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Session #15 of Making Business Happen Radio features the importance of customer relationship management (CRM) and reviews three tools I’ve been testing over the past several weeks. CRM is a critical part of making business happen, and I am making a very conscious effort to improve how I build and grow relationships with my customers.
- I run two different business lines
- One is a coaching and consulting business
- The other is a training and development business
- Both have unique target markets, websites, and mailing lists
- I am developing products which I can sell to customers who have already purchased services from me.
- Importance of offering more value to customers after they have trusted you enough to purchase something of value for you.
- I want to know purchase history and an ongoing record of contact and communication.
My requirements
- Must be mobile
- I am on the go a lot
- I work from a home office
- I meet clients and customers in a variety of locations
- I need instant access to information to answer questions and offer ideas
- Should integrate with Google Apps
- I use Google Apps for my e-mail
- I want to easily forward e-mails and addresses to the CRM for future processing
- Ideally, I would do this by a Google Apps widget
- Should allow me to track deals so I can help forecast future revenue opportunities
- Nice to haves
- Dedicated mobile app
- Dedicated Mac app instead of web-based
The candidates
- Apollo (www.apollohq.com)
- Integrated project management and CRM in one
- Starts at $14/month for a solo version
- Web-based with mobile web-based app
- Good things
- Love the calendar, which I can export via iCal
- CRM and project integration is really good
- Great for freelancers – a Highrise/Basecamp combination
- Can get for a fraction of the 37Signals cost
- Ability to track external users and fellow employees
- Syncs with Harvest (invoicing application)
- Improvements
- No good Google Apps integration
- User interface (besides calendar) was not the cleanest
- Base CRM (www.getbase.com
- Plans start at $15/month
- Positives
-
- Dedicated iOS app, and it works very well
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- Mac App for offline use
- More detailed breakdown of sales opportunities
- Incoming
- Qualified
- Quote
- Closure
- Excellent Google Apps integration
- Can create a name and company right from the Google Apps widget
- Saves a lot of time
- Other great integrations
- Xero
- Dropbox
- Improvements
- Mac app is very basic – no real ability to update items (view-only)
- No social media links (Can link to these, but they are NOT in the app itself)
- Capsule CRM (www.capsulecrm.com)
- Starts at $12/month
- Very clean user interface – the best of the bunch
- Integration with Xero, but not with Harvest
- Positives
- Integration with Google Apps via widget
- Ability to track social media activity (great for following via Twitter!)
- Different customer tracking methods
- Does have 3rd party mobile apps
- Improvements
- No dedicated mobile app (just web access)
- Widget is not as good as Base – Inability to add full contact name
- One-way Google sync – can be a big problem!
My decision
- Base CRM is my choice at the time of this recording
- Best mobile app
- Two-way Google syncing
- Can set task integration on BaseCRM calendar in Google Calendar
If you are interested in learning more about mobile technology, please check out my “Escaping Dilbertville – The Mobile Office” course currently for sale. You can find this course at www.whiteboardbusiness.com/escapethecubicle. If you are enjoying Making Business Happen Radio, please leave a favorable review or rating on iTunes. If you want a question answered on the show, please leave an e-mail at feedback@whiteboardbusiness.com or call the listener feedback line at 563-265-1184. You can find me on Twitter @dallonc or search for the Whiteboard Business Partners page on Facebook.
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