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    <title>Big Contacts</title>
    
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    <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-595806</id>
    <updated>2009-06-10T07:29:31-04:00</updated>
    <subtitle>What's new at BigContacts

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        <title>Big Contacts Launches New Marketing Module</title>
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        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-67160489</id>
        <published>2009-06-10T07:29:31-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-06-10T07:29:31-04:00</updated>
        <summary>Big Contacts has partnered with Vertical Response to give our clients the simplest way to build, target, send and track email marketing, newsletters, online surveys and direct mail postcards. We have harnessed all of this great functionality within our application...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>Big Contacts</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="New Features" />
        
        
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&lt;div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.bigcontacts.com" target="_blank" title="CRM, Contact Management, Small Business Software"&gt;Big Contacts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; has partnered with &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.verticalresponse.com/email-marketing/" target="_blank" title="Email Marketing, Online Surveys, Newsletters, Postcards"&gt;Vertical Response&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; to give our clients t&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span lang="EN" style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;; mso-ansi-language: EN"&gt;he simplest way to build, target, send and track &lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"&gt;email marketing&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"&gt;newsletters&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"&gt;online surveys&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.verticalresponse.com/postcard-marketing"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR: windowtext"&gt;direct mail postcards&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"&gt;.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;We have harnessed all of this great functionality within our application to allow you to: &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-list: Ignore"&gt;·&lt;span style="FONT: 7pt &amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;"&gt;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Easily identify and filter targeted lists of your clients and/or prospects&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-list: Ignore"&gt;·&lt;span style="FONT: 7pt &amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;"&gt;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Automatically upload these targeted lists into the marketing module&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-list: Ignore"&gt;·&lt;span style="FONT: 7pt &amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;"&gt;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Quickly launch an email, newsletter, online survey or postcard campaign&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-list: Ignore"&gt;·&lt;span style="FONT: 7pt &amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;"&gt;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Effortlessly track and monitor the results of your campaigns.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Our system will automatically note the contact record of each and every client or prospect that has participated in a given marketing campaign.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;You will always know what and when you reached out to these contacts anytime you’re in their contact record.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Email Marketing&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Email marketing is a fast, inexpensive and innovative way to communicate with your clients and prospects. Big Contacts enables you to easily perform your own permission-based email marketing with a solution that requires no software purchases, technical knowledge or hardware investments.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Our easy-to-use solution is accessible through any popular web browser. Create a professional email campaign and get performance statistics in real-time. Big Contacts also processes your bounces and unsubscribes automatically - helping to keep your database clean. Big Contacts puts the power back in the hands of marketers and takes the burden off your IT department.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Best of all, the price is right. You pay only for email addresses mailed — and our technical support and training is included in the cost! Choose to pay as you go by campaign or purchase email “credits” in bulk for greater savings.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Create Emails in Minutes!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Big Contacts’ email creation tool is so user-friendly, even people without technical experience can create HTML email campaigns with ease. Just select from our extensive collection of templates, upload your graphics, and you’re on your way to creating a professional graphical email! You can even match your border color to your logo for a more branded approach. After you’ve created your email use our Forward to a Friend feature, so when your clients forward your email on, the new recipient will have the opportunity to join your list. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Anti-Spam Compliant&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Big Contacts is compliant with the Can-Spam Law.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;We adhere to and enforce a strict permission-based marketing policy. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;No email sent from our system may contain deceptive subject lines or “from” labels. We also automatically hard-code unsubscribe instructions in every email sent from Big Contacts.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;When someone does unsubscribe from your list, we ensure that they never receive emails in the future sent from your account. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Data Hygiene&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;When uploading your mailing lists into Big Contacts, your data will be run through our special hygiene process. Big Contacts de-duplicates the entire list so you never email someone twice during the same campaign. We will also provide a list of any improperly formatted addresses so you can correct those records and append them to your lists.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Data Protection&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Your lists are protected with a double line of defense. First, our physical database servers are locked in a secure facility and are monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Secondly, all Big Contacts servers are protected by secure firewall systems from the industry leader, Cisco Systems™.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Collect Visitor Information&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Create your own free opt-in web form which allows visitors to sign-up and join your newsletter list. Capture details such as name, email address, city, state and zip code. You can even customize fields of additional information to fit your specific business needs.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;The result: you can target your email campaigns more effectively and build stronger relationships.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle2" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Delivery and Reporting&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Email Delivery &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;The successful delivery of your emails into your recipient’s inboxes is the main objective of Big Contacts’s Deliverability Team.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;We have established relationships (“white-listings”) with the major ISPs allowing emails sent from our servers to be recognized and not mistaken for SPAM. Big Contacts enforces a SPAM-Free environment and all client accounts are monitored for abuse and complaint totals.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;In addition, all &lt;br /&gt;email campaigns deployed from our system are screened by our Approval Team to ensure that no &lt;br /&gt;SPAM-related emails can be launched.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;As an active member of the Email Service Provider Coalition, Big Contacts supports and enforces Federal legislation aimed at stopping SPAM.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;Our staff is extremely knowledgeable on the legal issues related to email marketing and we help to educate our clients on the industry standard “best practices.”&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Live Reporting&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;You can view all statistics associated with your campaigns, right from your browser. Find out how many messages were sent, or how many people are opening the HTML email. Monitor unsubscribes and bounces, and track click-through rates. Big Contacts even allows you to view “who” clicked on a link and “who” opened your email. You can then download this data for future marketing opportunities. It’s easy to calculate your ROI on every campaign.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle2" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Support&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Technical support is included with every mailing. Our Customer Relations experts will handle all support-related calls, emails, and live chats in 24 hours or less.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle2" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Creating and Mailing Postcards Has Never Been Easier!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Big Contacts Postcard is a powerful tool that enables you to effectively communicate with your customers and prospects by taking the hassle out of the direct mail process!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Big Contacts Postcard requires absolutely NO technical experience and the intuitive interface guides you through the creation and mailing of a postcard campaign.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;To begin, simply select a picture from our extensive image library or upload one of your own.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;Then click your mouse on any section of the image to add your copy.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;You can even position the text by “dragging and dropping” across the card.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;It’s that easy!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;The result?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;A professional high-quality postcard with your messaging on the front and the back.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;Big Contacts then prints and mails your postcards so they reach your recipients quickly.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle2" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Big Contacts remains affordable and easy-to-use whether you are mailing 10 postcards or 10,000.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle2" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Photo Library &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Over 800,000 professional quality, high-resolution images are available to choose from within Big Contacts. Just scan our library for the image you need in the category you desire. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle2" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Create Postcards in Minutes &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Need to send a mailing in a hurry - with no hassle? Do it all online with just a few clicks of your mouse. After choosing your high-resolution image or uploading your own, you can customize the postcard design to suit your needs.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;You can invert the image or rotate it to find the exact look you require. If your image isn’t the right size for the postcard, Big Contacts automatically resizes the graphic for you. If you’d like to add copy to the image, simply click your mouse on the section of the image and start typing! You can even choose a specific font, size and color for the text you are adding. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle2" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Hassle-free! &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;No more going back and forth to your printer with proofs. Big Contacts provides a PDF of your postcard so you can see what it will look like before it’s mailed. Have a tight schedule or an impending deadline? No problem - we’ll take your finished postcard, attach your lists and mail them within a week. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle2" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;High-Quality&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Your postcards will be printed on high quality, 12 point card stock with UV coating. Your cards are printed with a full bleed so the artwork will extend all the way to the postcard edge, resulting in a professional look.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle2" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Upload and Manage Lists &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;You don’t need to change the way you manage and store your customer and prospect information when using Big Contacts Postcard. Whether your list is in Excel™, MS Outlook™, ACT!™, Palm™ or any other text-based format, Big Contacts’s simple-to-use List Upload tool helps get your lists uploaded quickly into your account. Big Contacts will also scan your uploaded list to ensure it has proper addresses and zip codes. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle2" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Advanced Data Segmentation&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Our advanced query tool, Big Contacts Select, is our proprietary data segmentation system. Big Contacts Select enables you to run counts and create new lists based on specific criteria that you choose. You can now send more targeted postcards based on demographic information, purchase history and even behavioral trends.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle2" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Support&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="ParagraphStyle1" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 9pt"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: &amp;#39;Arial&amp;#39;,&amp;#39;sans-serif&amp;#39;"&gt;Big Contacts support is included with every mailing. Our Customer Relations experts will handle all support-related calls and emails in 24 hours or less.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;#0160; 
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/bigcontacts/Abat/~4/8BAtQyI1VRQ" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content>


    <feedburner:origLink>http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/2009/06/big-contacts-launches-new-marketing-module.html</feedburner:origLink></entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Going beyond Client Relationship Management (CRM)</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigcontacts/Abat/~3/bqPe7NY-YUU/going-beyond-client-relationship-management-crm.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/2009/03/going-beyond-client-relationship-management-crm.html" thr:count="2" thr:updated="2009-05-05T14:45:56-04:00" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-64360221</id>
        <published>2009-03-19T13:21:01-04:00</published>
        <updated>2009-03-26T08:26:16-04:00</updated>
        <summary>Over the past few years, Big Contacts has evolved from a Contact Management System (CRM) into something much more. We realized that today's top CRM systems were evolving to include elements of Sales Force Automation (SFA), allowing company's to effectively...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>Big Contacts</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="New Features" />
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Things to consider" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/"><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">
<p><a href="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/.a/6a00d83456002c69e20112797b8c7228a4-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="Light_Bulb" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00d83456002c69e20112797b8c7228a4 " src="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/.a/6a00d83456002c69e20112797b8c7228a4-800wi" title="Light_Bulb" /></a> Over the past few years, Big Contacts has evolved from a Contact Management System (CRM)  into something much more. </p></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">We realized that today's top CRM systems were evolving to include elements of Sales Force Automation (SFA), allowing company's to effectively target and manage larger pools of prospects.</span></span> 
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">But we felt that there was still something missing in this equation. The foundation to any business that ensures things get done are the processes or work-flows that a company establishes. This is true whether your serving existing clients or going after new prospects.</span></p></span>
<p />
<p />
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">These processes set the stage and ultimately determine the entire flow of activity and level of efficiency within your business. You could go to great links to develop and articulate these processes, but you need a way to effectively keep score.<span>  </span>How well are you serving your clients?<span>  </span>Where are the weak points in your business?<span>  </span>Who’s delivering on the promises you make to your clients and prospects and who’s falling short?  Our system incorporates a discipline we've talked about before and that is Business Process Management (BPM).  This discipline, coupled with technology can truly help you streamline your operations and ensure that your business operates as efficiently as possible.  Feel free to call one our Account Managers if you would like to learn more about this tool.  It's included as part of our core service at Big Contacts, you might as well take full advantage!  1-888-286-6578  Ext. 701</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" /><font size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span>Well, this is where we are today, but we feel that our work has just begun. Our mission is to deliver a platform that has all of the essential tools that you need in your business that will make your life easier and put more money in your pocket.  It's that simple.  Everyday we ask ourselves how we can harness technology to deliver real value to you in your business.  Late last year we even surveyed our growing subscriberer base to find out what you felt would make this a better application for your business.</span></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><font size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span>We learned alot from that survey and we have listened!  Below is a preview of what we have coming within the next few months.  As you will see there are a number of great new features and tools that we hope truly will deliver on our mantra and that is to give you:</span></span></font></p>
<p><font size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span>
<ul>
<li>More <strong>TIME</strong> to spend in front of clients and prospects 
<li>More <strong>MONEY </strong>as a result of satisfied/loyal clients and more targeted selling efforts 
<li>
<p>More <strong>CONTROL</strong> over your business and personal life</p></li>
</li></li></ul>
<p><strong><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">What's coming the first half of  2009?</span></strong></p>
<p><strong>PLEASE NOTE:</strong>  All system enhancements listed below will be available to you at no additonal charge to our currently low prices.</p></span></span></font>
<p><font size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span /></span></font></p>
<p />
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">In <strong>March</strong> we unveiled our new<span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><span style="BACKGROUND: yellow; COLOR: black; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial"> <strong><span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Client Support Center</span></strong></span></span>. We offer several new self-help tools like our new knowledge-base that contains dozens of frequently asked questions, downloads for the system, and dozens of 30 second feature videos that can walk you through a quick overview of how any feature works. <span> </span>We asked ourselves "Why stop there", so we now offer <strong><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; BACKGROUND: yellow; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial">LIVE Chat Support</span></span></strong> (M-F 9am - 5pm EST) to give you instant feedback to any questions or issues you may have.<span>  </span></span></p>
<div style="MARGIN-LEFT: 40px"><br /><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" /></div>
<p><font size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><strong>Two-way Outlook Synchronization</strong></span></span> </span></span>plug-in . This plug-in will be something that a user will download from our site, and you will now be able to keep all contacts, and calendar events synchronized. Any work that you do while offline in Outlook will automatically synchronize to Big Contacts the next time you are back online.</span></p></span></font>
<p />
<p><font size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" /></p></span></font>
<p />
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><strong><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">New Marketing Module</span></span></strong></span>.<span>  </span>This will replace the “Auto-Pilot” tab and create an  </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">entire marketing suite for you to use to stay in touch with your clients and to more effortlessly and effectively market to your prospects. This new module will include:</span></p>
<p />
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">
<ul>
<li><span>Our Current <span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">Sales Pipeline Drip Marketing Manager</span></span> 
<li><span>A New <span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">Email Campaign Manager</span> complete with reports and analytics that will integrate directly with our system and feed campaign data directly to each contact record.</span> 
<li><span>In a future release (later in 2009), weoffer a complete <span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">Direct Mail Campaign Manager.  </span>You will be able to develop a number of campaigns using any combination of these direct mail pieces</span> (Postcards, Letters, Flyers, Certified Mail, and Booklets) </li>
</li></li></ul>
<p /></span>
<p />
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00; TEXT-DECORATION: underline">GREATLY Enhanced Business Contact Record</span></strong>.  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">This </span></span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%">new contact record will allow you to create a business contact record and then add as many individual contacts to that contact record as you like. As a matter of fact all communication/ history in that contact record will be organized by individual contact so that you will know who you spoke to, about what and when.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial" /></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><strong><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">iPhone application</span></span></strong>, and later this year a Blackberry application will be released on the newly formed Blackberry app store that they are calling "Blackberry App World".  These applications will give you true mobile office capabilities.  For more information on what you will be able to do through this new application, feel free to give us a call at 1-888-286-6578 Ext. 701. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><strong><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">Enhanced Email Module</span></span></strong>.  Enhancements will include advanced features that will ensure proper identification with email providers to prevent being categorized as a spam, and the ability to reply directly to emails from within the Big Contacts application.  All this will allow you to easily maintain all email history within each contact record.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><strong><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">Enhanced Calendar</span></span></strong>. We will be moving this to its own tab so that we will have plenty of room for enhancements. Enhancements will include better, more detailed calendar views, customizable alerts and alarms, customizable reminders for the prospect and client via email and text message.<br /></span><br /></span></span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><strong><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">Enhanced Reports Module</span></span></strong>.  We will be adding more data fields that can be searched - with the goal being that we have all fields in the database in the reports area where one can search.  We already allow you to set up your own Custom reports,  and now you will be able to set up a delivery schedule for reports that you wish to periodically generate.  These scheduled reports will run in their appropriate intervals and will be directly emailed to your inbox for your review.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">As you can see, we are working very hard to deliver the most functional platform in the industry.  We hope you find that these latest additions will make a measurable difference in your business.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Here's to a great 2009!</span></span><br /></span></p></p></p></p></p></p></p><xhtml:img xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/bigcontacts/Abat/~4/bqPe7NY-YUU" height="1" width="1" /></div></content>


    <feedburner:origLink>http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/2009/03/going-beyond-client-relationship-management-crm.html</feedburner:origLink></entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Boost Your Client Relationships During an Economic Downturn</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigcontacts/Abat/~3/2_2QISIL0iU/boost-your-client-relationshups-during-an-economic-slump.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/2009/01/boost-your-client-relationshups-during-an-economic-slump.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-61702976</id>
        <published>2009-01-21T10:59:53-05:00</published>
        <updated>2009-01-21T10:59:53-05:00</updated>
        <summary>We've all heard the expression "work smarter - not harder". This could not be more important than during an economic slowdown like the one we're currently experiencing. With the proper application of it's resources, your business can be more strategic...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>Big Contacts</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Things to consider" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/"><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">We've all heard the expression "work smarter - not harder".  This could not be more important than during an economic slowdown like the one we're currently experiencing.  With the proper application of it's resources, your business can be more strategic in enhancing your client experience and deepening relationships with existing customers.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">According to a study released by <a href="http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,47445,00.html" target="_blank">Forrester Research</a>, an increased emphasis on business value will see companies focusing on customer retention and creating better solutions to support customer facing processes.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">It is not enough to ensure business value in the new projects, enterprises will begin focusing  on customer  retention instead of customer acquisition to stay afloat Forrester predicts.  "During an economic recession, sustaining revenue growth - or forestalling revenue erosion - becomes even more critical," the company wrote.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">But customers are getting harder to win and keep, Forrester said, and the solution is improved customer experience.  "Good <span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">customer experience</span> is highly correlated to <span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">customer loyalty</span>," Forrester said.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">During these tough times, businesses usually look at how they can reduce operational costs.  There are many approaches that businesses take, but one of the first ways businesses try to cut spending is through their IT budget. This makes companies less likely to spend money on new software or make needed upgrades to their current software.  This can save money today, but could cause problems in how they manage their business and their customers.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management" target="_blank">CRM </a>Software can provide companies with the tools needed to effectively manage the client experience and deepen relationships with existing customers.  While cutting or postponing in some areas of IT may make sense, it would be wise to re-visit your existing CRM strategy. Does your company consistently deliver the client experience they are looking for? How are customers reacting to this experience? What do you feel you could better in order to deepen relationships and retain clients?</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Investing in the right CRM can mean the difference between retaining or losing clients.  There are many tangible benefits that the right CRM can deliver in your business.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">
<ul>
<li><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Provide more efficient work-flow or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Process_Management" target="_blank">Business Process Management (BPM)</a></span> 
<li><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Improve the customer experience through better organization of key client data</span> 
<li><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Improve the accuracy of work from employees to ensure nothing falls through the cracks</span> 
<li><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Improved reporting to track company performance and ensure service standards are being met</span> </li>
</li></li></li></ul>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Traditionally, some software solutions have proven to be a very expensive undertaking that can require alot of time to implement.  Time and money are two commodities that most businesses lack in times like these, so how can you accomplish all this with less money and implement these tools very quickly?</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">A solution to these challenges that many businesses are finding is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_as_a_service" target="_blank"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_as_a_service" target="_blank">software-as-a-service (SaaS</a><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">). This form of software allows businesses to take advantage of the tools they need today without large investments of time or money.  <a href="http://www.bigcontacts.com/" target="_blank" title="Big Contacts">SaaS CRM</a> can be very inexpensive, very fast to implement, and very effective in helping you better manage your business.</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Finally, another aspect of SaaS CRM that can be so appealing in a down economy is the ability to add new functionality to the system WITHOUT capital expenditures.  Your business can remain current with the latest software and hopefully ahead of your competition due to the wise choice you made to more effectively utilize your current resources and invest in a platform that will grow with you.</span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><br /></span></span></span></p></span></span>
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    <feedburner:origLink>http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/2009/01/boost-your-client-relationshups-during-an-economic-slump.html</feedburner:origLink></entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Contact Management Software (CRM), An Expense or Investment?</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigcontacts/Abat/~3/tWP5EUWxhDk/contact-management-software-crm-an-expense-or-investment.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/2008/11/contact-management-software-crm-an-expense-or-investment.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-58700856</id>
        <published>2008-11-18T21:14:18-05:00</published>
        <updated>2008-11-18T21:14:18-05:00</updated>
        <summary>The ripple effect from today’s tough economic times has forced virtually every business to re-evaluate how they are doing business. When top line revenues decline it’s important to evaluate your expenses to cut back where you can. The challenge is...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>Big Contacts</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Things to consider" />
        
        
<content type="html" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/">
&lt;div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"&gt;&lt;p style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;&lt;a href="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/.a/6a00d83456002c69e2010536021dd7970c-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"&gt;&lt;img alt="Tough economy" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00d83456002c69e2010536021dd7970c " src="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/.a/6a00d83456002c69e2010536021dd7970c-800wi" title="Tough economy" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; The ripple effect from today’s tough economic times has forced virtually every business to re-evaluate how they are doing business.&lt;span&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;When top line revenues decline it’s important to evaluate your expenses to cut back where you can.&lt;span&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;The challenge is to tighten the belt while maintaining the level of service your existing customers have come to expect.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;To successfully navigate these tough waters, it’s important to correctly distinguish between an expense and an investment when making decisions that affect the future growth of your business.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: white"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"&gt;It could be argued, and the numbers show, that Contact Management Software (CRM) fits squarely in the investment category.&lt;span&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;So what questions show you ask when approaching this technology investment? &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in; FONT-SIZE: 11px"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"&gt;How much more money can my organization make? &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"&gt;What is the return on my investment (ROI)?&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: white"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"&gt;There are two ways to justify this investment in your company&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in; FONT-SIZE: 11px"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"&gt;Increase revenues or &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;li&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in; FONT-SIZE: 11px"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"&gt;Reduce costs&lt;br /&gt;&amp;#0160;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 15.6pt; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: white"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"&gt;Costs can only be reduced so much, but that is generally where of the attention is focused because it is easier to quantify. The real payback in CRM can be realized by increasing the revenues of the organization (top-line growth). This increase in revenue is driven from three primary areas: &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in; FONT-SIZE: 11px"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"&gt;Enhanced customer service/ retention&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;li&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in; FONT-SIZE: 11px"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"&gt;More targeted selling efforts&amp;#0160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;li&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in; FONT-SIZE: 11px"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"&gt;Improved Productivity&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;You may be saying to yourself, “This is great, but what does this really mean for my bottom line?”&lt;span&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;There are a number of studies that have been conducted on this subject and the numbers are very appealing.&lt;span&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;/span&gt;Below are the findings from industry veteran, &lt;span&gt;Barton J. Goldenberg&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;, author of the book &lt;a href="http://www.infotoday.com/pressreleases/pdf/041408_CRMinRealTime.pdf"&gt;CRM in Real Time: &lt;/a&gt;&lt;span&gt;Empowering Customer Relationships.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR: black"&gt;This books draws on Barton Goldenberg’s 20+ years of experience guiding firms to a successful implementation of CRM solutions and techniques. Goldenberg demonstrates how the right mix of people, process, and technology can help firms achieve a superior level of customer satisfaction, loyalty, and new business.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; TEXT-ALIGN: center"&gt;&lt;img alt="" src="file:///C:/Users/Melanie/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-6.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; TEXT-ALIGN: center"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR: black"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; TEXT-ALIGN: left"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;&lt;a href="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/.a/6a00d83456002c69e2010535faa9f7970b-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"&gt;&lt;img alt="Roi image" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00d83456002c69e2010535faa9f7970b " src="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/.a/6a00d83456002c69e2010535faa9f7970b-120pi" title="Roi image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;The ROI&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in; FONT-SIZE: 11px"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;10% per year increase in the gross sales revenues per sales rep during the first three years.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;li&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in; FONT-SIZE: 11px"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;5 % decrease in general and administrative cost of sales during the first three years.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;li&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in; FONT-SIZE: 11px"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;5% increase in win rates for forecasted sales during the first three years.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;li&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in; FONT-SIZE: 11px"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;1% margin improvement in the value of a deal over the system’s lifetime.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;li&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in; FONT-SIZE: 11px"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;5% improvement in customer satisfaction among customers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;When you look at these numbers and apply them to any business, they can translate into some meaningful results.&lt;span&gt;&amp;#0160; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;The bottom line is businesses that take care of their customers and consistently find new ones will be successful.&amp;#0160; The people most responsible for finding new customers and maintaining satisfied, profitable relationships with existing ones are sales people. Many CRM platforms try to be everything to everyone, offering everything from&amp;#0160; Accounting, Project Management, to Ticketing&amp;#0160; Systems.&amp;#0160; The most successful CRM solutions are those specifically designed to help manage the sales process.&amp;#0160; And no matter what measure we look at, when a focus is established and maintained in these key areas, the positive results to both the top and bottom lines cannot be denied.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"&gt;&lt;span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/bigcontacts/Abat/~4/tWP5EUWxhDk" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content>


    <feedburner:origLink>http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/2008/11/contact-management-software-crm-an-expense-or-investment.html</feedburner:origLink></entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Importing Your Contacts Just Got Easier!</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigcontacts/Abat/~3/aRusUdwg6N8/importing-your-contacts-just-got-easier.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/2008/10/importing-your-contacts-just-got-easier.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-56659081</id>
        <published>2008-10-07T09:51:23-04:00</published>
        <updated>2008-10-07T09:51:23-04:00</updated>
        <summary>Over the years too many software applications have been written from an engineer's perspective and fail to adequately take into account what the end-user wants or needs. This approach to designing things in the "lab" can result in applications that...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>Big Contacts</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Best Practices" />
        
        
<content type="xhtml" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/"><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">Over the years too many software applications have been written from an engineer's perspective and fail to adequately take into account what the end-user wants or needs.  This approach to designing things in the "lab" can result in applications that are difficult to learn and manage.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">At <a href="http://www.bigcontacts.com" target="_blank" title="Big Contacts Home Page">Big Contacts</a> we have a singular focus on developing leading edge technologies that are easy to use and provide meaningful solutions for our end-users.  We work hard to make this attention to detail very evident in everything we offer. One thing we don't always do well is to properly highlight features and functionality that we have built into our <a href="http://www.bigcontacts.com" target="_blank" title="Big Contacts Home Page">Contact Management System</a> that make your life a little easier to manage. </span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">If you're looking for a new Contact Management System but aren't quite sure how to get your contacts out of your current system and import them into a new platform, we have offer a very effective solution for you.  Our <a href="http://www.bigcontacts.com/product.html#import" target="_blank" title="Big Contacts Import Wizard">Import Wizard</a> provides step-by-step instructions for exporting your contacts from some of the most common <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_manager" target="_blank" title="Wikipedia">Contact Management</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_force_automation" target="_blank" title="Wikipedia">Sales Force Automation</a> Platforms in the industry.  </span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" /> </p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS"><a href="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/.a/6a00d83456002c69e20105355fbb62970b-pi" style="DISPLAY: inline"><img alt="Import Wizard" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00d83456002c69e20105355fbb62970b " src="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/.a/6a00d83456002c69e20105355fbb62970b-800wi" title="Import Wizard" /></a> </span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">Once the data is safely exported from your current application, you will then utilize our mapping tool to ensure that you contact data fields find their rightful home in the new system.  Big Contacts goes beyond the standard data import.  In addition to mapping all of the "standard" data fields, you can now import any "custom" fields that you may have created within your current system.  You won't have to worry about a loss of any Contact data when importing to our system. </span></p></span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">For those of you that currently use ACT!, we now have a solution for you too! </span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS"><a href="http://www.bigcontacts.com/actimport/" onclick="window.open(this.href,'_blank','scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false"><img alt="ACT Software Box" border="0" class="at-xid-6a00d83456002c69e20105356934be970c " src="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/.a/6a00d83456002c69e20105356934be970c-800wi" style="BORDER-RIGHT: black 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: black 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: black 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: black 1px solid" title="ACT Software Box" /></a>   </span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">ACT! is one of those programs that makes is very difficult for you to get your history out of their application and into a new contact management system.  We can help you with this as this is part of what we offer in our <a href="http://www.bigcontacts.com/pricing.html" target="_blank" title="Big Contacts Pricing">Custom Data Import</a> service.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">Finally, if you wish to import your entire contact history from any of these applications, (notes, meetings, email) our <a href="http://www.bigcontacts.com/pricing.html" target="_blank" title="Big Contacts Pricing Page">Custom Data Import</a> service will ensure that you capture and properly organize this data as well.</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS">For more information on this, or any other questions you might have, give us a call at 1-888-286-6578 Ext. 701.  We're here to help!</span></p><xhtml:img xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/bigcontacts/Abat/~4/aRusUdwg6N8" height="1" width="1" /></div></content>


    <feedburner:origLink>http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/2008/10/importing-your-contacts-just-got-easier.html</feedburner:origLink></entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Adopting New Technologies in your Business</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigcontacts/Abat/~3/1bL5u31PBJY/adopting-new-te.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/2008/09/adopting-new-te.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-55970748</id>
        <published>2008-09-22T10:14:17-04:00</published>
        <updated>2008-09-22T10:14:17-04:00</updated>
        <summary>The technology adoption lifecycle is a sociological model, originally developed by Joe M. Bohlen and George M. Beal in 1957 at Iowa State College.[1] Its purpose was to track the purchase patterns of hybrid seed corn by farmers. Approximately six...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>Big Contacts</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Things to consider" />
        
        
<content type="html" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/">
&lt;div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.6em;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;technology adoption lifecycle&lt;/strong&gt; is a
sociological model, originally developed by Joe M. Bohlen and George M. Beal in
1957 at &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_State_College" title="Iowa State College"&gt;Iowa State College&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;sup id="cite_ref-0"&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_lifecycle#cite_note-0"&gt;[1]&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt; Its purpose was to track the purchase patterns of hybrid
seed corn by farmers. Approximately six years later &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everett_Rogers" title="Everett Rogers"&gt;Everett
Rogers&lt;/a&gt; broadened the use of this model in his book, &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations" title="Diffusion of innovations"&gt;Diffusion of Innovations&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;

&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.6em;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;technology
adoption life cycle model &lt;/strong&gt;describes the adoption or acceptance of a new
product or innovation, according to the demographic and psychological
characteristics of defined adopter groups. The process of adoption over time is
typically illustrated as a classical normal distribution or &amp;quot;bell
curve.&amp;quot; The model indicates that the first group of people to use a new
product is called &amp;quot;innovators,&amp;quot; followed by &amp;quot;early adopters.&amp;quot;
Next come the early and late majority, and the last group to eventually adopt a
product are called &amp;quot;laggards.&amp;quot;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.6em;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;Source:
Wikipedia&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a onclick="window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=799,height=311,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false" href="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/22/technology_adoption_lifecycle_lar_5.png"&gt;&lt;img width="639" height="248" border="0" src="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/images/2008/09/22/technology_adoption_lifecycle_lar_5.png" title="Technology_adoption_lifecycle_lar_5" alt="Technology_adoption_lifecycle_lar_5" style="margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; float: right;" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
 &lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.8em;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.8em;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.8em;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.8em;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;When
does your company typically adopt a new technology?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.8em;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;If you’re an &lt;strong&gt;Early
Adopter, &lt;/strong&gt;you are willing to take calculated risks and place bets on new
technology. This approach can prove to be very beneficial if you focus on
software that is core to the operation of your business and is something that
you feel can be a competitive differentiator. The ideal scenario for small
business with limited resources is to find technologies that can be tested with
low up-front costs. The evolution of the
&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_as_a_Service"&gt;Saas&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;model of software deployment
has made it more feasible than ever before to take the approach of the Early
Adopter in an effort to get a jump on the competition.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.8em;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Small Business is more nimble&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Cheryl Currid, president of Currid and Company, a Houston-based IT consultancy,
was quoted as saying “SMBs usually take the lead in adopting new technologies
simply because there are not many management layers to slow down decision
making.”&amp;nbsp; Some SMB owners, Currid pointed
out, are very technology-savvy, see the immediate benefit in a technology, and
are able to move quickly to adopt it. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.8em;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
In fact, Currid added, early adopters can win big with customer service
applications, as long as they use the technology as a business tool and don't
simply become enamored of it for its own sake. On the other hand, Currid warned,
as time goes on late adopters will risk losing customers because they can't
keep up with competitors. But, if it has a loyal customer base, a late adopter
can sometimes get away without offering a new technology, Currid added. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Challenge: Gaining quick adoption within
your company&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.8em;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;The successful implementation of your new technology is
ultimately determined by end-user acceptance. The best technology is doomed to
fail unless end users use it. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.8em;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;How do you implement a new technology in your business,
with as little cost as possible, and realize widespread adoption as quickly as
possible?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.8em;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;Most technology that is robust enough to deliver
meaningful solutions for your business is also difficult to learn. Couple this learning curve, with short
attention spans and little spare time, and you have a formula for another
application headed to the graveyard.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.8em;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;At Big Contacts we have worked very hard to address all
of these challenges. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.8em;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;We have developed a &lt;a href="http://www.bigcontacts.com/"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Web-based Contact Management&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/a&gt;and &lt;a href="http://www.bigcontacts.com/"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sales Force Automation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; solution that will deliver the low cost implementation
and maintenance of a Saas platform.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.8em;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;We have developed a very robust platform that can make a real impact in the way
you manage your business.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;



&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.8em;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;We made this platform very intuitive and easy to use.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;





&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.8em;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;Couple all of this with an entire set of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.bigcontacts.com/videos.html"&gt;training videos&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;that demonstrate every
feature within our system, our ongoing &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.bigcontacts.com/pricing.html"&gt;“Best
Practices” web demonstrations&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;/strong&gt;and you have a platform that you can get up
and running in your business very quickly, with low cost and ahead of your
competition!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.8em;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 0.8em;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Arial&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="file:///C:/Users/Melanie/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-5.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/bigcontacts/Abat/~4/1bL5u31PBJY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content>


    <feedburner:origLink>http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/2008/09/adopting-new-te.html</feedburner:origLink></entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Delivering on the promise of CRM</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigcontacts/Abat/~3/RrKg7DBCcXo/delivering-on-t.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/2008/08/delivering-on-t.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-54033612</id>
        <published>2008-08-11T10:34:00-04:00</published>
        <updated>2008-08-11T10:34:00-04:00</updated>
        <summary>The CRM industry has historically been focused on managing customer data. But how can we better use these systems to focus on our clients in an effort to generate more profit and growth? We must further leverage the technology to...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>Big Contacts</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Things to consider" />
        
        
<content type="html" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/">
&lt;div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"&gt;&lt;p&gt;The CRM industry has historically been focused on managing customer data. But how can we better use these systems to focus on our clients in an effort to generate more profit and growth? We must further leverage the technology to manage our customer/ business processes.&amp;nbsp; Doing so will allow you to deliver a consistent and reliable experience to your clients.&amp;nbsp; This client experience often is the only real way to differentiate yourself in a very competitive market.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;There is a growing movement in the CRM industry focused on the concept of &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Process_Management"&gt;Business Process Management&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="file:///C:/Users/Melanie/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="file:///C:/Users/Melanie/Desktop/150px-Business_Process_Management_Life-Cycle.svg.png" /&gt;&lt;img src="file:///C:/Users/Melanie/Desktop/150px-Business_Process_Management_Life-Cycle.svg.png" /&gt;&lt;img src="file:///C:/Users/Melanie/Desktop/150px-Business_Process_Management_Life-Cycle.svg.png" /&gt;&lt;img src="file:///C:/Users/Melanie/Desktop/150px-Business_Process_Management_Life-Cycle.svg.png" /&gt;&lt;img src="file:///C:/Users/Melanie/Desktop/150px-Business_Process_Management_Life-Cycle.svg.png" /&gt;&lt;img src="file:///C:/Users/Melanie/Desktop/150px-Business_Process_Management_Life-Cycle.svg.png" /&gt;&lt;img src="file:///C:/Users/Melanie/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="file:///C:/Users/Melanie/Desktop/150px-Business_Process_Management_Life-Cycle.svg.png" /&gt;&lt;img src="file:///C:/Users/Melanie/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-3.jpg" /&gt;&lt;img src="file:///C:/Users/Melanie/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-4.jpg" /&gt;&lt;a onclick="window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=150,height=150,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false" href="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/08/11/150pxbusiness_process_management_li.png"&gt;&lt;img width="100" height="100" border="0" src="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/images/2008/08/11/150pxbusiness_process_management_li.png" title="150pxbusiness_process_management_li" alt="150pxbusiness_process_management_li" style="margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; float: left;" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;









&lt;p&gt;The Wikipedia definition of a &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process"&gt;Business Process&lt;/a&gt; reads like this:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;A business process is a collection of related, structured activities that produce a
service or product that meet the needs of a client. These processes are
critical to any organization as they generate revenue and often
represent a significant proportion of costs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Big Contacts has addressed this need and delivers two easy-to-use process management functions.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;1)&amp;nbsp; &lt;u&gt;Sales Force Automation (SFA)&lt;/u&gt; - The &amp;quot;Autopilot&amp;quot; module of our system can literally put most of the activities in your sales cycle on autopilot.&amp;nbsp; With the click of a few buttons you can quickly and easily define multiple tasks that will automatically trigger as a prospect or client moves through each stage your sales pipeline.&amp;nbsp; You may want to generate an email to thank someone for a meeting. Maybe you want your assistant to send a personalized letter and you want to ensure that you are reminded to make a follow up call a few days later.&amp;nbsp; You can create automated functions that will be performed without fail and stored within the contacts record to ensure a complete history of activity.&amp;nbsp; All of this is managed from a single dashboard within the system.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;2)&amp;nbsp; &lt;u&gt;Client Relationship Management (CRM)&lt;/u&gt; -&amp;nbsp; Within every business there is certain set of tasks that must be carried out on an on-going basis to ensure that your business operates smoothly and that you have satisfied clients.&amp;nbsp; The challenge is to effectively manage all of these tasks and to monitor them to ensure they get done correctly and in a timely fashion.&amp;nbsp; Our system allows you to easily create a library of all the tasks that are performed within your company.&amp;nbsp; Most tasks involve multiple steps and often times can involve multiple people within your organization.&amp;nbsp; You simply create a task, designate all the steps involved within the task, and assign each step to the correct person within your organization.&amp;nbsp; It doesn't matter whether each step within the task needs to worked on at the same time by multiple people of whether each step must be completed by a person and then handed off to the person responsible for the next step within that task, the system will reliably coordinate and hand off tasks as you have designed them to work.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Finally, you can establish service standards by defining the time each task and each step within that task should take to complete.&amp;nbsp; The reporting capabilities within our system allow you to monitor all activity and determine where things may be breaking down and where the service standards within your company are not being met.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;For more information on how these very powerful modules can work for you in your business, you can visit us at &lt;a href="http://www.bigcontacts.com"&gt;Big Contacts&lt;/a&gt; and click on &amp;quot;view a fully populated demo&amp;quot; on the home page or feel free to call us at 1-888-286-6578 Ext. 701&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/bigcontacts/Abat/~4/RrKg7DBCcXo" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content>


    <feedburner:origLink>http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/2008/08/delivering-on-t.html</feedburner:origLink></entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Refer Clients, Earn Money</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigcontacts/Abat/~3/izo5Kg1CUQI/refer-clients-e.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/2008/07/refer-clients-e.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-53110452</id>
        <published>2008-07-23T08:50:24-04:00</published>
        <updated>2008-07-23T08:50:24-04:00</updated>
        <summary>We now offer referral incentives! For every new customer you refer to Big Contacts you will get their first month’s payment credited directly to your account. Be on the lookout in August for a "green button" that will appear throughout...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>Big Contacts</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Announcements" />
        
        
<content type="html" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/">
&lt;div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;We
now offer referral incentives&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;For every new customer you refer to Big Contacts
you will get their first month’s payment credited directly to your
account.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Be on the lookout in August for a &amp;quot;green button&amp;quot; that will appear throughout the system.&amp;nbsp; Simply click on this button, enter your referral information and we will do the rest.&amp;nbsp; We hope we have proven to you by now that we are not a high pressure sales company.&amp;nbsp; We will treat your referral with utmost care and will only provide them with further information if they wish to learn more.&amp;nbsp; No spam mailings here!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;For those of you that would like to get started right away,&amp;nbsp; please feel free to call us at 1-888-286-6578 Ext. 701.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;







&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;Here’s
how it works:&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp; John Smith refers Jane Doe to Big Contacts and she decides to sign
up 3 users under a 6 month pre-paid subscription.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;



&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;(3 users @ $23.95 per user per month = $71.85) &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;



&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;This amount will be credited directly to your account and applied
against your next billing. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;



&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;You can &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;easily track all
of your referrals&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; through a ticket number that will allow you to login
and track the status of your referral. You will receive a confirmation when your referral has subscribed to our
service. Simply go to the “Admin” tab in
your system and then select the “Billing History” link. Under this link you will see a detailed
accounting of your referral, and it will appear as a credit in your billing
history:&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;



&lt;table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse;"&gt;
 &lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;
&amp;nbsp; &lt;td style="border: 1pt solid rgb(221, 221, 221); padding: 2.4pt 6pt;"&gt;
&amp;nbsp; &lt;p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;"&gt;06/13/2008&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&amp;nbsp; &lt;/td&gt;
&amp;nbsp; &lt;td style="border-style: solid solid solid none; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(221, 221, 221) -moz-use-text-color; border-width: 1pt 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 2.4pt 6pt;"&gt;
&amp;nbsp; &lt;p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;"&gt;$71.85&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&amp;nbsp; &lt;/td&gt;
&amp;nbsp; &lt;td style="border-style: solid solid solid none; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(221, 221, 221) -moz-use-text-color; border-width: 1pt 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 2.4pt 6pt;"&gt;
&amp;nbsp; &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana; color: black;"&gt;Jan Doe Referral credit (3 users @$23.95)&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&amp;nbsp; &lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;

&lt;div style="border-style: none none double; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color windowtext; border-width: medium medium 2.25pt; padding: 0in 0in 1pt;"&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="border: medium none ; padding: 0in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;We hope you &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;take advantage of this great program&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;
to help us spread the word about Big Contacts and, better yet, to help you
reduce your costs for the service!!&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/bigcontacts/Abat/~4/izo5Kg1CUQI" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content>


    <feedburner:origLink>http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/2008/07/refer-clients-e.html</feedburner:origLink></entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Taking it to the next level!</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigcontacts/Abat/~3/Loiy2wrzvkE/taking-it-to-th.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/2008/07/taking-it-to-th.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-52739824</id>
        <published>2008-07-15T16:26:33-04:00</published>
        <updated>2008-07-15T16:26:33-04:00</updated>
        <summary>We want to apologize to the thousands of loyal Big Contacts subscribers for such a long period of radio silence. We have had our heads down and working very hard to deliver on a number of very exciting enhancements to...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>Big Contacts</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="Announcements" />
        
        
<content type="html" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/">
&lt;div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"&gt;&lt;p&gt;We want to apologize to the thousands of loyal Big Contacts subscribers for such a long period of radio silence.&amp;nbsp; We have had our heads down and working very hard to deliver on a number of very exciting enhancements to our service.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Just a few of the highlights:&lt;/p&gt;



&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;We have completely
revamped o&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ur Customer and Technical Support Centers.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;We added more staff and have implemented a more advanced ticketing system that tracks your questions
and our resolutions much more efficiently. This will virtually eliminate any errors-oversight, and will mean faster service and fewer headaches.&amp;nbsp; &lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;We have added more resources in our Technology Development Group&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;Please continue use our feedback section so we can continue to improve this application to better
meet your business needs.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;



&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;We are rolling out an Enhanced Customer Support Service.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;Beginning 8/1/08,&amp;nbsp; we will offer an option to subscribe to live phone support through an 800 number.&amp;nbsp; This service will be available during our normal business hours!&amp;nbsp; (M-F 8-5 EST).&amp;nbsp; You can learn more about this new service by contacting us at 1-888-286-6578 Ext. 703 or by watching for new information on our pricing page after 8/1/08.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;



&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;We will be offering Live
Training Sessions&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Beginning 8/1/08 are rolling out live training sessions. These sessions are
designed to highlight the major components of the system and to share best practices for implementing some of our key features and&amp;nbsp; functionality into
your business. This will
all be delivered using a webinar format. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt;You can
learn more about this new service by contacting us at 1-888-286-6578 Ext.
703 or by watching for new information on our pricing page after 8/1/08.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;There are many more great things coming down the pipe, so please stay tuned and check back with us often!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"&gt; &lt;em&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;



&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/bigcontacts/Abat/~4/Loiy2wrzvkE" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content>


    <feedburner:origLink>http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/2008/07/taking-it-to-th.html</feedburner:origLink></entry>
    <entry>
        <title>Full text search</title>
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bigcontacts/Abat/~3/U7zdEdYolzg/full-text-searc.html" />
        <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/2008/01/full-text-searc.html" thr:count="0" />
        <id>tag:typepad.com,2003:post-44184514</id>
        <published>2008-01-15T14:11:32-05:00</published>
        <updated>2008-01-15T14:11:32-05:00</updated>
        <summary>The newest feature of Big Contacts is full text search. There are two options for the main search box, 'name' and status/history'. If you select 'status/history', all of your history, notes, tasks, opportunities and meetings will be searched, looking for...</summary>
        <author>
            <name>Big Contacts</name>
        </author>
        <category scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" term="New Features" />
        
        
<content type="html" xml:lang="en-US" xml:base="http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/">
&lt;div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"&gt;&lt;p&gt;The newest feature of Big Contacts is full text search. There are two options for the main search box, 'name' and status/history'. If you select 'status/history', all of your history, notes, tasks, opportunities and meetings will be searched, looking for the search word. The contact and the context where the search word was found is returned. Unlike the name search, this only works for complete words. Partial words won't work.&amp;nbsp; For example, if searching for a note you wrote about Verizon, you cannot just type in Veri.&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This has been one of the most often requested features for Big Contacts. We listen to our users and add to Big Contacts based on what we hear. So, use the Send Feedback box, and keep those awesome ideas coming!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/bigcontacts/Abat/~4/U7zdEdYolzg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content>


    <feedburner:origLink>http://blog.bigcontacts.com/bigcontacts/2008/01/full-text-searc.html</feedburner:origLink></entry>
 
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