Microsoft Outlook is NOT CRM
Many of you, like I do, use Microsoft Outlook as the core foundation of your business. You use it to manage your email, tasks, notes and calendar and that's good. But if you want to increase sales to your current customers and really know everything you can about each customer, based on each interaction they have with you - you must use a true CRM product or service.
When a customer buys from you, chats with your sales rep and maybe returns a product, for whatever reason, a TRUE CRM product/service can help you mine this data and help you use this raw data as POWERFUL information to know more about your customer.
Web 2.0 is no joke
You've heard all about Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and a few dozen other social media tools that help you connect with others. Many web sites also enable you to comment, upload your own videos and share your own insight with others. This is what web 2.0 is about. It's more than you giving content or a sales pitch to someone - a one way conversation. It's about having a conversation with customers and letting customers have a conversation with each other - all about you and your product or service.
You need to do this with your own online communications. You must have a great web site, with awesome navigation and content. You must have an email newsletter to reach people right in their email inboxes. You really should have a blog to foster more conversation and boost your web sites rankings in search engines.
The next step is to ensure your web site enables visitors to communicate & connect with you and each other as well via "web 2.0" technologies.
Mobile Technology
If you and your staff are sitting at desks all day long I guess you don't need mobile technology.
However, if you and your staff are traveling around (as I suspect you do) then you need to implement mobile technology solutions. This means that you can access your office wherever you are - email, faxes, files - you can access it all.
There’s no reason to tell a customer that they have to wait until you get back to your office. There’s no excuse for telling a partner that you haven’t received a fax someone sent you or missed a voice mail because you were not in the office. Take your office with you.
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