GoldMine in South Africa!

GoldMine was among the first CRM programs to that gained popularity in the early 1990's in South Africa. It was the dominant player in the CRM market back then. And this still shows by the number of customers that use GoldMine CRM in South Africa. The term CRM was really a buzz word back then but because of a lack of understanding around CRM, and a lot of failed CRM projects, it got a bad name. FrontRange, the developers behind GoldMine, have a strong Partner channel which deliver value added services to the customer. Our partners have over 50 years combined experience in not just GoldMine but CRM in general. They have seen the pitfalls and successes of countless CRM implementations. And are in a unique position to not only install and implement GoldMine, but also to advise the customer on the best way to reap the benefits of a CRM solution. This knowledge is invaluable as it can save the customer weeks if not months of frustration in implementing a CRM strategy. Dean le Pere, the channel manager for GoldMine in South Africa, says that "GoldMine, once deployed properly, becomes the backbone of a company. Where often Outlook used to be the first program an employee opened at the beginning of the day, now GoldMine is the first to be launched. And with good reason, because that’s where all communication, calendar, and customer history is stored. It’s one place that tells you all you need to know about a prospect or customer." "Because the system is configurable," le Pere goes on to say; "you are assured that your investment is sound as all your customisations will survive upgrades. Gone are the days where you you needed to call in a developer to an extra field or value to the drop down list of a field. With GoldMine the power is in your hands as a user of GoldMine." Are you struggling to keep tabs on your national client base and employees across the country? GoldMine is able to take care of the distributed enterprise via automatic, synchronisation between two servers. or if it’s a few sales reps on the road that need access to the CRM system, GoldMine Mobile, which works on your blackberry cellphone is the answer. With so many options as to the method of access you are able to continue to work as you used and GoldMine will fit in with your business; not the other way around. Do you want to learn more or are you interested in a demonstration? Email Dean at dean.lepere@frontrange.com

CRM 2.0 is still CRM

After the countless failed CRM projects back in the early 1990's CRM became a very unpopular subject. Instead of CRM helping companies retain customers it ended up being a costly undertaking that did not produce measurable results. Everyone blamed the CRM software for this and lots of CRM software companies vanished overnight. But CRM has made a comeback. Some have tried to call it a different name to distinguish between the old failed CRM projects and the current more successful implementations. But "What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet" and the same applies to CRM. We cannot blame the CRM software for the failed implementations. But rather the blame rests squarely on the shoulders on the companies that tried to implement CRM. CRM software without a CRM strategy is the same as being on a boat without a rudder. You need to have a CRM strategy and buy in from management for any CRM software to have the slightest benefit. We should stop concerning ourselves with what CRM stands for (Customer Relationship Management), but rather view it as a tool to increase customer service, customer loyalty, employee productivity, and a means of reducing duplication of effort and input. If the reduction of duplicate work is accomplished both your customer and your staff benefit. And happy staff, means happy customers, means increased revenue, means happy managers. So lets stop getting bogged down by terminology but lets rather get down to making the customer happy. And you do this by treating the customer like your wife. As David Ogilvy said "the consumer is not a moron, she is your wife." Treating the customer as your spouse means remembering things, doing things not because there is an immediate benefit to you but always being willing to give. And before you know it you will be getting orders without having to chase the customer for their signature. You will get referrals, and you will gain customers for life.