but considering a change of systems, CRM selection can, at first, seem like a daunting task. The first thing you should do is...
View ArticleCRM Selection: Features
On our CRM Selection quest, the first factor to consider is the features component. There are tons of CRM systems and tons of features to go along with them. Your CRM return on investment is not...
View ArticleCRM Selection: Cost
Our CRM selection quest continues with factor 2, cost. For most businesses, cost can make or break a buying decision. The most important thing here is to carefully recognize all the costs involved in a...
View ArticleCRM Selection: Ease of Use
Factor 3 in our CRM selection quest is ease of use. I touched on this in our first CRM selection blog, but what this really comes down to is getting your people to use the system. The easier the system...
View ArticleCRM Selection: Flexibility
Flexibility is the 4th factor to consider during CRM selection. Although flexibility is not the most crucial of the factors, it still needs to be addressed. Straight out of the box, most CRM systems...
View ArticleCRM Selection: Industry
The 5th factor to consider during CRM selection is industry. This is actually a 2-part consideration. First, you'll want to do some research to see if others within your industry are already using CRM...
View ArticleCRM Selection: Deployment Method
As we continue on the CRM selection quest, our 6th consideration is deployment method. There are a couple things to consider, first being whether you want to deploy your CRM solution on premise or have...
View ArticleCRM Selection: Ease of Implementation
Ease of implementation is the 7th factor to consider in your CRM selection. You'll need to rely on a CRM partner for this information, as they are experts in the field. Whether or not you use a partner...
View ArticleCRM Selection: Data Integration
It is the last week of our CRM selection quest! Data integration is our 8th consideration and is crucial. Whether you are currently using a CRM solution or not, you have data, in some form, that needs...
View ArticleCRM Selection: Using a Partner
Our CRM selection quest has come down to the final factor, using a partner. Like everything else, there are both challenges and benefits to both.Gartner reports that "businesses that use some type of...
View ArticleInbound Marketing and SugarCRM
Technology Advisors and echogravity are in the middle of hosting a 3-part series on Marketing with SugarCRM. The first webinar discussed Inbound Marketing and CRM.What is the purpose of Inbound...
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