The attention of our prospects and customers has become the scarcest resource of all. 

Regardless of the content or technology being used, you have only a few seconds to capture the attention of your buyers, or they quickly move on. 

In order to cut through the barriers of "attention scarcity," the content of our interactions must resonate in order to earn and keep our audience's elusive attention. In order to resonate, those interactions must be highly relevant - and preferably delivered at the right time.

But how do you do this in a way that scales? Your customers and prospects have varying backgrounds, roles, titles, logical and emotional drivers, priorities and motivations. Each of them also has a different understanding, perspective and history with your company. They purchase different products and services, in varying quantities.

This is where database segmentation plays a critical role. The ability for you to interact with your audience in a way that's timely and relevant is directly correlated with your ability to define specific audience segments. The narrower the segment, the more targeted, and thus, relevant, your interactions with them can be.

Segmenting individuals and organizations based on demographics, purchase history, sales cycle stage, CLV (Customer Lifetime Value), web interactions, lead source, or any number of other variables significantly increases the potential of providing the perfect message that resonates with your audience, leading to a deeper level of engagement, and ultimately larger and more sustained levels of value exchange. 

• Want to know how many customers in Southern California have spent more than $10,000 with you in the last year?
• Want to invite your most loyal customers to a hosted networking event?
• What about sending a survey to those who have had more than 5 customer support issues with you in the last year?
• Perhaps you'd like to introduce a new complimentary product or service to previous buyers of a certain product? 

WIIFY: The Top Reasons Customers Should Care About SugarCRM v6.5

• Fantastic User Experience

• Brand new user interface
  • 3 navigation bars merged into a single one
  • New collapsible footer displaying integrated applications
• More powerful search
  • Full text search
  • Includes custom modules and fields
• Better calendar
  • Drag and drop interface
  • Automated email reminders
  • View meeting details in other calendars
  • Sync meetings to other calendar apps

• Additional Enterprise Support
  
  
• Under the Hood Enhancements
  • Performance improvements
    • User Interface
    • Database
    • Client side-caching framework
  • Infrastructure improvements
    • Sugar On-demand
  • Architecture improvement
    • Refactored database and introduced a pluggable architecture 
      • Allows developers to more easily integrate other business apps
  • Platform improvements
    • Enhanced support for different email and browser platforms
• Microsoft Outlook
  • Enhanced integration
• Smarter Commerce 
  • Ever-expanding set of IBM integrations
    
    
• IBM Connections
  • Enhanced social business user experience w/IBM Connections integration
    
    
• IBM PureSystems
  • Pre-integrated application pattern

TAI and echogravity continued their SugarCRM Marketing webinar series with the most recent focus being Campaign Management. 

Here is how the process looks:

• Create the campaign in the campaigns module

• Create a target list in the target list section (highlighted above). You can add contacts from the contacts module, or from a report. Add the target list to your campaign and add a test list to the campaign as well.
• Add tracker URLs (highlighted above). Tag all CTA URLs with Google Campaign URLs. Include the opt out link.
• Create your email template in the email module.
• Create/configure your email within the campaign module. Choose the sender and update the fields accordingly. Choose your email template and click 'edit'. Embed the tracker URLs with the email copy CTAs.
• Send a test and review the email for errors. Don't forget to test your links.
• To send the email campaign, ensure your desired target lists are selected and click 'send email'. 
• You can also send the email out using the scheduler if you would like it to go out at a specific date and time.
• Check stats/status of the campaign

Technology Advisors and echogravity are in the middle of hosting a 3-part series on Marketing with SugarCRM. The first webinar discussed Inbound Marketing and CRM.

What is the purpose of Inbound Marketing? Well, the purpose is to attract prospective customers, but Inbound Marketing does this specifically through valuable content. People want information when it is convenient for them, so by having our valuable content all over the internet (Social Media, Websites and Blogs), it is accessible 24/7. Not to mention that Google absolutely loves fresh content. 

It is one thing to have our content out there in the big world, but it is another thing to know who is looking at it. Once we figure that out, we must then display it in a way that all members of our organization can view. This is where CRM ties into Inbound Marketing.

Here are echogravity's 5 Keys to Implementation:

1. Integration using web-to-lead forms
2. SugarCRM dropdown fields
3. Campaign Management 
4. Segmenting data and using Nurture Marketing
5. Usage of Workflow

Our CRM selection quest has come down to the final factor, using a partner. Like everything else, there are both challenges and benefits to both.

Gartner reports that "businesses that use some type of external CRM services are six times more likely to state they got a Return on Investment (ROI) than those that implemented CRM alone." 

This makes sense because CRM partners, as experts in the CRM field, can usually implement quicker, apply standard methodologies and show you processes that you may not have thought of.

Your challenges stem from money and availability. In the short term, hiring a CRM partner will probably cost you more than implementing internally, but in the long term, it has been known to save money, as well as time and effort.

What do I mean by availability? Well, there are a handful of large CRM partners that have a nationwide reach but many smaller CRM partners that simply don't have the reach and are primarily regional. If you can't find a good CRM partner in your region, make sure you find a reputable CRM partner with coverage to your region. This is one thing you do not want to settle on, as it will have a huge effect on your CRM initiative. 

If you happen to find a couple different CRM partners that meet your needs, look beyond CRM implementation services and aim to find someone with additional offerings in their wheelhouse.

• CRM Strategy Development
• Business Process Engineering
• Business Scope Analysis
• Project Management
• Testing and Tuning
• Production Auditing
• CRM Application Training
• CRM Business Training
• Support and Help Desk

Download the full How to Select a CRM System white paper now.

I hope our CRM selection quest has assisted you in your CRM selection! Please let me know what else you run into on your journey to finding the best CRM for your business.

It is the last week of our CRM selection quest! Data integration is our 8th consideration and is crucial. Whether you are currently using a CRM solution or not, you have data, in some form, that needs to get into whatever CRM solution you select. Many organizations that aren't using a contact management system are generally using Excel or Outlook to store data so it must easily get out of where it currently resides and into your new CRM solution. 

It is vital that you ask every vendor you meet with, what the capabilities of importing data and integrating with other systems is. If it isn't flexible, I'd recommend moving on. You need to make your data work for you, not against you. 

If you have an accounting system that needs to talk to your CRM system, find out how that will work at the beginning so you're not surprised later on. 

Another thing a CRM solution should have is some kind of data quality tool. If you're going to be dumping a ton of data into a new system, you want to make sure it is as clean as possible. Duplicate checker!

Stayed tuned for Feature #9 next week! Hint: It is Using a Partner :)

Download the full How to Select a CRM System white paper now!

Ease of implementation is the 7th factor to consider in your CRM selection. You'll need to rely on a CRM partner for this information, as they are experts in the field. Whether or not you use a partner to implement is ultimately your decision but you should ask one for 2 estimates: time and manpower needed. 

It is most likely the data you gain from a CRM expert will be as if they are doing the implementation so you'll want to add additional time for an internal implementation. I would recommend getting those numbers from both a CRM expert, as well as doing some research using Gartner, Forrester or AMR research, who should all have documentation on ease of implementation for the major CRM players. Keep in mind these will be more general and lacking of your specific customizations.

Stayed tuned for Feature #8 next week! Hint: It is Data Integration

Download the full How to Select a CRM System white paper now!

As we continue on the CRM selection quest, our 6th consideration is deployment method. There are a couple things to consider, first being whether you want to deploy your CRM solution on premise or have it hosted. Feel free to check out a blog I posted in February entitled "How should I deploy my CRM solution?" for a pros and cons list, but let us talk basics here.

Two considerations I will point out here are storage and cost, which go hand in hand. If you have your data hosted, you will not need to purchase internal storage space, but you will be paying a monthly fee for hosting. If you keep your data in house, you will surely pay more money up front but you gain other advantages (ex. security). 

Aside from your CRM solution being hosted or on premise, you will need to determine whether or not you will (at some point) want to have it on a mobile device. Just a few years ago this could eliminate a lot of CRM solutions but in today's world, most have mobile capabilities. Your decision will likely come down to how much you need to have available to you on your mobile device. 

If you do decide that you need your CRM solution deployed on a mobile device, you'll want to inquire about the cost of this application, as it is often an additional fee.

Stayed tuned for Feature #7 later this week! Hint: It is Ease of Implementation

Download the full How to Select a CRM System white paper now!

The 5th factor to consider during CRM selection is industry. This is actually a 2-part consideration. First, you'll want to do some research to see if others within your industry are already using CRM solutions. If not, you can take a bit more time with your CRM selection process because you are not behind the curve. If your competition is already taking advantage of CRM solutions, you'll want to not delay your CRM selection any more than you need to.

The benefit to CRM solutions being widely used in your industry already is experience. Being the first one to do something is not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes if others have already tested the waters and begun to perfect/enhance solutions, that can be helpful, and taken advantage of. 

In industries that are rapidly adopting CRM, specific industry CRM solutions may already exist. This benefits you from implementing a standard system and doing many customizations. This has the potential to save you a lot of time and money.

Stayed tuned for Feature #6 next week! Hint: It is Deployment Method

Download the full How to Select a CRM System white paper now!

Flexibility is the 4th factor to consider during CRM selection. Although flexibility is not the most crucial of the factors, it still needs to be addressed. Straight out of the box, most CRM systems have very basic functionality, which may work for some businesses, but more often than not, you will require customized fields. This is where CRM system flexibility comes into play. 

Some CRM systems are a lot more flexible than others. Keep in mind that systems that are less flexible will likely cost more to customize, if that capability is indeed available to you. During your initial goals and planning phases, make sure you know what changes besides basic field level changes you will want to be making. When you are looking at different systems, be sure to find out the time and monetary efforts it will take to accomplish your specific customization needs.

Stayed tuned for Feature #5 later this week! Hint: It is Industry

Download the full How to Select a CRM System white paper now!