Email Contact Management- Why Every Business Needs It

Approximately 50% of new small businesses in North America close within five years, and most of those that survive these statistics are just barely making it by. They’re making just enough money to stay in business, but never manage to generate enough capital for upgrades and expansions that would allow them to grow.

There are, of course,  new small businesses that seem to be super-charged. They may begin with one or two people working, but the next thing you know they have over a dozen or even hundreds of people and their offices or products are everywhere in the world. Two perfect examples are WhatsApp (purchased by Facebook) and Twitch (purchased by Google).

What makes those businesses different? Why do some small businesses take off while others close? This is obviously a broad question and there are business experts who make a great deal of money selling their input. But there is one part of the answer that is simple and clear: in order to succeed, a small business must have an effective contact management system. 

supercharged employees

There are many contact management software solutions on the market today but few are good at both managing contacts and emails. Take Microsoft Outlook, the most well-known contact management software on the market, is good at managing your contacts but lacks on the email management side.

To properly manage your emails in Outlook you need to set rules and filters so that the email automatically links to the contact. Most users of Outlook however do not know how to set this up and tend to create folders and drag and drop each email to the folder manually. A typical inbox today has 10,000 plus emails so one can only imagine all the time you can save not having to do this task.

With InfoFlo’s contact manager software you get auto email linking built right into the core $99 package. It’s simple all the user is required to do is either add a new contact or import your contacts from Outlook, Gmail, CSV etc. Once this is done then all your emails will be automatically linked for you.

Another great email management feature built into the $99 InfoFlo core package is the spam filter. When an email comes into the system it will display it as known or unknown. A known email is one that is linked to a contact in your contact list and the unknown is an email address not added to your contact database. This spam filter is a great feature because now users do not need to go through one long list of emails and spend their valuable time sifting through spam something they normally do in Outlook. For information please visit www.carmelvision.com

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What Are the Long Term Benefits of a CRM?

Since the latter part of the 1990s, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has become a buzz term especially among business practitioners and enterpreneurs. Companies, both big and small, have invested or are hoping to invest huge amounts to implement CRM strategies, tools and infrastructure in order to win the battle in the increasingly competitive economy. However, many executives are struggling to determine how their organization will balance the business value of CRM against its costs to determine CRM return on investment.

Many businesses in search of solutions and opportunities for increased sales and productivity may also be wondering, what are the long term effects of CRM.  CRM software can have a number of positive long-term effects worth exploring. In the short term, business relationships improve as a result of better behind- the-scenes organization and progress tracking, but even later down the line, CRM can prove to be a great return on initial investment.

For starters, companies can expect to see long-term improvement in sales. Due to the increase in valuable productivity time, sales teams spend less time manually compiling business relationship data and integrating complex information with other lines of communication. This means more freedom and flexibility for compiling evaluative reports such as sales forecasts and tracking progress over time – key ways to get ahead in today’s competitive markets.

Lasting cost-savings is also one of the long-term effects of CRM software.  Of course this benefit depends on making the very best selection possible when it comes to choosing the right solution for your company. If you decide to to get a hosted package be prepared to pay a set monthly cost for as long as you are own the software. On the other hand purchasing an on-premise package can save a company a lot of money in the long term since there is only a one-time cost. Be careful though some companies force you to pay yearly maintenance packages or charge you for upgrades so be sure to do your homework before making a choice.

Effective CRM software provides users with the tools to conveniently oversee business relationships from start to sale and even continuing on to regular follow-up. Without CRM, the task of tracking customers and their expectations can become enormously difficult.  With the right CRM software in place, companies can ensure clients and customers stay with them even beyond the critical first sale for lasting success even in the long-term.

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The Differences Between Outlook & CRM Software

What is CRM?

The easiest way to define CRM is to call it customer relationship software. It describes a wide variety of software programs, both on and off the web, that promote better customer contact via a complete, well- organized data system. It can greatly enhance any organization’s administration since it links contact information with a large number of data points, including emails, relevant documents, purchase orders and more.

What are the differences between CRM and Outlook?

At first glance it may seem as though there are very few differences between CRM software and Outlook. Both are email clients that also have unique ways of storing client contact information. However, the difference become most apparent when one considers all that CRM software enables users to do above and beyond mere contact and email management.

CRM Goes Beyond Outlook

Even a basic contact management system is able to increase the capabilities of most businesses, and with additional features called add-ons, many software companies take the level of sophistication even further. For instance, the project management add-on allows users to coordinate project organization strategies with contact information, creating numerous ways to cross-connect information for perfect project completion.

What About Companies Reluctant to Abandon Outlook?

Outlook is perhaps the most popular email client around and has a great reputation as a solid contact manager, but companies should keep in mind that there are numerous Outlook alternatives that are highly capable of doing the job. For those who are reluctant to part with their tried and true Outlook configurations, but would still like to partake of the versatility a more advanced CRM system has to offer, it’s important to note that most contact management software s are compatible with Outlook and fairly easy to integrate.

Get the Best of Both Worlds

One convenient way to get around the fact that, as an Outlook reliant business, there’s plenty of progress your company could be missing out on, is to consider investing in an Outlook compatible CRM system.

The CarmelVision Infoflo Outlook Alternative & Contact Management System, for instance, offers all the flexibility of a genuine CRM system, and it’s easily integrated with Outlook. With the INfoflo system, all Outlook data can be imported hassle-free. This means you never even have to think about starting over from scratch.  Let Infoflo, with its affordable and customizable contact management software, do all the work for you. Find out more here.

 

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How To Use InfoFlo CRM Software to Increase Staff Productivity

task managementIf you use the Internet for most of your work day and have yet to adopt task and project management tools into your workflow, or if you’re a business owner and haven’t set up your employees on a task management system, it’s time to seriously consider doing so. In a study done by University of Hamburg researchers it was confirmed that the focus afforded to our flighty minds drops from minutes to seconds when afforded with the opportunity to surf on the internet. According to statistics verified by The Associated Press, our ability to pay attention while online has dropped to less than 8 seconds in recent year.

The first step to making productive use of your time is to find out how you and your employees are presently spending it. Keeping a time log is one effective way to do this. After trying it out for one week, you’ll immediately gain insight into where your time is actually going. The act of measuring is often good enough to lift you and your staff’s unconscious habits into your conscious, where you then have a chance to dissect and examine and then change them.

Here’s how to keep a time log. Throughout the workday keep a record of the time whenever you start or stop a task. Consider using a stopwatch to keep track of the intervals. At the end of the day, sort all the time chunks into categories, and find out what percentage of your time is being spent on each task. If you want to be thorough, do this for a week, and calculate the percentage of your total time that you spent on each type of activity per week. Be as detailed as possible. Note how much time you spend emailing customers and prospects, reading industry-related news, making follow-up phone calls, eating, putting out fires, etc. If you get up out of your chair, it probably means you need to make note of that in your log.

You may not be surprised to know that you’re spending only a small fraction of your working time doing what you define as “work”. Studies have shown that the average employee does only 1.5 hours of “work” per day. The rest of the time is spent talking to co-workers about non-work related things, taking coffee breaks, eating, shuffling papers, and sometimes even texting on the phone. The average full-time office worker doesn’t even start doing real work until 10:30 am and begins to shut down and get ready to go home at around 4:00 pm.

InfoFlo CRM Software allows you to attain and maintain optimal productivity levels with its Task Management feature. It allows you to create time-sensitive tasks and organize them into lists. As well, it enables you to create sub-tasks, add notes or files, and delegate tasks to other members of your team with ease. Download your free trial today.

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Carmel Vision Announces the Launch of Their New Website

Carmel Vision is proud to announce the launch of a new website forinfoflo its InfoFlo CRM Software. InfoFlo enables small and medium sized businesses to intelligently manage the overwhelming amount of information they are exposed to on a daily basis.

“Today, businesses and sales staff need quality sales leads and mailing lists, and in addition, they need a simple, easy to use CRM tool to manage those leads to increase their sales,” said Shai Berliner, Director of Business Development at Carmel Vision. “Our loyal customer base has come to rely on the increased efficiency, productivity, and profitability enabled by the various InfoFlo solutions.”

The main objective for the new website is to help facilitate deeper connections with web visitors, many of whose first contact with the company is online. “The aim is to compel and empower the web visitor to take meaningful actions, whether it is to download a free trial, contact a sales rep for more information, or watch informational videos to learn more about how their business can benefit from InfoFlo,” added Berliner.

In addition to a newly redesigned website, there will be a corporate blog, designed to serve as a valuable resource for existing clients as well as business entrepreneurs looking for a change. The new corporate blog will cover a variety of industry-specific topics and offer real solutions to help readers identify and overcome everyday problems and issues as well as develop ways to become more productive, efficient, and profitable.

“Our experts have amassed a wealth of information and an in-depth understanding about CRM Software. We recognize the unique challenges that you face in your day-to-day work environment and thought it might be helpful to share some of our industry best practices as well as some of the many tips and tricks we’ve learned along the way,” concluded Berliner.

About Carmel Vision

Carmel Vision, a Toronto based CRM software development company, is focused on delivering a powerful management infrastructure that is designed to collect, search, and archive all content, contact and communication activities that take place in a typical office. They understand and listen to all of their customers’ needs and strive to give excellent quality at affordable prices.

Their flagship product, InfoFlo – is a central management system specifically designed to combat one of the biggest technical challenges facing any professional organization, how to efficiently organize, archive, filter and search the vital information that bombards our desktops on a daily basis. The infrastructure allows all office activities to coexist together under one umbrella, making all critical information readily available at the fingertips.

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Continuing The Discussion on Outdated CRM Software

smart luggage

In one of our previous posts we discussed the implications of working with outdated software.  The highlights include costly outages, inadequate support, increased concerns over security breaches, and sharp learning curve for new employees. No one can decide for you whether to upgrade the older software to a much newer one or to continue using the old outdated software and simply offer intensive training to all staff. You have to make the decision yourself.

What we can do is help you make informed decisions by providing you with the facts and best practices.

Recently, I was browsing through CNN and came across an article on smart luggage. The article got me thinking and made me scratch my head once or twice. I traveled 7 times overseas to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Of the 7 times I traveled, twice an airline lost my luggage. I eventually got the luggage back…but the first twenty four hours were the most hectic. The airline would not reimburse me within the time period because they claimed that 95% of the lost luggage cases are resolved within 24 hours.

I don’t know about anyone else’s experience, but I was very upset. I was traveling throughout France and the next day I would be going to a remote city of Avignon. The day after was a Sunday and holiday in France and the likelihood of me getting my luggage that day was zero to none. I ended up getting my luggage the same evening, but the worry and the sweat of spending my holiday without my personal goods was unfathomable. The entire trip was only 10 days.

The Jumbo Jet Maker Airbus recently unveiled a new concept design for smart luggage at the Paris Air Show. The luggage would have an embedded tracking device capable of transmitting their locations to travelers and even contacting airlines directly when they get lost or misplaced. This product is still in the development stage, but it gives travelers like me a sense of relief.

Getting back to outdated CRM Software….when using it, you never realize the additional perks that come with newer, and more advanced software. You may be struggling to juggle various tasks and ensure that every employee who works for you stay productive. But why struggle, when you have so many options out there to help you make the most out of your work day and to better streamline operations?

Same thing with those old, ripped suitcases. Why keep those old suitcases when you have ones that are more light weight, more durable, and soon will even be embedded with a GPS tracker?

Call Carmel Vision at 1-855-Infoflo to learn more about how our contact management system can help you become more productive, greener, and proactive in resolving customer complaints and concerns.  Let us show you what you’e missing out on and help you fill in the gaps.

 

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6 Tip to Reduce Your Business’ Carbon Footprint

It’s now more important than ever before to be conscious of our impact on the environment. Businesses all across the world are taking the necessary steps to reduce their carbon footprint and make a conscious effort to preserve our scarce resources. Have you taken steps to make the shift over to a more environmentally-friendly office? If not, here are a few tips to get you started.

 

carbon footprint

 

Encourage online payments

It may not seem like a big deal, but the paper used to send out cheques, envelopes and (late) payment notices adds up at the end of the day, especially when you are business with 100+ employees and 1000+ customers . You can make a small but highly impactful difference by making it easy for your customers to make payments online through a secure online portal and for your employees to receive direct deposits instead of printed cheques.

 

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

It’s time for us to put our education to good use. Schools all across the world are encouraging eNewsletters, litterless lunches, the reuse of paper, proper recycling etiquettes, and the like. So why shouldn’t this trend continue into the workplace? Recycling produces less landfill and lowers the cost of waste disposal.

Here’s a quest for you and your employees: place a used (clean it) coffee cup in the lunch room beside the microwave or vending machine. Every time someone drinks a pop have them take the tab off before chugging it into the recycling bin. Those tabs can be used to create a wheelchair for someone that needs it.

 

Create electronic versions of important documents

Need to invoice customers or send out reports? Why not create electronic versions and email them or make them accessible via the web, rather than printing and mailing them? You’ll conserve paper as well as economize on things like ink and postage. As well, your customers will appreciate the convenience, in case they lose the important document. Check out this document management software tool for more information.

 

Communicate via email

If you’re still using papermail for all client and employee correspondences then its time to upgrade to emails, messengers (i.e. Skype) and CRM software systems with reliable after sales support. That will cut down your stationery consumption by more than 40%. If you’re still hung up with CRT monitors, replacing them with LCD and LED screens will bring in some major savings on your energy bills. Traveling isn’t always needed for attending meetings, so economize by communicating through email, Skype, and GoTo meetings.

 

Take a tablet or netbook to meetings

Rather than using notepads for taking notes during meetings, take notes on your tablet or laptop. When you need to access it, you can do so at the click of a button, without having to flip through the papers.

 

Unplug/Turn Off Office Equipment When Not in Use

Turn off and/or unplug office equipment, lights and electronic devices when they are not being used by employees. As well, encourage all employees and customers to take the stairs instead of the elevator. Make sure that the last one out of the office turns off the lights-just like they do at home.

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How to Beat the Competition with Price

When you are offering a quality solution to a company’s office management problem and it comes with a reasonable price, you have an offering that most software companies can’t compete with.

Enterprise management software comes with a high price tag and is usually very expensive to implement, especially when you have to buy additional modules to run the office the way you want and every module is costly.  The trend towards ERP systems that operate every aspect of your business is what I see most companies lean toward as a complete office management solution.  The fact is that if you want to spend thousands of dollars implementing and learning how to operate the system that you most likely won’t use in its entirety, then you have to make a long-term decision about what works best for every department in your company and ensure that you’re ready to experience long-term budget constraints.

competitor

Every department in your company requires function-driven software like accounting, inventory, purchasing, human resources, and sales systems that integrate with each other seamlessly and offer reporting and tracking of the companies information.  Accuracy and time-sensitivity in real-time business operations is what drives managers to consider high-end business systems to drive their business operation.

Although many managers that I talk to on a daily basis choose the path that leads to the purchase and implementation of a company-wide software system that runs their entire business, there are just as many managers that are scratching their heads and trying to figure out the best way to save money now that they have spent their entire budget on monthly/yearly subscription fees and long-term contracts along with implementation fees, service contracts and training costs.

What you have in the end is a very expensive system that works great to fill the basic need of accounting and capturing the most pertinent information, which is a customers contact, billing and purchase history information.  Everyone just uses the system for what they need it for.  Most employees use other software programs to help them manage their workload because the module that is intended for their specific department is designed as a work-flow solution that processes information as a whole instead of an easy-to-use solution that aids in the day-to-day operability of each individual employee.  Individual software modules like InfoFlo CRM software is intended to make an employee’s job easier and gives them more time to spend performing their actual job function rather then getting stuck in the workflow system and producing less results.

Sales people are the companies bread-and-butter.  We are the ones that initiate and build relationships with buyers that want to make the best purchasing decisions for their company.

The last thing a sales person wants to do is become stuck in a system that is intended to work well for every other department, except for sales.

When I open my CRM, I want to access my emails and dashboard so I can see what tasks I have to accomplish today.  I know that all the information that I need to perform my job is at my fingertips because I am the one that put it there.

The business managers that I talk to that have implemented company-wide systems often tell me they don’t have a CRM solution for their sales people.  Sure, they will have all of the customers contact information that is captured with their billing and customer purchase history, but what about the one simple tool that sales people need to build and manage their pipeline.

Sale people need to generate leads, convert prospects to customers and keep ongoing relationships with them.  Its a simple process that is over complicated with larger systems that focus on other areas of the business.  As a sales person, in the past I just used the software that I was given by my employer and created my own system of tracking and following up using additional software because it was the only way to manage my own personal workload.  This took my selling time away from me and added an additional level of stress that could easily have been alleviated had the company managers made the choice to buy specific software for my needs.

Everyone is trying to save money.  That is the biggest trend that I have encountered in my experience in dealing with managers and selling them relationship management solutions.  There is nothing that compares to an affordable and easy-to-use software product that does exactly what it is intended for.  InfoFlo is designed for the sales person or small business owner, not every other department in the company.  That is why it is an affordale solution for managers when they want their sales people to focus on their client relationships and make money for the company.  Sales people need CRM software so they can better manage their time and concentrate on relationship building, and managing their sales cycle.  We all want to reach the last stage of our sales cycle (the close) without having to wait for screens to load and wasting time looking at insignificant information that slows us down.

Why should business owners worry about paying high monthly subscription fees for a product that is intended to track the progress of making money?  InfoFlo is the CRM solution that all business managers need to look at and seriously consider as part of their business management solution because it will pay for itself with the first few sales made by one of your sales people using InfoFlo.  It is that affordale.

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Can Your Small Business Afford A Great CRM Software?

Decisions, Decisions

Small business owners are often on a budget when purchasing software. Yet, few of them would tolerate a cheap system that only covers the basics. Business owners need to know that investing in CRM software doesn’t have to break the bank. It also doesn’t necessarily mean a sacrifice in quality.

The most compelling reason for selecting a good piece of contact management software is to find the perfect system – one that offers above average features and flexibility without being so expensive that it’s practically out of reach.

The Web CRM Conundrum

When it comes to affordability web-based CRM can be extremely enticing. Companies often offer monthly payment packages with up to 30 days free?  Here’s a few things to consider for buying in to the web CRM bandwagon:

1. What happens when problems with the Internet render your business data completely inaccessible?

2. What happens when a hacker or other privacy issue causes your business data to become compromised?

3. Can you really ever be sure that another company’s server is secure enough and capable enough of housing your business’ most sensitive and crucial data?

These are costly considerations concerning well-known risks of using web CRM. If the trade-off between price and risk factors can be justified, then sure, web CRM may be the best thing for your company. However, many companies may find it difficult to chase after a purely affordable solution when so much of the lifeblood of their companies is at stake.

What To Do?

Clearly, the solution is to find a lucrative system well-known for its ability to balance cost-effectiveness with superior quality. However, even with this brilliant goal in mind, it may still be hard to choose the right one.

A wise recommendation is Carmelvision’s Infoflo system. At only $99/year (about $8.25/month) with free upgrades for the life of the subscription, this price breaks the mold even on the most inexpensive web CRM available, and it’s definitely among the most affordable stand-alone CRM systems. The best thing about it is it’s 24 core features are top-notch, giving users the ability to go above and beyond in managing contacts, emails, documents, reports and even collaboration.

It may be hard to balance the two most important factors, affordability and quality, when choosing where to invest in business technology. With systems like Infoflo on the market, however, the hardest part will only be how fast can you find the site and make the purchase. It’s easy, simply click here.

 

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Three Important Features of CRM Software

Contact Management software should be at the top of any successful company’s list of tools that significantly improve and streamline the way business is done. Yet few companies are adequately informed about the top features that make these systems so valuable to today’s business world.

The following is a brief disclosure of the best contact management software system features and a short description of what makes each so essential and unique.

1. Email-to-Contacts Links

Part of almost every contact management system basic package these days, email-to-contacts links is a foundational feature worth seeking out. It works by specifically and automatically connecting every email ever received or sent through the system to contact names and information. This means that every click on a contact name returns not just the name, phone number and addresses of your most important clients and customers, but also a complete email history as well. This handy feature is extremely important for keeping customer relations personal, up-to-date and well-organized.

2.  Document Management with Version Control

One of the best things about document management integrated directly into a contact management software system is that it allows for joint editing, but one of the major drawbacks is that it can potentially complicate the creative process by leaving behind confusing multiple versions. When selecting software systems with is feature, be sure to ensure that version control is included. Version control will ensure that documents stay clear and concise throughout editing without the need to create new versions each time a change is made – whether there are 2 editors or 10.

3. Project Management for Collaborators

Collaboration is key in today’s business world. Those whose department are organized to promote as much teamwork as possible are usually the companies that tend to outshine the competition. That said, many companies are looking for software that facilitates collaboration in unique and exciting ways. Contact management software with project management is not necessarily a new arrival on the market, but systems that include project management add-ons specifically geared toward collaboration take things above and beyond the basics.  Before selecting this feature, make sure that it’s enhanced or at least customizable for quality collaboration tailored to your specific business needs.

For a contact management system with all the best features noted here and much more, consider Carmelvision’s Infoflo – a versatile, yet easy-to-use and affordable software system with everything you need to manage company contacts and beyond.

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