S3 Blog

CRM or Customer Relationship Management is the name for the various systems that businesses use to track customer contacts, store customer details, identify customer trends, create invoices and quotes, creating marketing campaigns and so on. In short any business that wants to provide a customer experience that is second to none, generate and increase profitability and stay ahead of the pack should use CRM. As all good CRM software packages can be accessed online so there is no reason why businesses all over the world can’t take advantage of this type of tool.

Globally there are different types of customer relationship management software being created all the time, so businesses have a lot of choice when looking for a CRM solution. There are so many positive reasons that a business should use this type of software that the future of CRM looks set to be very positive. Such reasons include:

Accessibility – as customer relationship management software can be easily accessed from anywhere in the world with a PC and an internet connection, business owners can see what is happening in their business and stay in contact. This makes business trips a breeze as business owners do not have to take their laptops to meetings, they can simply go to a meeting and log straight into their account and have their own dashboard at their fingertips.

Flexibility – good CRM software solutions such as S3 CRM offer users the flexibility to create their own dashboard with the tools and features that they use most frequently which improves the user experience. Any features which are not needed or not used as frequently do not need to be added to the dashboard.

Features – as CRM software has so many different features it makes running a business so much easier.

Ease of use – good CRM solutions are easy to use and this will make them popular globally. Time in any business is precious and users simply do not have the time to spend working out how to access and use tricky systems.

Reasonably priced – as businesses globally are all feeling the effects of the recessions that have hit the UK and USA saving money is very much the order of the day. Due to this CRM solutions, like S3 CRM are set to become even bigger globally as the majority of small to medium sized businesses can’t afford to run several different types of software to complete various functions. Having one CRM software application that users are able to perform a multitude of tasks on is obviously preferable to having one for each task.

These are just a few of the reasons why the future of CRM globally looks set to be even bigger and better as time goes on. Business owners are looking for flexible, accessible, straightforward and cost effective ways to manage their customer contacts and more and CRM solutions like S3 CRM meet all of these needs and more.

Finding a software solution that you can virtually run your business from can seem like an uphill struggle and that is why a great deal of businesses wind up using several different software applications. This is not only hard to work with (no one likes to have to have four or more applications open at one time and have to flick between them constantly) it is also very expensive. Due to this many small to medium sized businesses find that they have to cut corners or decide which software solutions they can afford to run at the expense of others. If you are the owner of a small to medium sized business that wants an amazing all round CRM solution S3 CRM really is a one stop shop. Here is what you can expect from S3 CRM the most flexible, accessible, comprehensive, cost effective and user friendly CRM solution available:

- Customer contact and employee contact information storage – here users can store all customer and employee contact details in different categories for easy retrieval.

- Storage features – quickly and easily store all information relating to a customer with their contact details so no information will ever go missing again.

- Quoting and invoicing tools – create quotes in moments on multiple lines and with VAT added as standard. When a customer accepts a quote users can easily turn these into invoices to be sent at a later date.

- Employee calendars – this feature allows a business owner to see which employees are available, on holiday or away sick.

- Project tools – use this feature to plan and implement projects, assign projects to users and see which users are in charge of which projects. Using this means that no project deadline should ever be missed, even if the user in charge of a project is absent.

- Email marketing – create email marketing campaigns in minutes and send them to your email marketing list.

- Reporting tools – see which invoices are outstanding, who has replied to email marketing, which customer has the most repeat orders and much more.

- Easy to use dashboard – users can create their own dashboard with all their regularly used features and tools on it. Business owners can tailor theirs so that they can see their business at a glance.

- Accessibility – as S3 CRM is web based users can log into their account from anywhere in the world that has an internet connection which means that business owners can stay in touch with the office even when they are not in the country.

- Easy to use – S3 CRM is so easy to use that anyone can learn how to access and it’s features in just a few hours – so say goodbye to long and expensive training days for employees. Just sign up a new user and they can be using S3 CRM in well under one day – without any intensive training.Cost effective – S3 CRM costs £4.99 / $9.99 per month which makes it one of the most reasonably priced CRM solutions on the market.

In addition to these features S3 CRM also offers – document storage, meeting planning tools, route optimisation tools, recycle bin – the list is endless, proving that S3 CRM really is a one stop shop.

An ISP or Internet service provider is the name that is given to a company that gives its customers access to the Internet. Some of the ISPs will also offer e-mail accounts as standard as part of their pricing plan and some may offer other services such as data storage. Choosing an ISP for your business can be quite tricky, obviously businesses want to have the best deal from their Internet service provider which is both cost-effective yet gives the business the Internet access they require.

One good way of choosing an ISP business is to take a look at some of the ISPs that are around on the Internet. BT offers a very good packages for business which can include broadband Internet connections and phone lines for one very reasonable price. In addition to this businesses can also have support from business broadband experts at any time of the day night - something which a business may need if they run into difficulties online which need to be sorted out immediately. BT also offers business e-mailing, a data backup service web hosting and even VoIP so that making and taking calls from all over the world is a breeze. You might even want to take advantage of the web hosted conference calls and video options that BT offer its business customers.

Smaller businesses who are wanting to choose an Internet service provider should look towards a provider such as PlusNet who are an excellent ISP for small to medium-sized businesses. Many of the packages which this provider offers are tailored towards a smaller business, which is perfect if you only have a handful of employees yet still want your business to be connected to the Internet and to have all the advantages and features that are larger business would have online.

It may be a wise idea to note down what your business needs are when you are looking to choose an ISP to your business. Doing this will enable you to see which of the ISP providers are unable to best meet the needs of your business. There is nothing worse than choosing an Internet service provider and then a month or so down the line of realising that they are not providing exactly what your business needs for its Internet connection.

When you have chosen your ISP for your business you to get in contact with them and arrange to set up an account with them. By speaking to one of the online advisers you might even be able to arrange for a package which will meet your needs exactly which is a mixture of two or more different plans. Internet service providers want to go the extra mile so you may find that speaking to provider directly is more beneficial than just using the information that is contained on their website. So choose your Internet service provider and start to make the most of using the Internet to your business and branch out into new markets.

Business directories are massive databases which contain business information and contact details, very much like a regular telephone directory. Having your business listed in the right directions online can increase custom dramatically, but it can take some time to get your business listed in the right directions online. Any business owner who is looking to have their business listed in an online directory should be aware of the following points:

• Many of the bigger online business directories such as Yahoo! will require a payment of $299 for Yahoo! to first of all review your business website and then further annual payments of $299 to keep your business listed in this particular directory. One of the advantages of being listed in the Yahoo! directory is that millions of people use it every single day and it continually achieves hit for business websites worldwide.

• When you submit your website to an online directory it can take some time for that directory to complete a review of your website. These reviews are done to ensure that your business is listed in the right category so that anyone using the directory will be able to find your details quickly and easily. So don’t worry take some time your business to get its listing, just be patient and it will happen. Many of the directories will give you an indication of how long it will take to get your listing on their site.

• It is always wise to get your business listed in the bigger directories first, then the smaller directories can be included later on. You must be aware however, that as the majority of the bigger directories require payment to be listed it can be quite costly to have your business listed in several lives directed at any one time. Smaller directories require smaller payment and some will even offer free listings to some businesses - so take a look at the various rates and decide which of the business directories is right for your business.

• Do research and compile a list of all the business directories that you can find which are online. From this you can then make a short list of the business directories which are most applicable your business. For example some business directories only cater for a certain type of business, so it is pointless to try and get a listing in a directory that has nothing to do with your particular business.

• You might consider asking your customers, when they contact you as to which, if any of the online business directories they use. Doing this will give you a clear indication of which are the best online directory that your customers use, then you can get a listing in them if you haven’t already done so.

Getting your business listed in the right directions online may be quite costly and quite time consuming. But the benefits that you stand to receive when you are listed in the right directories online should outweigh these two factors.

Hi all,

We want to you to share in our good news! This week we have been informed that Tierlinear with S3CRM has been shortlisted as a finalist by the Insider Yorkshire Digital awards for Yorkshire’s Best Digital Start-up.

This is an award for Yorkshire’s best digital start-up that has been running less than 3 years.

The digital community in Yorkshire contributes £1.2bn to the economy, the industry continues to grow and we are delighted to be part of it at S3 CRM

The awards ceremony will take place on Thursday 7th May 2009 in Leeds and we are privileged to be shortlisted.

Thanks

Sarah

Internet security is the name given to the various steps individuals and businesses can take to ensure that they are protected when they are using the internet. For individuals this takes the form of having an anti-virus installed on their PC – this will the protect the PC against any attacks from virus’s, Trojan horses, malware, adware and spyware – although these can still sometimes get in to a PC and do damage and steal information from your PC. In fact if you have anti-virus software installed it is a good idea to regularly scan your PC as this should quarantine any suspect files and applications and wipe them from your computer.

Internet security can also be part of your online email as many providers have an anti-virus scan inbuilt when you download attachments from emails. To be totally safe however it is wise never to open any attachments that are not sent from a trusted sender. By opening an attachment from an unknown sender you can unwittingly and unknowingly install programs on your PC which can gather information about you or cause damage.

For businesses internet security is just an important if not more so, particularly if you are taking payments via the internet. You must ensure that you use a system that protects all payments made by your customers as you need to be seen as a trusted trader, one which uses encryption services to receive payments from debit and credit cards. There are many payment options that are available to businesses, so take the time to check through some of them and see which one you would like to go for then sign up. This will then give your customers the peace of mind of knowing that any payments they make to you are safe and secure. Without this kind of security many customers will feel insecure about paying for goods online, and it is quite easy to see why as there are so many people out there trying to obtain personal details of bank accounts, credit cards and so on.

Businesses should also be aware that every time one of the computers in the business connects to the Internet there will be an Internet security risk. Due to this it is vitally important that each computer within a business has the appropriate Internet security installed on it. Even if just one computer becomes infected with a virus, adware, spyware or any other malicious threat it poses a huge security risk to the rest of the computers within the business network. Internet security may seem like quite an expense to purchase and run, but it will more than pay for itself to ensure that the business’s data and customer information is kept safe and secure and whenever employees are online. Now that you know the importance of Internet security you will know why it is crucial that anyone who goes online (not just businesses) should protect themselves with the appropriate Internet security package.

As a business grows it is often the next logical step to expand into new markets, and this can sometimes mean doing business internationally. This is a big step for any business and it requires quite a lot of work to ensure that all international business is conducted in the correct manner and is not in breech of any foreign laws or regulations. So if you are thinking of doing business internationally – what do you need to know

• Is the product or service you trade in legal? This could seem like a strange question as you have been trading for X amount of years in your own country and not broken any laws, but these are the laws of your country. Make sure that you will not be breaking laws of specific countries you are considering trading in otherwise you could end up with fines or worse.

• Make sure that you are paying the correct amount of tax and check the import and export laws and abide by them. Failure to do this can result in fines and a business not being able to trade in other countries, something which must be avoided at all costs.

• Would it be worth forming a strategic alliance with the company in another country? Often this is a great way of breaking into new markets, and the company that you form an alliance with can help your business in its home country and vice versa. Having the backing of a company in the country you wish to move into can be a massive boost to a business.

• Would it be beneficial if someone in your business spoke the language of the country or countries that you are considering trading with? This can make business communication so much easier and it will also show that your business is dedicated to making international trading easier for both parties.

• Do a little research in the countries that you plan on trading in - this will enable you to get a good idea at the customs, culture and politics of the country that you are moving into. I understand more about the country business will be able to be much more successful in their transactions.

• If you are selling a product that needs to be assembled, does it travel well? If not you might like to consider setting up a factory in another country in order to assemble the product for delivery within that country. Doing this can cut down on customer complaints from broken or damaged products and it can also work out to be cheaper than manufacturing and shipping goods from another country.

• Do a little research about the country you are shipping into, there are so many different laws regarding exporting which are all different in different countries. So do your research first and make sure that you have all the necessary paperwork in order to do business internationally.

Today the amount of business that is solely conducted via the internet is staggering, for some consumers it is the first place that they will look if they want to buy certain goods or obtain certain services. Due to this it is essential that if you own a business you have an online presence as this will not only boost your profits but it will also make more people aware of your business and brand. If you are unsure how to do this here are the top 10 things that you should do to maximise your online presence:-
 
1. Create a website for your business – this is one of the most obvious ways to get an online presence, yet some businesses do not have their own website, so make sure that you have one for your business.

2. Create a blog for your business – once again this is another way of raising your online presence and is also an excellent way of communicating information with potential customers.

3. Create a profile on a social networking site for your business – many businesses now do this and they have their customers listed as their friends, once again this is a fantastic way of communicating with customers.

4. Generate an email marketing campaign – this will help to raise awareness of your online profile and can reach thousands of people for very little effort and even less cost.

5. Submit articles relating to your site to directories and submission sites – these are another way of promoting your business and should have links that go directly to your website.

6. Create good SEO for your website – SEO is the term given for Search Engine Optimisation which is the process of tailoring your website content so that certain keywords that relate to your business are included in certain percentages. Doing this will help to get you on the first page of search engine results pages.

7. Submit your website to as many search engines as you can – this might take some time but can pay off large dividends in the long run. Aim for the largest search engines first and work your way down to lesser engines.

8. Invest in pay per click advertisements – if you feel that your business can afford such a form of advertising use PPC as this is a great way of driving traffic to your website and maximising profits.

9. Have a customer referral program – these are very useful if you want more people to know about you, offer your existing customers an incentive via a referral program for every new customer they refer to you.

10. Take advantage of forums – join as many forums that are related to your business as possible and comment on them, placing links back to your website. For example if you pet products join a site for pet lovers and watch your online presence grow.
 
Remember the more your business is mentioned on various websites the greater your online presence will be, so get out there and do so promotion!

So you have developed your new website and want to get Google to index it so that you can start getting plenty of traffic, but do you know where to start? It is not as easy as just creating a site and waiting for visitors to find you through a search engine – that search engine needs to know your site exists in the first place. Here are the top 10 ways to make sure Google knows your site exists:-

1. Make sure you have a robot.txt file – this is the file that web spiders use to crawl your site. You need this to allow Google access to your site so that it can index it correctly, you are also able to set access to certain areas of the site so that any administration carried out on a particular page will not mess up your indexing. Keep your robots.txt file clean and it will work for you.

2. Look at your PageRank – this is where your site is when someone performs a search on one of your keywords. To make sure Google notices your site format tags correctly and make sure that your keyword density is just right.

3. Have a sitemap file – this is a formatted file that contains a XML extension which contains all of the URLs for the various pages on your site. If you are unsure of how to do this there are plenty of online tools that can help you to do this.

4. Upload your sitemap to your site’s root directory – this will help Google’s spiders to crawl your website with ease.

5. Add your site to Google’s sitemap page – this is a straightforward task and when you begin the process you will have to follow instructions so that you do not miss anything.

6. Do the above every time you make a change to your site – otherwise Google will not recognise the new pages.

7. Link your site to other sites – this will further help Google to index your site.

8. Make sure that you have a Google account, sitemap generator and sitemap file – make yourself a checklist and check them off once you have them, that way you will not miss out a single step.

9. Do not have broken links – broken links are a no-no in the world of the internet and Google will identify these and your PageRank will suffer, so check links periodically to make sure that they are all working.

10. Have unique content – having fresh and unique content will make your site much more attractive to Google so do not be tempted to plagiarise any material from other sites. Google does not look upon this favourable and if you continue to put duplicate content on your site your PageRank will suffer. If it carries on you might find that you are no longer on Google’s index so pay close attention to what you put on your site and make sure that it is original and not copied from elsewhere.

The internal infrastructure of a business is basically how that business is structured internally – who does what, the various processes used to ensure the day to day running of the business, software applications used etc. All businesses should have an internal infrastructure regardless of size and here are the top 10 things a small business should do with their internal infrastructure:-

1. Organise your internal infrastructure from the ground up – start with the basics of the business and work upwards, this will ensure that all procedures and processes work for the benefit of the business and nothing gets overlooked.

2. Have internal email – this is useful for any business as it is great for internal communication and it provides a secure way to send and receive information.

3. Think about creating an intranet for your staff– this is an internal internet on which things relating to the business are posted such as job vacancies and news.

4. Have a professional from outside the business come in and evaluate how you work – this can often seem as though it is someone ‘poking their nose in’ but sometimes an outsider can see areas within the infrastructure that can be altered and improved upon.

5. Use a dedicated software solution – such as S3 CRM. Using a dedicated software solution is one of the easiest and most productive ways of streamlining the internal infrastructure of a small business. Having all employees working through one application upon which everything, from holidays and contacts to ongoing projects and invoices can be recorded and worked on means greater efficiency and increased profits.

6. Implement any ideas that you have that could bring about improvements – too many business owners worry about rocking the boat by implementing changes, but this is the wrong attitude to have. By not changing certain procedures and processes just because it is what has always happened shows a lack of progress. Anything that can be altered and will create positive changes should be done, regardless of how long this has been part of the internal infrastructure of a small business.

7. Find ways to increase efficiency – any small business owner that wants to develop their business should routinely look at the internal infrastructure to see if there any ways to increase efficiency.

8. Lower costs – this is one way in which the internal infrastructure of a business can have dramatic impacts on the revenue of a business. See if there are any areas in which costs can be lowered – one way of doing this is to use one software application to run the business through, such as S3 CRM.

9. Expand areas if needed – if an area of the business is doing well and continues to look into expanding it, but make sure you plan the expansion so that other areas of the business are not neglected by this.

10. Make a business plan – this can highlight areas of the internal infrastructure which could be developed further or reduced and therefore improve the running of the business from within.