MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM BOND

Bond Solutions would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and we hope you have a fantastic time over the Christmas period.

Our offices will close on Christmas Eve at 12pm and will reopen on Monday January 4th 2010. If you have any urgent queries, please email us at support@bond-solutions.com and someone will respond to your query.

We would like to thank all of our customers and associates for your support in 2009 and we look forward to working with you in 2010.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

The Bond Team

OUR PART IN THE REAL INNOVATORS CAMPAIGN

Our managing director, Derek Curtis, is part of Business Link's Real Innovators campaign. As part of the campaign, Derek was asked to participate in a video case study about utilising social media.

Please click here to visit the Real Innovators site and watch the video.

FREE 60 DAY TRIAL OF OUR E-MARKETING TOOL

As the popularity of digital marketing rises we have seen an increased demand for our e-marketing tool Swiftpage. As well as being more cost-effective than a printed newsletter, e-newsletters can provide you with feedback and a wide range of information to help make your marketing activity more targeted.

Swiftpage links with Sage Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems and also runs as a standalone product.

It provides a convenient and effective way to communicate with your customers and direct them to areas of your website that you think they will find useful. It also offers a survey function where all results can be viewed online and imported directly into your CRM system.

As a web-based tool, you simply log in to your account and create templates or surveys through its easy-to-use template editor. The e-newsletter can be saved or sent immediately, straight from the program. You can add links to your website or other webpages that you feel may be of interest to your recipients. To ensure that your server or email system is not slowed down, Swiftpage sends your email from its own dedicated server.

If you are using Swiftpage with a CRM system such as ACT!, Sage CRM or SalesLogix you are able to create target groups of contacts who you would like to receive the e-newsletter. It can then be sent through your software at the click of a button. This can prove extremely useful when targeting specific groups of people – for example, all customers who have purchased one particular product. A copy of the email will also be logged against their contact so you can see exactly who has received each communication.

Once your newsletter has been distributed you are able to see exactly who has opened it, what links they have clicked on and how many times they have viewed it. This can provide you with invaluable information into exactly what each individual is interested in. Swiftpage will generate a ‘hotlist’ which contains information about the recipients who have shown the most interest in each area of the newsletter - so you know who’s most likely to purchase your products.

Swiftpage also offers the option to add a box to your website to capture customer information which can then be imported into an Excel document or straight into your CRM system. This can be used to capture those looking for further information, a company catalogue or any other data.

Communication is key to any marketing campaign and this cost-effective software can help you promote your company and its key messages, as well as providing your customers with special offers or general news from your company. It ensures that you are always at the forefront of your customers’ minds and that they are reminded regularly about your products or services.

We are now offering a copywriting service if you would be interested in having a full bespoke newsletter created for you by our dedicated copywriting team. Please contact Bond directly about this service by calling 0870 043 4303 or emailing sales@bond-solutions.com.

We are offering a free, no-obligation, 60 day trial of Swiftpage if you would like to try this out for yourself. Please contact us or click here for further information.

Welcome to Bond Solutions

We are constantly looking to improve the information available to customers and friends of Bond Solutions. We are therefore currently in the process of developing a new website which is expected to launch soon.

In the meantime however, please browse our blog for all of the latest news and information from Bond. Just click on the articles on the right, or click here to go to the latest article.

Follow us on Facebook.

Follow us on Twitter.

Our LinkedIn page.

Bond News

Alternatively, if you wish to contact the Bond team, please call 0191 516 6882 or email info@bond-solutions.com.

SAGE ACCOUNTS OFFERS FOR NOVEMBER

Following the news that Microsoft will no longer be distributing Office Accounting in the UK from today, we are offering several discounts on Sage Accounts software throughout the month of November.

If you are currently using Microsoft Office Accounting you will qualify for a trade-in discount of 30% off Sage Accounts. Those who are not using any accounts packages will receive 10% off for this month only.

Sage Accounts is suitable for SMEs of any size and can streamline your business processes and provide you with up-to-date customer information. It incorporates a range of essential processes and we have picked out our top features and how they can benefit your business.

Billing, Payments and Finance
· Invoice production allowing you to manage supplier and customer payments and streamline the full process.
· The creation and management of sales orders, quotations, invoices and purchase orders which can be posted or sent electronically to the customer.
· Credit control facilities, including debt management, which make you aware of exactly when you should be paid and where debts lie within your business. This enables you to ensure you are paid on time and manage your payments correctly.

Project Management
· Project management control which allows you to see the costs and resources associated with a project through accurate analysis and the production of reports.
· A fully integrated stock management system with a stocktake function that links to your sales and purchase orders to ensure you have an accurate view of where your business is at each moment.
· There is also a fixed asset module which will allows you to clearly record, value and manage the depreciation of assets within your business.

Reports
· There are a series of reports that can display information such as aged debtors and creditors, profit and loss and balance sheets and reporting on stock and project profitability. You are also able to customise these reports at any time to display the information that is key to your business and its performance.

Integration
Sage Accounts links with a range of add-on applications as well as other Sage products such as ACT! and Payroll.

It also integrates with Excel so you can create reports within the programme as well as exporting data directly to Excel.

There are a series of packages available depending on the size and function of your business. These packages begin with Sage 50 Accounts – aimed at companies with less than 2 users, and span up to Sage 50 Accounts Professional – aimed at companies who require up to 10 users’ access the accounts system.

In addition to the accounts product, we also offer training, installation and support to ensure that you get the most out of your accounts programme.

As mentioned, this is only a brief overview of what Sage Accounts can do for your business so please contact our sales team if you would like any further information. The discount is applicable until the end of November and please quote ‘bondblog’ when ordering to ensure you receive this.

E: info@bond-solutions.com T: 0870 043 4303

THE PROS AND CONS OF BEING AN INTERNATIONAL RESELLER

We did a presentation for Sunderland Software City about the pros and cons of trading internationally and we thought we would share our thoughts.

As a reseller of several international products such as Scribe and Swiftpage, we have found working with suppliers abroad can provide a mutually beneficial relationship – as long as you get it right.

Firstly, you need to establish your reasons for reselling the product. Our decision was based on the fact that the products complemented our range of software and we knew they would provide added value to our customers. The products allow us to provide our customers with everything they need without having to use different suppliers.

We have two key international partners (IPs) - one based in the USA and one based in India. Due to time differences we generally communicate via email as this is the most convenient method. Email works best for both parties, making the process a lot smoother in all aspects.

One thing we have noticed is the significant differences in the ways which they do business. For example, our US supplier is very commercially driven and focussed on targets and sales. Our Indian partner however, is very customer service orientated and will have a query or problem turned around within 24 hours in most cases. The point we are trying to make is know the culture of the country you will be working to grasp how they work and if this works for your business. We found this really helped us to know what to expect from the relationship. Other important factors to consider are annual holidays, working patterns, time differences and most importantly support back-up from the vendor.

The legal issues surrounding contracts for the partnership can sometimes be tricky and it is worth getting a solicitor involved if you think there could be any issues with legislation. A few key areas we had to consider were: which country’s legislation would apply, who would own the software licences and also who would provide the support for the software we were selling.

The financial agreement may be different if doing business abroad. Most companies operate on 30-day payment terms which we found didn’t apply when dealing with international partners. We were often asked to provide payment upfront by methods such as a credit card or wire transfer. Obviously this may affect your own payment terms for your customers and you need to build that into the relationship with your customers.

In summary, we have found working with international partners a very worthwhile and mutually-beneficial experience although, as with everything in business, it is important to fully understand the up and downsides of working with suppliers abroad.

International partners can allow you to access market-leading products that your competitors may not have, provide an all-round better service for your customers and add value to their existing software implementation. However, remember you have to establish long-distance relationships with these IPs and legislation and finance can also be problematic.

We have done it and found it a benefit to our business, but make sure you know what you are getting yourself into.

BOND BACKS CHRIS IN THE ECHO’S PORTFOLIO AWARDS

We would like to wish our software support engineer Chris Bunyan good luck in the Sunderland Echo Portfolio Awards tomorrow evening.

Chris, who celebrates his sixth anniversary with Bond Solutions this month, is a finalist in the Employee of the Year category at the awards ceremony taking place at the Stadium of Light.

Chris works directly with our customers to resolve any queries they have with their software, as well as visiting them on-site to install new systems and ensure that they work correctly with their current operations.

As the initial point of contact for our technical team Chris was instrumental in our success in the Sage Circle of Excellence Award - an award based on independent research into how many of our customers would be prepared to recommend us to others.

Having won the award three times, we are currently ranked second in the UK out of over 2,000 Business Partners - something that would not have been possible without Chris’ expertise and first-class customer service skills.

Bond Solutions’ managing director Derek Curtis said: “When we saw the Employee of the Year category in the Sunderland Echo Portfolio Awards we knew we had to put an entry in for Chris as he has had a major impact on the success of Bond Solutions.

“We are delighted that he is a finalist in the category and the full team is behind him 100%. We are looking forward to cheering him on tomorrow night at the awards ceremony.”

WE DID IT...

The Byte Night board would like to say a huge thank you to those who made the first official North East Byte Night a success.

The wind and rain did not deter the 40 members of the business community who had agreed to give up their beds in aid of Action for Children and we hope everyone involved enjoyed the night.

We raised in excess of £10,000, which was down to the fantastic support we received from the business community - the final figure will be announced soon.

We are already busy planning Byte Night 2010 and hope you will spread the word and help us build on this year’s success – as well as joining us again next year!

Paul Keating of Redboat Photography kindly donated his time to Byte Night - please click here to view all of the photographs he took on the night.

Again, we would like to say a huge thank you to all of those involved in the event and we really hope you will support us next year.

If you would like to get involved in Byte Night 2010, please email bytenight@bond-solutions.com and we will send you details of the event as soon as a date is confirmed.

Twas on a regular Friday night

A great poem about Byte Night by Jayne Temple

Twas on a regular Friday night
The Team at Bond took on a delight
Sleeping Rough was their game
Action for Children was their aim

Thermals, Gloves, Wrap up Warm
Weather Warnings it's gonna storm
Might be an idea to grab a Curry
To make the night go in a Hurry

If it doesn't, all's not lost
Your collective brave efforts are the cost
For your doing this for a wonderful cause
But don't go for a dip or break any laws!!

We Really do wish you well
Hope the night has some stories to tell
Watch out Newcastle here you go
Bond Solutions in the charity flow

xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx

Dedicated to My Brother Nick & His Colleagues

Jill Halfpenny Sends Her Words of Support

Jill Halfpenny has sent her words of support to those giving up their beds on October 2 as part of Byte Night.

Jill said: "Byte Night is a fantastic idea for a truly great cause. Please support it in any way you can and if you know of anyone who will be giving up their bed for a night then please sponsor them and show your support. Thank you so much."

To sponsor the Bond Solutions team and help raise money for Action for Children please click here.

If you would like to get involved in Byte Night please register at www.bytenight.org.uk/.

Not Long To Go

It's only 9 days until the Bond Solutions team will spend a night sleeping rough in aid of Action for Children and we are all looking forward to the challenge.

As October 2 quickly approaches, we are pleased to announce that former ITV anchorwoman Kim Inglis will be hosting North East Byte Night 2009. Kim has been in the media spotlight for the past 15 years and we would like to thank her for supporting the first official Byte Night to be held in the region.

For those who are unable to sleep out, tickets are now on sale for the evening event - with 100% of the ticket price going directly to Action for Children. Tickets cost just £10 and include an evening meal, two drinks and admission to the evening’s entertainment - which will feature performances by two up-and-coming singers and a quiz.

We are pleased to announce that Codeworks Connect is sponsoring North East Byte Night and several members of the team will be volunteering on the night, bringing with them games consoles which will be available for use throughout the evening.

Heather Baxter of GENI is making special Byte Night cupcakes which will be on sale and, speaking from personal experience, are definitely not to be missed. Thank you also to Laura Maddison of Altitude Recruitment who has also donated a box of cupcakes to our raffle.

Byte Night will be a fantastic event in which the business community can come together and raise money for a fantastic cause.

To book your tickets for Byte Night, please email bytenight@bond-solutions.com.

To sign up for Byte Night please visit http://www.bytenight.org.uk/.

We look forward to seeing you there and raising money to help young people in the North East.

Well Done Jules!

Congratulations to Julie for completing her skydive on Saturday in aid of Action for Children.

As promised the pictures have arrived!

The weather was fantastic and the team celebrated her safe descent with a BBQ – the pilot even flew the plane over the garden as promised.

Thank you to all of those who sponsored Julie making us 37% closer to reaching our target. This is fantastic and very much appreciated.

We are now looking ahead to Byte Night on October 2, where all of the team will be sleeping rough for one night to experience what it is like to be homeless.

We are hoping this will allow us to reach our £3,000 fundraising target and make a big difference to young people across the region.

Action for Children has helped over 19,000 children in the North East over the past year and it relies on support from the business community to continue its work.

If you would like to get involved in Byte Night please click here and please also visit our JustGiving page www.justgiving.com/bond-solutions if you are able to sponsor us and help change the lives of children across the country.

Click here for more pictures of Julie’s jump.

JULIE TAKES THE PLUNGE

We hope you will all join us in wishing our financial controller Julie Curtis good luck for her skydive on Saturday.

The jump, taking place at Peterlee Airfield, is in aid of Bond’s chosen charity Action for Children whom we have pledged to raise £3,000 for this year.

As a foster carer, Julie is passionate about helping young people and she is hoping to raise a substantial amount of money for the Charity - which has helped over 19,000 young people in the region over the past year.

Fostering Solutions, whom Julie and husband Derek foster through, has kindly paid the cost for the jump, meaning all sponsorship money raised will be donated directly to Action for Children.

We have so far raised 15% of our target following the Coast to Coast cycle which our technical director Peter Clark did with three friends last month, so we still have a way to go before reaching our goal.

The Bond team will also be sleeping rough for one night on October 2 as part of Byte Night North East.

If you would like to sponsor Julie in her jump please visit our JustGiving page at www.justgiving.co.uk/bond-solutions. For further information about Action for Children please click here.

Photographs of Julie doing her jump will follow next week!

Pedalling Towards Our Target

Congratulations to Peter, Dominic, Jonathan and Darren for completing the Coast to Coast cycle. The guys had a great time and managed to raise £435 for Action for Children.

We are now looking ahead to our financial controller Julie’s 10,000ft skydive on September 12 at Peterlee Airfield.

We are continuing to work towards our £3,000 fundraising target and hope to exceed this amount and we would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us so far.

The Bond team is working hard to recruit members to Byte Night and raise as much money for Action for Children as possible. So far numbers for Byte Night are up 100 per cent on last year which is fantastic. We are continuing to urge businesses across the region to sign up and help change the lives of young people across North East in just one night.

If you would like further information on Byte Night please visit http://www.bytenight.org.uk/ or email us at bytenight@bond-solutions.com. If you would be able to help us reach our £3,000 fundraising target, please also visit our Justgiving page www.justgiving.co.uk/bond-solutions/.

Don’t let postal strikes affect your business

As the threat of postal strikes continues, businesses are trying to reduce the disruption to their services as much as possible. Our new business software add-on allows businesses to streamline their processes and not be affected by strikes, or other factors, relating to the delivery of important documents via post.

Bond specialises in Spindle software which allows businesses to distribute crucial documents such as invoices and purchase orders via email and fax. This can not only reduce costs on postage and stationery, but also save valuable time and resources as the system will automatically generate and address each document to the relevant recipient.

Any literature will be electronically archived into nominated folders which can also save printing costs and storage space. It can also add any relevant information such as terms and conditions, and seasonal or promotional messages to your documents.

Spindle can link with most accounts packages, including Sage 50, Sage Line 100, Sage 200, Microsoft NAV, Microsoft GP, Microsoft Sharepoint and Microsoft Office. It can also archive documents to ACT!, Sage CRM and Sage SalesLogix.

If you would like further information, or a demonstration of how Spindle can help your business, please contact Bond on 0870 043 4303 or sales@bond-solutions.com.

BOND CONTINUES TO BUCK THE RECRUITMENT TREND

Business solutions specialist Bond continues to buck the recruitment trend with the appointment of a marketing executive.

Jerri Murtagh, 22, has a degree in Public Relations and joins Bond from a Newcastle-based communications agency. She also works in the press office at Newcastle United Football Club on a matchday.

Jerri, who is the third addition to the Bond team this year, will be responsible for helping to devise and implement the company’s marketing and communications strategy, and manage customer relations.

Bond provides and develops a range of business management software solutions, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and accounts packages, and is currently ranked second in the UK in the Circle of Excellence - an award established by Sage four years ago to recognise Business Partners who provide outstanding customer service.

Speaking of her new role Jerri said: “I am very excited about my new role with Bond and all of the staff have been very welcoming.

“My aim will be to build on Bond’s current reputation and ensure that customers and businesses are kept up to date with the latest news and developments within the company. I think my previous experience will really benefit me in my new role and I am keen to help Bond establish its long-term goals.”

Bond’s managing director Derek Curtis said: “I am very keen to ensure that current and potential customers are kept up to date with all of our company information and appointing Jerri will allow us to do this.

“Being ranked second in the Circle of Excellence Awards is a huge honour and I believe that Jerri’s appointment will help us to enhance our customer service and take us a step closer to winning the award. The Circle of Excellence has never been won by a North East company and winning this would really help put the region on the map.”

Bond to raise £3,000 for Action for Children

The staff at Bond have pledged to raise £3,000 for charity in the next three months.

Our staff will all be undertaking a range of activities where all of the money raised will be donated to Action for Children.

Technical director Peter Clark will be cycling the Coast 2 Coast (C2C) route with three friends on August 7. The journey, which begins at Whitehaven and ends in Sunderland, spans over 140 miles and will take two days to complete.

Peter said: “I thought that the C2C would be a great way to raise money for the charity, although I am a little worried as I haven’t cycled anywhere near this distance before. I’m very excited and think it will be a great challenge, although I’m not looking forward to sharing a dormitory with the other guys.

“I think it is really important for businesses to support charities and give something back to the community and hopefully we exceed our fundraising target. Action for Children play an active part in our community and it is vital that businesses support them.”

In addition to this, our financial controller Julie Curtis will be participating in a 10,000ft skydive at Peterlee Airfield on September 12.

Julie said: “I wanted to challenge myself and do something a bit different and the idea of skydiving seemed great as it is something I would never have considered doing.

“Although I am nervous, the jump is for a fantastic cause and will be a once in a lifetime experience so I am really looking forward to it.”

Bond is also participating in Byte Night this year where our staff will sleep outside for a night to experience what it is like to be homeless. As well as raising as much money as possible, we are also hoping to raise awareness of the good work that the charity does within the local community.

Bond’s managing director Derek Curtis said: “We think Byte Night is a great way to raise money for Action for Children and when they approached us to help organise the event we jumped at the chance.

“I think Byte Night is a fantastic opportunity for businesses to understand exactly what some young people in the region go through and why Action for Children’s work is so important. They have a huge presence in the North East and they need local businesses to get involved and support their projects.

“As we are on the board for the event, we aim to get as many volunteers on board and make sure that Byte Night a huge success.”

If you would like to help us reach our target, please visit our Justgiving page at http://www.justgiving.com/bond-solutions/.

My Time at Bond Solutions

My name is Emma Curtis and I attend Bedale High School, North Yorkshire. Last week I had great time at Bond Solutions where I was studying for my work experience. The team were really friendly and made me feel extremely welcome. I was paired with Jerri Murtagh the Marketing Executive, who helped me to overcome my shyness as she was so interesting and patient, teaching me lots about the Public Relations industry.

Jerri was busy finishing the e-newsletter, and during the morning I enjoyed watching her make the final few tweaks to the interactive newsletter, which had links to all their social networking sites including Twitter and Facebook. In the afternoon we were working on computer software called SalesLogix. At first the software seemed complex and difficult to use, but after some guidance from Jerri I began to understand it, and I even filled in a page of opportunities.

On the second day of my visit I watched Jerri send out the e-newsletter. We checked that all the contacts had proper names, before sending it out to over 1100 contacts. Once sent we could look at really cool software and see who had opened our emails and clicked on the links. This enabled the Bond team to see how successful they had been, and ultimately how effective the e-newsletter is.

My two days were extremely enjoyable and I would like to say thank you to Derek and all his staff for making me feel welcome. I feel I gained a lot of experience about working in an office environment and how important it is for you to have a nice atmosphere in the workplace.

The Importance of Customer Service

As a Business Partner to Sage we are required to work to a high standard of customer service, however we strive to ensure that we exceed our customers’ expectations.

Good customer service is vital to any successful business and I believe that both the before and aftercare service are as important as each other.

One of my biggest pet hates is companies who, once they have my money, switch off and suddenly become extremely unhelpful– I’m sure that everyone has similar experiences and this is definitely not the way I like to do business.

When I established Bond eight years ago, providing an efficient customer service was at the forefront of my mind and I have passed this ethos down to all of my staff.

From a customer’s perspective, working with a Business Partner can bring with it many benefits, as well as allowing local businesses to support each other through the tough time the economy is currently experiencing.

We can offer our customers the personal touch. We take time to understand their business and make sure that there is always a consistent team working on each account.

When we are asked to do a business solution consultation, our main priority is finding out what product best suits each individual business. We want to streamline our customers’ business processes and selling them a product which is not viable for their company means that we are not doing our job properly.

In addition to this, we are occasionally able to pass significant discounts onto our customers which are not always available through Sage themselves. This allows us to ensure that our prices always remain competitive and of course keep our customers happy.

Our team is fully committed to providing customers with a service that we believe is second to none. This has been recognised by Sage as we are currently ranked second in the UK out of over 2,500 other companies in the Sage Circle of Excellence Awards. The award is based on independent research into how many of our customers would be prepared to recommend our services to others and we are very grateful for their support.

The award only allows 15 businesses in each year and we are always very conscious of building on this success.

Our service doesn’t stop after we have installed or trained users on our products. We offer support on everything that we supply to ensure that our customers always have somewhere to turn to if they should experience any problems with their products.

We are very passionate about our customers and we are always looking to utilise our resources to ensure that they are kept informed. We will be launching a new website, regularly updating our blog and sending out monthly e-newsletters to ensure they are informed of the latest industry and product news.

With this in mind we are always keen to hear any comments on how you think we are doing and what we could improve so please do get in touch! Please also follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin for the latest news and special offers.

Test Drive Sage software

We now have an online "Test Drive" facility available for you to try out Sage products for free simply follow this link and follow the instructions to test drive ACT!, Sage 50 Accounts, Sage 50 Forecasting, Sage 50 Payroll, Sage Instant Accounts and Sage Start up.

What price customer service?

It seems that lately everyone is busy but when I speak to customers, suppliers, friends etc its always the same thing busy chasing existing business  Its true that everyone is looking for a bargain at the moment and who can blame them, there's never been a better time to buy something whether its a car, furniture, TV or indeed software or services which my own company provides. Prices are coming down in all areas. I had a discussion last week with the provider of our insurances and he said that he is twice as busy as last year providing quotes for people. In that industry the rise of price comparison sites have meant that people are shopping simply on price now and not considering the customer service angle at all. Personally as far as possible I prefer to do business with someone I know and trust and can call on if there is a problem. Usually I find that because I know and trust them, there rarely is a problem! Wonder if there is a connection there?  Is our culture now so obsessed by price and trying to get things as cheaply as possible?  I hope not, I still seek good customer service and want to be looked after by my suppliers.  I want to know that when times are tough they are there to help out.  For that I am willing to pay a little extra, but not too much!

A customer of ours in the waste industry has seen the price of waste paper, plastics etc drop dramatically in recent months and that is partly due to the influx of new companies to the market and the price has subsequently dropped. I read yesterday that some waste companies are going under because of this. Now there's nothing wrong with good old fashioned competition and new companies coming into an established market is a good thing. As those companies coming in have a low or no cost base they can keep their prices low. However there is no substitute for experience and often you have to pay for that experience. For example if I was purchasing a flight across the Atlantic I would much rather pay extra for a provider who has done it many times before than someone who set up last month - no matter what price! As business people we are inherently risk takers but that's a risk too far! 

Finally, making the customer experience as pleasurable as possible is very important. Make it as easy as possible to work with you and to buy from you so that people return as often as possible. Offer as many touch points as possible, face to face, phone, web site, blog, facebook etc the list is endless these days.  

So service and experience are very important in my book buts that's not to say that you can charge what you want. Keep your prices reasonable and concentrate on service and experience and I believe that you will win more often than not! 

Using CRM to your advantage in a recession - Part Two

A common misconception is that CRM is a sales & marketing tool, if used correctly it is a Business management tool and can provide some precious information on the future shape of the business. This second post on using CRM in a recession focusses on maximising the implementation of a new system

• Plan your implementation. You wouldn’t set off on a long journey in the car without knowing you had fuel and oil, the tyres are inflated and most importantly where you are going. Similarly you should not set off on an important software implementation without knowing where you are going and what you are going to need to get there, hardware, people, connectivity etc. It’s a fact that starting off with the end goal in mind does pay dividends. So make sure you have defined your KPI’s you need from the system and monitor them.

• People & Processes. All too often people think that CRM is about technology, the reality is nothing could be further from the truth as it is people who will make it work but the same people will hide behind the technology when things are not going so well! Correctly implemented CRM technology should make their job easier but take care that they are not bogged down by over complicated processes which the technology will only exaggerate. Keep it simple and make the technology work around their daily processes and it will be accepted by good people.

• Financing. Explore the options available to you to finance the system. Clearly you will want to gain Return on Investment as soon as possible so consider leasing the software and services you are going to need from the vendor. Perhaps there is a rental model available which suits your business, known as Software as a Service (SaaS), whilst this does not suit everyone it may suit your own business model.

• Choose your Vendor carefully. A common misconception is to build a bespoke system from scratch. However the larger vendors now have over 20 years experience in building and developing CRM systems, so use that experience. In most cases it will be possible to customise their systems to varying degrees so you can still bespoke the part of the system that you need to. There really is no need to re-invent the wheel. Pick a vendor with a track record and where CRM is a key focus of their business, not “something they also do”.

• Choose your partner carefully. It is rare that companies have the in house skills to implement a CRM system themselves and at some stage will need outside help from an expert. That help may just be around training or may include full implementation assistance. This has a cost which can typically be 2 or even 3 times the cost of the software so you need to make sure you are working with a reliable partner who takes the time to understand your requirements. Ask for references, look at their past history, don’t just look at sales awards, that just means they have sold a lot of software but how many of their customers are loyal and satisfied?

• Close the loop. For a full experience consider closing the loop and going for a full system where the CRM system integrates with the Finance system so that you have one view of your customer. Typically any business will have enquiries which turn in to quotes which hopefully turn into orders which are then fulfilled and invoiced and the money is collected. A system which can manage that process will pay dividends.

Using CRM to your advantage in a recession - Part One

As someone who’s been involved in customer relationship management for a good few years now, I’ve always had businesses approach me on how they can improve theirs without breaking the bank.

It seems that everyone knows that keeping healthy relationships with customers and clients is imperative, but not many are too savvy on the best way to go about it.

Even more worrying is that there are companies about with CRM systems in place, yet are not utilising the technology properly. How can we look after our most important assets – the customers who ensure we stick around during this tough economic climate – while remaining cost effective, and more crucially, not targeting the wrong people.

These are my top tips on how to make your CRM work for you:

• Fact – it's much easier to sell to existing customers than find new ones. They trusted to buy from you before so, in theory, should again. If you have a database of previous customers, it makes sense that sending a message to them about new services or products or additional products, has the potential to deliver some great sales. The key is in getting that message out as simply and as cost effectively as possible. See Email Marketing.

• Build your database to your advantage. One of the key benefits of a CRM system is that it holds data on your existing customers. You would expect any basic CRM system to hold at least name, address and email, but where a good CRM system comes into its own is by holding information bespoke to your company. For instance, type of product bought, version number bought, type of product not bought. In this example it would consequently be easy to find the customer who had bought “product x, version number xx”. However, perhaps more importantly, it would be possible to find all the customers who had bought “product x” but not “product y”, or all the customers who had bought “product x, version xx” and now should upgrade to “product x, version xxx”. So give some thought to the structure of your database to make segmenting it easier in the future.

• Make sure it's kept up-to-date. Don’t make it the responsibility of one person to keep it up-to-date – it's everyone's responsibility. So many times when speaking to companies I hear: “Our database person has not updated the database yet”. Your CRM system should be easy to update and everyone should be encouraged to update it, even incentivised to do so. Your database is probably your most valuable asset and why shouldn’t your employees be encouraged to look after it.

• Use your CRM system to send out newsletters or regular messages. It's important that your customers know you are still there and sending out regular messages will help to self cleanse the data in your database. You will be surprised how many responses you get, give it a try!

Derek

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