A New CRM – Narrowing The Search

battractive.com

Disclaimer: What follows represents neither any  endorsements, nor any pretext of being anything similar, or related to, a thorough evaluation of any solutions that are available. I am not, by any means, an expert on CRM. I hope to present you with some options if you find yourself with similar needs. I am a single user “little guy” and can easily afford to make mistakes, trash it, and start all over (smile). If I was a multi-user “big guy”, I’d probably pay an expert to do this for me. There are literally hundreds of options out there. However, I am a man and I do not shop, I buy (smile). While I like to make informed decisions, I will avoid “paralysis by analysis” wherever possible. No time. No patience. In other words, I’ll probably end up throwing a dart at this and see where it lands (smile).

LinkedIn Answers: As I was getting ready to start this, I went to LinkedIn and asked for advice in my search. And I received several answers that were very good and helped me a lot. You can see the question and the answers by clicking on the link at the start of this paragraph. I would like to thank the following people (their names are links to their LinkedIn profiles) who helped me with my search: Rich Snow, George Lehman, Warren Heaps, Rajat Gupta, Mike Morgan, and Edwin Senjobe.

The Way of The Weasel & Other Fun Stuff

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Life is good and it’s about to get better (smile). Mr. Mailman just arrived with my “Dilbert And The Way Of The Weasel – A Guide to Outwitting Your Boss, Your Coworkers, and the Other Pants-Wearing Ferrets in Your Life”. After what I have been thru the last couple of days with all that tech stuff, time to sit down and polish up the ol’ sales, communication, and manipulation skills (smile). Better yet, I bought this used on Amazon for $1.97 plus tax and shipping and it is in perfect condition. Even with the $20 in shipping & handling, a good value don’t you think? Joking. $6.36 out the door and to my door (smile).

O.K., need to get some other things out today or I will fall way behind my already way behind schedule (smile).

Face Book: Justin over at Tricycle Brand Development convinced me (enough) to go back to that Face Book page I started over a year ago, and never did anything with, and start filling out my profile. Deja Vu. Same thing I did with LinkedIn (smile). I must admit, Face Book does a better job of putting a human face behind the name. But, this is why I write instead of go on T.V.. Face made for radio (smile).

LinkedIn “Answers” Exceeds Expectations

blastmedia.com

LinkedIn has this really cool feature called “Answers”. Actually, it should be named “Questions & Answers” but that was probably too long of a name for them to be able to put it where they wanted it to go (smile). Basically, it is a forum on business related topics and I mean…….a lot of business related topics. You can look at marketing & sales, financing, law………it goes on and on.  “Answers” provides you with the ability to: scan for topics of interest, comment on topics that are being addressed, or ask questions of your own and request comments from folks within the LinkedIn network. This past week, I decided to take it for a test run and I asked two separate questions…..

I’m going to shorten them here just so you get the gist:

1. “I am considering a new CRM for my personal use. What would you suggest I look at?”
2. “What are your thoughts on social media tools for business, please compare Twitter vs Face Book vs LinkedIn, and have these improved your bottom line?”

I’m Feeling A Lot Like “Jimmy” Today

blog.awmonline.com

“Whoa! Brain overload!” (smile). I was talking with one of my colleagues last night, Virginia Cunningham, who knows a heck of a lot more about blogging than I do. She suggested that I need to link other folk’s blogs into my blog. That’s great. Technically I know how to establish the link, but where do I find the blogs?

Virginia directed me to Google Blog Search. I started out just searching for “Boise” and, of course, was overwhelmed by the results. I kept narrowing down to try to find a blog site that was both local and pertinent to what we are trying to do with this site, it’s readers, and our group. As I kept narrowing it down, one result that finally came up, was this blog. Sweeeet (smile)! That being said, I found some other good ones and will start sharing those.

A Tasty Event…………

Substitute the rice for a smoked baked potato, add some BBQ beans and macaroni salad, and………….me likey (smile). Just got back from the “Smoke Out” which is a monthly networking event that is put on by the folks over at Ultra Clean. I’m told that the turnout was approx. 210 folks (those that signed in) but I would say that there were likely more. Our group was well represented. I was pleasantly surprised to hook up with folks that I had not seen for, in one case, 20 years. Met a lot of people who I had spoken to over the phone or via email only. I’m starting to get feedback from those in attendance and would say that this monthly event will become a part of our NetWorks! model. This is good since I have already penciled it in as such (smile). This is a fabulous event. Well organized and well attended. And, people were anxious to network and tell the media to place their gloom and doom where the sun don’t shine (smile). We need more of that!