Duct Tape Marketing - Latest Comments in What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

Harvy — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:50:42 -0000

We use 5PMweb as our small CRM tool

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

Perry — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 02:58:16 -0000

aah... "..the performance of the desktop". That resonates with me. In our country, with its poor excuse for broadband, SaaS products struggle to gain traction.

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

Charlie Crystle — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:59:00 -0000

CRMbrella might be a good choice for those who still favor the performance of the desktop...

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

thaumata — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 02:06:57 -0000

Highrise was really promising, but they don't allow you to add custom fields, which is a total deal breaker for a business like mine. Also, if you've been using basecamp for a long time and have some projects in there or contacts, you can't easily integrate that data between the two sites, which is really unfortunate.

Salesforce looks to do everything but the laundry, but I have a one-woman business and while my needs are unique, they're just not that complicated, and I don't have so much time to wade through hundreds of pages of online docs to find how to do simple functions.

Honestly, if Highrise would just become a bit more flexible so that I could add custom fields and reports, and maybe even add in some product tracking, I would be SO happy to support 37signals as they developed it further. As it is, I am still looking for solutions.

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

Alan green — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:49:51 -0000

Great! Everubody posts his CRM here.
Take a look at LEADSExplorer
This CRM starts from the visits on your website, as 7 out of 10 B2B purchases start with an Internet search. Thus from the moment the potential customers visit, you can start tracking and nurturing them.
A Lead and Customer Relationship Management

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

Eddie Bannerman-Menson — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 21:33:37 -0000

Hi all:
You should take a look at Entellium's RAVE CRM. We are on-demand CRM solution focused primarily on the small business. We have a unique design and UI, based on gamer influenced design. The idea is that if kid can take out a complex game and start playing seriously in 15 min, business software, and for that matter, CRM should not be any more complex.
RAVE is highly customizable, priced right(we do not nickel and dime you to death as some of our competitors like Salesforce.com) and there is a freetrial going on right now at www.ravecrm.com .
I pray we are added to John's list-we are so it.

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

Justin Scott — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 04:30:13 -0000

Hi John,

Your article was really insightful and highlights that CRM solutions for the small business sector may indeed be over subscribed...but I think we all doing ok business out there hoping that we dont get blasted by a google or some other large player who gives it away as a value add to some other product.

I thought perhaps some of us "smaller" providers should actually get together and look at creating the uber SME CRM solution, combining forces, technologies and solutions. Easily said I know but maybe its worth considering, Like other product life cycles we'll see consolidation at some stage I think.

Thanks again, going to go looking for the results of the survey now.

PS: We develop NovoCRM...a niche solution for small businesses, generally software development in nature, but able to cater to others too....good to be part of the club. Cheers..!

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

John Clark — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 01:09:44 -0000

You missed one that you should add to your list. It's very affordable, works on all OS's (Mac, PC, Linux...).

Have a unique way also that is different than all the salesforce.com clones.

SalesJunction.com

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

Joan — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 06:00:33 -0000

I'm using Wrike for project management and about 3 months ago I desided to use it for simple CRM too. I put all my clients data into Wrike and organized my clients in groups. The cools thing is that we can treat each client as a project and collaborate on working for him, that is assign tasks, set due dates and build plans.

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

ducttape — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 07:39:24 -0000

Pam,

Yes I will publish the results this week.

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

Pam — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:51:41 -0000

Great post and podcast, John. Thank you.

Quick question: I just tried to take your 4-question survey and got a page that said the survey is closed. Do you plan to publish the results? I'm very interested to know what others think are the most important features.

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

Gerald Tannam — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 09:34:01 -0000

Hi John -

I found this a particularly helpful edition. I liked what I heard about both Signals 37 and HighRise (and am seriously looking to them for our own CRM upgrade). I was also struck by Jason's "I like when I hear others do well", which seems to me to be at the heart of his business success.

I believe that the big corporations will have to follow the lead of small business (and before us, small and big countries) in taking a friendly competitive approach to commerce and look forward to using 37 Signal's products & piggybacking on Jason's attitude to help us all get there.

Thanks! Gerard http://openheartbranding.bl...

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

Ben Smith — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 21:18:57 -0000

Hi Bill,

I just wanted to comment on your great point. I do think that many people confuse "CRM" with "CRM software". In an attempt to make this point, we actually spend the first part of our manual discussing a coffee shop and how by simply putting a sticker on the cup they have achieved every goal that you would ask of a CRM.

What someone really should do, to implement a CRM, is get a list of goals they want to achieve with the CRM system (not necessarily software), then find the simplest tool that achieves all of their goals. If you can achieve all of your goals with a spiral ring notebook, then you should use a spiral ring notebook. Of course if you need Salesforce with some-odd add-ons then that's what you should use.

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

ducttape — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 07:32:48 -0000

Bill,

Asking good, relevant questions does not make you a PITA.

Of course you're right, that's the place to start but few do. I've got a problem give me a tool, if that doesn't work, give me a new tool.

I've often said CRM is more about culture than software - no matter what tool you use if the culture, the leadership, the current process isn't set up to support it, it will likely fail.

On the other hand, most of the tools out there will work with the right mindset and strategy in place.

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

Bill Wallace — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 04:35:19 -0000

Not wishing to be a "PITA" but shouldn't we be talking about strategy and not software? CRM software is developed (I hope) to help a company deliver better services to its clients. What I hear most is which software package should we use - Cart is before the horse don't you think?

(PITA = Pain in the A$$) :)

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

David G. — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:57:38 -0000

John,
Great information, Just wanted to share one with you. Ted Rubin an old friend and associate designed a very industry specific CRM for the Automobile Dealership. I have not looked at in for several years (no current need) but when I did use it I found it very valuable for managing. It also appears it was picked up by JM&A in Florida.

http://www.dealerups.com/pu...

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

ducttape — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:31:25 -0000

Duncan, You can grab a bunch of good links here from all the comments.

Also, Inside CRM is pretty good - http://www.insidecrm.com

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

Duncan — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:48:51 -0000

Great posts, have found it really interesting the different view points.

One questions - I am trying to find out and evaulate different applications available. Obviously I have the above ideas BUT where do people look and how do you search for these products and other small business IT apps - all I find when I use google are the same old companies - SAP, Salesforce and these are well out of my league? Are there good search terms, websites or blogs out there?

Thanks in advance

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

Jason — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:41:51 -0000

John- Thanks for writing this, my brother and I just started looking around at different CRM solutions recently. While our needs are undoubtedly different than others, two things that really matter to me are compatability with existing software and analysis features. We still use Quickbooks for accounting so it would be important that the CRM integrates with QB (and ideally our shopping cart software as well!). For small businesses I think people often overlook the value of not having to do data entry yourself. We typically have 3-5 employees at any point in time (our business is somewhat seasonal) but they all have a purpose and tasks to perform other than just taking data from one program and entering it into another...which leaves us with my brother and I who already shoulder the rest of the "no one else to do it" jobs. Anytime we can find some software that saves precious keystrokes we eat it up.

We've tried using the QB customer manager as a cheap fill-in/trial run of CRM software but I feel it's too limited as far as the analysis, sorting, rating and relevance type of viewing I like. I am a nerd at heart after all, and data is my friend so the more of it to manipulate the better.

Thanks again

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

Bill Brelsford — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 23:04:23 -0000

Entellium's Rave product is an interesting product. Two things they do differently - 1) they don't have the same old boring user interface and 2) the take a smart client approach so you get the interface of a desktop app with the data sharing and other benefits of a hosted app.

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

JP Werlin — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 09:47:14 -0000

John,

Great topic. Organization, focus and technology choices are often what make or break small-to-medium sized businesses today. Managing your company's sales pipeline is critical as future revenue is the lifeline for us all. I respect Jason Fried greatly, however he is trying to redefine CRM to fit his view of the world which is different (and not necessarily bad) than how the majority of businesses think about CRM. Highrise is an awesome choice if the way your company uses/thinks about CRM matches Jason's view. Really, with the choices now on the market, you are not only signing up to the actual software product, but also to that particular provider's philosophy and ethos. It is important your view off the world aligns with that of your chosen software provider.

I wanted to elaborate that our company, Pipelinedeals is an option at $15/user/month with no long term contracts. We endeavor to bring a constantly evolving and improving product with the most valuable pieces of functionality of the enterprise solutions, less the lofty price tag and aggressive contracts.

Thanks to Ben Smith from Heap to include us above. It shows a lot of character for someone to not only mention themselves but throw in a couple of other solutions, arguably competitors. Very much appreciated Ben and I look forward to returning the favor.

~JP Werlin, PipelineDeals Co-Founder
(866) 702-7303

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

Darren Louie — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:59:10 -0000

I used to do some Salesforce.com consulting. I mainly worked with very small businesses in helping them set up their Salesforce.com account. One thing, I continually found was that companies that sold B2C had a hard time grasping the Salesforce.com workaround.

The story is. Salesforce.com was originally designed for larger companies who sell B2B. Hence they have a rigid Account to Contact relationship. Then they introduced this "duck-tape" solution called Person Accounts for B2C customers.

The problem is not only that it's confusing with Accounts, Contacts and Person Accounts. But it's not even available unless your purchase the Cadillac version of Salesforce.com (Enterprise Edition)

So in my mind. Having a very simple, streamlined solution for B2C business is a must.

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

ducttape — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:56:51 -0000

Dave, sounds like you are doing a better job than most - most small businesses don't do half of what you are doing - so, I wasn't picking on you!

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

Dave Roitner — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:16:38 -0000

Good point Jon, I do back up my data offsite daily. But perhaps I should clarify where my concern lies about the hosted solutions.

- How easy is it to get my data back off the hosted solution?
- With so many hosted CRM companies, which ones are going to be around next month, year, etc... I would feel more secure with the larger hosted companies. i.e. saleforce.com etc..

I did not say I would never use a hosted solution, I just said I don't like it. Since it's my business data, it could be costly to my business if I lost it all. I just feel more comfortable when it's under my control. Having it all under someone else's control is what I don't like.

I just listened to the Jason Fried podcast. Very good, thanks. Maybe I'll break down one day.

Re: What would the perfect small business CRM look like?

ducttape — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:20:44 -0000

So Dave, you do back up your data hourly and make a copy everyday to take off site right?
No question offsite is safer, but it's like trying to tell folks that a phone line is a better way to give a credit card than an encrypted secure shopping cart page.