the Senokian blog - things that interest us: design, software, business and the odd random musing. Check out our products (below right) or visit the Senokian site.
We’ve been metaphorically, and literally snowed under at various points since December and wanted to let you know what has been going on:
We’re going to release all of these changes over the next few weeks and will let you know when via our newsletters.
The brief: Tactile CRM’s website is need of an overhaul, and as part of the plan this year we’re measuring and reporting on the the changes we make to see what is and isn’t succussful. We want to increase our conversion ratio on sign ups so we’re currently doing some market research on sites that people have felt comfortable buying from and leaving the credit card details.
The current list includes:
Are there anymore you have brought from, or can suggest?
We’re pleased to announce the second of two new features you’ll find in Tactile CRM this week – new graphs and reports.
Tactile CRM is a great way to manage your sales process and keep on top of clients. Now with the new graph/reporting facilities you can now easily keep track of your sales history, pipeline, and use the information to find out your most profitable sources of leads and type of work.
We’ve also added extra data below the graphs to see the exact values and now allow you to change the date ranges too.
This is the first release of our new reporting module and we’d love to hear your feedback and suggestions for further graphs/reports.
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We’re pleased to announce the first of two new features you’ll find in Tactile CRM this week – FreshBooks integration.
After feedback and suggestions from users, you can now view your FreshBooks invoices against organisations within Tactile CRM. Staff can easily see the purchase history/habits and current status of invoices paid/part paid/overdue and use this information when contacting clients and making business decisions.
Setting up FreshBooks/Tactile CRM is easy, enter your FreshBooks API and you’re away.
You can even import your clients from FreshBooks and add new clients from within Tactile CRM to keep your information up to date.
This is the first release of our new FreshBooks integration and we’d love to hear your feedback and suggestions.
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Welcome to 2009, due to my growing popularity on Twitter (after I was banned from Facebook) I have decided to put together a list of all my canine friends on twitter after a Tweet from @1938media. Please let me know (via Twitter) if I have missed anybody off.
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2009 is going to see a fair few exciting changes and new things for us at Senokian. One goal is a big push on the number of signups for Tactile CRM
With the new features we have released (and will be), the platform is really great and we know will be of great benefit to people. Part of this push will be some updates and tweaks to the website, which leads on to my main question:
Have you ever brought [business to business] services based on presentation/brand, not just price? If so, who from?
Let me give you an example, I am about to send off a stack of business cards to Cloud Contacts, however I was recommended several other companies, but chose them on their website presentation and look and feel of the business. Hopefully, I won’t regret it, but the decision was certainly based on looks.
As 2009 begins we are entering a time of change. From the uncertainties of a recession and falling exchange rates to a new President in the White House it will, without doubt, be a tumultuous year.
For businesses, 2009 will be year that makes us. It is the wake up call we have needed after enjoying the times of plenty and a swift reminder that the ‘economy can go up, as well as down’ (speak with any financial adviser and these will be one of the first lines they speak when talking about investments). Our businesses are our investments, from the hard work our staff give on a daily basis to the technologies we work with, we need to keep an eye on them and nurture them – data, information and they way it is analysed is key to a successful investment.
Agile companies will be those that succeed – the ones that can shift their businesses rapidly to take account of changing circumstances, new developments and trends – but to make the decisions required to be flexible businesses need information. Acting on a hunch may work for loveable /rogue television detectives but in the World of business it’s worth backing up your hunch with a bit of real World information and analytics.
We live in a World where data is king - Google ‘index the World’, the big supermarkets send us customised magazines with content and offers specific to our buying habits, and we are entering an age where we have the World’s information in our pocket with devices such as Apple’s iPhone. These are changing our buying habits and forcing retailers to think differently, December saw the demise of several large chains that couldn’t adapt, but with all the information they had to hand should it have been so?
As agile businesses there is no need to let this happen – use the information to hand, collect more when/where possible and act before it is too late. Accounts and sales figures are information businesses are used to having, a list of customers and their contact details is a luxury for some. The costs are low to collect and analyse business data with today’s technology and an investment should be made in these tools. They will help businesses prosper and thrive. Now is not the time to scrimp and save on these invaluable tools.
Every business has a variety of data they can collect and analyse. This can help build the bank of information on hand to influence critical business decisions. The difficult part is working out which is useful and worth spending time on.
Big businesses collect huge amounts of data – used to influence their ordering (you should see more cold drinks on a hot day in supermarkets because they tie in their ordering with weather forecasts), or send you specific offers and deals. Smaller businesses can make similar gains with the host of tools already available and the information they can collect and make available. Don’t think that this doesn’t apply to your business/industry – you may already be making use of the information you have, but there is always more that can be collated and acted upon – those businesses that see this and take the opportunities will be the ones that emerge from 2009 bigger and better.
2009 will be the year where Darwin’s ’survival of the fittest’ will be played out in front of us.
I’m almost back home after a few days in Paris at Le Web. Many people have written about their experiences, my favourite is Paul Carr’s on the Guardian website. I don’t agree with all of it but I do have a few points of my own:
That last point is my biggest bug-bear. I had a great time at Le Web, but because like all of these conferences I went to meet the people that are there, more than for the content. However, having paid for my ticket the conference itself was not great. I understand the issues and Loic is responding to them, however moving venues and all of the problems could have been tested before hand. If it was a problem with Swisscom they should get a refund and pass some of that saving onto people who paid for their tickets surely.
If Loic Lemeur took anything away from the conference it should be from his last interview with Gary Vaynerchuck, you customers are always right and put them first before everything else (or something similar).
I may make it to the next Le Web if it survives, but at the moment I won’t pay for a ticket and I’ll be there for the after conference events which is where the value normally lies for me.
I’m pleased to say the Spend Meter got built for Operation Canine and it looks like an awesome application (if I do say so myself!).
Full details are on the Spend Meter website, and there’s a screenshot below of what it looks like:
I’m on my way to London for a reception for Digital Mission companies and it’s turning into a mission.
First of all I tried to get the Oxford Espress and they don’t take cards - I can understand that, but not having a cash point at the park and ride bus station is stupid. So back into the car to drive to the train station in Oxford city centre. I already knew that I would have to pay for parking, but it’s not an obvious system if you haven’t used it before - which I hadn’t.
The main problems I had was that you have to stand by a stand on the platform next to the tannoy. Trying to speak your registration number, brand of car and colour whilst an announcement is being made doesn’t work. If you shout ‘piece of crap system’ at it, it puts you straight through to an operator. This wasn’t much better as he couldn’t hear me and got my details wrong the first time.
If you’re in a hurry trying to get all of this done before you get onto the train would be a nightmare. I had 5 minutes to spare and still only just did it before the train arrived. As there is a person manning the carpark, why can’t I pay him instead?