People, People, everywhere
Do you suffer from a people overload?
Do you suffer from an information overload?
Manage your people flow better with software. How? Use a CRM system. 'C'ustermer 'R'elationship 'M'anagement comes in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Outlook has a very good contact manager. ACT! is a well known application in the Small Business Arena. Quickbooks has added a CRM product that 'integrates' into Quickbooks. Now, though, Microsoft has built a very good competitor for the CRM market in Small Business.
Are you looking for an enterprise grade product customized for Small Business? Microsoft Dynamics recently released CRM 3.0 SBE. This is a great CRM Solution, contact Larry Lentz for more detailed information. Larry is a recognized leader in the Microsoft CRM community.
For those looking for an integrated solution that allows for Information Flow, but are trying to avoid the committment of the Microsoft CRM, there's Microsoft Business Contact Manager for Outlook. This is a very good system for managing your business contacts and accounts and integrating information with your Small Business Accounting. BCM allows you to prepare quotes, review financial information and work with SBA information in a controlled flow. Do you have Sales associates who need to prepare quotres, but don't need to be able to look at the bank accounts? This locks that out. Do you have Cusinter Service Reps who need to track time and report time, but don't need direct access to the Accounting database? BCM w/SBA does just that.
Oh, one thing to remember about both CRM 3.0 SBE and BCM, when done right, security is built in. It's not so much about security, though, but privacy and protecting your contacts/customers/vendors and their information. Leveraging your data means accessing the data in a responsible manner. There are some applications, whose dedication to security is an after thought. That may have been true even of Microsoft in the past, but these days, if you don't secure it, it's not because you can't.
So as you ask yourself, 'When's the last time I talked to Client X?', or 'Can I sell customer Y that $33,000 widget?' you can look in your contact manager and you'll be ready.
As with any solution, discuss it with your trusted advisor and make an informed decision.