CRM Insights Blog

How to Create a Social CRM Software Implementation Project Plan

Cathy Boudreau — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:28:00 GMT

As tempting as it may be for a business to read about CRM monitoring and rush out to purchase the necessary applications, a successful enterprise will have a thoroughly developed CRM software implementation project plan before going out for the first bid. To do otherwise may leave critical gaps in the collection and analysis of useful data, a non-integrated strategy for the enterprise, and an end product that has no owner, accountability, or function. Organizations should review the information contained here to ensure they have the best possible strategy and rollout plan for CRM implementation of analytical software.

The first step in designing and developing a CRM software project is to develop a clear strategy and vision. An enterprise must know exactly what it wants to do, what it wants to measure, what the outcomes should be, and how it will measure success. The vision must be clear, simple, well-stated, and concise. Creating ambiguities at this point will be magnified later on. Goals can be created at this point as well, but unlike the vision, they must be more ambiguous until a detailed scope, project team, and budget are in place.

The next step in the process is to ensure that old and existing business practices are structured appropriately for the CRM software solution and optimized to fit the model. Forcing old practices into a new system leads not only to inefficiency, but frustration and failure as well. Employees, used to doing things the “old way” will resist the implementation of a new methodology unless it provides them benefit in some way.

Third, the business must determine, in advance, the amount, type, and specificity of the data they plan to collect, along with a clear strategy as to how it will used and sorted. Each piece of data collected must have a use. If it doesn’t it should be discarded, or reconfigured until it does have meaning. Collecting a lot of data may seem impressive, but an organization will quickly get bogged down in it. Social and transaction-based data should be blended where reasonable to gain a complete picture of the client.

As a fourth step, businesses should consider and apply predictive analytical software into their CRM solution before it is implemented. Clever design of this software can help businesses analyze not only past activities, but predict future trends based on customer behavior. When properly applied, predictive analysis can also stave off potential consumer issues and generate solutions at an infancy stage.

Finally, although last on this list, it should be first in the minds of business leaders to assign a system owner for the CRM software, analysis, results, and follow-through. Without ownership, there will be no urgency, no sense of responsibility, and no semblance of upkeep of software revisions. A project owner also ensures that departments interacting with the software results – HR, Legal, Marketing, and Sales, among others – are getting the accurate information they need from the CRM software top make informed business decisions.

10 Signs A Business Needs a Social CRM Consulting Service

Cathy Boudreau — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:51:00 GMT

Many businesses try to enter the world of social CRM without the use of a social? CRM consulting service, whether due to budget constraints, on-site staffing excesses, or just a lack of knowledge about what they can bring to the table. In any case, not many businesses succeed in the arena of social CRM without a consultant, and it’s usually after their internal program is failing or found to be ineffective that many realize this. Without social CRM consulting, businesses can fall into a number of different traps, as outlined in the checklist below.

An enterprise should consider on-boarding a social CRM consulting firm if:

Insufficient staff knowledge and expertise exists within the organization to successfully launch and monitor a CRM software solution.
Quantitative analysis shows that customers are dissatisfied with a company’s product.
There is no clear-cut strategy within the organization to handle social media, or it has no tools to implement its social media strategy.
Customer data cannot be delivered instantly to the point of contact or imported to a centralized database for immediate feedback.
There is no distinction between an individual client and an enterprise client to help market more effectively or determine the value base of a customer.
The organizational focus is on day-to-day operations and not on the long-term strategy.
A determination cannot be made from data whether an investment in marketing or sales would yield additional revenue from a customer.
A customer’s exposure to a company’s products cannot be quantified to drive business decisions.
Information about a customer’s interaction with different organizations within an enterprise cannot be readily shared or agglomerated.
Historical data cannot be retrieved instantly about a customer’s recent dealings with the company.

Once a business realizes that it’s necessary to hire a social CRM consulting firm, selection criteria becomes the next focus. A social CRM consulting service should be selected based on the needs of the enterprise, the ability of the firm to demonstrate success with other companies in social CRM, and its diversity in other areas of business knowledge including sales, marketing, and operations. Social CRM consultants must be able to discuss media channels beyond Twitter and Facebook, have an existing social media presence that is positive and engaging (as determined by their followers), and a reputable list of contacts and business partners.

The best CRM consulting firms are insightful and forward-looking and have a proven and methodical approach to social media projects that are reinforced with references and an expansive social footprint. Firms need to provide a vision with regard to developing other services as the need arises, such as a website, media outreach, and improved messaging systems.

Companies selecting the best social CRM consulting firm should look at past successes, current capabilities and presence in social media, and future insight into coming technologies, opportunities, and outlets for the enterprise’s products.

Remove the "Reply To" in emails sent from within Salesforce

Cathy Boudreau — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:02:00 GMT

Ever notice when an email that is generated from Salesforce (workflows, for example), the "From" display says "no-reply@salesforce.com [mailto:noreply@salesforce.com] On Behalf Of <User Name>"?

This is ugly, right? We thought so too. There is a way that the "From" field can have the username and email ID in that field. Here's how:

Go to Setup | Email Administration | Deliverability
Locate the "Email Security Compliance" section
Uncheck the "Enable Sender ID Compliance" check box
Click Save.

PLEASE NOTE: When "Enable Sender ID Compliance" check box is enabled, it complies with Sender ID email protocols. This declares salesforce.com emails as coming from an authorized IP address. For more information, visit the help page on Email Deliverability Settings.

Questions on email deliverability in Salesforce? Post them here!

Nimble CSV Import Just Keeps Getting Better!

Cathy Boudreau — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:55:00 GMT

Before the end of 2011, Nimble added CSV import features that supported tags and custom fields in addition to importing information to default fields in “Contact Info” and “Other” tabs. This was progress!

Now more flexibility is available for importing information into:

a Person record only
a Company record only, or
both the Person and Company record

You can specify where contact information is imported simply by appending suffixes to certain headers.

Put contact information where it belongs. For example, import a contact tag specific to the Company. Import the Company main address, phone and fax in both the Company and Person record for reference, while keeping a direct work phone and mobile number in the person record.

For detailed information on Nimble CSV Import see http://support.nimble.com/customer/portal/articles/262092-nimble-csv-template. You can download the new Nimble Default Template.csv on this support page as well.

Questions on Nimble or creating and using custom fields? Post them here!

CRM Consulting Firms Can Help Drive the Bottom Line

Cathy Boudreau — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:43:00 GMT

CRM consulting firms can help a business maximize its ROI in Social CRM.

Firms that specialize in social CRM consulting understand the impact that action and inaction have on an enterprise, how a company’s response to praise or criticism can earn trust in social circles, what critical parameters must be measured to gauge public response and perception, and the tools available to the business at the appropriate level of engagement for proper monitoring, interaction, and marketing of the company’s services. Businesses can founder and fail trying to find the right solution otherwise.

Consulting firms that specialize in social CRM have a wealth of knowledge in social media monitoring, which is the key to a successful program. Without effective monitoring, companies will find it difficult, if not impossible, to create the level of trust needed to affect sales and market share. The social marketplace can be a benefit to an enterprise’s business when done correctly, or a detriment if done poorly. Customers will quickly share their good and bad experiences with their social circles, and businesses that cannot or do not respond appropriately will be left without an outlet for their product. Consulting firms have the experience to know where to focus efforts, how to interact with customers to promote satisfaction, and where to go to get the appropriate data needed to make the determinations about a company’s success in dealing with its customer base in social media.

One of the most effective tools in the social CRM consulting firm’s toolbox is social media software. There are a number of software products on the market (such as Radian6) that monitor activity, sentiment, and trends. An enterprise positions itself for success when it equips its customer relationship management team, sales force, and marketing groups with well-designed, accurate, and easy-to-use software applications. Social CRM monitoring and response software helps streamline a business by enabling CRM staff to more effectively manage the marketplace with fewer people. This software also helps a company focus its marketing efforts to reduce costs, and can improve the sales team’s efficiency by providing more warm leads.

An enterprise may find that there is not one single software suite that meets its needs, but an integrated package of individual applications might be the best option. Again, this is where the role of the social CRM consulting firm benefits a business by knowing which software products to assemble to create the perfect combination. Equally important, consulting firms will ensure that the applications work together to create a smooth flow of information between stakeholders.

Software can create efficiencies within an organization by helping it align and stay in contact with current and potential customers, markets, and trends. By working with social CRM consultants, a business can set up software systems to focus on specific keywords important to product sales, measure public sentiment regarding the company and its product, and immediately flag for response any mention of a company in social media circles. Effective software will also provide customer teams with the appropriate systems to respond. All of these combine for customer trust and loyalty to improve the bottom line for a business.

Sales Methodology | Embedding Sales Methodology Into Salesforce

Cathy Boudreau — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:38:00 GMT

Whether you're using a formal Sales Methodology or a homegrown methodology, you may want to consider embedding it into your Salesforce CRM system.

By using an embedded Sales Methodology, you’ll be able to drive your entire sales force using a shared sales process with defined steps and milestones.

The Salesforce App Exchange has many applications that can help automate your Sales Process. It can embed your current process into the system allowing your reps to continue all aspects of their job within Saleforce with little or no disruption.

The truth is, it doesn’t really matter WHICH sales methodology a company uses as long as they make it their own. This includes embedding it within their CRM system for an automated solution that helps sales people improve their productivity.

Top 3 Reasons You Should Know About Social CRM

Cathy Boudreau — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:39:00 GMT

Thank you to Rachel Blankstein of Comparz for allowing us to repost this article! (http://www.comparz.com/blog/2011-10-top-3-reasons-you-should-know-about-social-crm)

Social CRM may sound like a fancy term but all it means is integrating your contact’s social media information into your current arsenal of knowledge about prospects and customers. Many companies use systems that are called CRMs (Customer Relationship Management) systems to keep track of client and prospect information and share that information effectively within a company. Now, Social CRM platforms are taking tradition CRM one step further.

Here’s why you should know about Social CRM.

1. You Are Ignoring Important Information About Your Customers and Prospects If You Aren’t Using Social CRM

Remember when you used to scramble for a recent news story on a company before you met with them so you could have some topics to chat about during your pitch? Well now with social CRM, you can have your customer or prospect’s latest social media conversations integrated into your CRM (contact management) system. Due to the transparency and timeliness of social media, you can see what your prospects or customers are up to as recently as a second ago, any relevant personal or business information about them, and who they may be able to introduce you to—and have this all on one interface that your entire company can see simultaneously.

If one of your prospects just tweeted that her company just released a new product today, you should reflect this in your conversations with her. This information is out there and if you aren’t taking advantage of it, you will be less likely to appear up to date. These new Social CRM systems save you from having to check 10 screens. All of the information you need is in one place.

2. Social CRM Tools Will Replace Traditional CRMs

Whether it’s a traditional CRM system adding social features, or “new” CRM systems that are built with social media as a key driver, your contact management system needs to be highly integrated with social media. A good “social” CRM solution will integrate your Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn contact information and feeds with your email inbox and with all the contact information, communication history, and workflows within your organization stored in your traditional CRM systems. It will allow you to assign tasks to other members of your team, schedule appointments, share social messages with team members, all through one interface. Due to the fact that social networking is not going to go away and it is the most efficient way to stay up to date with contacts, it makes sense to start integrating all of your contact information through a “social” lens.

3. You Can Try Social CRM for Free

Currently two of the top, leading-edge new “social” CRM companies are completely free, so why not try them? These providers are Nimble and Gist. While these companies are both planning to come up with paid versions, they are free now and are great examples of the easy interfaces that join Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, email and traditional CRM features.

Nimble is a cloud-based tool, which means you only need a Web browser in order to start using it. Nimble presents all your contacts on a single screen and allows you to manage them as a whole, including information from all social media sources and eliminating the need to jump from window to window and cut and paste information. Gist requires an easy install using a series of browser plug-ins. Gist aggregates all of your social and traditional information on your contacts in one place. Gist prioritizes your contacts based upon importance of your relationship so most relevant information displays first.

Some of the traditional CRM systems have also added social tools to their existing CRM systems. One CRM solution known for doing this is Batchblue’s Batchbook. For user reviews on some of the leading Social CRM tools, visit business tools review site Comparz's Social CRM rankings.

In conclusion, social media needs to become part of your contact and lead management strategy. Fortunately, there are systems out there that let you easily manage this. The key is having an easy interface so that you don’t have to have 10 screens open in order to keep track of your customer and prospect relationships.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Question or comments on Social CRM? Post them below!

Customer Data Management Best Practices

Cathy Boudreau — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:49:00 GMT

Customer Data Management is critical to effectively utilizing customer relationship management (CRM) software. Without up-to-date and complete customer data, customer service and sales suffer, as well as the ability to produce essential business intelligence and marketing information. Data management requires common sense procedures and diligence. Here are some suggestions.

Check data quality.

Use analytics to check your data quality. Examine customer information for completeness, freshness and redundancy. If customer data is incomplete, have a procedure in place for contacting the customer to gather the necessary information. Have a policy for determining what constitutes complete data.

Purge old data.

If you have not heard from a customer in the last 10 years, you probably won’t hear from them again. Delete the information.

Duplicate entries could be caused from multiple individuals entering information about the same client but using different spellings or abbreviations. To reduce the problem, establish procedures for entering customer data. For example, is it “American Widgets Corp.” or “American Widgets Corporation”?

Workflow.

Establish workflow to keep records current. If a client contact has not been established in X days, change the information status to “suspect” and schedule a contact to update or confirm the information.

Incorporating cascading data also improves data quality and reduces workflow. When a client selects a value in one field, it should automatically update other associated fields based on the selection.

Crowdsourcing.

Utilizing applications such as Jigsaw (now Data.com) or Broadlook can help fill in missing information, update existing information, and even score your data. Do not overlook crowdsourcing applications as an aid to data management.

A CRM software solution is critical to maintaining customer information, but the marketing and sales teams must remain diligent in following common sense data management procedures. Following the best practices identified here will keep information up-to-date and ensure top notch customer relations. Consult with Harvest Solutions on additional ideas on managing customer data.

What is HubSpot Integration?

Cathy Boudreau — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:04:00 GMT

What Is HubSpot Integration and how is it helping companies close their marketing loop?

• Quick summary of HubSpot/what it does
• HubSpot/Salesforce crm interface integration

There are three specific ways HubSpot helps to close the marketing loop.

First, HubSpot helps companies get found.
- Internet marketing tools to help your business get found by more qualified prospects in search engines, blogs, via social media & email marketing

Next, HubSpot inbound marketing helps with lead conversion.
- Lead nurturing & intelligence to engage with leads until they are 'sales ready', then empower sales with rich Salesforce synchronized lead profiles that reflect prospect website visits, forms completed & even lead scores

And finally, it analyzes your marketing program and helps identify your ROI
- Closed-loop marketing analytics help you understand exactly which marketing programs & campaigns convert into customers (ROI)

Managing the Egosystem: 6 Rules of Engagement

Cathy Boudreau — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:10:00 GMT

I recently read this great article about how companies today need to change the way they communicate and engage with their customers to adjust to the new social media trends. For the past couple of years, social media has been a major player in how we work with our customers. Read the article below to learn how companies can shift to this new trend! Enjoy!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Managing the Egosystem: 6 Rules of Engagement

by Lauren Carlson
CRM Analyst, Software Advice
December 01, 2011

Some people have gained so much notoriety in their respective fields that their names are almost synonymous with the field itself. When it comes to new media and social business, that person is Brian Solis. Principal of Altimeter Group, Solis has worked with many Fortune 500 companies and authored several books. I recently got a chance to sit down with him for the Software Advice website and talk social media and the evolving customer-vendor landscape.

We all know that social and mobile technologies have changed the way customers act and interact. This idea of customer centricity is not a new concept. However, Solis takes it a step further by calling this landscape or environment the "Egosystem." The Egosystem is differentiated from traditional customer centricity in that the customer is at the center of, or owns, the experience. Yes, customers have always been the focus for companies, but it was the company that dictated the nature of the relationship and the rules of engagement, if you will. Thanks to social media and smartphones, the customer has immensely increased access to information outlets. They can ask product and service questions via multiple online and mobile channels without ever having to contact the actual vendor. They are in control. I think it is the shift of control that differentiates what Solis calls the "Egosystem" from traditional ideas of customer centricity.

But how do companies survive in the "Egosystem"? Customers do not want traditional communication and relationships. Instead, they want engagement. Solis defined engagement by using six elements:

•   Value
•   Efficiency
•   Trust
•   Consistency
•   Relevancy
•   Control

I break down each of these individually in my original post. You can read it here on my blog.

Data Privacy and Security from an Enterprise Perspective

Cathy Boudreau — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:04:00 GMT

Growing concerns surround data privacy and security, specifically related to the growth of data proliferation in both public and private sector databases. Threat of liability and damage to trust requires executives and administrators to take a proactive approach to securing customer data. One of the most vulnerable areas in medium to large enterprises lies in the internal threat to customer information residing in customer relationship management software.

Concerns

Personnel accessing information beyond what they require to successfully do their job constitutes the basic CRM software security concern. For example, sales representatives should only see customer and lead information in their individual territories. Marketing teams, however, will need access to all client information.

More importantly, if data is not regularly updated, a system migration or integration, say for example during a merger or acquisition, increases the likelihood of errors and inaccuracies. Any activity requiring the movement and storage of large databases makes them vulnerable to theft and loss of integrity.

Increased implementation of cloud-based CRM solutions also raises concerns. While cloud implementations offer increased productivity and efficiency for any enterprise needing to distribute customer data to personnel over a wide geographic area, the risk of unauthorized personnel gaining access to privileged information must be controlled.

Dealing with cloud CRM security concerns at the earliest stages of planning reduces risk going forward.

Solutions

CRM software provides several security features to minimize risk and ease concerns. Security types available include field level, record level, dynamic field visibility, profiles, functional role-based security, and profile based security. The internal CRM administrator needs to determine what information needs to be visible to each individual user and from this determination which fields are open for viewing within the profile.

Internal administration of the CRM application requires a plan from the start to ensure each department within the organization has exactly the information it needs to successfully do its job and only the information it needs to successfully do its job. A first step in such a plan would be to create a team to determine the information needs and specific user roles by department to assist the internal CRM administrator. By partnering with an experienced consultant like Harvest Solutions, data privacy and security issues receive early and adequate attention.

Online Customer Management: Social CRM Offering Announcement

Cathy Boudreau — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:15:00 GMT

The online customer management experts at Harvest Solutions today announced a comprehensive, customized Social CRM offering to address one of the fastest growing segments within the software industry. The rapid adoption of social media has created a fundamental shift in the way customers communicate with companies and this is just the beginning. This shift means that your customers expect you to be present and active in the same social venues where they are, listening to what they are saying, and responding quickly - or they’re on to your competitor. It is one of the top challenges facing businesses today.

Harvest Solutions addresses this challenge by combining social media monitoring, customer engagement, and CRM integration into one platform. Our platform gives companies of all sizes the ability to listen to what customers are saying about their brand, organizes the data in a manageable way, and provides the tools to engage directly with them. It provides the ability to capture relevant conversations in real time and turn them into real customers.

Harvest Solutions also announces Mark Valerio has joined the firm as Social CRM Consulting Manager and will lead this offering. Mark has more than ten years experience in internet technologies with IBM and Genuity and as owner of Northshore Web Marketing, a digital marketing agency offering social media marketing, search engine marketing, search engine optimization and email marketing consulting.

“Every customer we speak with is struggling with the right way to incorporate a social media strategy,” according to Mark Valerio. “We will assess your organization and design a solution to fit your unique requirements using the best social media management tools available. We will also support the entire process, from planning to implementation and beyond, and stay current on industry trends on your behalf.”

“We are excited about our expanded offering in the Social CRM space and are fortunate to have Mark Valerio join our team, and experienced and outstanding social media consultant” noted Sid Lejfer, Managing Partner of Harvest Solutions.

Social CRM Offering

This offering includes an initial consultation, project kickoff and planning meeting, installation of customized social CRM tool, design of workflow engagement and prioritization rules, testing and training. Since company-wide adoption of Social CRM is critical to its success we also customize a training package. The training modules include user acceptance training, sales training, executive training, and end user training.

About Harvest Solutions

At Harvest Solutions, our goal is to build a CRM system for your organization that will help you analyze your customers and opportunities, follow fast moving trends and identify and strengthen successful marketing programs. With our planned and phased approach, we will help your company launch a CRM initiative efficiently by examining your current business, sales, marketing, and customer service processes. We are a group of responsive and knowledgeable professionals with a clear course of action to your CRM project. Harvest Solutions is a certified business partner for Salesforce.com and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Nimble Pricing is Coming -- January 2012

Cathy Boudreau — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:46:00 GMT

Nimble is approaching the one-year anniversary of releasing their beta product. They have more than 15,000 users that have signed up over the past nine months. With that, Jon Ferrara, CEO of Nimble is happy to announce that they are weeks away from being "core vision complete" and will be releasing a new version of Nimble in January 2012.

As you know, Nimble has been free for the testing/beta phase. They have been waiting until the product has reached its core vision before charging for the product. Starting January 2012, Nimble will begin charging for their product. The single-user/personal edition with basic Social Relationship Management will remain free. For business uesrs who utilize Nimble as a team and need more professional functionality, Nimble will begin charging $15/user/month. As a special thank-you to people who have been Nimble users prior to this change, they are extending a 90-day free period on their business accounts.

For more details on pricing, and features in Business vs. Personal Editions, please visit: http://www.nimble.com/pricing/. Be sure to sign up for free Business account NOW to take advantage of the special 90 days free offer!

Privacy in Nimble

Cathy Boudreau — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:11:00 GMT

Nimble recently introduced a new feature - Privacy Settings. If you currently have networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Email) connected to Nimble, your messages from these networks are shared with team members in the account. Now, with Nimbles privacy options, you have the abilty to:

Set a whole network private (Example: all messages from LinkedIn network are private)
Set certain messages private or public (Example: you can set your whole LinkedIn network private, but select certain messages to be public, so your team members can see them).

When you are setting your whole network to private, the networks you already have connected to Nimble (prior to this new feature release) will be, by default, public to your team. All new networks that you add will be set private going forward.

To learn more about how to set these privacy options, please visit: http://support.nimble.com/customer/portal/articles/251013

Review CRM and Cloud Computing on Comparz.com

Cathy Boudreau — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:52:00 GMT

Yelp is for restaurant and other venue reviews. Angie’s List is for reviews about local service providers like plumbers and electricians. But what about products leveraged by small and mid-sized businesses (SMB) – like customer relationship management (CRM), cloud backup providers, and email marketing software?

That was the motivation behind Boston-based Comparz.com, which aims to be your go to source for these business software and product reviews. The company is branding itself as the Yelp for business services, and is targeting SMBs in particular. The site currently features user reviews of hosted software applications, but will also soon profile service providers as well.

Comparz keeps simplicity top of mind, showing you what each service “wins on” and is “best for” — factors like price, service, customization and more. The site also provides in-depth user reviews where you can read reviewer’s experiences, as well as see where they believe the product belongs on a standard 5-star scale.

Comparz founder and CEO Rachel Blankstein explains of the opportunity, “Our research has shown that what businesses want are user reviews, rankings and decision guides for shopping for a particular type of software or service. We also found that most businesses are shopping for a technology or service provider monthly or several times per year and that users find the current options (reading blogs and searching Google) to be too time consuming and not helpful.”

If you’re looking for new software or services for your business why not start with Comparz.com? You’ll get honest peer reviews and not just the marketing information that companies publish with their product. Also, sign up for Comparz’ newsletter, which provides up to date application comparisons and top technology trends to help you grow your business.

Social CRM Software 'Nimble' Releases Custom Fields

Cathy Boudreau — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:56:00 GMT

Nimble (the Social CRM Software of the decade) releases a new functionality, custom fields, which enable you to collect data about your leads and customers in addition to the standard contact information like first name, last name, email…etc. Now you can begin capturing more specific data about your leads and customers. And having more specific data well help you increase the relevancy in your business communications!

How do you create custom fields?

In Nimble, go to Settings >> Custom Fields
To create a new tab, select + New Tab.

Note: Custom fields cannot be added to the existing: "Contact Info" or "Other" tab in your contact records. You must create a new tab (aka category).
On the right, Nimble displays your "Field Settings". Label your tab (i.e.. Marketing, Accounting, Sales) and decide if this tab should display in "All Contacts" (company and people records), or "People only" or "Companies only". When you are done, click Apply Changes.
Once the tab has been created, you can begin adding fields. Click on + New Field. On the right, under "Field Settings", label your field and determine the field type. Once the field type has been chosen, it cannot be changed.
Repeat step 4 to create more fields (+ New Field) for the same tab.
To create additional tabs for custom fields, repeat steps 3-5 to add new tabs and fields.
Once you have finished creating these custom tabs and fields, you may go to your contact records to see them.
To make your custom tabs and fields visible, go to the contact record and click Edit.
Here, you can see the tab(s) you created. Select one of them and enter data in the fields. Press Update.
Click on "Show All Profile Information", and now your custom tab and fields are displayed. Repeat steps 7-8 for the other tabs to show.
You can also drag and drop custom fields to reposition them where you want! Simply move your cursor over an existing custom field, click to drag it and move it to a different order!

This initial release includes text fields, with single and multi-line options. You can enter general information, numbers, text and dates.

Nimble Social CRM Software listens to user feedback and is planning to release capabilities to import data to these custom fields and expand the fields types. Look for more announcements on their progress!

Questions or comments on Nimble or creating and using custom fields? Post them here!

Salesforce Lead Assignment: Round Robin Update

Cathy Boudreau — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:03:00 GMT

Looking to randomly program Salesforce lead assignment for your users? Use this "Round Robin" feature to assign leads or cases that are either manually created or created using Web to Lead (or Case).

The first steps for lead or case assignment is to create two custom fields that can be included in the page layouts for users or hidden as they are strictly for the assignment mechanism based on the custom formula. The instructions below assume the setup is for leads.

Create an auto number field in leads called "Lead Number" that spans 0 decimal places and had the format "{0}".
Create a custom formula field in leads called "Round_Robin_ID" and use the formula "MOD(VALUE({!Lead_Number__c}) ,3) +1".

Below is an example formula for leads that assumes you have three lead queues and you want to assign an equal number of incoming leads to each queue. You can also assign cases using a similar formula.

MOD(VALUE({!Lead_Number__c}) ,3) +1

This is the formula for a custom formula field named Round_Robin_ID that assigns each lead a value of 0, 1, or 2. This formula uses a custom auto-number field called Lead Number that assigns each lead a sequential number starting with 1. The MOD function divides the lead number by the number of lead queues available (3 in this example) and returns a remainder of 1, 2, or 3. Use the value of this formula field in your lead assignment rules to assign lead records to different queues or users.

For example:

Round_Robin_ID = 1 is assigned to Queue A (User 1)
Round_Robin_ID = 2 is assigned to Queue B (User 2)
Round_Robin_ID = 3 is assigned to Queue C (User 3)

Questions or comments on this feature? Post them below!

Social CRM Benefits - An Interview with Jon Ferrara

Cathy Boudreau — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:17:00 GMT

Social CRM is an essential part of a company's CRM integration, especially as more and more brands are moving online and building relationships within web communities.

Jon Ferrara, CEO of Nimble, discusses why Social CRM is important, as well as how the Nimble/Harvest Solutions partnership can benefit your business.

CRM Marketing Automation and Integration

Cathy Boudreau — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:41:00 GMT

Best practices in CRM marketing automation include leveraging customer relationship management (CRM) software to provide marketing automation - looking beyond the CRM integration as simply a repository of marketing information. Using CRM marketing automation long-term can help businesses increase revenue, enhance ROI, and also enable marketers to be more efficient in their workflow.

Applying intelligence

Savvy marketers rely heavily on data and statistics. By tracking previous purchases, as well as products in which customers and prospects have shown interest, it becomes easier to determine the type of offer to present to the customer upon their next "visit."

CRM integration: A good marketing automation system takes away any customer behavior tracking guesswork. The CRM can be programmed to set up rules; So, for example: if the prospect downloaded Product A from your website, a trigger in the system will automatically follow up with the prospect by sending them an email about more items similar to Product A. Amazon.com is a great example of a CRM system utilizing marketing automation.

Collecting and nurturing leads

Taking leads to the next level with the sales team. Marketing automation collects key lead information, aggregates the data and then integrates the details within the associated CRM. If the business has the proper CRM integration, when a prospect visits your website and fills out a form, the information they submit automatically becomes inserted into the database, along with a record of pages visited, search term used, offers downloaded, or other data about the "visit." Equip your sales team with every detail possible so they are prepared to rate and respond to leads, based on the data gathered by the CRM system. Knowledge truly is power and the sales team will be forever grateful.

CRM integration: While handling lead nurturing, email marketing automation is an intelligent process to generate touch points with the leads even before the sales team evaluates and qualifies the data gathered during the customer "visit." Create automated 'Thank You for your interest' responses to prospects, offer a special deal, and providing additional contact information. Marketing is a critical element in the sales process, and it is important to "warm" the prospect until personal contact by a sales team member is tasked.

Analysis

Let's talk campaign analysis. By managing communication with your customers and prospects, as well as tracking responses and reporting results, the marketing automation software records the information the marketing team needs toidentify which campaigns are most effective, including valuable metrics about any A/B split testing, to determine the best method to draw in leads.

CRM Integration: Utilizing marketing automation analysis is a key part of the CRM process, as it will help you understand customers and prospects better and faster than the competition. Digest and understand the knowledge aggregated by the CRM system to target prospects more effectively - turning fans into fanatics for long-term customer loyalty.

Video Strategy: 3 Tips for Microsoft Partners

Sid Lejfer — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 20:23:00 GMT

Our very own Cathy Boudreau was featured in Redmond Channel Partner's recent blog about the importance of videos that educate your audience about the basics and importance of CRM.

----

In the past two posts (here and here), we've talked about matching content to the buying cycle. Video content is no different, and is an effective and affordable option. While producing a video intended to go viral is fun, building a video strategy that supports your prospects buying process will probably deliver more leads.

1. Videos That Educate
Harvest Solutions, a Massachusetts-based CRM partner and CRM consulting firm, uses videos to introduce basic concepts of CRM to prospects early in the buying cycle. Cathy Boudreau, social media and marketing specialist, has been working in the CRM industry for 10 years. "It still surprises me that people are looking for such basic information on CRM," Boudreau said.

When Harvest Solutions was first looking to add videos to its marketing mix, it had discussions about the level of content. The conclusion was that while people in the technology industry assume that everyone knows what CRM (or other IT acronyms) is, that's just not the case. Prospects need a simple explanation of the basic uses of the solution to understand how it can solve their problem.

"We started with the very basic principles to educate prospects." Boudreau continued, "Don't go for the stars trying to make a viral video. Basic videos that educate your prospects are what they are looking for."

2. Videos That Demonstrate...
(Read the full article from Redmond Channel Partners)

Update Rollups for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2011 and CRM 4.0

Bill Goulette — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:27:00 GMT

Update Rollup 4 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2011

Microsoft has released Update Rollup 4 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2011. It includes updates and hot fixes packaged together for easy deployment. We recommend that you install the update rollup to keep your software performing at its best after you check with any third party solutions that you are using to ensure that they support the new update. The build number for this update is 5.0.9688.1450.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

You must have Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2011 installed to apply this update rollup.
Update Rollup 4 is available for all languages that are supported by Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2011.

For more information including installation instructions and a complete list of issues that are fixed in Update Rollup 4 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2011, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 2556167.

Update Rollup 19 for Microsoft CRM 4.0

Microsoft has released Update Rollup 19 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. It includes performance enhancements that are packaged together for easy deployment. We recommend that you install the update rollup to keep your software performing at its best after you check with any third party solutions that you are using to ensure that they support the new update. The build number for this update is 04.00.7333.3628.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

You must have Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 installed to apply this update rollup. Additionally, Update Rollup 7 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is a prerequisite for Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data Migration Manager.
This update rollup is available for all languages that are supported by Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.

For more information including installation instructions and a complete list of issues that are fixed in Update Rollup 19 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 2550097.

Questions or comments on these Rollup Updates? Post them below!

The Service Cloud: Managing Customer Relationships

Cathy Boudreau — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 16:53:00 GMT

The Service Cloud: Customer service is becoming more important in today’s business world. We all know that your best source of income is existing customers.

If they’re happy, they’ll come back for repeat business. They’ll also refer you to other colleagues. However, you must first stop and think about how you’re managing customer service.

To learn more about how your company can benefit with Service Cloud, be sure to contact Harvest Solutions.

Salesforce Schema Builder in the Winter 2012 Release

Jay Rivard — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:20:00 GMT

By now you may have noticed that the Winter 2012 is here. There are many new features, including the Schema Builder (Beta). The Schema Builder provides a dynamic environment to view the elements of your schema all in one window. This eliminates the need to click from page to page to find the details of objects, fields, and relationships in your schema. The drag-and-drop interface lets you easily move objects around and saves the layout of your schema any time you move an object.

Schema builder provides details such as the field values, required fields, and how objects are related by displaying lookup and master-detail relationships. You can view the details for both standard and custom objects in schema builder.

Schema builder is enabled by default and provides read-only access to the objects, fields, and relationships in your schema.

In future releases there are plans to make it possible to create/edit objects and fields inside the Schema Builder as well as print a copy of the Schema Builder display to a PDF/PNG.

Schema builder is currently supported in all Salesforce-supported browsers except for Internet Explorer 6. For organizations with large amounts of custom objects and fields, it is recommended to use a browser other than Internet Explorer for best performance.

Have you tried out the Schema Builder? What do you think?

Maintaining Customer Loyalty Using CRM

Cathy Boudreau — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:29:00 GMT

Customer relationship management (CRM) software can be applied to more than data collection and lead generation, and you will realize greater ROI by utilizing CRM for building and maintaining customer loyalty. So, how do you maintain customer loyalty? Your CRM is equipped to help you:

Deliver value-added content

Leverage your CRM data to communicate regularly with customers and prospects through email and social media. Keep them informed about products and services you deliver. Go beyond basic advertisements to make your customers feel special. Offer “freemiums” and “special bonuses” to your loyal base. Give them value access to value added content in every communication.

For example, if a garden shop might send a short message linking to a site on how to handle a certain type of harmful insect. A heating and air conditioning service might send an email giving five tips on cutting energy usage.

Communicate regularly

Use your CRM solution to ensure you communicate regularly with customers. Doing so provides the opportunity to thank them for their business, acknowledge their importance your business, and keep your database up to date. Engage triggers such as birthdays, anniversaries or revenue milestones. Letting your CRM software “remember” and “commemorate” events special to customers and prospects creates a personal impression.

Use the right technology

Make sure you have the right email service provider to successfully deliver your messaging. When sending automated responses and communications, not every service provider can guarantee success. You do not want your communications blocked or reported as spam.

To provide the communication and excellent customer service you need to build loyalty through your CRM software, keep your database full of information on customers and prospects. Provide not only opportunities but also incentives for customers and prospects to share information you need to serve them better.

Bottom line

Utilizing CRM software to regularly communicate with and give acknowledgement to your loyal customers will increase the probability of repeat and referral business. Consulting firms can assist you in developing a program to leverage your CRM software for building and maintaining customer loyalty and increasing ROI

Salesforce Integration: Using Search to Improve Sales

Cathy Boudreau — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 19:48:00 GMT

Salesforce Integration: Using Search to Improve Sales.
(If you are interested in learning more about searching to improve sales, please watch our recorded webinar)

Here’s a familiar scenario: Bob was on his way to a final meeting with his client to close a deal for the quarter. Or so he thought. Earlier that week the client exchanged email with Product Management and it didn’t go over well. Bob arrived at the meeting to find the agenda had changed. He had no idea what they were talking about. How well do you think the meeting went?

New scenario: Earlier in the week, Bob got an alert telling him his client just emailed Product Management about a particularly sensitive feature. Bob sat down with Product Management and together crafted a response aligning with the conversations Bob has had with the client thus far. At the meeting, Bob was prepared. The deal closed.

The difference here is obvious of course - Salesforce Integration. In the second scenario, Bob was prepared because a) he was informed, and b) he was informed in time to do something about it.

Sales teams are most effective when they are prepared throughout the sales process. Being prepared means having the right information at the right place and time, but sometimes this is not so easy. How much of your sales activity – the real stuff that pushes the deal forward – happens inside Salesforce? In email? In Bob’s case, it was really just one email, but it went from the client to Product Management directly. Product Management does not even own a Salesforce license.

This is an old problem. We work in a heterogeneous world. We manage our clients in Salesforce, we communicate with them through Outlook, we store our price sheets in Content Manager and our marketing material in SharePoint. Or it’s Google Docs, or Lotus Notes, Documentum, etc. Whatever the environment, it’s safe to assume that a complete picture of the knowledge that accumulates around a client comes from multiple source systems and people.

A highly focused, driven salesperson is simply not going to hunt this information down. It’s too time consuming and complicated. In Bob’s case, he didn’t even know he had to. And yet, we all know how critical the right information at the right time is to successful selling. This is a problem.

The solution is centralizing access to the information – seeing it all in one place and context. The natural gathering place is the Salesforce desktop since the sale is driven from there. Providing a common window into the wider sales information landscape means the salesperson never leaves Salesforce to get information, so less time maneuvering and much less time learning multiple systems. It means, frankly, greater adoption of Salesforce. Further, the information is now presented in one context: both Salesforce and external system data together. This can be a lot of information, so it is important to show only what is relevant at the time it’s requested. You get this relevance from an advanced search application.

We are all familiar with Google. We like it because “it just works”. It’s tuned for finding information from the Web and therefore generally gives you the answers you’re looking for. We need a similar capability highly-tuned for Sales. The environments are very different, but the concept is the same: provide relevant content in response to a query, regardless of where the content comes from. There are a great many capabilities – spell correction, phrase detection, facets, lemmatization, synonyms and acronyms, entity extraction, etc. – that constitute a good quality search, but we’ll leave them for discussion in a later blog entry.

Recall in Scenario 2 Bob was alerted to the email? Part of a good search engine is its ability to deploy search queries as alerts or filters. In Bob’s case, he created an alert that finds all email coming in to his company from any one of his accounts and that reference the sensitive feature we mentioned earlier. That last bit is optional, of course, but it illustrates the ability to understand what people are talking about as a way to further improve relevance. Mining text for topics is another feature of a good search application.

In 2008 IDC put out an exhaustive study on the productivity of the average knowledge worker. The numbers were startling in that they showed clearly how much time you really lose looking for information per week, especially when it’s not found and what you do to compensate. Think hours. Salespeople are a slightly skewed subset of “knowledge workers” but they are not exempt from the problem. To get a feel for its magnitude, do this: each time you stop what you’re doing to find some information, start a timer. Keep it going until you successfully find the information and return to your scheduled task. You will be surprised how much time is consumed. What does this mean really? Well, what could you do with an extra month of selling time per year?

If you are interested in learning more about searching to improve sales, please register for Harvest Solutions and KonaData webinar on October 26.

CRM Insights Blog

How to Create a Social CRM Software Implementation Project Plan

10 Signs A Business Needs a Social CRM Consulting Service

Remove the "Reply To" in emails sent from within Salesforce

Nimble CSV Import Just Keeps Getting Better!

CRM Consulting Firms Can Help Drive the Bottom Line

Sales Methodology | Embedding Sales Methodology Into Salesforce

Top 3 Reasons You Should Know About Social CRM

Customer Data Management Best Practices

What is HubSpot Integration?

Managing the Egosystem: 6 Rules of Engagement

Managing the Egosystem: 6 Rules of Engagement

by Lauren CarlsonCRM Analyst, Software AdviceDecember 01, 2011

Data Privacy and Security from an Enterprise Perspective

Online Customer Management: Social CRM Offering Announcement

Nimble Pricing is Coming -- January 2012

Privacy in Nimble

Review CRM and Cloud Computing on Comparz.com

Social CRM Software 'Nimble' Releases Custom Fields

Salesforce Lead Assignment: Round Robin Update

Social CRM Benefits - An Interview with Jon Ferrara

CRM Marketing Automation and Integration

Video Strategy: 3 Tips for Microsoft Partners

Update Rollups for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2011 and CRM 4.0

Update Rollup 4 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2011

Update Rollup 19 for Microsoft CRM 4.0

The Service Cloud: Managing Customer Relationships

Salesforce Schema Builder in the Winter 2012 Release

Maintaining Customer Loyalty Using CRM

Salesforce Integration: Using Search to Improve Sales

by Lauren Carlson
CRM Analyst, Software Advice
December 01, 2011