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1.5. Customer Relationship
Management Software (CRM) |
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Written by: KATHYE KOCHANOWSKI |
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Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is a program
designed specifically to track the progression of your relationship with a
contact, from prospect to client. |
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Using a CRM software is an efficient way to manage all of those numerous contacts you’ve
made from all of your networking and marketing efforts. If you are disciplined and enter in
new prospect information right away into your system, you can use the program to keep
track of notes, create action items to remind you to call or email the prospect, compare
success rates of various marketing or networking activities, and more. |
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There are quite a few CRM software options available. Take the time to really compare
different programs and see which best fits the way you work. Salesforce.com, SugarCRM,
Zoho CRM, and ACT! are a few of the many CRM software products available. |
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If you travel or are out of the office a lot you may want to consider a cloud-based CRM. The
advantage of a cloudbased CRM is that you can make real time updates and notes directly
into the program without having to wait until you are back at your office. This saves you
time, effort, and helps keep critical information from being forgotten. |
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| Scenario #1 |
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IMAGINE THIS - You have a new client and are in the process of entering their data onto your
spreadsheet when the phone rings. You answer that call and immediately get caught up in
tending to the action item that call creates. This leads you to remembering you need to do
that exact same task for another client. |
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Meanwhile, three new emails come in, two of which need your immediate attention… and
so on and so forth until you remember you were busy entering that new client into your
spreadsheet. Not only did you forget to log all of that activity into your spreadsheet, you didn’t
even realize you forgot to include a very important deadline in the task list for that new client. |
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| Scenario #2 |
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IMAGINE THIS – It’s month end or payroll processing week or even worse, the busy tax
season. You can barely keep your head above water, much less take the time to update
your spreadsheet… but this is the time you need to rely on it the most! |
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Now multiply that by the number of employees you have, not to mention the number of
clients you have, and you can begin to see how easily a spreadsheet can fall short for
keeping you and your staff on track – no matter how organized or well‐intentioned it may be. |
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| Enter Clear Biz. Clear Biz does all of the updating, reminding, and worrying for you and your staff. |
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Simply import your client list from your existing tax or accounting software, choose your
tasks from predefined options, even create your own custom tasks! Clear Biz has all the
federal and state due dates built right into the program and allows you to see all of your
upcoming deadlines at a glance. You’ll never have to worry about missing a deadline again. |
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| Kathye Kochanowski |
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A degree in Economics with a focus in International Studies from Lawrence
University. She is a Marketing and Sales consultant for Clear Biz, focusing
on their expansion into the United States. |
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