Running a business isn’t easy. Don’t make it harder on yourself.
The more successful your business becomes, the harder it is to keep track of your business activities using standard contact, calendar, task, project and finance tools like Outlook, Excel (etc.). About six months ago I began a search for an affordable and effective application to automate my business and having trialed several CRM tools, I think I may finally have found one I’m loving using and am happy to recommend to you…
What Was I Looking For?
Before starting my search for a solution to make my business (and me) more efficient, I drew up a wish list of features that I’d like any solution to have. This list developed over time as my research showed me what was available on the market and how it could help my business. As always, when you start out on a journey, you don’t always know what you don’t yet know, here’s a summary of the things I came up with:
- A Mac & Windows Solution - I run my business using my Macbook Pro, iPhone and iPad, but my customers, business associates and suppliers mainly use Microsoft, so any solution needed to work with both operating systems.
- Mobility & Synchronicity - Most of my work is completed away from my office, be it at my clients’ offices, on the road or in cafe meetings. Therefore I needed a solution that could be with me where ever I am and available from whatever device I’m using at the time and, I needed all of my devices to be synchronized as I often use many different ones in the same day so it’s vital that I can access up to date information from them.
- Timely, Relevant & Easy Communication – in my business I have various types of contacts that I need to make sure that I’m communicating with in a timely and relevant way. Sales prospects, clients, suppliers, business associates, resellers, affiliates, networking groups, social media followers & friends (etc.) are just a few of the types of contacts that I strive to keep in touch with in order to maintain and build my business. I therefore needed a solution that would tell me when I should be in touch with them, what I should be talking to them about, through what media and what communications we’d had before. In addition, I ideally wanted to be able to send the majority of these communications directly from the system rather than having to utilize various other applications that didn;t talk to each other.
- Task Management – I had found myself using various different applications, notebooks (etc.) to record and manage the tasks I need to complete. EAch one served a different purpose but none of them did all…was there an all-in-one task management solution?
- Project Management – I needed a solution to manage projects which would track tasks, timelines, charges, documents, expenses, budgets and allow all stakeholders to access and update information relevant to their roles on the project.
- Financial Management – tracking time/billable hours, sending invoices, debtor management, managing expenses in a format that my accountant can use. Could I really loose the miriad of spreadsheets I currently use?
- Customer Support – ensuring client support requests are dealt with effectively was becoming more important as my business offers a wider range of products, subscriptions and services. Ideally I was looking for something to capture support requests and also offer clients access to a self-help knowledge base to save them time.
- Affordability & Scalability – as a small business, the cost of an application is pretty much the first thing I look at. I soon found that when it comes to CRM systems, many were way out of the budget I had in mind. In addition, as I grow my business I wanted a solution that could scale up with us.
- Ease of Implementation & Use – whilst I was looking for a system that offered good support, I didn’t want to have to invest too long in implementing the system, importing my existing data and on learning courses. Intuitive was my catchword here.
- Connectivity – I currently use Google Apps for my calendar, email, sharing documents and using applications like Survey Monkey and mail Chimp. The ability to link and communicate with these applications was therefore important.
What Did I Look At?
My Google searching brought up thousands of CRM solutions, but the need to use these across Mac & Windows soon shortened the list down to those available online and/or with Mac versions/Apps. After reading countless reviews, I narrowed the my trials down to Sales Force (an apparent leader in web based CRM), Elements CRM (a MAC based solution) and eventually WORKetc.
Sales Force unfortunately stumbled early on. Having followed their website to register for a free trial of their small business solution I was contact within 15 minutes by a sales person and when we talked about what I was after, they asked me why I had registered for a trial of their corporate solution. When I explained that I didn’t realise that I had as I’d followed their process to use the small business solution the interest level of the sales person waned and whilst they undertook to get back to me, to date no one has. Not to be put off, I logged into the system, downloaded the iPhone App and started to work out how to use the system which seemed to have endless possibilities, but it soon became clear that I’d need a lot of expert advice to set them up and use them. In short, the system may be excellent for mid-sized businesses upwards, but for those of us without dedicated internal IT resources it soon became too daunting a task for me.
Elements CRM – I got excited about this Mac specific application and the fact that it’s user interface was familiar to me as a Mac user, the cost was reasonable and it ticked the box on the majority of features I was looking for. I was disappointed that their free trial only gave me access to a system with dummy data in it and so I wasn’t able to use it with my own data and workflows set up. However, all of the reviews I read said it was a good system and I very nearly signed up until I realised that my Windows using compatriots wouldn’t be able to use the system. Whilst I was pondering this issue, I came across WORKetc.
WORK Etc – hadn’t initially shown up in my searches, but following another search for MAC friendly systems that could be used my Windows users, it came to the top of the recommendation lists. I signed up for their full function 14 day trial and after spending ten minutes reviewing their Quick Start guide I soon had all of my contacts, calendars and email archives uploaded and synchronizing with only a small glitch that was more due to my ability to follow instructions than a failing of the system. The follow up from WORKetc was good as well. I tested the initial email follow up email I received to see if when I replied there was a real person at the other end. Low and behold, within a few hours I had a reply from the founder of the business answering questions specifically, not just links to FAQ pages! They also said that as they knew I was busy, if I wanted to extend my free 14 day trial they’d be happy to if I emailed them.
Within seven days I had the system set up and running from all of my devices, and was beginning to re-train myself to use it’s features (anyone who has implemented CRMs will know that one of the hardest things to do is to get users to change their behaviours to use the system). WORKetc proved to be packed full of easy to use features which met all of the criteria listed above. Indeed, the more I use it, I’m finding it offers far more than I had originally wanted (or new I needed). The user forums, support desk and video library have meant that to date I haven’t needed to take advantage of their paid for training, but it’s great to know they’re there.
Best of all, I now have the features I was looking for (plus more) for an investment of just $39 Inc GST per user per-month. So, despite having taken six months to get to where I am now, my initial thoughts are that I’ve made a great decision for for me, my business and those that we interact with.I’ve also had my first sales lead come in through the integration with my website which using the sales pipeline has converted to a sale, so my investment has already paid for itself.
I’ll keep you posted as I learn more about WORKetc, but needless to say, if you’re looking to make running your business easier, take a look at WORKetc or contact me if you’d like to know more about my journey.
As always…
Onwards & Upwards!
John Belchamber
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