I
know I haven't been on board long, but there is something
that concerns me greatly, especially as we start all the new
marketing campaigns I've got lined up. And that is the fact
that as I walk around the company, I notice everyone has their
own little system for tracking contacts and leads. And even
you pass me little notes with a name or number to call and
I have nowhere to go to see what previous contact we have
had with that person. Or where the lead originated. Not to
mention what is the address or email or website. Some of our
employees are still digging through little business card decks
looking for information!
So
I would like to suggest that we move as quickly as possible
to install some central contact management system that everyone
in the company can use. Then we can all provide the best customer
service, we can all help the sales and marketing teams, we
can all help support. Furthermore, we can track our leads
and hence the effectiveness of our campaigns, and grow our
own little company database of contacts. If we code them right,
you will be able to see at a glance who we have for prospects
from a given event, the latest contact with all our customers,
and all the press, analysts, partners and vendors we deal
with daily. You'll be able to record contacts and leads that
you are personally so good at bringing in, and we will be
able to follow up and do the detail work, knowing full well
what you have said and promised them.
My
guess is that some software resellers have already bugged
you with offerings and told you how they can customize their
packages just for us (and for their fee!). Send them on their
way. There are good economical off-the-shelf solutions now.
If it can't work straight out-of-the-box for the first 3 months
here, small as we are, we don't need it anyway. They are easy
enough to install in a couple of hours if MIS will simply
give us access to the server. Alternatively, we can use a
remote service that requires no installation at all, like
those from SalesForce.com or SugarCRM.
