CRM software - Worth it?

[Warwick C]

I'm in the final stages of specifying my website, and started to go through what I wanted to find out from my customers in the enquiry form. I realised how much I hate filling out so much information, so I decided to break it down and gather bits at a time.

I also realised that I have customer and contact information coming in from different sources and stored in different ways.

What I'd like to do is to be able to:
1 /use my list for direct marketing activities (one information stream is a cold list from a reseacher)
2/ Blog and newsletter (opt in from website)
3/ Consolidate contacts from general enquirys (from website and my personal networking efforts)

I started to specify a database for my IT guy, who I'm sure will do it - but am I recreating the wheel here, and is CRM software a better solution?

Aside from functionality, Low cost and scaleability are important.

Any suggestions?

[ray_223]

Hi Warwick,

I believe CRM software is the hardest piece of software to get right for a business.
Most software "will" do what you require but because businesses are so diverse and have so many different requirements it's really really hard to find software that fits your business processes close enough to be effective.

SugarCRM and vTiger seem to be the 2 best open source options.

ZoHo CRM is maybe one of the better online less expensive options.

To decide which one to use you will need to make an exhaustive list of features and processes you require and then investigate all options to see which one fits the best - and then decide if it is good enough to fit your business.

Good luck and keep us updated with your progress (as I'm still looking)

[bradzo]

Hi Warwick and Ray

When I found this forum, I setup instances of both SugarCRM and vTiger for everyone at Flying Solo to have a play with.

CRM for FlyingSolo Readers

I hope that helps - have a play around with them.

Cheers
Brad

[ray_223]

Originally Posted by bradzo

CRM for FlyingSolo Readers

Hi Brad,

I get a 404 (Upss, not found...) page.

[bradzo]

#fail



Oh well, what about
http://bradzo.ath.cx/vtigercrm - username: flyingsolo, password: password

and

http://bradzo.ath.cx/sugarcrm5p2 - same username/password.

Very strange tho - http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com says I'm ok - and I can get to that page.

Thanks Ray

[PerfectNotes-Kathy]

Hi,

Obviously, I am biased - but I believe CRM is worthwhile. However, I absolutely agree with Ray - you need to work out what you will use (which is not always as simple as what you need!) and what it needs to link to, THEN start talking to vendors/providers about what they can offer. It is much more difficult to plug in major extra bits after you have a system in place. Note that a good vendor/provider will make sure that you have carried out this process before they make suggestions - if they don't, find someone else...

HTH
Kathy

[Warwick C]

Thanks everyone for the help.

I am fairly new to the CRM side of things, and once I start looking at the options I realise that there is a whole world in there. Having done a number of projects from a manufacturing perspective, and seen the problems of under specifying systems I feel that I should bite the bullet and learn as I go.

Thanks Brad for the test sites - I can see that these will be invaluable to get a handle on this.

Regards,
Warwick

[NeuroWebDesign]

I use Highrise and I 100% think it is absolutely worth it.

The interface enables me to enter as little or as much info as quickly as possible.

Hope that helps.

Regards,
Brad.

[Intuitive]

I've just started using salesforce.com and I have to say I'm very happy with it.

I can't speak to the features of the above mentioned CRMs but here are some of things that have got me hooked.

• iPhone app
• sync tasks, calendar and contacts to my Outlook
• project management application
• automate my companies business rules (great for getting consistency between projects)
• application for managing cases and issues experienced by my clients

Like I said, not sure if the other CRMs can do this but having all my data linked, tracked and accessible from everywhere is just gold

[SmartSocialMedia]

Warwick
We're a SugarCRM partner so if I can offer any information or assistance please let me know.

I also think the comments by Kathy are spot on - you need to determine what you want to achieve before you start looking at the technology.

If you're interested, we have some templates that we use to help customers document what they want to achieve - we call them functional requirements documents. It might help you understand the lifecycle of business/customer data from Lead, through to sales, and then support/service.

I'm happy to provide this to you - no obligation - I've seen too many CRM projects go bad because the right thinking wasn't done up front.

cheers


Mark