S3 Blog

CRM (customer relationship management) tools are fast becoming one of the most well used and useful tools that a business can utilise. They can help to streamline tasks and processes and enable excellent customer service. With this in mind all the smart businesses are using CRM tools to enhance the service that they provide. When it comes to choosing the right type of CRM tool it can often be a tricky process. After all this tool will be instrumental in creating customer relationships that will be retained long term and which will help the business to increase its profits.

As there are so many CRM tools on the market right now it pays to think about the needs of the business before selecting one. So think about the following areas.

If your employees spend a lot of time on the telephone chasing leads and making sales you need a CRM tool that is easy to use and can be updated in real time. It also helps to have a quoting and invoicing feature as standard as this can make your employee’s jobs a little easier.

Can you afford for yourself and your employees to spend a long time getting to grips with the new CRM tool?
If the answer to this question is no (and it should be) you need a CRM tool that is easy to learn and easy to use. It is pointless opting for a tool that might be the latest ‘big thing’ but if it takes too long to learn how to access and use and it is overly complex to use on a day to day basis it will cost you too long in working hours. Go for a CRM tool that can be learnt in a couple of hours and which can be used whilst your employees are on the telephone and you will not regret it.

The cost of tools and applications should always be a factor for any business. Don’t be tempted to go for the most expensive package that you see thinking that it will be the best, as often this is not the case.

If you want to have access to your business from anywhere in the world (with internet access) you need to choose a web based tool. With this you will be able to keep in touch with the business and see what your employees are doing at a glance.

If you want to expand your business you need to be able to add new users as needed. Select a CRM tool that will enable you to do this easily if needed, otherwise you could find that you CRM tool is letting you down.

These are just a few of the things that you should consider when you are choosing your CRM tool. Make sure that you choose the right one first time and you will find that it works for you.

CRM (customer relationship management) tools are fast becoming one of the most valuable applications that a business can use. One of the problems that many businesses encounter when they are looking for a CRM solution is that there is just so much choice on the market. This can lead to indecision when it comes to choosing the right one.

Businesses need an effective CRM solution that will meet their needs and continue to do so into the future. To ensure this here are some tips which will help:

To be effective a CRM solution must first be easy to use and access. A CRM solution that is difficult for end users to integrate into their working day should be avoided at all costs. It is also useful to opt for a CRM solution that can be easily mastered within a few hours. Business owners simply do not have the time to spend sending their employees on courses to learn how to work new applications. As far as accessibility is concerned it is wise to opt for a CRM solution that is web based. Having a web based solution means that users can access it from anywhere that has an internet connection. So in effect home working becomes possible with this type of CRM solution – something that is becoming more popular at the moment as it means flexible shifts and lower costs.

Cost is also important for an effective CRM solution. If a business is paying for a CRM solution that is not delivering it is not effective. Make sure that what you pay for a CRM is vastly outweighed by what you get out of it for it to be cost effective

Does the CRM solution enable a good customer experience? If it allows users to easily access customer information, attach documents to customer details and create quotes and invoices quickly it all goes to creating good customer experiences. CRM solutions should help you to add value to your customer’s experiences and enable accurate and fast communication. It should not slow these transactions down or make them overly complex.

CRM solutions should also provide effective reporting. If a businesses owner can see their best customers at the click of a button it is effective. Similarly if the CRM solution enables users to see which customers have outstanding payments or missing information it is effective. If users are able to quickly access important information at the click of a button then the CRM solution that they are using is effective.

An effective CRM solution should also allow for users to be added without any fuss and with minimal charge. Too many solutions charge a small fortune for extra users and this is not practical if you are a small to medium sized business that is growing. CRM solutions need to enhance your business and not drain its resources so this is one tip that you do not want to overlook.

In business there are always going to be ups and downs – but what would happen if the unthinkable happened? To really be able to answer this question it is a good idea to firstly decide what this unthinkable event is – so let’s say that it is severe economic crisis, even more so than the current credit crunch. So how would a business function?

Firstly, a business would need to make sure that they had some sort of strategy in place to be able to weather the economic storm. Without this a business simply would be able to stay afloat. So if you are the owner of a business make sure that you plan for the bad times as well as the good times or you could finds yourself in a very difficult position should the economic climate turn cold.

Secondly, it pays for a business to get the very best deal when it comes to the CRM (customer relationship management) software that it uses. Doing this will help to keep costs low so that should the unthinkable happen the business would still be able to function and not have to lose any software. Too many businesses spend vast amounts of money each year on keeping up costly software licenses and this can run into thousands of pounds, especially if the business has many employees.

Thirdly, a business owner needs to be on top of the businesses cash flow and know exactly what is being spent and where. Having this kind of knowledge will enable a business owner to quickly and accurately identify where money could be saved within the business. If you are a business owner who cannot say that they know exactly where money is spent it is time that you found out. Whilst you are doing this consider giving your business a financial makeover and see if you can highlight any areas where money can be saved or better spent.

Fourth, find which areas of the business are the most profitable and concentrate on those. Doing this will focus attention on more profitable areas of the business which will help to keep money rolling in, something which is crucial during a financial crisis. Forget about any ventures which were on the backburner, they can be looked at when things start to look brighter. Similarly, look at any areas which require a great deal of work and are not very profitable. When they have been identified consider dropping them as they are not working for the business.

No business owner wants to think about the unthinkable – but planning for it is essential as it can sometimes happen. Having strategies and procedures in place to deal with it should it happen is what every business needs. Failure to do this will result in the business folding and folding fast. So if you value your business and want it to survive should the unthinkable happen start to put measures in place to deal with it, should it happen, right now.

During a recession things get tough for everyone – businesses have to make changes if they are to survive it and come out of the other side intact. Consumer’s behaviour also changes quite significantly during a recession as people don’t have as much disposable income as they previously enjoyed. It is quite easy to think, especially with so many businesses closing down during a recession that it is all doom and gloom, but creativity actually thrives during a recession and many businesses do incredibly well.

It can be too easy to assume that a recession means the end for most small and medium sized businesses (and quite a few larger ones) but it can be an ideal time to start new a business, if you are creative enough. Many businesses are now taking advantage of the fact that people have to tighten their belts and online discount shops are thriving right now. Before the recession excessive spending was seen as something to be proud of and was even akin to a status symbol – paying over the odds for items that could be bought cheaper elsewhere. Now however everyone is looking for a better deal on the goods that they regularly buy and smart entrepreneurs have realised that to thrive in a recession they need to follow consumer trends – which during a recession is saving money.

With this in mind the number of businesses that are providing goods and services at greatly reduced prices are doing fantastically. Price comparison sites are being inundated with customers all looking for the cheapest electrical goods, holidays, insurance, groceries – and more. What business owners need to realise is that even though a recession makes people more aware of what they are spending their money on, they will not stop spending altogether. Consumers still need to buy goods and services; the only difference is that during a recession they will actively shop around for the best deal they can find rather than sticking with their regular retailers.

Creativity is always essential in business, but often it is easy to leave it on the sidelines when business is good, with many business owners not wanting to change their ‘winning formula’. Unfortunately it can be exactly this sort of attitude that leaves many businesses struggling when times change. Recessions force everyone in business to think differently and be more creative otherwise it is virtually impossible to stay afloat. Today those business owners that faced the recession head on are the ones that are reaping the benefits, as are the people who were creative and saw the business potential of the recession. Online there are now hundreds of shops which are selling off bankrupt stock from bigger retailers and there is no shame in looking for cheap products. Creativity really does thrive in a recession and anyone who buys products online can see this for themselves with the smart businesses listening to and taking note of consumer spending habits and altering their prices accordingly.

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.

As anyone with their own business knows it is important to keep up to date with the market they are in both in terms of products and competition. Failing to do this means that ultimately your business will not be as forward thinking as it could be which will result in losing out to competitors – something that no business ever wants to do. So what is the answer to staying ahead of your competition today? A good CRM or Customer Relationship Management application, that’s what.

There are various CRM software applications that are available at the moment but the best one of these by far is S3 CRM which is not only easy to set up and use but it also grows with your business.  S3 CRM can help you to stay ahead of your competition in the following ways:-

1. Keep detailed records of your customers – S3 CRM has unique features which allow all information that is relevant to a particular customer to be saved in that customers record. This can range from contact details to quotes and invoices to documents and even photographs of your customers if you or your reps meet with them on a regular basis. This will improve the customer service that your business provides, which is often lacking in many businesses today and this will give you the edge over your competition who might still be using outdated methods to store and retrieve customer information. Stay professional – use S3 CRM.

2. Quote and invoice with ease – quoting and invoicing often takes up a great deal of time within a business and this can frustrate your customers and lead to them going to your competition for a faster, more efficient service. Stop them in their tracks by using S3 CRM to streamline and centralise all quoting and invoicing. S3 CRM even takes the strain out of adding VAT to invoices as it will automatically add it and make the calculation for you, giving you and staff more time to spend in other areas of the business. Similarly invoices are easily produced using the same feature within the application.

3. See your business at a glance – by using the dashboard feature you can place all the areas of your business that you need to see an overview of on one screen. This cuts down the endless searching through screens to find the information that you need, meaning that you can make decisions faster and more efficiently whilst reducing wasted time – can you say the same for your competition? We hope not!

As you can see these are just a few of the features that S3 CRM provides businesses with that will help them to stay ahead of their competition and provide an efficient, customer focused and streamlined service to be proud of. S3 CRM really does make all difference to a business and after using it for a few weeks it will be apparent why as time is saved and profits are increased.

CRM or customer relationship management is an area of business that should be high on the list of priorities for any business owner as customer relationships are critical for a business to succeed. For many business owners implementing a CRM solution can seem like a nightmare as there are so many aspects of CRM to consider from customer contact information right the way through to managing outstanding or unpaid accounts. Due to this you will need a CRM solution that will not only work with you and your business but is also easy to implement and use on a daily basis.

If you are looking for a CRM solution that you can easily implement into your business look no further than S3 CRM. S3 CRM is a customer relationship management solution that is not only functional but it will streamline the way your business operates and this will lead to increased profits and lowered overheads. In addition, S3 CRM is not only easy to use but it is also easily integrated into your business so there is no need to send your employees on lengthy training courses just to be able to use it themselves.

CRM solutions should add that extra dimension to your business which means that customer relationships improve almost as soon as you start using it. This might seem like rather a weighty claim but it is a claim that S3 CRM will back up when you implement it into your business. Using S3 CRM could not be easier, as mentioned there are no long training courses for you and your employees to attend to enable you to use it. This is not only time saving but it also saves you a great deal of money too as no time is spent away from the business as you implement this CRM solution. Add to this the fact that S3 CRM is web based, which means you can log into your account from anywhere in the world that has an internet connection and you have a totally accessible CRM solution that will help you to stay in touch with your business regardless of where you are.

When you sign up for an account with S3 CRM you can start to implement it into your business straight away, simply log in and start inputting your employee and customer details and use this as a base to build upon. From there you can then start to sue S3 CRM each time you need to provide a quote, create an invoice, view diaries, check which projects are nearing their deadline date and so much more.

So if you are looking for a customer relationship management solution that can be accessed from anywhere in the world with an internet connection, that can be easily implemented into any business and that can help you to create more revenue than ever before see what S3 CRM can do for you.

For anyone who doesn’t know blogging is another term for the phrase ‘web log’ which is very much like an online diary. However unlike a diary a blog can be seen by anyone as they are published on websites for other people to read. Blogs can be about anything and there is no limit to the amount of posts the owner of a blog can make each day or week. Many blogs have links within them which will direct the reader to another website which may be selling goods or services, often for the purpose of turning this visitor into a customer.

As the success of blogs is rapidly rising it is no wonder that businesses are recognising just how valuable a blog can be to promote themselves and create more customers in the process. If you are wondering what the benefits are for marketing your business with a blog here are some of them:-

1. Blogging is free – the only thing you have to spend on a blog is your time, or you could get one of your employees to run your businesses blog for you.

2. Blogging is easy – there are an abundance of blogging sites on the internet all of which are straightforward to use, the majority even have mini tutorials about how you go about setting up and running a blog.

3. You can reach a much wider audience then before – there is nothing wrong with having a great deal of presence online and the more people that read your blog the better. Research the market and see what other kind of blogs are out there.

4. Blogging is instant – you can write your blog in the morning and have it online almost instantly, so anyone who reads your blog will be able to see these updates.

5. Blogging can help you to build links with other websites and blogs – this means that your network can grow as you place more links on your blog all pointing back to your businesses website.

6. Blogs are one of the most popular forms of communication on the web and any business that has a blog is seen to be keeping up to date with technology and this is seen by consumers as a good thing.

As you can see creating and running a blog can be highly beneficial for a business as not only is it a very cheap form of advertising but it can quite easily generate more visitors to your businesses website who will hopefully spend money there.

So why not set up a blog for your business and see how many new customers it can create for you. Things might be slow to begin with but the more posts you have on your blog, the more chance there is that people surfing the web will see it and want to know more about what our business does. If for some reason your blog doesn’t do as well as you would have hoped don’t worry – you won’t have spent money to find this out.

It is important for any business to keep ahead of the game and make sure that they utilise all the tools they have to maximise their revenue. Doing this can sometimes be difficult as many software packages are not designed to be integrated into a business and work as a total software solution like S3 CRM is. There are different ways in which using S3 CRM can help you to increase your average revenue per user and this is how:-

1. Go into the tools feature and take a look at the total revenue per customer section, this will tell you in an instant who your best customers are and when they order. This information can then be used in conjunction with customer details to provide loyalty discounts or other ‘special offers’ that are reserved for your best customers. Making customers feel valued is an excellent way to secure future orders from them.

2. Use your employees time better – the integrated calendar on S3 CRM enables users to see who is doing what, so if an important deadline is approaching you can see who you can take from other projects to lend a hand and make sure that work is completed on time. Similarly if you are planning an event or promotion and need to know when you have the maximum numbers of employees in work just check the calendar.

3. Cut down on time wasted trying to find contact information or documents by using the storage tool on S3 CRM. This is a way of putting all relevant information in one place where it can be easily found and retrieved, using the document storage means that employee efficiency will increase as will the average revenue per user as they are able to dedicate more time to important tasks.

4. See how many invoices are outstanding – as with the total revenue per customer feature you can see how many invoices you have outstanding on your system at any one time. You can then use S3 CRM to call up the customer details on the outstanding invoices and make arrangements for them to be paid. So no more missed unpaid invoices lingering around in filing cabinets, use this feature and see your revenue increase.

5. Access your S3 CRM account from anywhere in the world that has internet access, this will increase your revenue as you are able to check on your business where ever you are thanks to the software application being web-based. You will never have to take your laptop with you when going abroad and as all documents and information are stored for you on S3 CRM you will be able to travel light knowing you can see your business at a glance whenever you like.

6. As you can see these are just a selection of the ways in which you can increase your ARPU by using S3 CRM, so why not sign up and get started today and you will see just how easy it is.

SaaS or Software as a Service is a web based method of accessing software remotely from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. This is not the only benefit of using SaaS, it is also much cheaper than paying for a licensed software application as you only have to pay a monthly fee rather than a large, one off payment to buy the software for your business. Additional hardware is done away with too as the software is hosted remotely, this makes for even greater savings and this is especially important if you have a small to medium sized business that has to watch its overheads. Finally, SaaS is also a great choice for businesses as not only is it cheaper than buying the software, but there is no installation or updates to think about as this is done on the hosted server.

As you can see SaaS not only cuts down on the amount of money that is spent on software but as it is remotely hosted all of the maintenance and upkeep that is usually required for software applications is not needed. This means you can concentrate on more important things – such as the running of your business.

Using SaaS in a business can help it to grow in many different ways. For example SaaS is crucial for the successful implementation of Customer Relationship Management. It allows you to keep a close eye on what is happening in your business from anywhere in the world that has an internet connection. Previously if you wanted to access your businesses records and customer information you would have to be in the office using your PC meaning that you were tied to one location. SaaS provides users with a means of accessing and using information from any PC – all you need is an internet connection and your password.

SaaS is also a very useful tool when seeing your business at a glance, you can decide what areas you need to be able to view and customise your software to suit your business. For instance you can have a dashboard that will show you all the open projects for your business, which employees are in work that day, how many invoices have been paid so far that month and how many are outstanding and much more. Then using this information you are able to make informed decisions on various subjects.

Another way in which SaaS can help a business to grow is through utilising customer information many businesses miss out on opportunities as they do not have relevant customer information to hand. Using SaaS can make all the difference you can record everything to do with a customer on their contact information. Simply drill down into their file and see when they last paid you, how often they order from you, how they like to be contacted and more. This will show that your business is professional and can answer questions immediately, no more searching for old quotes and documents with SaaS.