Resolv CRM Blog

I have been asked the same question several times in the last week or so, so I thought I should blog about it. The question, “What makes Resolv different?”

Efficiency:   According to dictionary.reference.com efficiency is “accomplishment of or ability to accomplish a job with a minimum expenditure of time and effort: The assembly line increased industry's efficiency.”  

As companies look for CRM systems, they frequently find themselves deluged with so many options and features that it can make one’s head spin. As I said in an earlier blog post (Comparison shopping for CRM software), comparing CRM systems and CRM system quotes is a daunting task.  It is a huge challenge to compare apples to apples.

While Resolv will be celebrating our tenth year anniversary this year, it is kind of fun to look back at what we have accomplished.  We have had many successes over the last 10 years, and it is exciting to see some of them published. 

What I learned from a trip to Nicaragua ...

This blog post will be a quick look at ROI and will hopefully help you know the role ROI in a CRM implementation.

The what, when, and why of back office integration in 700 words or less ...

Proper usage of CRM software can triple your follow-up efforts. (Part 2 of Tradeshows:  More Bang For Your Buck)

Trade shows can be very profitable. However, if you are not prepared, you will lose a lot of potential customers.

As I prepare for next week’s seminar, I am reminded of the difference between features and benefits.

I had a conversation with Kym, one of my co-workers, the other day.  She was calling prospects and received a similar response from multiple companies when she asked them about Customer Relationship Management (CRM).  The response was, “we tried CRM, it didn't work.”  I hear that and think, “of course it didn’t work!”

I bet I can guess why it didn’t work for each company that responded with the “been there, done that” type of response.  It is most likely one of these three reasons:

1)    The company self-implemented CRM

Over the last 12 years (yes, I have been doing CRM consulting for 12 years now) I have seen many CRM systems implemented as an very expensive Rolodex, basically to perform the function of Contact Management or Sales Force Automation.  There is a difference between Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Contact Management.  So I thought today I would help define each step in the Contact Management to Customer Relationship Management chain:

Contact Management is typically contact based, and is more or less an electronic rolodex.  It is a mailing list for a specific user or group of users, and is normally not integrated across the entire organization.  It frequently does not meet all of the data needs required for managing leads, prospects, and customers, leaving many stand alone islands of data throughout the organization.  Often companies will know they need to move up from contact management when they begin to have multiple contact management databases or when they have to use outside programs like Microsoft Excel or Access to track additional data about their prospects and customers.  Contact management is a great first step into CRM, and Sage software with over 4,000,000 users of ACT! is the world-wide leader in this category.

Sales Force Automation is frequently account based, and includes enhanced note taking and opportunity tracking capabilities.  It allows for the tracking of more data though configuration, and can be deployed organization wide.  Making the step to sales force automation normally eliminates the need for many of the separate islands of data, leaving only one or two spreadsheets or outside databases for tracking additional data components.  Very often, sales force automation will include basic integration into the back office.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is account based, and includes advanced marketing management, opportunity management, quote management, contract tracking, support issue management, and forecasting to name a few key components.  Basically, it encompasses data from every aspect of your relationship with the customer.  It is fully customizable eliminating all need for outside islands of data about your customer (outside of your accounting/ERP system).  It can be fully integrated with back office and manufacturing and can be deployed across the entire organization, including remote offices anywhere around the world.  Sage SalesLogix is an excellent example of a true Customer Relationship Management tool.  Sage SalesLogix has been the industry innovation leader since 1998 and is consistently winning industry standard and user satisfaction awards.

This is my inaugural post on our new Blog.  I am sure that over the course of the next several months, this blog will become filled with my thoughts on a number of useful subjects relating to CRM, Sales, Marketing, and Technology ...