Sales Software

Dale Lee Distributing, an Anheuser Busch Distributor, was looking for the key to connect their AB software to their salesmen in the field. They needed a full-sized rugged Tablet PC that was compatible with the AB sales force automation software. When we were trying to pair our Mobility selling solution with a particular device, what we were looking for was something that was easy to use, rugged and had extended battery life. Ah, the MobileDemand unit seemed to fit our needs. They help us to collect more data and become more efficient, help us to do a number of things, including keep track of code dates and freshness and price to consumers. We first implemented the xTablet solution in 2004 to replace a PDA application on our presales side and the old Norand Bricks, the 6220s on our pedal and delivery side. Over 200 beer wholesalers nationwide have implemented the xTablet in their sales and delivery. The integrated keypad on the xTablet enables quick number entry which is essential to efficiency. When we used the bricks we were, you know the guys got very used to entering product codes in, in that, that standard keypad method of entry, so this really helped with the transition and shortened the learning curve. Were currently running our mobility selling software and were also running some shelf set, plan-o-gram software, code date tracking, and we use power point files to display POS to our customers. We chose the xTablet because of its durability, its battery life, and the …

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Video Rating: 5 / 5

To become a manager, it is important to first make absolutely sure that it is right for you. Find out if you have the passion and desire to become a manager with advice from a career expert in this free video on business management skills. Expert: Debbie Benami-Rahm Contact: www.DBRcareerservices.com Bio: Debbie Benami-Rahm is the president of DBR Career Services, Inc., and provides her career expertise to individuals in transition to get unstuck and find career fulfillment. Filmmaker: Paul Muller

www.ACTblogger.com This ACT! Database Software Addon from Durkin Computing makes use of the contact list quick and easy. Colorize your contact list based on data values, filter, group, advanced printing and more. See the product preview here.

HyperBase ( bit.ly ) Online Database Management features let you easily collect data through online forms, organize it into a shared database, and automate business processes through simple database applications and workflows. This is a demonstration for a lead tracking process. However, HyperBase Online Database can be used for many different business processes including web forms, contact forms, feedback forms, contact databases, and more. Each is completely customizable with any type of data and input field.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Business Relationship Manager

Wouldn’t it be nice to hire someone to manage your business relationships for you? Many have probably wished they could but haven’t because it can be expensive, and then there are others who have hired someone, but the truth is that the only person really qualified to do that is the person who has established the relationships in the first place. This is not to say that hiring someone is not a good idea, there are people out there who can manage someone else’s business relationships quite well, but there is the cost of hiring someone to think about. Hiring a secretary or an assistant, online or in person, to handle your business relationships can be pricey, especially if you want someone who really knows what they are doing. It most certainly isn’t worth a dime to hire someone who doesn’t have a clue in how to do this.

If you don’t want to hire someone, because of the expense and/or the concern that you will be unable to hire someone who is going to be able to do the job right, there is always the internet to look to. The internet has been around for a while now, but many will forget what the internet has to offer. It is forever changing and advancing with the times to become more convenient to the average person, as well as to be helpful to the business person who has much to deal with. Help with managing business relationships can come in the form of online businesses that can be hired to do this or in the form of special networks that can make handling the relationships easier.

The internet can be a great business contact manager because there are networking sites and groups that people can join that are dedicated to making business networking easier. These sites and groups will often have functions that can help make it really easy for people to not only maintain their business contacts, but to also manage their business relationships so that all information is kept organized and up to date. While many of these websites or business networking sites may require a fee to become a member, it is usually a minimal fee that would be far less expensive than hiring a personal secretary or assistant to manage your contacts. Some of these sites, however, are free, it just might take a little bit of searching before you find them, but in the end it is worth it as you will save money and you will be able to organize and manage your contacts in the way that you prefer.

Is It Really Possible To Automate A Network Marketing Home Business?

Here’s a statement that is completely untrue. Once you get a network marketing home business solid with great depth , all of the hard work willl be done for you.

It is possible to automate a network marketing home business to a certain degree,but the truth is  if you do not put in consistent effective actions you might see your business start to decline and ultimately fail. After all, we are still talking about relationship marketing.

Being told not to worry or that your business will be built for you once you join a network marketing opportunity is one of the 7 great lies of network marketing.

Here’s what sometimes happens – the prospect joins the business, this is followed by the disappearance of their upline, and after less than three months the prospect decides to drop out. Can you see what is wrong in that scenario?

To put it briefly, if you tell prospects that by simply joining they will see their business built for them you are making a huge mistake. Think about it. If the prospect decides to stay joined to the business they are only going to do one thing. Duplicate their upline. It is a hard fact, but nobody is going to build your business for you.

There are a number of points missing from the above scenario. First, prospects should never join a network marketing business on the basis of the company. Yes many companies do a great job at creating great products yet few of them also teach techniques in effective business building as well.

This is really the job of the experienced leadership in the field sales force…your upline.

Attraction Marketing & Homebased Business

And secondly, another point missing from the process is implementing the power of attraction marketing and introducing pre-selling into the recruitment phase. Any student of Renegade marketing tactics and theory will understand why attraction marketing is so important.

Relationship marketing plays a crucial role in a network marketing home business even though many people are switching to online marketing. Even if you can’t meet your downline on many occasions when using the Internet for recruitment, there still has to be healthy communication between you and your potential prospects.

Systems that are completely automated are destined for failure. This is do to  the their lack of ability to build relationships between downline and upline. It could work for a time, but if there is no human interaction given to your downline then your prospects will move on. The main reason for this is the lack of care and attention and your prospects will see this as poor value.

At the end of the day prospects will join you because they see you as someone they can work with and value your training and mentoring skills.

The most important thing is that they know they can trust you and come to you for advice.

Related Sales Force Automation Articles

Montreal, QC and Guelph, ON — December 14, 2006

iCongo Inc., a North American leader in e-commerce solutions, is pleased to announce that the City of Guelph Ontario has implemented iCongo’s ICE3 Advanced Online Survey System. The iCongo Survey System allows the City of Guelph to conduct web-based surveys with its citizens and businesses to obtain feedback in its quest for continuous improvement.

Utilizing iCongo’s ICE3 Advanced Survey System, the City of Guelph is able to create, deploy, manage and obtain immediate results from its surveys. The Survey System allows the City to launch customized surveys designed to collect data concerning resident and business feedback on City services.

The system’s features include multilingual support, ability to manage and modify survey designs, multiple question types, detailed reporting, comparative analysis of multi-targeted surveys, email invitation capabilities with tracking, access security, data export capabilities and printable versions of survey for synchronization with traditional paper based surveys.

The system includes iCongo’s Content Management System for easy creation and management of dynamic surveys by non-technical users as well as iCongo’s ICE3 Email Communication modules to support targeted survey invitations.

“We’re excited to have implemented iCongo’s comprehensive survey system,” said Cindy Robertson, Business Systems Analyst for the City of Guelph. “iCongo’s online survey solution allows us to quickly and effectively obtain feedback from our stakeholders about important municipal issues.”

“We are pleased to be to providing our survey platform to the City of Guelph,” said Irwin Kramer President and Chief Executive Officer at iCongo. “We are confident that the City and its citizens will benefit greatly from the City’s new web-based survey tools.”

About iCongo, Inc.

iCongo, Inc. is a leading developer of e-business systems and software that enable companies to effectively and efficiently transact business over the Internet. iCongo’s solutions include Retail E-Commerce, E-Marketing and Online Communication systems including Content Management systems (CMS) and Email Campaign systems, Business-to-Business E-Commerce Systems including Catalog and E-Procurement systems, Online Tradeshows, Sales Force Automation, CRM systems as well as EDI over the Internet.

About The City of Guelph

The City of Guelph is a vibrant community of over 100,000 people located in the heart of southern Ontario, just 100km west of Toronto. With one of the premier research universities, and a diverse variety of manufacturing, service, and high technology enterprises, it’s also one of the fastest growing economic regions in Canada.

For more information, contact:

iCongo, Inc.

Joshua Ostrega

Tel: 514.866.2664 ext.208

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More Sales Force Automation Press Releases

How Has The Progression Of Technology Improved Sales Team Efficiency?

Working out which technologies to implement as well as the method of implementation can make the difference between empowering a sales force and encumbering one. There are software solutions available at every step of the sales process including customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), websites for online commerce as well as communication and collaboration tools such as wiki’s and group portals.

Mobile communications are enabling email via smartphones, PDAs as well as via traditional cabled desk phones which allows sales teams to become truly mobile. Integrating these systems can initially be time consuming but if not effectively managed can cause islands of information and the tedious re-keying of data with inevitable human error. This is sometimes known as “human middleware” and its role should be decreased if not eliminated.

By far the biggest contribution of technology to the sales efforts of companies is the ability to pool and share knowledge. Detailed customer information is no longer restricted to the knowledge of one sales person but is available to employees across an organisation. This makes it far easier to find new opportunities to sell to customers and to create targeted marketing campaigns.

Certain types of sales activity require your team to go to the customer (virtually or in real life) and there are technologies available that can facilitate productivity even when your sales people are not in the office. PDAs and smartphones allow sales people to perform stock checks, search for up-to-date pricing and to communicate with other members of the team. In addition, <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/outgoing/article_exit_link']);” href=”http://www.workbooks.com/”>CRM systems</a> can automate a good deal of administration, freeing sales staff to spend their time on profit generating tasks.

The interface between sales and other departments is now far more efficient, both within the sales team as well as across the organisation. Interaction between the sales team and other departments in the organisation is often blamed for delays in orders and payments but it is also at this point where tightly integrated technology can have a noticeable effect. Less time spent chasing invoices, checking with credit-control and informing stock centres means that sales staff can concentrate on selling.

Marketing also benefits from technology – there are a plethora of new media channels available which cost vastly less than many traditional marketing approaches. With the rise of social networking, marketing teams can reach consumers in new and more personal ways. By analysing data from sales software, marketing departments can assess the effectiveness of campaigns, and by feeding back this data into the business, can predict supply and demand.

Today technology innovation is still improving business efficiency across the board. Companies who stay ahead of the curve and ensure that they use the latest in software technology, such as CRM, will enjoy competitive advantage over their peers in the marketplace. In addition to being more competitive, companies can also reap enormous cost benefits in efficiency which, in turn, can be redirected into product development or the sales and marketing budget.

Need for automated IPAM solutions

In today’s electronic age, nearly all enterprises across the world rely on TCP/IP networking for core business services. A network supports both critical business applications like ERP, customer or sales force management, etc. and supporting functions such as file storage, company e-mail and web. Intranets also link enterprises with their stakeholders.

Every device on a network uses IP addresses and DNS records. IP addresses allow devices to communicate with each other and DNS information names devices in a way that humans can read and access them without having to know the specific IP address.

The onus of IP address management falls on the network team. The task of Internet Protocol Address Management, or IPAM, as it is commonly called, comprises planning, assigning and tracking IP address space accurately.

Knowing that a network outage can literally cripple a company, an increasing number of managers are opting for an automated IP address management solution. An automated IPAM solution reduces the risk of errors, makes research faster and more efficient and also reduces IP management expenses.

An automated IPAM takes a strategic approach to network management with features such as a centralized database, diagnostics and automated reporting. It mitigates the risks of network downtime, reliability and security. IPAM tools help in generating automatic utilization reports, updating important network elements and re-numbering IP addresses easily.

An IPAM solution allows customized views of IP address space and domain names, supports integration with the enterprise’s existing information infrastructure and automatically collects information, saving staff time. Besides, a good IPAM solution seamlessly accommodates the scalability of your business in the future and saves time and money by eliminating the need to request additional IP address space from service providers.

Network teams often experience that tracking IP subnet allocations in spreadsheets manually results in numerous errors, duplicate allocations and delays without accountability. Automated IPAM removes such cases of human errors by eliminating the communication of conflicting information across configuration files and spreadsheets and allowing the user to see exactly which changes are made by whom.

The importance of the network and IP Address Management will only increase over time, making it as essential as electricity. Taking a disciplined network management approach, an automated IPAM will deliver immediate as well as long-term benefits like virtually halving network expenses. An automated IPAM solution will assist an enterprise’s network teams manage changes and effectively take the company into the future.

•Ground breaking new generation of sales & marketing tool that incorporates the best of CRM, Sales Force Automation (SFA), outbound interactive email marketing and automated follow up. www.Sales-Advantage.net

Montreal, QC and Duxbury, MA — December 7, 2006

Wainhouse Research, the leading independent market research and analyst firm in the conferencing, collaboration, and unified communication space, announced the launch of the C4B (Conferencing for Business) Virtual Tradeshow. C4B is an online virtual conference and exhibition powered by iCongo, and is scheduled to start in January 2007.

The C4B program has two parts; a series of monthly live conferences, and an ongoing exhibition of industry vendors, products, and services. Each monthly half-day conference includes several back-to-back educational webcasts on a topic of interest to the user community. Sample topics from the 2007 C4B agenda include:

Conferencing Managed Services – Fact, Fiction, or Hype?

Reaching Your Audience with Streaming and Webcasting

Understanding the Value of Telepresence

The C4B exhibitor tradeshow booths provide end user attendees with a convenient way to learn about the various offerings in the market place. Similar to brick and mortar booths, C4B virtual booths allow visitors to access product demos, download promotional materials, view prerecorded presentations, and even participate in a live chat session with sales reps and product management staff. Unlike traditional tradeshows, C4B remains open 24 / 7 / 365, providing attendees with on-demand access to valuable information and vendors with a cost-effective way to meet end users interested in their offerings.

“Wainhouse Research is pleased to provide this free educational opportunity to enterprises around the world,” reports Ira Weinstein, Partner at Wainhouse Research and Program Director of the C4B Virtual Tradeshow. “C4B leverages virtual communication technologies to highlight the benefits of those very solutions. In other words, C4B gives attendees a first-hand look at conferencing solutions while allowing participating vendors to practice what they preach.”

The C4B program is powered by the iCongo (www.icongo.com) ICE3 Virtual Tradeshow Platform to ensure the best possible user experience.

“iCongo has proved to be the preferred supplier for companies wishing to operate online events and tradeshows.” said Irwin Kramer, President and CEO of iCongo Inc. “We are proud to be working with Wainhouse Research in their launch of this global initiative.”

About Wainhouse Research

Wainhouse Research (www.wainhouse.com) provides strategic guidance and insight on products & services for Real-Time Unified Communications. The global client base includes established and new technology suppliers and service providers as well as enterprise users of voice, video, streaming, and web collaboration solutions.

About iCongo, Inc.

iCongo, Inc. is a leading developer of e-business systems and software that enable companies to effectively and efficiently transact business over the Internet. iCongo’s solutions include Retail E-Commerce, E-Marketing and Online Communication systems including Content Management systems (CMS) and Email Campaign systems, Business-to-Business E-Commerce Systems including Catalog and E-Procurement systems, Online Events and Tradeshows, Sales Force Automation, CRM systems as well as EDI over the Internet.

For more information, contact:

iCongo, Inc.

Richard Feldman

Tel: 508.481.1600

Wainhouse Research

Ira Weinstein

Tel: 770.408.0460

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