Building and maintaining positive relationships with customers is a key factor in a company’s success, regardless of what industry or niche it’s operating. While this might not be a challenge for a small business or a local company, it will inevitably become a consideration as the business expands and the operations side becomes more complex. At this point, a Customized Relationship Management (CRM) software is needed.
Why Use CRM Software
CRM software was initially designed to help companies develop and maintain relationships with new and current customers. It has since evolved into a powerful tool that allows companies to manage accounting, marketing, sales, point-of-sale (POS), vendor and other operational data in one user-friendly solution.
There are a lot of reasons why companies should use a good CRM software:
Cuts Costs: There’s a wide range of affordable and solid CRM software out on the market today. A comprehensive CRM software can also help reduce cost. Its integration features mean the company doesn’t have to purchase or implement different tools to run operations.
Saves Time: Automating a big part of your operations is one major reason for using CRM software. It frees key personnel from repetitive tasks and gives them more time to grow the business.
Enhances Email Marketing: CRM can help companies reach more people.The software makes it possible to send massive amounts of personalized emails. This can lead to a boost in the email marketing program’s open and click-through numbers. Some CRM software even provides detailed reports about the email marketing campaign, including particulars like clicks, opens, bounces, spam, and opt-outs.
Assists Sales Team to Hit Goals: Employees can also track their performance with CRM. The software can give the team insights into their quota attainments, critical sales date, deal valuation, and employee commissions. A feature like this can present sales personnel with a clear picture of their sales pipeline, starting from the first customer contact up to the final sale.
4 Things to Consider When Choosing CRM Software
The good news is that there are numerousCRM software that can manage specific businesses. For instance, there’s free software for small companies and others that are designed for startups or expanding businesses. Each has its own pros and cons and price tag, making it challenging to pick the best one for your needs.
So how do you choose? Consider these four tips:
1. Pick a Responsive CRM That can Grow With Your Business
Before you even start looking into the different CRM software, evaluate your current and future needs first. Think about where you see your business in 6 or 10 years. Consider things like what sales channels you might add, how much you project your company to grow and what it will entail for your sales and marketing team, as well as your consumer base. Then choose a CRM software that’s responsive and has the capacity to adapt to your needs.
2. Choose Software That is User-Friendly
Every CRM tool and software has different levels of complexities that suit various business needs. If you choose a CRM that’s difficult to use, then you might end up wasting money on something that doesn’t help expand your business. Choose software that’s user-friendly instead; one that can make it easy for you and your team to access needed data, which can be seamlessly integrated with your marketing strategies, and which will boost your sales team’s productivity.
3. Select a CRM Solution That is SaaS-Based
SaaS-based CRM solutions are swiftly gaining ground among CRM systems. One major advantage to using this system is that you don’t need to shell out huge sums of cash on your first investment. You also have the option to scale up the package you chose to fit your different business needs. More importantly, an SaaS-based CRM solution utilizes cloud hosting, which gives you easy and immediate access to all your crucial data. Any upgrades and maintenance of the system will be done by the service provider, enabling you to concentrate on your business and on using the CRM software to your advantage.
4. Test the Software Out First
Never make a purchase or make a deal with a CRM developer without testing the product first. This will give you and your team the opportunity to check out all the features and see if it will deliver what it promises. A dry run of the software will also demonstrate whether it can integrate smoothly with the other tools you utilize for your business.
The right CRM software can give your business a big boost. It’s a big investment so it’s crucial that you carefully consider the benefits it provides and how you will select which solution to use.
If you value your internet browser’s speed and security, you might have to ditch your current one. There’s a new kid on the block, one that claims to be even faster and more secure than the world’s leading browser, Google Chrome.
Google Chrome slower, less secure and worse for battery life than Microsoft Edge, claims Microsoft https://t.co/LOUqKL7Zbi
Currently, the Chrome browser is a lot more popular than its rivals, controlling 58 percent market share. However, Microsoft plans to knock Chrome off its perch with a bold new claim for its Edge browser. The company started its assault on New Year’s Eve by releasing two new ads highlighting Windows 10 Edge’s superiority over Google Chrome in terms of speed, security, and battery efficiency.
The 30-second ads claimed that “Microsoft Edge is up to 48 percent faster than Google Chrome” and also “The faster way to get things done on the web.”
Microsoft also claims that its Edge browser is even safer than the Google Chrome. In the ad, the company points out that “Microsoft Edge blocks 18 percent more phishing sites than Google Chrome,” adding that using Edge is “The safer way to get things done on the web.”
Apparently, Edge is better on battery life too.
While Microsoft has not exactly explained how it arrived at these two conclusions, it is possible that it may have based its statements on tests done by cybersecurity firm NSS Labs back in October of 2017. Based on the result of NSS Labs’ tests, Microsoft Edge showed the strongest browsing security by blocking 92.3 percent of phishing sites. Meanwhile, Google Chrome managed to block only 74.5 of the sites while Mozilla Firefox had a 61.1 percent block rate.
At the moment, Google has not yet released a statement in response to Microsoft claims.
The issue of net neutrality has permeated the news, talk shows, and discussion boards for a while now. Different sectors have already voiced their concerns about how repealing net neutrality will affect consumers and businesses. Meanwhile, many people are still confused about the magnitude of the issue.
What is Net Neutrality?
Net Neutrality, or the Open Internet as it’s also called, works around the premise that all internet service providers (ISPs) should treat and deliver web traffic, content, and applications equally. There were concerns that some providers might slow down broadband connections to rivals or boost speed to content providers that are connected to subsidiaries.
Regulations passed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) during Barack Obama’s presidential term sought to protect net neutrality by classifying the Internet as a “Title II” carrier. Under the Communications Act, ISPs had to disclose data caps and hidden fees and were prevented from interfering with the speed of their competitor’s sites and apps.
However, the current chairman of the FCC, Ajit Pai, indicated earlier this year that he planned to undo the existing regulations against ISPs. Pai has long been against the Title II regulations, as he believes it hinders innovation. He also claimed that even before the 2015 regulations were enforced, ISPs did not engage in the practices that the Act prohibits.
Pai’s campaign to repeal the Net Neutrality law successfully pushed through on Dec. 14, when the organization voted in favor of the repeal.
What Happens Now?
The FCC’s decision to rollback the previous administration’s policies on Net Neutrality could lead to several things. Open Internet advocates believe that the repeal could cause the creation of a high-speed internet lane for big internet, established media companies, and rich households. Meanwhile, the rest of consumers and businesses will be relegated to the slow lane. Mobile plans are also expected to be affected due to its built-in data caps. This could lead to telecom companies charging more for access to streaming services or particular websites.
How Will Repeal of Net Neutrality Affect Small Business?
A lot of people are under the impression that the FCC’s decision to repeal the Communications Act would negatively affect small businesses. The concern is justified as it appears to give more advantages to established or richer companies. How else does the repeal of open internet affect startups?
Service Providers Could Choose the Winners and Losers in the Market
As previously mentioned, one of the main concerns of the repeal is how it gives ISPs the power to throttle web traffic to its competitors or small businesses and allow big companies or ISPs subsidiaries or partners to get faster speed.
Site speed plays a key role in how companies are ranked in Google’s search engines.Startups are afraid that if their site is being throttled by certain ISPs, their rankings will go down and they have no way of fighting it.
Throttling will have a big effect on video marketing companies that rely on speed in order to stream videos with limited buffering and interruptions. Established video companies like Netflix can pay the extra cost, but small businesses might not be able to.
Competition Will be Split
The Obama-era FCC regulation ensured that no broadband company can try to outperform other ISPs. This gives all companies, regardless of the size, the capacity to offer the same speed, with no limitations.
However, some sectors are saying that reversing Title II will split the competition between ISPs and permit them to offer more free data plans or flexible pricing. This is a development that smaller ISPs might not be able to offer to consumers and could potentially cause these companies to flounder. Still others are saying that this can push smaller providers to become more creative and come up with offers that would attract other audiences, thereby giving them the opportunity to diversify and distinguish themselves from their more established counterparts.
Small Businesses Will Experience Financial Challenges
There’s a risk thatsmaller companies will be unduly burdened when premiums for faster internet and high speeds are levied on them. Depending on how expensive these fees are, startups might experience financial challenges just to promote their business and gain visibility.
This could also lead to small companies making cuts in other areas just to ensure an online presence. It could lead to salary cuts or slower job growth until the business finally gains a consistent online presence.
It’s safe to say that the FCC repeal will not be accepted point blank by consumer groups and the business sector. Lawsuits and appeals have already been filed. However, it’s unclear how the repeal will affect consumers and the economy in the long run.
Most Corporations have the advantage of unlimited access to all the features a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform offers. Now small businesses can also enjoy this perk as well.
During Salesforce’s yearly Dreamforce conference, the company announced that one of their best performing CRM platforms – the Sales Cloud Lightning Essentials – will be available to all. With this, small businesses will enjoy the same access to features that large enterprises use to grow rapidly and work quicker and smarter. Small companies will also have access to Salesforce’s newest innovations, like Einstein AI, Lightning, and Trailhead.
Salesforce knows that to be able to cope with the demands of today’s competitive marketplaces, businesses should be able to easily integrate new technology into their day-to-day operations. This need is underlined by the revelation that 66% of small company heads are handling two or more departments. Meanwhile, only 26% of small businesses have an in-house IT department while the rest either deal with contractors or try to work out IT problems on their own.
Salesforce Essentials can go a long way in easing this burden, as the platform was designed for simplicity and functionality. Small business analyst, Brent Leary, explained that small companies need guidance and a user-friendly platform, especially if they’re new to CRM. Essentials’ simple interface does meet that requirement, with the Trailhead feature providing the necessary assistance needed to develop leads faster and see results more quickly.
New AI Features Great for Small Business
The three key features added to the Sales Cloud Lightning Essentials will definitely make a difference to small businesses.
Trailhead is an interactive, online learning platform that assists users in its implementation. It also gives guidance on topics like how to implement innovation and raise business knowledge.
Meanwhile, Einstein is showing small businesses the practical aspects of artificial intelligence. In an interview, Salesforce’s Senior Product Director of Marketing, Eric Bernsley, explained that while most have a lot of questions about AI, they don’t want big, vague concepts. They want to see how AI can help businesses get more done.
Entrepreneurs and small business owners know that manually inputting data is time-consuming and leaves little time for a company to identify or pursue new opportunities. But with Einstein, basic sales activities can be automated or records kept up-to-date. It can also help with predictive lead scoring or look at areas connected to possible leads.
Since Essentials is built on Salesforce’s Lightning framework, small businesses will be able to enjoy a smooth transition of their workflow on any device due to the system’s intuitive design. And when Essentials is combined with other Salesforce Apps, small businesses can eventually manage their whole sales conversation – accounts, leads to contacts – on any device, whether from the office or out in the field.
More importantly, all of Essentials’ features are scalable, meaning they’re flexible and can meet the CRM needs of any company, regardless of the size. And since Essentials is also built on a global platform, upgrading can be done anytime, something that will be beneficial to small companies.
The number of email users have grown exponentially over the years, and there’s no sign that it will be stopping in 2018. Studies have shown that almost 90% of American consumers use email, and 65% or more have bought something online due to promotional emails.
This means the future of marketing relies on data-boosted content marketing. If you want to keep up with your competitors, you should watch out for these email marketing trends that are expected to dominate next year.
Increased Interactivity Inside Emails
Marketers forecast that emails will show increased interactivity in 2018, with the goal of making them fun to read so engagement rates are increased and bounce rates reduced.
One of the best ways to do this is to enhance emails by including image galleries, quizzes, GIFs, countdown timers, and add-to-cart capabilities. Quizzes and GIFS will lead to increased customer footprints while countdown timers create a feeling of urgency that will push recipients to take action within a stipulated time-frame. Meanwhile, including an add-to-cart function will shorten shopping time and enhance brand experience.
Email Marketing Programs Backed by Artificial Intelligence
It’s a given that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology will be a big part of the future. As a matter of fact, numerous tech companies have already invested heavily in developing AI technology that will make lives easier. Email marketing is one area that will reportedly benefit from machine learning.
It’s expected that machine learning programs can assist companies and email marketers by suggesting ways on how to better segment email lists, incorporate product recommendations and design more personalized emails that target specific customers.
Rise of More Plain-Text Emails
The trend of using HTML-powered email templates with images is over. Instead, 2018 will see the rise of plain-text emails. Researchers have found that this style of email is more effective than the HTML ones. Marketing campaigns using plain text emails have been found to have higher delivery and open rates, as well as better engagement numbers.
Marketing specialists have theorized that plain text emails look the same across various gadgets and look more personal. Recipients don’t have to open a browser to read a plain-text email. They’re also easier to format for mobile devices.
Mobile Becomes a Priority
More than half of emails are opened on a mobile device, and 2018 is expected to be the year when emails will be designed with mobile formatting as a priority.
Graphic via superoffice.com
Pretty soon, companies will be obligated to have a responsive design when it comes emails. This trend won’t be limited to emails though. Subscription forms will also become more mobile friendly while articles will start wrapping up their content with an email signup form to boost conversions.
Increased Significance of Gmail and its Subscriber-Level Filtering
Gmail is becoming the primary inbox provider for a lot of companies. Therefore, most customers on subscriber lists have a Gmail address. But due to Gmail’s system of filtering email, it becomes imperative for businesses to think about how it will be placed in the inbox.
In order for marketers to optimize clicks, opens, and conversions, they have to pay more attention to who they are emailing and how they’re sending their email.Questions like whether the subscriber is actively receiving and interacting with the email and whether they have economic value should be answered. Likewise, the frequency of emails sent, the order, and even the time that they’re sent becomes more significant.
However, the upcoming year will see more companies using more robust analytics to optimize results and foregoing conventional rules like not sending mail to those who haven’t clicked or opened an email in the past three months.
The year 2018 will see more emails that are deeply personalized and utilizing advanced automation technologies. The integration of AI and machine learning will also help marketers to harness the power of email marketing and use it to further their business.
There’s no question that small businesses have greatly benefited from today’s technology. Ten years ago, many companies would not have considered placing their enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems on a public cloud platform. But now it’s a route that more businesses are taking.
Understanding Cloud ERP
Cloud-based computing utilizes the Internet to administer shared computing resources, like disk storage, memory, and processing power to run numerous software applications. Meanwhile, cloud ERP is software that is accessed via the cloud. It uses the Internet to connect to servers that are hosted away from a company’s premises. This is in direct contrast to traditional ERP and business productivity software that is generally housed in the company’s headquarters.
Benefits of Using Cloud ERP for Small Businesses
Image via AgileTech
Numerous businesses have turned to ERP solutions to automate their businesses, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular have discovered that cloud-based ERP provides multiple benefits.
It’s more secure: While some companies are admittedly still worried that cloud ERP can render their data vulnerable, more and more companies are placing their trust in cloud security. This is because companies have strict security requirements, which puts cloud ERP providers under pressure to ensure that their technology is always secure.
It boosts productivity: Small businesses are often concerned that moving to a new technology will disrupt their work. But moving to a cloud-based platform is just a temporary inconvenience and will actually boost productivity in the long run. Cloud ERP is user-friendly and makes it easier for employees to collaborate in real-time. It also eliminates the need to get in touch with other employees just to ask for a single file since everything is accessible. And the less time is wasted on simple processes, the more time is afforded for innovation and improvement.
Data flow is centralized: Small businesses often develop problems once they start growing and find that the various departments and their data are housed in different areas. For instance, inventory data is kept in one software program while financial information is saved in another. Cloud ERP ensures that every relevant data is in one area, giving all authorized users access to important files and data easily and quickly.
It’s affordable: When it comes to capital outlay, cloud-based programs and data storage cost less compared to implementation and maintenance of an IT system housed on company premises. This holds true even when taking into account the monthly service fee that a company would pay a cloud provider. By doing away with the yearly maintenance fees and just charging per month or per user, cloud ERP becomes more affordable than systems that demand expensive licenses and need constant software and hardware upgrades.
Businesses become more flexible: Cloud ERP provides the accessibility, mobility, and flexibility that conventional ERPs lack. Since cloud-based ERP is managed offsite and on a system that’s always available, management will find that ordering and delegating tasks become simpler and easier.
How to Ensure Cloud ERP Works
Using a new system in your business is admittedly tricky. To ensure that integrating a cloud-based solution will have a positive outcome, companies should start with a dry run before going live. This process includes testing the new cloud ERP system with select employees first and ensuring that they are well trained in using the new system. This will lessen any problems that might appear once there’s a change in the infrastructure of the IT system. It also has the dual purpose of revealing which staff members will be free to manage other tasks. Company resources can then be reassigned or internal teams moved to maximize their potential.
Small businesses that are considering using cloud ERP will need a reliable cloud provider and the know-how to optimize the technology’s best features. Once the transition to the cloud is successful, a company can enjoy higher productivity, enhanced business processes, and more success.
Since the start of the Trump administration, there has been a noted increase in optimism among small business owners regarding their future prospects. In fact, data from both Gallup and the US Chamber of Commerce confirm that U.S. small businesses haven’t been this upbeat about the current situation in almost a decade.
Gallup Inc., the American research and consulting firm also known for its public opinion polls, recently released its latest data on small-business owners’ optimism index. Apparently, life is good for these businessmen as the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index is now at +106, an 11 point improvement from second quarter’s figure. In fact, optimism in the segment is the highest since 2017 when the index was measured at +113 for the second quarter of that year.
Gallup got their data by interviewing a random sample of small business owners nationwide last July 10-14. In the survey, businessmen were asked to evaluate their current situation as well as weigh in what they expect the future scenario of their businesses could be.
Apparently, the surveyed group feel that their current business situation has generally improved. They gave a +45 rating on average, up 6 points from second quarter’s +39 rating. However, their future expectations only increased minimally with the third quarter rated at +61 points compared with the second quarter’s +59.
Meanwhile, small business owners reported a net increase of jobs in their respective companies for the past 12 months, which is a reflection of the decreasing unemployment rate announced by the Trump administration. Twenty-one percent of those interviewed say that they have increased the number of jobs at their establishment. On the other hand, only 10 percent say that they have reduced the number of workers for the past 12 months.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also released data on what they call the MetLife & U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Index, which basically agrees with the Gallup report. Among the major trends the report uncovered is that a whopping 60 percent expect their revenues to increase next year, which reveals the prevalent optimism in the segment. The poll also revealed that only nine percent are expecting a decrease in revenue.
According to the poll, small business owners are also planning to hire more employees in the near future. For every small business owner saying that they might reduce their manpower, five business owners are likewise saying they will definitely hire more to meet their needs.
The surging optimism among small business owners is seen as a result of President Trump’s promises that are business-friendly. These include increases in infrastructure spending, regulatory relief as well as tax reforms.
President Donald Trump hosted a White House event last Tuesday where he revealed a rosy future for American businesses and the nation’s economy in general. Attended by 100 small business owners from all over the country, the President praised those in attendance for their roles in powering up the nation’s economic recovery and also reiterated his administration’s commitment to their success.
“You are the dreamers and innovators who are powering us into the future — that’s exactly what you are — and my administration will be there with you every single step of the way,” Trump told his audience during the event.
President Trump also highlighted his administration’s efforts in loosening up certain business regulations that hurt America’s economic performance. This includes some reforms in the energy sector, which some analysts predicted could result in a ten percent growth in the industry, according to a CNBC report
“We’re ending job-killing legislation. We’re eliminating the massive restrictions on American energy.”
The President likewise stressed the improving unemployment situation in the nation. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveal that the unemployment rate for June 2017 is only 4.4 percent, the lowest in 16 years.
Trump also touted the economic improvement under his administration as measured by GDP. Recently released first quarter figures show a rise of 2.6 percent, beating previous estimates.
But Trump believes that the U.S. economy can do more and expressed optimism that his previous promise of a 3 percent GDP growth is within reach. “Remember I was saying, ‘We’re going try and hit 3% sometime over the next period of two years’?” Trump told the small business owners during the event. “But don’t worry about the 3, we’re going to go higher than 3 in the not-too-distant future.”
Accompanying Trump in the event was his daughter Ivanka as well as Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Linda McMahon. The two led a discussion during the Q&A portion, offering business advice to some of the guests.
Google has rolled out a new feature in their search engine portal, allowing users to track their own online footprints.
Dubbed “Personal,” the new feature will expand the user’s search to include the whole Google portfolio. So if you have an account with Gmail, Google+, or saved a photo or video on the cloud, chances are you can find them by filtering your search further.
Accessing Google Personal is quitestraightforward. You just have to type your query in the search box like you ordinarily would. After the results are shown, you can scroll to the top right to find “More,” and click on the drop-down list where you can find “Personal.” You can then access your own online history.
If you search for “Kentucky” for instance, any photos, clips, or references you have made using that word will turn up in the search results page. Even your email messages that contain that particular keyword are extracted and laid out for you.
Of course, you need to be logged in to your account to do this. The message, “Only you can see these results,” is right there for you to read after accessing this feature.
Google has not really formally announced the launch of this feature. But it seems like it’s going to a be astaple in the search box. However, it’s not available for Android or iOS, although analysts think that it’s only a matter of time before you can use the feature on mobile platforms. It also doesn’t support Google Drive for now.
Google Personal is another way for the search engine company to data mine your personal information, which makes it easier for targeted ads to find you. This seems to be in line with the announcement of the company during the I/O conference for the Google Lens.
The lens converts information search from text to visual. By training the camera on an object, the user will be able to find the species of an unknown insect, for instance. They can also read up on the reviews or menu of a restaurant when they focus their camera on the establishment before going in. It’s supposed to be equipped with machine-learning that allows you to translate menus written in a foreign language.
In the same vein, Google Personal willallow users to relinquish more information about their search patterns, preferences, and biases. Again, privacy issues are being called to question, although the company seems to be simply testing the waters at this point.
B2B research and reviews firm Clutch has released some interesting data-driven findings from their Social Media for Small Business: 2017 Survey. The firm surveyed 350 small business owners/managers across the United States to determine digital marketing habits and goals for 2017. Respondents included 40% of companies with 10 or fewer employees, 27% with 11-50 employees, 25% with 51-250 employees, and 8% with 251-500 employees. The survey found that:
– 24% of small businesses have not used social media for their business
– Over 90% of small businesses using social media are on Facebook
– Over 50% plan to increase investment in Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube in 2017
– 41% share content, engage with followers multiple times a day
– Audience growth and clicks to website are most popular metrics for small businesses
– Over 50% rely on in-house staff for social media marketing
Some of these findings might not be a surprise…especially the first two listed above. We all know someone whose small business isn’t exactly keen on the whole social media, Facebook concept. And it’s without question that many small businesses have a Facebook account that’s more of a placeholder than an active component of their revenue building. But what can be pulled and analyzed from these findings should be noted by all SMBs.
Clutch has accurately determined that there are three key reasons why small businesses need social media: its cost effectiveness, growing popularity, and ability to target customers.
Joshua Dirks, co-founder and CEO of Project Bionic, a Seattle-based creative marketing agency points out that “An active social media presence has the potential to drastically improve your marketing abilities at a much lower cost than traditional media”. And in what is a extremely profound point: “Many [small business owners] read the headlines from five to six years ago about ‘likes’ not mattering and bought into that. They are missing out because of their own viewpoint on the topic, [made] from believing five- to six-year-old headlines and not recapturing the maturation of the space”. That right there should make any owner or manager want to reconsider social media marketing as part of their business.
Another fact that is missing from the mindset of a lot of SMB owners/managers is the readily available data in social media that can easily boost a business’ marketing and sales. “Social is one of the few forms that allows you to look at the data,” said Keith Kakadia, Founder and CEO of Sociallyin, a Mississippi-based social media agency. “It allows you to determine whether there’s a return on investment (ROI) for the money spent. When you have a small budget, every single dollar needs to be spent on what works”.
The Clutch analysis goes on with some extremely valuable recommendations and takeaways from the study that are well worth considering. In summary, SMBs that aren’t using social media, or aren’t using it effectively, need to change that because the marketing and sales opportunities are undeniable there.
Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, often gets small business owners eyes rolling. Saleforce recently created a simple, yet effective, video answer to that question targeted toward small businesses.
What is CRM?
Salesforce explains to small business why CRM is important to them. The video is a little cheesy but helpful as a CRM intro to small business owners who find the concept daunting:
“You are in a business that some call small business, wearer of many hats, blazer of new business trails, it’s anything but small. It’s everything, not the least of which is finding, winning and keeping customers in a world where you’re expected to keep up like a bigger business.”
“But how do you do all that? Welcome to Customer Relationship Management, CRM for short. It does all the things you already do to keep track of customers, only easier. It starts when you take what you know about your customers, name, phone, job title, company and put it in a place that makes it easy for everyone in your company to use, share and take action from.”
“It’s so everyone understands every interaction from calls, emails and meeting notes to quotes and closing deals. You can even see what your amazing sales revenue look like at a glance. It’s the kind of info that lets service be quicker, more informed and more personal with customers and lets marketing capture leads and follow up with smarter and better email campaigns to bring customers in.”
“It’s one place that allows everyone to work together seamlessly from anywhere, right in the palm of your hand. There is no need for sticky notes or staring at spreadsheets so no one is ever in the dark about what’s going on, especially you.”
“CRM… in a nutshell, it’s the everything helper, from people who need to do everything to make business grow bigger.”
“How do you price your good or service? It’s one of those questions that you have to have an answer for on day one. And you really, really want to get the right answer,” says John Henry, entrepreneur, venture capitalist and host of eBay’s Open for Business Podcast. “It all starts back in 2008 when a guy named Terry Kniess did something on The Price is Right that hadn’t been done in four decades. He did something that every business owner can learn a valuable lesson from.” What the now legendary Terry Kniess did was “guess” the exact price of $23,473 to win the Showcase prizes in 2008.
What did Terry Kniess and his wife do that entrepreneurs can learn from? Study the data. Once Kniess and his wife decided to attend a Price is Right taping they decided that it would be a good idea to study the show by recording episodes and watching the show looking for clues. “After we decided that that was where we were going to go, I said if we’re going to the Price is Right, let’s do it correctly,” Kniess told Henry. “I said, let’s study the show, and we’ll go in the fall.”
“We’d sit down every night and watch the show and look at the prizes that were up for grabs that day, and we started making a little mental list, of ‘Oh, this has been on before,” said Kniess. “And the first thing we noticed, was that the prizes repeated… and the prices never changed!” That key piece of information was the trick that Kniess used to predict the price of his showcase. “Do your homework. Do your homework. Do your homework.”
Lesson One: Do Your Homework
“Do your homework sounds really simple, but it can feel daunting when you’re first starting out,” stated John Henry, the 23-year-old Dominican-American entrepreneur and founder of the startup accelerator Cofound Harlem and the podcast host. “How do you go about taking all the work and expense, the blood, the sweat, and the tears you’ve put into your business, and distilling all of that into a single number, the price of your product?” Henry noted that picking the wrong price can be disaterous, even leading to business failure. He says, “Do your homework. That’s lesson one. Everything starts there. The thing is, doing your homework used to take a lot of time. In the past, companies had to send people to actual physical stores all over the country, in order to get information about their competitors’ prices and set a baseline number. Now there are tons of e-commerce sites that can help you find the right price. And one of those sites is eBay.”
“I like to think of eBay as sort of like the Kelley Blue Book of everything,” stated Zoher Karu, Chief Data Officer at eBay. “We have such a vast number of items for sale. I think it’s around 900 million now, and eBay, of course, has brand new inventory, but it also has, for example, last season’s model. Or it has maybe a refurbished version. The used version. So it’s that breadth and depth of inventory and sales histories that allows us to think of the Kelley Blue Book of everything.”
In essence, eBay should be used to validate all of your product price points before you add them to your ecommerce website or on eBay itself.
“If you do it right, you can bear fruit for a long time, and if you do it wrong, which is what happens in most cases, you’re digging out of a hole for a long time,” commented Mickey Goodman, who has worked for Kraft and Unilever and has taught classes on pricing strategy at NYU Stern and is now a Professor of Business & Entrepreneurship at Savannah College of Art and Design. Henry points out that most small business owners do something called “cost-based pricing,” and it’s a really bad idea. “Let’s take it back to when I was setting prices for dry cleaning at my first company, Mobile City,” explained Henry. “I called all the dry cleaners in the area, and pretended to be an interested customer. I asked how much for a shirt, how much for a blazer. Eventually, they’d get suspicious and stop giving prices to me over the phone, so I’d get my girlfriend at the time to call. And then, once I knew the price range I was working with, I decided to charge just a little bit more for the service than what it cost me to provide it. In business speak, this is called “cost-based pricing.” And in my case, and lots of other cases, it’s a mistake.”
“That’s what people intuitively do because it kind of makes common sense, which is you take your costs and you say ‘I’d like to make a 20% profit,’ you know, whatever it is,” replied Goodman. “And you add 20% to your costs and you say here’s my price.”
Henry drives the point home with a personal story that all business owners can learn from:
“If you go the cost-based route, you risk underselling yourself and leaving a lot of money on the table. It can cost you your business. It nearly cost me mine. I remember sitting in the living room with my Pops. I was crunching the numbers. I usually did it every Sunday and I realized I was gaining customers, but actually losing money. And that’s because I simply was not charging enough. I called a mentor of mine, and I’ll never forget what he told me. He said, ‘John, you’re delivering five star quality at McDonald’s prices.’ That conversation saved my company. The very next day, I immediately raised my prices. And while I lost a bunch of my customers at first, I ultimately found a new clientele that weren’t as price sensitive. They were happy to pay a premium for the service I provided. This brings us to lesson two: don’t set a price based on what it costs you to make something. Instead, set the price based on what your customers think that thing is worth. This is what Mickey calls “value-based pricing.””
Lesson Two: Use Value-Based Pricing
“It’s based around the concept of you know when people are buying a good or service it’s ‘cause it’s fulfilling some need for them,” stated Goodman. “Now at the most basic level if they’re thirsty and they buy a bottle of water the need is that they were thirsty.” Henry replied, “So lesson number two: value-based pricing. Price your product based on how much it’s worth to your potential customers.”
There is also the question of how to determine value. Jon Wirt, Head of Marketing for Pushd, tests the market for its new products by having people come in and give their feedback on the product, price and value. “How much do you think this costs to buy and what is the max you personally would pay for it,” Wirt asked a beta tester in reference to their new digital picture frame product called the Aura.
Tester: “I think something like this is probably worth $150. I would not pay more than more than $225.”
Wirt tells the beta tester the actual price is $399.
Tester: “Yeah, that’s expensive for the size. I could see if it bled all the way up to the end, I would consider paying $399, but as-is I wouldn’t pay $399.”
“It’s a weird experience to come in and do that,” Wirt said. “Like, you came into a beta test, you’re getting paid, you’re using something that’s half finished in a room where I’m videotaping you and writing down notes. It’s like an awkward experience. And then you’re like guessing this number. I don’t expect them to get it right.”
“I have to ask, you’re framing it like they’re getting the answer wrong,” stated Frances Harlow, Branded Content Producer at Gimlet Media and one of this podcasts producers. “But what if you guys are getting the answer wrong and how do you know that you’re not getting the answer wrong?” Wirt replied, “Until you launch, you don’t really know.” Harlow added, “What Pushd is facing is a problem that lots of business owners face. When we consumers are presented with a product, we naturally and immediately make mental comparisons. We ask ourselves, ‘What is this thing like?’ And then we form our opinion about what the price should be. And in the beta testers case, I got a clue about how this works when Jonathan brought up the iPad, and the tester described his mental comparisons.”
Lesson Three: Manipulate Your Comparisons
“And this challenge that Pushd is facing gets to our third lesson,” stated Henry. “As a business owner, you have to manipulate your comparisons.” Henry elaborated, “Position your product in the marketplace so when people inevitably compare it to similar products out there, they’ll feel like they’re getting a good deal.”
“What you want to do is differentiate your offering so much that there is no straightforward comparison,” added Ruth Bolton who is Professor of Marketing at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University and formerly worked in R&D at Verizon for years helping them with their pricing. “You have something that’s somewhat unique.”
“There’s always, in a sense, a competitive offering in that there’s some substitute that the customer will make if they can’t buy the service or the product that you’re offering,” said Bolton. “So it really comes down to kind of benefits per dollar.”
“One other point about manipulating comparisons — or the kinder, gentler way of saying it: creating favorable comparisons,” added Harlow.” One way to position your product in the marketplace is to literally position it, in the right environment. So with Pushd, they want you to think “fancy home decor” when you see the Aura.”
“Well if they want to do that, it might just be helpful to put them in a “fancy, home decor” showroom with the Aura, not a startup’s temporary office space,” said Henry. “And there’s one more thing Ruth would do differently, she doesn’t ask open-ended questions about prices, the way that Jonathan does at Pushd. What she would do is ask each customer a single yes or no question.” Bolton responded, “Would you buy it or not and then you do it with somebody else, would you buy it or not?”
“You don’t push back and you don’t ask how they arrived at that number,” said Henry. “And that’s because it’s more realistic. With pricing, it’s almost always a yes or no question. Would you buy it or not?” Bolton added that “you start varying the price and so you can kind of sort of start to figure out, what the shape of that demand curve is.”
“The shape of the demand curve is what we’ve been talking about this whole time… how to set a price,” said Henry. “There is no guaranteed way to pick the perfect price, but there are concrete steps you can take to get close.”
John Henry’s four steps to picking the perfect price:
1. Do your homework. The good news? It’s now easier than ever with all the data we’re gathering from e-commerce sites, like eBay. That will give you a range of prices.
2. Once you’ve found that range, be bold. Pick a number that reflects the value you bring to your customers, not just your own production costs.
3. Create favorable comparisons. Position your product so that customers feel like they’re getting a fair deal, and one way to position your product is to pay close to attention to how you’re physically positioning it.
4. Be prepared to repeat steps one through three. Prices change. They’re dynamic. That’s part of why they’re so hard to set in the first place. Even on the Price Is Right. After Terry’s spectacular win,, the show’s producers switched it up. The show now features all-new prizes, and guess what? Their prices change.
Have you ever thought of being a YouTube star or perhaps really using YouTube and your personality to promote your business? You can do it just as literally thousands of YouTube entrepreneurs have done including one YouTuber Eric Bandholz.
Bandholz is the Creative Directory and co-founder of Beardbrand, an Austin, Texas grooming company for men with beards, marketing beard care products. The company started in 2012 with a blog, a YouTube channel and a Tumblr account. They say that their “mission has been to foster style for the urban beardsman and provide tools that help men become better.” Eric Bandholz started the company with co-founders Lindsey Reinders and Jeremy McGee.
The Beardbrand company was started with a unique personality and passion. “Rather than wait for someone else to build the community, we (my co-founders and I) stepped up to the plate,” says Bandholz. “We wanted to be more than a company that sells products, and instead we want to guide men to become the individuals they want to be (beard or beardless). For many of our customers, that means giving them the tools they need to grow their beards out. I’m talking about guidance on how to handle the growth of beards physically and psychologically.”
We’ve grown tremendously over the years and are really lucky to be leading a new movement for men. Traditionally beardsmen were thought of as bikers, hippies, vagabonds, and outdoorsmen. We wanted to show the world that there were ordinary guys out there who rocked beards and they don’t fit the traditional stereotype.
On this channel we talk about beard, hair and body grooming. We also have another channel called Urban Beardsman where we talk about the lifestyle of the urban beardsman. Those topics include style, travel, lifestyle, and self improvement. Thank you so much for your support and beard on!
Eric Bandholz was recently interviewed by John McCallen of YouTube in a YouTube Creators Spotlight video. Banholz offered three tips for entrepreneurs thinking about creating their first YouTube videos and launching their own YouTube channel to promote their business.
“One… Just do it,” says Bandholz. “Get off your butt, start creating, no excuses. When I started creating content regularly, like once a week, is really when we started to see the growth in our channel. In the first year we uploaded five or six videos and we had 300 subscribers. And then I really decided to get it into gear, in 2013 when we launched our business, and uploaded probably 20 videos that second year. And then we really got consistent and started uploading every single week. That’s when we jumped up to something like 70,000.”
“Two, take advantage of the resources on YouTube, they’re everywhere, like YouTube’s Creator Academy, other YouTubers and other channels, and listen to your community as well”, added Bandholz. “The challenge is when someone is like ‘I love this music!’ And the next post is: ‘I hate that music!’ So you really just have to do what feels natural and comfortable to you and is something that you feel proud to share.”
The third key ingredient to successfully becoming a YouTube entrepreneural marketer is to “be passionate about what you’re doing” says Bandholz. “Because that’s what’s going to keep you going through the long haul. If you don’t have that passion it’s going to be a total, total drag. So I always recommend: do the thing that makes you happy.”
“Beardbrand has grown to a seven-figure business,” according to the Beard Man Eric Bandholz. “We’re up to 12 employees, hiring more every day. It was a really exciting day for me to see us pass 100,000 subscribers. We e-mailed all our customers and let them know.”
“When we started Beardbrand nobody had known or heard about beard care,” Bandholz said. “It would be scoffed at. Without YouTube, without explaining why we’re doing the thing we’re doing, without being able to engage with the community, we would not be here. With literally a zero-dollar investment and a passion for beards I’ve been able to build the life that I want to live and I’ve been able to surround myself with the people I want to surround myself and interact with the community of people that I love interacting with.”
The company has been unsuccessfully featured on SharkTank, exposed to the world by a New York Times article and now has become a YouTube phenomena and they say, you can do it too. As Eric Bandholz says, “Just do it!”
Multi-channel commerce platform Shopify announced the launch of Shopify Capital, a new merchant cash advance offering to help entrepreneurs get financing to accelerate business growth.
It’s in pilot for now, giving some merchants advances to buy equipment and inventory as well as launch new products, hire, and add new channels and products.
Product manager Saad Atieque says, “For many merchants, securing capital is a frustrating and time-consuming process. With Shopify Capital, we’re giving entrepreneurs a simple, fast, and convenient way to secure financing to invest in their business. Similar to our payments and shipping solutions, Shopify Capital represents one more way Shopify can help entrepreneurs strengthen their business operations.”
Shopify Capital tailors cash advances to the needs of each particular merchant based on data processed through the Shopify platform.
“Accessing this financing is designed to be as simple as a few clicks, with money in the merchant’s account within a few days of acceptance,” the company says.
For now, the offering is only available to eligible merchants in the U.S. There’s no application, however. Right now, it’s basically basically on a “we’ll let you know” basis. If you’re eligible, you’ll get an email and notification in Shopify. It’s only limited to a small number of merchants for now, but the company intends to expand it in the coming months.
FAQs and example remittance rates are available here.
National Small Business Week is May 1 – 7, and Google is offering workshops all over the country to give business owners advice about the online elements of running their businesses.
If you can’t make it to one, they’ll also be providing access to on-demand lessons on getting found in search and Google Maps, building free websites, growing your business online, custom email addresses, AdWords Express, and Google Partners Connect. You can sign up to be notified when these lessons are available.
You can go here to see if Google will have a workshop near you and get a better look at the topics of discussion. The page will also tell you how many businesses are “on the map” in your city.
Ginger Zee returned from her maternity leave on Monday to her job as Good Morning America’s chief meteorologist. That’s not all the busy mom is up to these days either. She has been shuttling back and forth between New York and L.A., preparing to compete on Dancing With the Stars.
Earlier this week, Ginger Zee shared a sweet photo of new baby Adrian. It must be hard to be separated from the little bundle of joy while she rehearses.
Fortunately for Ginger Zee, hubby Ben Aaron is the perfect “Mr. Mom.” He often travels with his wife and tends to the baby while Val Chmerkovskiy tends to Ginger Zee’s ballroom skills.
“I knew I was going to hit the ground running,” Ginger Zee says in a recent interview with People magazine, about her crazy schedule plus new motherhood. “I think the schedule’s going to be pretty grueling, but not in the way that I can’t handle it.”
Will you be cheering on Ginger Zee and Val Chmerkovskiy when season 22 of Dancing With the Stars premieres on Monday, March 21?
Ginger Zee is one very busy new mom. She returned to her job as Good Morning America’s chief meteorologist on Monday, following her maternity leave–and she is preparing for the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars. That’s a lot for a new mom to handle.
Fortunately for Ginger Zee, husband Ben Aaron is ready and willing to take over her duties whenever she’s unavailable. He changes Adrian Benjamin’s (born in December) diapers and puts in extra time when his wife flies back and forth from her job in New York to DWTS in L.A.
“I knew I was going to hit the ground running,” Ginger Zee says in a recent interview with People magazine. “I think the schedule’s going to be pretty grueling, but not in the way that I can’t handle it.
Fans will no doubt love watching Ginger Zee compete on season 22 of Dancing With the Stars. Paired with pro dancer Val Chmerkovskiy, she will learn how to perform on the ballroom floor from one of the best.
Jamie Foxx made quite the statement before the Oscars regarding the protest of stars like Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith over a lack of different races in nominees.
In fact, Jamie Foxx took a surprisingly oppposite stance when it came to racial tensions over the Oscars.
At the American Black Film Festival Awards in Beverly Hills, which were held a week before the controversial ceremony, Jamie Foxx said, “All these Oscar talks, I don’t even trip about that.”
He added, “I mean, what’s the big deal? I was sitting at home with my Oscar, like ‘What’s all the hubbub?”
Jamie Foxx won that Oscar fair and square with his astounding turn as Ray Charles in 2005’s Ray. I mean, he was really amazing, right?
Ouch. That must have hurt the feelings of protesters like the Smiths and Spike Lee.
But, it must have really hurt the woman who created #oscarssowhite last year, April Reign. To her, the lack of nominees of color was a serious sign of trouble.
Back in January, after this year’s Oscar nominees were announced and for the second year in a row all nominees were white, she said, “It tells me that the industry isn’t interested in changing the status quo and that there is a mistaken assumption that only movies about straight white males will bring in moviegoers.”
What do you think about these last two controversial Oscars seasons? Do you side more with Jamie Foxx or April Reign and the Oscars protesters?
About a year and a half ago, Yahoo launched Yahoo Recommends as a new monetization platform for publishers and part of its suite of publisher solutions.
The product suggested other articles at the bottom of publishers’ content, not unlike offerings from Taboola, Outbrain, and the like.
The service is now closed to new sign-ups. It’s not clear if Yahoo is going to pull the plug on the whole thing, but it seems somewhat likely, especially considering that the company has been shutting down various other properties.
The Yahoo Recommends site simply says:
Yahoo Recommends signups are now closed. Please check out our other partner programs at the Partner Portal.
Digiday shares a statement from the company saying, ““We have not made the decision to shut down Yahoo Recommends, however, we are not actively signing up new publishers at this time.”
Yahoo Recommends is powered by Yahoo’s personalization technology, and enables publishers to display its articles in a variety of layouts on desktop and mobile. It also features ads served through Gemini.
Amazon announced the launch of new Dash Replenishment integration with Samsung printers so users won’t be left without toner when they need it. As the company notes, this could save you a potential jam on a time-sensitive project.
Samsung was announced as a partner for the service back in October, along with GE, August, Gmate, Obe, Oster, Petnet, CleverPet, Sutro, Thync, and Sealed Air. Amazon noted at the time that Samsung laser printers would order toner cartridges.
Now, the functionality is available for select models, and customers can sign up for Dash Replenishment through Samsung’s Mobile Print app, which lets users wirelessly print from their mobile devices or via Samsung’s Easy Printer Manager, a device management console for Windows and Mac.
The user can select which toner is automatically ordered when a replacement is needed, and the printer will then monitor toner levels. Before it runs out, an order will be placed and shipped by Amazon.
“Let’s face it, there’s never a good time to run out of toner,” said Andrew Sivori, Vice President, CE-IT Product Marketing at Samsung Electronics America. “Through our collaboration with Amazon and integration of Amazon Dash Replenishment, we can ensure that our valued customers never experience lost time or productivity due to an empty toner cartridge. Samsung is committed to improving small office productivity through advanced technology.”
“Amazon Dash Replenishment prevents the ‘oh-no’ moments of running out,” said Daniel Rausch, Director of Amazon Devices. “A Samsung printer using Dash Replenishment automatically orders toner when it’s needed, so customers don’t have to think or worry about how much is left and they won’t ever run out of the toner supplies needed to stay productive.”
Earlier this year, Amazon announced additional Dash Replenishment devices including Brother printers, a GE washer, and a Gmate SMART blood glucose monitor. The program also includes Purell soap and hand sanitizer devices and the Whirlpool Smart Dishwasher.
Return Path released a new email engagement benchmark report called The Hidden Metrics of Email Deliverability, which gives readers sector-specific results for email metrics including read rate, forward reate, and complaint rate. These, the company says, collectively reveal a lot about subscriber engagement and play a role in determining which messages reach the inbox.
“Of note, the study found that verticals with the highest read rate in 2015 were utilities (47%) and distribution/manufacturing (31%),” a spokesperson for Return Path says. “Business/marketing and social/dating companies had the lowest read rate (9%).”
The study draws from over 3.5 billion commercial emails. It found that the amount of promotional emails delivered to the spam folder ranged from just 2% (utilities) to 28% (automotive/accessories).
It also found that most industries saw a flat to slightly declining read rate in Q4. Only one industry – utilities – experienced a double-digit drop (-14%).
The average deleted before reading rate across industries remained steady at 9% throughout 2015, according to the report. The Office Supplies, Pets, and Flowers/Gifts industries exceeded this significantly at 14%, 13%, and 13% respectively. Return Path calls this a sign of poor subscriber engagement and a possible indicator of over-mailing.
Spam complaints increased by an average of 0.5% in the fourth quarter, which the firm sees as a sign that subscribers may not appreciate the increased volume of promotional emails around the holidays.
“Major mailbox providers like Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo! rely on subscriber engagement signals in addition to sender reputation to filter out unwanted email and deliver more desired emails to the inbox,” said Scott Roth, General Manager, Email Optimization at Return Path. “These are metrics that many marketers are not yet tracking, and can have a major impact on deliverability. But there’s also opportunity for marketers to optimize consumer engagement and improve their marketing campaigns using this data.”
