Customer Relationship Management

3-DIMENSIONAL MAGIC

"What, exactly, is it?"

The short answer is that 3-Dimensional Magic is an EASY WAY to work with Simple Custom Tables that allow you to easily add multiple records to each of your customers that pertain to areas of your business that you need to be able to search in order to get more sales. (Also known as "Sub Entities".)

FIRST LET'S DISCUSS "DATA" STORAGE

1-DIMENSIONAL DATA - flat info (fields) essentially, basic info like their name, company, address, phone number and so forth. And lots of other important info. They have very limited use in true data mining.

2-DIMENSIONAL DATA extended or linked information. Usually extra things about the customer. Such as linked Checkboxes for example. More powerful than regular fields owing to their never-ending possibilities.

3-DIMENSIONAL DATA only BEGINS with Notes, History, Activities, Sales Opportunities and the like. These are like virtual "spread-sheets" of rows and columns of info attached to each contact. Important for storage and management reporting but rarely useful in true "data mining".

DATA MINING

Data mining is about finding people who have the need or desire for your products or services.

It is also about their quantifiable purchasing history.

It may also be about you being able to "source" the products or services at the right price at the right time.

And about Customer Relationship History too. You know, that multi-faceted piece of the puzzle that engenders customer satisfaction - about the history of many types of interactions.

Data mining is about being able to query your collection of information is a way that you know WHO you should be contacting, in order to get those orders.

And a product such as ACT! can certainly be a part of the solution. But on its own, it's not the solution.

TRADITIONAL CRM SYSTEMS ARE NOT ALWAYS THE ANSWER

The reason that an out-of-the-box package under $500 is not a very good data mining tool is that they simply do not provide the following features:

The ability to create your own 3-D Data. Or if added by a consultant $$$$...
There's no easy way to mine that data. (Again, unless you spend $$$$ for a custom solution)

In a nutshell, what sets CRM for MS Office apart from other applications is the ease with which you can create and search for 3-D Data. Set it up in mere seconds. Add records easily. Search quickly.

EXAMPLES OF 3-D DATA NEEDS IN REAL LIFE

If your customers are "people" and not companies, then they will have relatives with needs, albeit, they themselves may be the people who do the buying.

For example CRM for:

Insurance Brokers - Family Members, Birthdates, Relationships etc etc
Investment Advisors - a huge criteria of needs and wants
Pension Planners - Again, birthdates, Top-ups, Types etc etc

Another important requirement for 3-D Data would be Real Estate Professionals. Industrial, Investment and Residential Brokers all have significant needs for 3-D data.

Properties for Lease / Sale
Available "splits" like floors in an office or other partitions
Property Types and Descriptions
Residential Property Descriptions (apartments, Homes, Beds, Baths etc etc)
Properties viewed to date

People who Broker commodities (Pre-Owned, Custom Manufactured and New) have an additional need in that not only do they need to be able to search for Buyers, but also through Inventory and Services etc.

Expensive Equipment - New or After Market.
Plant and Machinery of all types
Vehicle Data of so many types
Parts, Spares, Refurbishment etc
People - Match-Makers - HR, Social - whatever.
Letting Agencies

In almost every sphere of business, you will realize that there is a need for Custom Tables (3-D Data).

Find me everyone who has Green Widgets for sale. I need at least 10,000 within the Metro Area available in the first two weeks of next month at a price of between $25 and $30 per widget, where we can get 60 days credit.

A relatively simple task with CRM for MS Office.

"So 'the Magic' is data mining then?"

Yes - that's HALF of the story.

You first do need the ability to easily set up and store your 3-D info.

And a way to search for it...

...but this is where the topic of "MULTI-USER" comes in.

IF YOU ARE A ONE-MAN-BAND OR A SMALL BUSINESS

CRM for MS Office is purpose built. It's for that sales person who makes it all happen. As a single-user application, CRM for MS Office provides for individual success.

MEDIUM SIZED BUSINESSES ALREADY USING ACT!

If you work for a company who uses ACT! and there are 6 and 12 sales people, then this product may not be for you. The reason is that we would recommend that you purchase a tool and some consultancy and have a dedicated solution put into place using ACT! and another great product developed by a specialist software engineer, based in the UK.

Call us and we will show you the way.

LARGER COMPANIES

Generally speaking, in any larger company, there's no way that it would be wise to have different 3-D Data set ups for each type of sales person in the company using a single (shared) corporate database.

The database would end up being almost impossible to manage.

3-D DATA WITHOUT MESSING AROUND WITH THE COMPANY DATA STRUCTURE

So for LARGE companies who already have ACT, then CRM for MS Office is the ideal solution because it provides the wherewithal to implement 3-D Data without modifying the core structure of the organization's database in any way.

CRM for MS Office in a larger company facilitates a way for individual sales people to increase their sales by mining their own client requirements in parallel with the corporate system.

NON ACT! USERS

And if you do NOT use ACT! (irrespective of your business or size) then CRM for MS Office is definitely going to be the best choice as part of your solution.