UPDATED September 14, 2023

If you are currently shopping around for the right CRM System, chances are that you already understand the value of customer relationship management. Right? 

Do you have a clear plan or strategy for how your company will use a CRM system in your business? New technology is fun and the idea of automating processes is very appealing. The hitch is that the planning work needs to be handled before you start importing contacts and setting up automations / workflows. 

If you have already created a CRM Strategy, then jump down this page to the "Intro to Zoho CRM" section.

Marketing Is About Offering Value: Listening, Watching, and Asking.

Clients often ask me how to write social media posts that will connect with their customers or emails that will get high open rates from a strong subject...

There's something about marketing the intangible that seems to have unlimited potential for creativity when you're a marketer. Unlike product marketing, services marketing requires a unique approach to reach your target customer or client.

When we compare the effort of selling a widget to that of selling a service, there are noticeable differences. With a widget, there is usually just one primary person to target, one specific product use, and many obvious ways to promote it. The incredible challenge of building trust with the target audience is a big part of what makes services marketing so fun and challenging. We're often surprised to learn that many service companies do not have any kind of marketing plan.

How Building Relationships is Core to Services Marketing

Most marketing these days is already considered "relational" or based on building a...

Have you considered the hygiene of your CRM Data?

Yes, dirty data could be a major problem in your organization. Maybe you have been doing some spring cleaning around the house. Well, it's also a good time to give your CRM data clean-up. 

Clean, organized, and accurate data is essential for the success of your sales and marketing efforts. This is the data you use for personalization of your marketing campaigns and automations. 

How Does Your CRM Data Get "Dirty" to Begin with?

"Dirty" or bad data is information in your CRM that is inaccurate, duplicate, missing, outdated, or simply input in the wrong format. These are the most common ways for your CRM to have "dirty" data.

1. Information gets outdated every year... 

• 40% of email users change their email address at least once every two years
• 20% of postal addresses change each year
• 18% of phone...

These useful CRM Automation Ideas will help your sales team close deals faster

CRM automation is all about using software to automate your sales and marketing activities. You can automate the repetitive tasks in your business such as emails. Sales teams especially need automation for efficiency as well as creating more personalized experience. 

This is the first in a series of posts about automation workflows for marketing, sales and operations. Think about the sales team members who complain about having to enter information into the CRM and track their activities. 

How do you get your Sales Team to use your CRM?

1. Mindset First.

As the leader, you have the obligation to set the tone for how your team members view your CRM. It is a tool for understanding trends, business development, and measuring success. If you can explain that value to your entire...

If you're shopping around CRM software, then you'll want a checklist of the most important features to include. Maybe our little list of "must-have" CRM features will help you decide which platform is best for you. We've used a ton of different CRM software over the years. Beckmann Collaborative settled on Zoho CRM for ourselves and many of our clients. However, you may find another platform such as Keap or Hubspot is a better fit for your business. 

10 "Must Have" Features in a CRM

1. EASY TO LEARN

Depending on your level of comfort with technology, you and your team may find different user experiences easier than others. For example, people who have previously used Salesforce or SugarCRM in enterprise companies often like Zoho in a small business. On the other hand, if you want something that has fewer features and can covers most basic needs such as...

[Guest Blog]

Before you purchase a product or service for the first time, you take the time to do some background checks. You ask one or two people who have used the product about their experience. If they speak ill of it, you change your mind about buying it.
Generally, online reviews help other would-be customers make the right decisions. But what if you are not a customer but actually the business owner who wants to see your customers leave reviews to grow your social proof?

Before we discuss how you can encourage users to leave reviews, let’s first establish what social proof is and why it matters.

What is Social Proof?

In this context, social proof is the validation of a product by having it associated with many customers.

It helps if some of the customers who have something positive to say about your product are public figures or celebrities with thousands or...

This year, more than ever before, we are so very grateful to work with our clients and collaborators. Randi, Elizabeth and I really enjoy supporting each company and their team. It is thanks to open minds, patience and shared drive for success that we have accomplished so much together in 2020.

In 2020 we learned and reaffirmed:

1. Trust is the Foundation.  For us, loving honesty is key to our success in building relationships of trust. Sometimes we see ways to make content marketing or CRM process better and it may contradict what clients say they want. We could bow down and pretend the client is always right, but then they would not succeed. Instead, we share honest feedback in a loving way. This is how we build a foundation of trust.

2. Frequent Communication. Especially in these times of remote working a an increased number of virtual meetings, communication...

Part 3: CRM Workflows

Welcome to the third and final installment of our CRM Best Practices series.  These articles walk you through how to evaluate, setup, and properly use your CRM software.

If you missed the first article, then you can get started with your CRM evaluation. The second article includes valuable tips on CRM user best practices.

This article covers important tips for your CRM workflows through both initial setup and recurring maintenance of your database. These tips can help the growth of your business and improve decision making.

What is a Workflow?

A workflow is simply a routine or recurring process used to get the best results in the most efficient amount of time. It can be illustrated as a series of steps in a diagram or a checklist showing what needs to be completed and the sequence.

Read more about marketing workflows in this...

Setting Up Your CRM

When you first begin using a CRM platform (such as Zoho, Keap, Hubspot, or Salesforce), the ideas seems simple enough - get all of this information from my spreadsheet of contacts into one place.  Then you begin learning about all of the cool features such as email templates, workflows, and integrations with other software you use. Shiny object syndrome may hit you. We've all been victims to it before, so you're not alone. 

Over time, that shiny CRM platform becomes... well, a mess. And using it slowly shifts into the category of "tools I should use, but generally avoid." When you hit this point, it's time to evaluate. Either have someone else in the company take on this task or hire a third-party marketing consulting. As the primary user, it can be difficult to honestly evaluate your CRM. 

CRM Best Practices Guide

We've put together a...

How do you define Client Relationship Management (CRM) in your business? What does it look like in your day to day operations? 

Leads and Prospects... the Strangers in Your Business

First, let's talk about your leads. Rather than focus on how you generate leads in this article, we will review what to do once they are in your database or CRM software to nurture and develop those leads.  Consider the sales process as being similar to making a new friend or dating - it is important to have that mindset at this stage of the client relationship. 

1. Communicate Based on What You Know 

The first email or phone call made to connect with a lead should be relevant to any inquiry made by that lead. Just like on a first date, you start from what you know. If that lead came in from a whitepaper he download, then (logically) you want to follow-up to...