THE HUNT FOR CRM (II)

by Hank Trisler

I had no idea what I was doing when I put out the call for help deciding what CRM package I should employ. I had no idea not only how many CRM packages there were, but how many GOOD CRM packages there are.

I promised you a report on my research and report I will, but I'm just going to hit the high spots (IMHO) and leave it up to you to determine which package delivers the right blend of features for you.

I'm going to tell you a little about one, two or (at the most) three packages a day for the next few days. At the end of that time I hope to have my own decision made, though I know how I'm leaning as we speak. Rather than attempt any rating whatever, I'm just going to tell you about them in the order they came to me.

The first is a really nice little package called Cyrano. This is the brainchild of Scott Zimmerman, who has taken all the grunt work out of Relationship Management. He has even removed the computer. You don't have to enter any data, write any letters or do anyotherdamnthing. You just call his toll-free number and tell his people about your customer, what he/she likes and what should be done in the area of follow up. Scott and his team take it from there. You hang up the phone and go out in search of another live one. This is the individual sales person's dream. If you absolutely detest the idea of employing CRM, Cyrano is one of the first things you should look at. The followup system for those who hate followup. Call Scott Zimmerman at 330-848-0444 x 2 for a pleasant chat.

Highrise is a slick looking program among the many who have chosen to run "in the cloud," rather than on your desktop. For the uninitiated among us, this means that all the data is stored on Highrise's servers, rather than on the box in your office. The big benefit is that it doesn't matter which type of computer (PC, MAC) you use, or even if it's not your computer at all, you can log on to your personal web site and it's just like you were in your office. Prices start at FREE, for which you get precious little, and run up to $150.00 a month for which you get unlimited users and 50,000 contacts. If this isn't enough, you're too big a deal for this homey blog.

There are two to get you started. I'll take a look at some more tomorrow. Meanwhile, please feel free to express any opinions you have in the comments section. Lots of folks are listening in.