TendenZ has been a trusted Act! Certified Consultant for over 25 years, not only delivering CRM solutions; but striving to be a long-term partner for Act! customers. This highly engaged level of service continues to grow TendenZ’s knowledge, experience, and expertise which ultimately empowers the success of its customers. With certified Act! CRM consultants, marketing advisors, and skilled software developers, TendenZ is dedicated to making the deployment and implementation of CRM successful for its clients. Join us as we delve into TendenZ’s history, expertise, and commitment to providing top-notch solutions that go beyond the ordinary and learn how their partnership can fast-track any organisation’s journey to success in this Q&A session with Frank Boersma, Commercial Director of TendenZ.

Q: To start, tell us about TendenZ—its history, offerings, expertise, etc.

A: For over 25 years, TendenZ has been the permanent point of contact for many thousands of Act! CRM & Act! Marketing Automation users in the Benelux. We have certified Act! CRM consultants, CRM advisors, Marketing Automation specialists, and passionate software developers to assist our customers with making their CRM a success. From inventory to fully customising Act! CRM to their business processes, we’ve built many Act! add-ons and integrations to optimise the customer experience.

Our certified consultants and advisors have the expertise, experience, and passion to effectively set up your CRM, contributing optimally to the growth of your business. And if you have any questions while using Act!, we have an easily accessible Dutch and English-speaking support department with solid CRM and Marketing Automation knowledge to help you get back on track.

Q: In what type of industries are your target customers? Please share any key industry verticals, customers’ specific business needs, etc.

A: TendenZ is a full-service, Act! Certified partner and works with companies of various sizes and in a variety of industries. Our clients span industries across the Benelux, including installation, manufacturing, healthcare and wellness, business services, and more. Act! is designed to be affordable, flexible, and scalable, meeting the unique needs of each customer, regardless of size or industry.

Based on our years of experience, we’ve developed specific solutions for the basic needs of each industry and always consider our customers’ specific business processes to ensure Act! contributes optimally to their growth.

Q: Are there common roadblocks customers run into when setting up a CRM system?

A: If an organisation doesn’t carefully consider what it wants to track and generate, it can affect the proper use of the CRM solution and incomplete data can render it unreliable. Proper CRM and marketing automation training for employees is crucial. We learned over the years that a lack of preparation, employee involvement, and understanding of the impact of a CRM on work processes can hinder its effectiveness.

Q: As someone who has used Act! for years, how have you seen the solution evolve?

A: The best thing about Act! is its continuous evolution while remaining user-friendly and intuitive. The addition of the Marketing Automation tool has been a game-changer, offering two business tools in one. The CRM empowers teams for better customer support, while the Marketing Automation tool streamlines marketing activities. We eagerly anticipate further developments in the pipeline this year.

Q: Do you have any advice for today’s small business leaders looking for tech solutions?

A: Prepare well for a CRM implementation. Involve key users for extra support and carefully consider what you want to track and generate. Think about the impact on your employees’ work processes. We assist customers by making the process efficient and offer specific solutions that provide increased support. We’ve enjoyed having the opportunity to see how Act! CRM and Marketing Automation have optimised the growth of our customers and their businesses.

Visit their website to learn how TendenZ expertise can optimise Act! for your business.

The post Act! Channel Partner Spotlight – TendenZ appeared first on Act!.

Whether you’re running a global corporation or a bootstrapped startup, the right CRM (customer relationship management) platform can help you acquire and retain customers. It also lets you implement workflows to automate routine tasks, such as following up with an active lead or sending subscription renewal reminders in real-time.

But how do you maximise the gains from your CRM workflows? While there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to that question, one effective solution is using CRM templates.

When it comes to CRMs, you can use a wide array of templates for contacts, social media posts, documents, emails, and more. Judicious use of these templates can be instrumental in improving your business processes and maximizing time and cost savings.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at why templates are indispensable to your CRM workflows.

What are CRM templates?

“CRM templates” is an umbrella term for pre-built or pre-formatted resources that streamline customer interactions and workflow management. You can easily customise these templates according to your preferences and requirements. They’re useful for various departments, from marketing and sales to customer service.

Today’s CRM platforms let you use a wide array of templates to create and deploy sales workflows. For instance, Act!CRM, which includes marketing automation, provides you with pre-designed email templates to implement automated drip campaigns for lead nurturing. They save you the trouble of designing attractive emails from scratch. Similarly, you can use templates to create crucial documents to manage relevant information, such as contracts, invoices, and proposals.

Many CRMs also let you use templates to store and manage customer data. For instance, Act! Custom Tables includes pre-built templates for various industries, including real estate, software, consulting, and insurance, eliminating the need to create and customise spreadsheet-like tables without additional development resources.

Besides CRM email templates and contact templates, you can also leverage templates for content development, funnel creation, and customer feedback surveys to meet your business needs. It’s also possible to create and customise templates for customer notifications and reminders.

Benefits of using templates for CRM workflow management

Templates come in handy, whether you’re looking to build a lead-nurturing funnel or improve your customer onboarding workflow. If you’re wondering whether to use them in your CRM workflows, here are a few benefits worth considering.

Increased productivity and efficiency

CRM templates help various departments save time and resources. For instance, sales team members can build a template for customer acquisition to streamline the workflow. Once the template is ready, they can use it every time a new prospect enters the funnel.

Relying on templates eliminates guesswork from the process and helps sales reps make the right decisions without delays. At the same time, they can tailor the template according to each customer’s preferences and pain points to deliver a better experience.

Similarly, marketing and sales teams can use email templates to minimise the time they spend creating emails. That time can be put to better use, such as monitoring open rates, click-through rates, and other campaign performance metrics.

In a nutshell, templates skyrocket the efficiency of your CRM workflows and help you achieve more goals faster. This can be a blessing for small businesses that already face several constraints.

Consistent branding

When you use templates and manage customer interactions via a CRM app, it minimises the room for errors and inconsistencies.

For instance, you can pre-approve email templates for appointment reminders. Sales reps will only need to edit the template by adding a customer’s name and date and time of appointment. Design elements, such as the color, size, font style, and placement of calls-to-action (CTAs), remain fixed. Similarly, there are no changes in the language and tone of the email.

You can even ensure that key elements of your brand identity, such as the company logo and website URL, are added to every email. This lets you create a consistent brand identity, which wouldn’t have been possible if every sales rep had created their own version of appointment reminders. It’s particularly helpful for new team members who are yet to get a grip on your branding.

Enhanced automation

One of the key advantages of using a CRM system is that it helps you streamline the sales process by automating routine tasks. And templates help you harness the full potential of workflow automation.

Let’s say you’re looking to build an automated sales funnel. With a pre-built workflow template, you can easily define the exact sequence of touchpoints a prospect will encounter through every stage of their buying journey.

Also, you can automatically assign tasks to relevant sales reps whenever a lead enters the funnel or moves from one stage to the next. You can even send email reminders to ensure they connect with the lead and guide them through various touchpoints.

Once you’ve built the workflow template, you can use it to automate the sales funnel over and over again. This results in time and cost savings and drives efficiency further.

Guaranteed scalability

As your small business grows, marketers must implement more marketing campaigns, and sales teams must manage more customer interactions. Simultaneously, the volume of customer support tickets will also see a surge.

CRM templates can be the key to managing these growing demands at scale. You can easily reuse workflow templates to replicate their success and improve conversion rates.

Additionally, you can use templates to standardise various customer interactions while minimizing human errors. This can help you provide a consistent brand experience to your prospects and customers at scale.

Improved customer experience

With templates, you can offer a seamless purchasing journey for every customer. Automated workflows and standardised customer interactions eliminate human errors. Additionally, you can customise workflow templates to delight customers with personalised communication and product recommendations.

It’s also worth noting that when customer-facing teams use CRM templates, they can avoid getting caught up in routine tasks. Instead, they can focus on more important jobs, such as identifying and removing points of friction from the buying journey.

This results in a consistent and frictionless customer experience. Ultimately, it helps convert more leads into paying customers and generate greater revenue through on-point upsells and cross-sells.

Legal and regulatory compliance

Certain sectors, such as financial services and insurance, enforce strict laws and regulations when it comes to interacting with consumers. Using pre-approved templates for emails, SMS messages, push notifications, and other communication channels, you can reduce the likelihood of non-compliance. This can be instrumental in helping you avoid legal hassles down the line.

Harness the full benefits of CRM workflows with templates

CRM templates offer a wide array of benefits, including improved efficiency, productivity, and scalability. When used properly, they can also help you automate workflows more easily, maintain consistent brand identity, and take the customer experience up a notch. Plus, they standardise customer-facing interactions and processes and help avoid compliance-related challenges.

Act! offers all the key features you look for in a modern-day CRM solution, including pre-built templates.
Start your free trial today to see our platform in action and find out whether it’s the right fit for your business. No credit card or download is required.

The post 6 Reasons You Should Leverage Templates in Your CRM Workflow appeared first on Act!.

Whether you’re trying to raise funds for your startup, partner with established companies, or find mentors, knowing the right people will make your job much easier. This is why a recent survey reported that 78% of entrepreneurs consider networking a deciding factor in their startup’s success.

Networking with industry peers, investors, and successful business owners helps you:

• Gain more visibility
• Build credibility
• Find new opportunities
• Generate word of mouth 
• Build a support system for your business

In this article, we’ll explore different aspects of business networking, why building relationships is a core part of entrepreneurship, and how you can grow your business by making new connections in your industry.

Read on for essential networking tips for entrepreneurs and new business owners.

Building and maintaining relationships

Initiating business relationships feels awkward, especially if you’re an introvert. But it becomes much simpler when your goals are clear, and you can add value to the other person’s business.

Here are the two fundamentals of building and growing any business relationship.

Share value and demonstrate expertise

People respect experts and want to be associated with them. To build profitable business relationships and grow your network, share your knowledge with people, whether you meet them in person or online. The more value you offer, the more they’ll respect your expertise and become open to working with you.

Follow up and stay in touch

You made a solid first impression on people you want to network with—great! But to turn these positive interactions into profitable business relationships, you must follow up and stay connected.

You can do this in multiple ways.

For example, send them an article about the discussion you had in your first meeting or share the case study you mentioned. Or simply like their LinkedIn post or respond to a tweet. The point is to remain on their radar by regularly staying in touch. 

Leveraging networking events and conferences

Did you know 95% of American professionals say face-to-face networking events and conferences are the best places to build new and profitable business relationships? But showing up at meetups isn’t enough.

Here’s how you can ace your next networking event.

Target the right events

Not every event is right for your business, so you must choose them carefully because participating in an event requires preparation, time, and money.

Before choosing an event, see if it attracts the people you want to interact with. Is it exclusively a professional networking event with dedicated time for meeting people or a conference where you can chat on the sidelines? Most importantly, will the event align with your goals and help you build the right relationships?

Go prepared

Learn about the event, stay updated on the latest industry happenings, and have interesting examples and stats at your fingertips. If you’re looking to promote a new product or spread the word about a new service, prepare your elevator pitch and bring examples and use cases to be more persuasive. The more prepared you are, the more value you can get from an event. Use it to make a strong impression on the people you meet.

Don’t be shy

Don’t wait for people to come to you. If you’ve done your homework and know who you want to meet, introduce yourself and start a conversation. Show interest in people’s business, share your latest work, and offer help wherever possible.

Using social media for online networking

After in-person events, social media platforms and online communities are the best places to network for business and build new relationships (and we’re not talking about annoying LinkedIn cold pitches and Twitter DMs).

Here’s how to use them the right way.

Build a strong personal brand

You don’t need to be on all social networking platforms to build new connections and find potential clients. Instead, identify one or two platforms your prospects use the most. For most businesses, those would be LinkedIn and Twitter. However, depending on your business, it can be Facebook, Instagram, or any other platform.

Regardless of your platform, you must build a consistent and strong brand image on your profile that shows your authority, builds credibility, and immediately tells people what you’re good at. You can do that with a professional headshot, an engaging profile description, and a custom-designed header image highlighting your best work.

Be the ultimate knowledge source for your audience

To attract resourceful individuals on social media, you must provide consistent value with your content. Don’t waste your Twitter or LinkedIn space by posting random links or life updates. Instead, have a content plan that answers the most burning questions of your audience. Join networking groups on these platforms and connect with new people by responding to their tweets and posts with messaging that provide value and actionable insights based on your experiences. 

Create a lead generation system

When you consistently share valuable content on social media, people check your profile and try to learn more about you.

This is where you need to use a well-designed lead generation system to build your list and grow your influence. For instance, you can create a landing page using Act!, an all-in-one CRM and marketing automation platform and share its link in your profile for people to learn more about you.

Offer a free lead magnet on your landing page and convert visitors into subscribers. From there, use Act! to send automated email sequences to strengthen the relationship with your subscribers and turn them into fans, clients, and partners.

Collaborating and building strategic partnerships 

Active networking leads to partnership and small business growth opportunities. Not every contact becomes your partner, but when you spread your net far enough, people often come through referrals and word of mouth.

Here are a few tips to improve your chances.

Identify and shortlist potential partners

Find complementing businesses that fulfil a different need of your target audience. If you believe its values align with yours and your brand will be able to grow through partnership, reach out with a proposal.

Partnerships are about creating mutually beneficial relationships So, instead of focusing on yourself, show your potential partners how they’d benefit from joining hands with you and how you’ll make this a win-win relationship. Highlight the value you can add to their products or services and how it improves their customers’ experience.

Create a transparent management system

Successful partnerships are built upon transparent systems and seamless communication. This is why managing your communication on a centralised platform is critical to avoid operational issues. Using project management and communication tools like Trello and Slack combined with the CRM and lead management features of Act!, you can streamline your processes and confidently show prospects how to manage business partnerships.

Finding mentors to grow your startup

Did you know that 84% of Fortune 500 companies have mentorship programs for their employees, partners, and promising entrepreneurs? Having the right mentors can seriously accelerate your startup journey and help you overcome complex challenges on your way to success.

Networking with successful business people can help you connect with mentors who can guide you and become a part of your journey.

Networking is a critical part of any entrepreneur’s job

You’ll rarely find a successful startup founder with zero connections in their industry. Entrepreneurs must use every networking opportunity to connect with successful business leaders, investors, and others from different sectors. Be a walking advertisement of your startup and ensure everyone you meet gains value from talking to you. The more value you share, the more long-term relationships you’ll build by networking for your business. 

Curious how Act! can help you manage your network more effectively? Try a 14-day free trial today.

The post 6 Networking tips for entrepreneurs to build profitable relationships appeared first on Act!.

Have you ever noticed how some brands always pitch you the right offers at the right time and price? That’s one of the benefits of CRM software.

The best CRMs help small business owners collect, organise, and manage customer data. They also provide valuable insights to help you define sales processes and design marketing campaigns tailored to your audience’s needs. In this article, we’ll share the key benefits of today’s CRM systems for small businesses and show how you can use them to create better marketing campaigns.

What is a CRM?

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is a technology that allows you to track customer communication with your brand, collect and organise customer information, and provide real-time engagement insights to your marketing team members, sales reps, and customer service teams, along with any other key stakeholders.

These insights allow you to provide a consistent and memorable customer experience throughout the customer’s lifetime, increasing their satisfaction with your product and loyalty to your brand.

Most people think a CRM solution improves customer service, and that’s true. But it also directly impacts the marketing, sales, and branding of your small business. Modern CRMs offer everything from demand and lead generation to marketing automation and customer retention tools. 

In short, you can consider a CRM your one-window solution to optimise your customer experience management.

Benefits of a CRM for marketing

CRMs offer numerous direct and indirect marketing benefits to your small business. Let’s discuss the most prominent ones.

CRM marketing benefit #1: Understand customer needs and usage patterns

Effective marketing relies on accurate metrics and data insights that allow you to make informed decisions and take calculated risks. This is where a CRM is so valuable for your small business.

It tracks customer interactions across all your marketing channels (website, landing pages, product usage, email, support ticketing, social media, phone, and chat) and provides an accurate picture of your customer’s needs. A CRM also helps you understand the real problems and needs of your potential customers so you can craft relevant marketing campaigns that speak directly to them.

For example, a CRM allows your service teams to regularly share customer feedback, complaints, or feature requests with your marketing and product teams. This helps them understand the core problems of your customers and what features they want to see in your product.

CRM marketing benefit #2: Create well-defined customer segments

Customer segmentation is a fundamental marketing concept because generic marketing campaigns don’t work anymore. According to research, 80 percent of customers respond positively to marketing campaigns tailored to their interests and needs.

One of the main advantages of a CRM system is that it enables multi-level segmentation in your audience based on interests, location, usage patterns, engagement, satisfaction level, and other criteria.

This allows you to design highly targeted marketing campaigns that speak specifically to that segment. For example, you can send special offers to users in a specific geographic location. Or you could target the customers with the highest satisfaction rating for upsell offers because they’re more likely to convert.

All of this is possible with an integrated CRM system, as it tracks and records all customer activity and gives you the tools for advanced segmentation.

CRM marketing benefit #3: Generate qualified marketing leads

CRMs not only help you improve customer satisfaction but also define your sales cycle by providing you and your salespeople with advanced lead-generation tools such as landing pages and opt-in forms to convert traffic into subscribers and leads.

To improve lead quality, you can ask specific questions at sign-up or offer lead magnets in exchange for the customer’s contact information to help you understand a lead’s interests and business needs. Adding tracking scripts to your landing pages allows you to enable retargeting campaigns on Facebook, Google, and other advertising networks.

CRM marketing benefit #4: Run personalised and automated email campaigns

With an ROI of $36 for every dollar spent, email marketing is among the most profitable and engaging marketing channels. Modern CRMs offer integrated marketing automation with advanced email marketing automation features that help you regularly engage your customers and prospects and build a value-based relationship with them. 

Here are a few example scenarios to show you what’s possible with an integrated CRM and email marketing automation solution.

Scenario #1: Say a visitor converts into an email subscriber from your landing page. You can then send them a welcome email sequence that introduces them to your product and shows how it will help them grow their business. 

Scenario #2: Automated follow-up emails are a great tool to use when a customer doesn’t engage with your product for a specific time period or has a low satisfaction rating.

Scenario #3: Completely automate your marketing and sales messaging with predefined email sequences and workflows for different customer lifecycle stages. For example, by configuring weekly engagement emails that share product tips and tutorials, you’ll help customers get more value from your product.

Scenario #4: Create email sequences for customers entering the final quarter of their tenure with your product. Your sequences can include a mix of engagement, marketing, and sales emails to encourage early renewal.

A CRM empowers you with these automation features because it has all the critical data on all the relevant customer touchpoints. You can even create automation templates based on the most frequent marketing scenarios to save time.

CRM marketing benefit #5: Increase customer retention

Research shows that selling to an existing customer has a 60–70 percent chance of success. In comparison, selling to a new prospect is only likely to succeed 5–20 percent of the time. That’s why customer retention is such a critical part of any organisation’s marketing strategy.

A CRM facilitates customer retention and improves customer loyalty by helping you provide customers with a memorable experience throughout their tenure. Plus, it highlights the most and least likely retention prospects based on their satisfaction and product usage patterns. 

These insights help you proactively approach customers to resolve problems, increase their renewal chances, and improve sales forecasting.

Satisfied customers also tend to recommend your product in their circles, resulting in word-of-mouth marketing and referral sales.

How to use your CRM for marketing

With a modern integrated CRM and marketing automation solution, you can automate a significant part of your marketing strategy and fill your sales pipeline. For example, you can create landing pages for lead generation by adding relevant lead magnets and opt-in forms.

These landing pages are directly integrated with your email marketing system. Once a visitor converts into a subscriber, your email marketing system can immediately trigger a welcome email sequence and keep engaging subscribers with new and relevant emails. When subscribers convert into customers, your CRM can track their usage patterns and gauge satisfaction through periodic surveys.

If a customer approaches your services team with a complaint or suggestion, the system can automatically share it with your customer support and sales teams. You can also trigger activity-based marketing campaigns with your CRM. For example, you can send emails and SMSs or show relevant products to users who visit a specific page on your site or engage with a marketing campaign.

Overall, a CRM empowers you by gathering priceless customer information in a centralised database and giving you the tools to achieve your marketing and sales goals.

Is your marketing strategy benefiting from a CRM system?

A CRM tool streamlines your data and provides valuable customer insights and helps you make informed marketing decisions instead of relying on guesswork. So, if you’re not using an integrated CRM and marketing automation solution to power your marketing strategy, now’s the time to Act!. Try Act! for free for 14 days now. No downloads or credit cards are required.

The post 5 Key Marketing Benefits of a CRM System appeared first on Act!.

All nonprofits — no matter what size or area they serve — facemany of the same challenges. They have to manage both paid employees and volunteers. Attract new donors and deepen relationships with existing ones. Create marketing campaigns and launch fundraisers.

Although the list might seem endless, many nonprofits have tackled it head-on with tremendous innovation and creativity. For instance, smaller nonprofits often rely on homegrown methods to manage all the moving parts across their organisation. Maybe they store their donor contacts in Outlook, track donations in Excel spreadsheets, and launch email campaigns through MailChimp. But if these apps can’t speak to each other, the data management headaches can pile up quickly.

These ad hoc processes, however, can be tough to scale as the organisation grows. Plus, when team members or volunteers move on, they take that knowledge with them. This can leave incoming staff with a steep learning curve as they try to figure out where all of the information resides.

This is why, no matter how new or how small a nonprofit is, it’s never too early to start using a customer relationship management (CRM) platform.

How can a CRM help nonprofits?

The good news is, there’s a CRM system for every budget and skill set. You don’t have to run a Fortune 500 company to get the benefits of having all your contact information, donation amounts, marketing data, and fundraising reports together in one place. In this post, we’ll share some of the great benefits and key features to get the best CRM for your budget and business needs.

Here’s what a CRM can do for you:

Save you TONS of time.

Have you ever calculated how much time you spend onboarding new staff and volunteers? Running email marketing campaigns? Or figuring out how to segment and target your donor base so you can communicate with them more effectively?

A CRM can make all of this easier for you. Potential donors and volunteer recruits can enter their information directly into lead capture forms on your website. That data can be automatically added to your CRM database and then segmented so you send the right messages to the right audience.

Email marketing automation can help you easily manage all of your campaigns. Need to notify volunteers about an upcoming training? Done. Want to invite major donors to a special event? Easy peasy. Gone are the days of manually searching through donor information, which not only drains hours of precious time, you may still wind up omitting key contacts from essential email notifications.

Improve your donor relationships (and attract new ones).

Donor fatigue is real. When nonprofits continually hit up the same people for more money, it can impact donor retention rates and possibly drive donors away. Donor management requires more finesse while ensuring your advocacy message cuts through all the noise.

The right CRM can help you personalise communications with all your donors. It enables you to segment your donor data-target specific campaigns to your donor audience based on key characteristics such as previous donations, age, geographic area, and more.

This helps to align your messages to specific groups instead of continually bombarding your entire database with email blasts that may or may not be relevant to them. So whether a donor has given for the first time or has been a passionate supporter for years, you get the visibility and metrics needed to put the right relationship building blocks in place.

Simplify your day-to-day operations.

As a nonprofit leader, you probably wear multiple hats every day. A CRM can lighten your load by eliminating needless manual tasks, such as creating email campaigns from scratch or constantly moving data between apps.

The right CRM platform gives you the functionality needed to streamline everyday workflows across your team. You can use pre-built, customisable templates to create email newsletters, landing pages, and more.

What’s more, your CRM should include essential integrations with key productivity apps and suites such as Microsoft Office 365 and Google Workspace. These integrations ensure your CRM can talk to all of these applications. For instance, you can initiate a Zoom call or request document signatures right from your CRM.

How do you choose the best CRM solution for your nonprofit?

As with nearly all nonprofit organisations, pricing is always top-of-mind when considering any new purchase. With that in mind, how do you find the right CRM tools that offer the functionality you need without a lot of extra bells and whistles you don’t?

The fact is, there’s no single “best nonprofit CRM” out there. The key is to find the best CRM for you. Think about the list of things you handle every day: event management, volunteer management, outreach, fundraising campaigns, online donations, social media management – is there really an all-in-one CRM that can help you do it all?

The short answer is, yes! To get started, here’s a handy checklist of what to look for (which should apply to any nonprofit organisation regardless of size or area of advocacy):

Personalization and customisation features so your CRM works like you do

These features help you optimise your communication efforts by sending the right message to the right audience at the right time. You can also distinguish your organization with personalised campaigns and landing pages with professional, yet fully customisable, turnkey templates.

Marketing automation to streamline and optimise your outreach

Marketing automation is essential to improving your ability to follow up with donors, volunteers, and other audiences. It’s about more than just sending automated responses on email and social media. You can automate key marketing workflows and stay engaged with all of your stakeholders. Best of all, you can more easily identify what’s working, what’s not, and how to improve processes to meet — and hopefully exceed — your major goals.

Centralised data management for a complete understanding of your donors

Simplify your day-to-day work life by capturing data from donors, volunteers, sponsors, grants, and more all in one organised and easily searchable place. Centralised data management gives you a clear view of your relationship history with every contact. This allows you to reach out with new campaigns and updates, or contact donors and volunteers you haven’t heard from in a while.

Real-time metrics for real-time insights and financial reporting

Keep track of every donor and grant opportunity and instantly view results from fundraising campaigns. Real-time metrics help you quickly assess which marketing campaigns are giving you the best payoff so you can apply the most successful strategies moving forward.

User-friendly CRM interface for quick adoption and results

Let’s face it, any new technology or app needs to be easy to learn so you and your team can stay on top of key projects and priorities. Plus, when new employees or volunteers join, you have to get them up to speed in a matter of minutes rather than spend valuable time training new folks on software.

Essential integrations with the apps and tools you love to save you time

As mentioned previously, your CRM should easily connect to your favorite apps and suites, including Microsoft Outlook, Gmail, and more. This includes payment processing for online donations that funnel directly from fundraising campaigns. As a result, you experience fewer errors and reduce time spent flipping back and forth between apps or tabs. In short, app integrations keep everything connected, up to date, and in sync.

Pay-as-you-grow subscription for peace of mind

Nonprofits shouldn’t pay for software features they don’t need and won’t use. This is why it’s important to look for a subscription-based solution that starts where you are. Whether you need a basic package to kick things off, or you’re ready for more advanced marketing automation features, it’s important to look for nonprofit CRM software that can meet your needs today and grow as your organisation changes.

Act! checks all the boxes for a nonprofit CRM

Act! is dedicated to providing nonprofits everywhere access to software solutions that amplify their relationships and transform their success. Discover how our powerfully simple relationship management tools can support your mission with better marketing and data tracking tools to attract more donors and volunteers, streamline online fundraising, and assist with grant management.

Act! offers flexible customisations, a mobile app and numerous app integrations to accommodate the unique ways you work. We’re committed to meeting your specific needs regardless of your budget and company size.

The post CRM for nonprofits: How to pick the right one for you. appeared first on Act!.

Creating trustworthy relationships with clients through fast, accurate, and personalised care makes financial services professionals stand out among others. Fortunately, Allied Financial Software, Inc. has the products and expertise to help financial and insurance professionals stay organized and on top of their priorities, giving them more time to focus on building relationships with clients and potential prospects.

An Act! ACC Sales Leader and Platinum Tier Partner, Allied Financial offers a range of customised Act! product packages specifically for businesses within the financial and insurance markets. Allied Financial Software also provides product training, consultation, and development courses to ensure clients get the most out of their Act! products. We recently sat down with Allied Financial Software President Scott Abboud to discuss how Act! makes life for financial and insurance professionals easier by providing them with the platform and tools they need to succeed. 

To start, please tell us more about Allied Financial Software—its history, offerings, expertise, etc. 

In the late 80s and early 90s, I started as a financial services professional and worked with two large firms.  As a sales manager, I started using Act! in 1992 and began using Act! in my own practice with a side business of software consulting for my colleagues. I created Allied Financial Services in 1993 and went out on my own as an independent investment advisor. Later, I became a VP of business development for a large broker-dealer, where I traveled the country, sharing the best practices for financial advice with various financial institutions. Act! was a part of those best practices, freeing financial planners from the chaos of Rolodexes and index cards by providing them with an intelligent software solution to help organise and manage their client and prospect relationships. 

After becoming a Certified Financial Planner® in 1991, I ran my own financial planning practice and eventually began consulting primarily for financial services software. My experience and background in financial planning and asset allocation awarded me unique insights into financial service, which enabled me to customize the Act! software to cater to the unique needs of financial advisors and insurance professionals. In 1999, these industry-specific database templates were the blueprint for creating Act4Advisors, an Act! add-on designed specifically for the financial and insurance industry verticals. The popularity of the Act4Advisors software prompted me to start Allied Financial Software, Inc in 2001 and become an Act! Certified Consultant in 2002. 

Allied Financial Software has always focused on the financial and insurance industry and, along with consultation and training, began developing customised Act! add-ons to cater to both unique verticals. Our company has worked with financial and insurance institutions of all sizes, from sole proprietors to enterprises. However, with larger organizations, we tend to work closely with departments within the companies. So, we are used to providing our expertise to smaller teams.

What differentiates you from your competitors? 

By far, our domain knowledge within the vertical-specific Act! add-ons are what differentiates us from our competitors. Our Act4Advisors add-on for Act! was designed specifically for financial planners, investment advisors, and insurance professionals. The customised database program includes pertinent industry features, such as personal information fields, basic account and insurance information, custom reports, web portals, and document management, with scanning capabilities. With these capabilities, users can leverage Act!’s database features to automatically track client information and quickly determine things like proper services, products, benefits packages, and qualified plans. 

Allied Financial Software also offers Scan&Organize add-on for Act! that allows Act! users to scan and manage essential documents directly within the Act! platform. This enables users to maintain client folders which can include vital documents such as Wills & Trusts, Financial Plans, Invoices, communications, etc—helping any Act! users including financial and insurance professionals stay organised and provide superior service to their clients. 

How have you seen Act! solutions evolve over time? 

I have been an Act! user since nearly its inception so for me, a lot has changed! While I could discuss how Act! has grown to include email management tools and has evolved to include mobile and cloud-based CRM integration and Act!’s Marketing Automation (AMA), the greatest evolution of Act! has been its continued growth and prioritisation of its user interface. Act! has always provided its clients with highly intuitive and connective software, and its products just continue to become more user-friendly and easier to adopt—which makes it a lot easier to sell!

Regarding user adoption, are there any common roadblocks customers encounter when setting up a CRM system? 

For anyone new to CRM, the most challenging part of software adoption is getting them to change their habits and how they manage their client lists and important data. Whether it is resistance to change or fear of the unknown, clients often feel like their way is the right way. As consultants, an important part of our job is getting clients to understand that while their current processes may “work,” they may not be serving their customers to the best of their ability, and CRM technology like Act! is designed to take their operations and customer service to the next level. 

How have you seen customers’ business needs evolve in the past few years, e.g., any trends in software needs since Covid? And, are there any capabilities customers are more interested in as business becomes increasingly digital?

The most significant change I have seen is the accelerated migration to cloud technologies, with many CRM vendors doing away with on-premise software options. As a financial and insurance-focused CRM consultant, we are fortunate to have a tool like Act! that provides both an Act! Premium on-premise CRM, along with various CRM deployment options that include hybrid approaches offering users the flexibility and accessibility of cloud software with the security and reliability of on-premise technology. 

Visit their website to learn more about how Allied Financial Software, Inc. can help organise your financial or insurance professional services team and improve relationships with your valuable clients. 

The post Act! Channel Partner Spotlight – Allied Financial Software, Inc. appeared first on Act!.

A recent study estimates that 87% of home buyers use a real estate agent. At the same time, 94% of those buyers reported that they were satisfied with their experience. Satisfied customers are often repeat customers who likely provide referrals, thereby making them crucial to the success of today’s real estate professionals.

Investing in a quality real estate CRM is a great way to ensure you’re the agent your repeat customers contact when they need to buy or sell a home. Keep reading to learn what real estate CRM is and how it can help you out beat your competition. 

Defining Real Estate CRM: What it is and what it does

Real estate CRM is customer relationship management (CRM) and is usually paired with marketing automation.

Real estate CRM is software designed to help agents, realtors, real estate companies, and brokers manage their businesses. This CRM database helps with sales, marketing, information management, reporting, and customer relationships. CRM software is beneficial for agents by supporting their lead nurturing activities, helping them to track their pipeline KPIs and close deals, and enhancing their customer support.

CRM solutions are not mandatory for most real estate agents and brokerages in the real estate industry, but it is a valuable tool for increasing efficiency and improving marketing efforts. Customer relationship management (CRM) software helps businesses fine-tune their contact management processes and grow their new leads and existing customer relationships. For example, with CRM software, agents and brokers can see a customer’s preferences and with whom and where their customer has interacted. This allows room for targeted marketing.

The most helpful CRM software includes marketing automation so you can seamlessly align your sales and marketing efforts including email marketing. Marketing automation software provides agents and brokers with the functionality to develop and maintain meaningful customer relationships using customized communications including drip campaigns. Easy-to-build email campaigns often include customized email templates that are sent when specific triggers occur. 

In a nutshell, a CRM is software that provides an interface between organizations and their customers or clients. It improves lead management and allows an organization to better understand its customers’ needs and engage with them more effectively.

CRMs are often used by big and small businesses that sell products or services. But they can also be used by nonprofits, government agencies, and other organizations. 

Benefits of real estate CRM software

Real estate CRM helps agents improve marketing, track leads, and automate sales processes in their real estate businesses. Real estate agencies can also increase sales by creating more personalized marketing campaigns and emails.

With more leads and appointments, it’s easier to be more productive and get more work done. Efficiency is vital for agents since every minute counts.

Real estate CRMs are excellent tools for managing a large sales volume. More sales mean more income for agents. Agents and realtors can use customizable reports to track details about each transaction and measure meaningful data, like sales cycles and purchasing trends that may help determine if a listing price was too high or too low. 

Additionally, management tools like real estate CRM can help agents reduce their time spent on administrative tasks by helping to streamline their lead generation and transaction management-related tasks. 

A CRM also helps agents stay organized and focus on specific tasks that are most important by calling out priority customers and deals in customizable reports and easily accessing records and data of previous and potential clients.

Real estate software helps agents track their sales and marketing activities. As a result, agents can plan their workload better and stay on top of it. It can also help them keep track of client information, like address and contact information, to automate processes. 

Types of real estate CRMs

CRM software comes in various forms, depending on your business’s needs. There are two main types of CRM software: cloud-based software and on-premise CRM software.

Cloud-based CRM software is best for companies that want to access their data anywhere, and on any device, via a cloud-based online portal. This is important for companies that operate across multiple locations or departments. A cloud-based solution is often most cost-effective because the software publisher manages all updates and technical details so agents and brokers do not have to invest in additional hardware or technical expertise. 

On-premise CRM software is a type of software that businesses host on their own computers. On-premises CRM software solutions typically offer an added sense of control and security as agents deploy and manage the software. 

Some CRM systems offer a hybrid approach with a cloud sync, giving agents and brokers the best of both worlds; the control and security of an on-premises solution, and the flexibility of a cloud platform. 

Click here to learn about the security, flexibility, and affordability of Act!’s on-premises, cloud, and hybrid CRM solutions. 

How to Implement Real Estate CRM

Real estate agents and brokers can start using a real estate CRM immediately, however, there are some benefits to implementing an all-in-one CRM and marketing automation system as part of a broader real estate growth strategy. Well-devised sales and marketing strategies help you grow your real estate business by implementing and adjusting your efforts based on real-time reports.

First, start your real estate CRM implementation with a full audit of your business. Doing this will help you identify how you are currently operating and how it’s performing. You can use this information to better decide which type of real estate CRM to use. Start by auditing your current practices. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What data do you currently have as paper records?
• What activities does your team currently perform?
• What is collected for data?
• What processes are currently automated?

After completing your audit, implement your business’s most crucial CRM features to get your business up and running with the technology it needs to operate at its best. 

Next, it’s time to incorporate your marketing strategy. Use your all-in-one CRM and marketing automation tool to streamline the setup of automated email marketing campaigns, follow-ups to website engagement, and create custom landing pages. 

Are you ready to enhance your real estate business with CRM?

Real estate CRM is an essential asset for today’s brokers and agents. Real estate software can help you reach new interested buyers, schedule appointments, announce open houses, track your customers’ engagement and manage your workflows.

CRM tools help you stay on top of your customers and lead by easily accessing personalized information about them including past purchases, home equity, and listing price information. A real estate CRM also helps you manage your workflows from the first showing to inspections and closings, and accurately forecast future pipeline and revenues. 

It’s crucial to choose a CRM that fits your needs and budget and that can grow with you over time. Some CRMs require significant upfront investment and potentially offer features you may never use, while other lower-cost options may be scalable and let you subscribe to a perfect-fit solution for your real estate business today. 

Ready to give CRM a try? Start a free 14-day trial. No credit card or download is required. 

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