Here’s an article by Greg McNevin, worthy of some commentary, SMBs Want Simple, Accessible CRM:

According to US customer relationship management (CRM) software provider LogicBright, small business CRM users primarily stick to the basics when using CRM products, leaving many of the features being built into modern solutions superfluous.

The company says that with CRM software packages springing up all over the place, the marketplace is getting increasingly complex, and doing so unnecessarily according to its research data.

While it doesn’t give numbers of demographics, LogicBright says that it has surveyed users on what they want in a CRM package, and found that 81 percent want to use their CRM as a straightforward contact manager that is accessible by all employees.

Extra features such as mobile phone support, or an offline versions of the software are not needed according to the survey, with users preferring a basic system everyone in the business can access simultaneously to share company and contact information.

“It is no secret that in a troubled economy companies are looking to reduce their expenditures,” says Steve Schmidt, president of LogicBright. “It all comes back to keeping it simple and giving [..] customers what they ask for.”

This is the kind of rhetoric that starts to proliferate when times get rough and budgets are tight.  I do believe that as the CRM market has matured, more and more functionality has found its way into some of the leading CRM packages.

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Here is a brief synopsis of an enlightening article by Samuel Greengard, a freelance writer for Baseline magazine, Top 10 Trends in IT for 2009:

In 2009, these technologies can provide companies with a competitive advantage in what is expected to be a very tough year on the bottom lines of IT budgets, IT management and IT vendors. However, even in an economic downturn those companies that invest, develop and capitalize on technologies that save money while improving the efficiency and effectiveness of business have an opportunity to grab significant market and mind share with new and existing customers.

Here are Samuel Greengard’s Top 10 Trends in IT for 2009…

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I recently came across a web site that can be a valuable resource for advice, CanDoGo. The following quote from the web site explains what it’s all about:

“CanDoGo is packed full of timely “how to” sales, personal development and motivational advice that answers your questions to help you overcome immediate business challenges. With a true expert community you will set yourself apart every day with CanDoGo at your fingertips. Get concise CanDoGo Insights in video, audio and text formats!”

With categories such as Marketing, Sales Basic, Prospecting, Qualifying, Customer Service and many more, this site is obviously targeted to people who have direct contact with prospects during the pre-sales process and who assist existing customers with service and support processes.

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Here are several excerpts from an excellent post by Rich Page that I found on ProBlogger’s Blog, 5 Ways To Optimize Your Blog and Capture More Repeat Visitors:

Here are 5 great ways to help optimize and improve your website, and inspire new visitors to become repeat visitors:

1: Track your Internal Search Results

One of the easiest ways to gain insight into your blog and improve it is to track your internal search results. You can easily do this using Google Analytics, (learn how to track this), or use this cool WordPress plugin. It’s very important to identify your top searched keywords - it helps you identify what’s popular with your visitors (write more content relating to these), and also, just as importantly, what visitors are failing to find on your blog (look for keyword searches that have zero results and create a post about them - as long as you can make it relevant to your blog). The more relevant internal search results the user finds, then the more chances of them signing up to your feed and coming back for more!

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Here are several excerpts from an excellent article by Drew Stevens, Cures for the Customer Service Puzzle:”

Organizations believe that they provide exactly what customers desire. Ask any firm and the Paretto Principle prevails. 80 percent of most organizations believe they deliver exemplary customer service. Ironically, less then 20 percent do. According to research by consultancy Bain and Company, only 8 percent of companies really deliver on customer service.

Our present environment exists with a gap in delivering service. There are numerous reasons for the gap, however, we believe two issues contribute to this gap, a) greed and b) the inability of customer relationships.

Greed

Prior to heightened fees, customer remain for two purposes 1) either first mover advantage in the case of Starbuck’s or 2) value such as American Airlines. Yet when fees increase, customers tend to jump ship for cheaper and more appealing alternatives.

The solution for any firm is to thoroughly conduct an impact analysis to determine potential market losses. New revenue means nothing when you lose a core customer base. Customer dissonance cannot be taken for granted.

Customer Relationships

Customer connections are very difficult to build- that is to say unless you are focused on your core asset. First, as mentioned earlier, an organizations entire strategy must exist for the client. Strategic questions to ask are, “Who is the customer? Why does the customer buy? What is the value that our firm provides? How do reach disseminate product, service and announcements to our customers? These questions all told focus all beliefs, all values and all attitudes for the company asset. Further, it is imperative to treat the client as such- an asset. Nothing happens, no one gets paid and the electricity does not provide power to the plants unless a customer is involved.

Herein are several techniques to align with your clients-

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