How Microsoft Dynamics CRM Can Help Boost Your Sales

Nothing is more crucial to sales than customer relations. Without good customer relationships and service, businesses often flounder and fail. However, maintaining those relationships can be difficult. Enter Microsoft Dynamics Customer Relations Management (CRM), a software solution that can boost sales by giving your business the tools to exceed at customer relations. Here's what Microsoft Dynamics CRM can do for you:

1. Keep better track of your customers. Know who your customers are, what they're buying and what they want from your business. You may just discover a new target market or product idea.

2. Improve marketing techniques. Did your direct sales letter net any new business this year? Did your new door-to-door campaign motivate your customer base? Find out as the software tracks the outcome of your marketing strategies. Use the data to keep the techniques that worked or improve them.

3. Manage your accounts more efficiently. Clearly see your business' income and outflow and develop strategies to increase income. Learn which departments in your company are most productive and which ones need improvement. Know exactly how much that new advertising campaign will cost and how it will translate into sales.

4. Improve customer service. Nothing is more important to your customers than the quality of the service they receive from your business. Microsoft Dynamics CRM allows you to log customer inquiries accurately and to respond to them in a timely manner.

5. Streamline your advertising. Get your ad campaign from concept to production in less time at lower cost. Know where your ads will succeed before placing them. Be able to articulate to your design team who the target audience is and how to get their attention. These are just a few things Microsoft Dynamics CRM can do for your business. The software also allows you to create custom applications for whatever your business needs to increase sales. Whether your business is in retail, manufacturing, healthcare or professional services, Microsoft Dynamics CRM has a solution for you.

 If you'd like to learn more about how Microsoft Dynamics CRM can help your business visit aresgrp.com.

Cloud based accounting software at the right price from Intacct -

Many companies today are evaluating cloud based accounting solutions such as Intacct as they look to save money by migrating software services away from traditional IT environments.  Moving to Intacct cloud based accounting can help, but you need to calculate the true cost to your organization.  There are many variables in calculating the difference between Intacct pricing and comparable traditional software packages like Microsoft Dynamics GP. Intacct is on a named user basis, whereas Dynamics GP is concurrent user. There also can be significant differences in what functionality is included in the base price of the software. With Intacct, there are significant savings in implementation, and no server costs. On the other hand, Intacct is subscription based, meaning you will be paying for as long as you use the software, whereas with Dynamics GP you own the licenses and pay a maintenance fee. Make sure you do a full Total Cost of ownership analysis before making a decision.

For more information and to compare Intacct and Dynamics GP, please contact Intellitec Solutions at www.intellitecsolutions.com, or 866-504-4357

A ‘Real’ Headline – Does Your Home Page Have One?

Many technology business websites either don't have a headline on their Home page, or their existing headline does not get their reader’s attention! What is the purpose of your website home page? It should get a potential clients attention (with

the headline), and then engage them to want to learn more about your services. Your Home page headline is key to achieving improved lead generation results from your website. A survey of 30 Microsoft Partner sites showed 15 (half of those reviewed!) did not display what could be considered a 'Real' headline (Body text in H1 Tags) on their Home page. The headline I'm referring to is not the same as the company tag line or motto. Your motto or tag line may appear near the top of your home page by your logo, or in your header graphic. The 'Real' headline should be text which is placed at the top of the page content or wording. Of those websites which did have a headline, the words either included technical jargon (geek speak), or the words were imbedded in a graphic header area. Words included in graphics are not found in search results. The popular visuals with scrolling graphics, slideshows or flash header graphics are not recognized or compiled by search engines. You need attention getting text headlines in addition to fancy graphics. These findings lead me to believe technology business are either not intending to use their websites

for lead generation, or they do not want to engage potential customers with information about how their services can help their business. The fact is, it means these businesses are missing opportunities to generate leads from their websites. If your Home Page does not currently have a headline - Here are 3 tips on how it should be created to get attention and produce more clicks to your interior pages. 1 - Your headline should be benefit oriented. This means your headline copy should not be about your company, your services or your reputation, but ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS.

Here is a typical technology website headline - "Microsoft Dynamics GP & CRM Solutions". You can find this same text on hundreds, if not thousands of technology business sites! Compare this to an attention getting, benefits oriented headline like - "Implement MS Dynamics GP Software and Boost Your Business Productivity 30% This Year" Yes, this is longer, but if you have provided great results for existing customers say this right up front in your Home page headline! The more specific the benefit described, the better. Make the headline

address the goal the customer wants to achieve or the problem your potential client needs solved. 2 - Your headline should contain a keyword phrase your business wants to be found for by search engines like - 'Microsoft Great Plains consultant' or 'MS Dynamics ERP implementation’. It definitely pays to do some keyword research in advance. Find out what phrases customers look for and the popular terminology they use. These phrases may be quite different than what you might expect based on your technology background and viewpoint. The keyword phrase 'SharePoint contractor' has high competition in Google and only several thousand monthly searches. The keyword phrases 'about SharePoint' and 'why SharePoint' have over 7 million searches and low competition across related websites. You are more likely to be found online using very simple keyword phrases. 3 - Optimize the rest of the Home page for the keyword phrase in the Headline. Do this by including the same phrase several times in the body text, in the link text to other pages

(possibly links to pages with more detailed technical information) or in text descriptions of page graphics. In addition, the keyword phrase should be included in the HTML page Meta Data for the Title, Description and Keywords. This will increase the opportunity for your site to show up in search results for this keyword phrase. I f you already have a text headline on your home page - Review the current wording. Can it be improved? Is it unique and benefit oriented? Is it specific? Does it get attention and engage your potential customers, and make them want to find out more about what you offer?

Is it actual text in the page content or is it part of a graphic? Double check this by looking at the HTML page source code! The headline text should appear in the source code or in an Alt Text field which describes the graphic. This makes it much easier for the search engines to understand what your website and page is about, and then display your page correctly related to a specific search criteria. Is it currently embedded in a 'Flash' header? If it is, it will not appear in most mobile browsers or

smart phones. Most Flash graphics just appears as big black or empty squares on a smart phone. To see anything on the page a person has to scroll down. People will not scroll down, will think there is something wrong with your page and click away from your website. Make certain the headline text appears at the top of the page content above the Flash component for mobile devices. For technology companies, all of this information may be preaching to the choir. But, it is amazing how many companies will not do for themselves what they would implement for their clients! Look for the next post in this series - Call to Action tips If you would like to learn more about how to create attention getting headlines for website lead generation and increased customer engagement, please give me a call at 925-271-5507 or send me an email at lane@lanesennett.com.

How to Keep Track of Referrals with Microsoft Dynamics CRM

For businesses referrals are becoming more important than ever. While advertising and even direct marketing have their benefits, nothing brings in the clients like a referral from a respected partner or industry associate. Referrals can also serve as good measuring sticks for a company's marketing strategies, but that requires some form of referral tracking.

When a company does not have the ability to track referrals, its marketing experts have no way of knowing if their marketing programs were really effective. Depending on who you ask, 60, 70, or according to The Referral Engine , as much as 80 percent of new business for most companies comes from referrals. Still, as few as 25 percent of those companies have any effective system for managing and tracking their referrals.

The CRM Software Blog's new white paper has a simple answer to the referral question: Microsoft Dynamics CRM. According to the white paper, "24 Wildly Creative Ways Companies Use Microsoft Dynamics CRM to Drive Revenue and Serve Customers", Microsoft  Dynamics CRM makes referral tracking a cinch. When you use Dynamics CRM, "the referral source is populated automatically or entered during the client enrollment process". With this system in place, you can easily keep track of your BFFs (Best Friends of the Firm) and keep those referrals coming.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM gives you the power to keep information about referrals and also track their success rate so that you know where referrals were effective and where they were not. To download more amazing ideas for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, download the white paper from CRM Software Blog at www.crmsoftwareblog.com/creative-crm.

Then check out a cool new infographic which visually shows 12 Great Reasons Companies Use Microsoft Dynamics CRM at www.crmsoftwareblog.com/creative-crm-infographic.  

Interested in the price of Microsoft Dynamics CRM? Request an automated Dynamics CRM Quick Quote from the CRM Software Blog at www.crmsoftwareblog.com/quick-quote.

By CRM Software Blog Editors