We had been given the heads up by our accountants our rates were too high and that we could bring them down by contacting the local council. Following a few conversations and some form filling, lo and behold, the official notification arrives that we are now some £300 better off per month.

So what you might think? Who cares? Well I do! Why?

Because I care about seeing UK Plc move away from the current economic doom and gloom and to do that, companies & people need to produce things and those same people and companies need to buy things.

Putting £300 per month in the pocket of a small business intouchcrm CAN make a difference. We have grown nicely as a company over the last 12-18 months (although we don’t have to publish it, I have no problems in sharing the fact that our latest annual accounts show a profitable revenue of circa £500k) and we are upbeat about the future.

However, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to work out that because of the Eurozone debt crisis many are nervous about what is going to happen economically over the next few years. Uncertainty causes people and companies to err on the side of caution when it comes to investment which is not going to help drive the growth the country needs.

So, when a small business like ours gets £300 per month back in our pocket that we didn’t expect, we can choose to use it. We may decide to invest in some additional products for the office (which we would buy from a local supplier like Stonehill in Bristol) or we might decide to purchase some other services from a local contractor, such as additional time from a Search Engine Optimization specialist like http://ben-smith.net/ we have recently started working with.  The key thing is, as its money we hadn’t planned for in our budgets, we will use it on things which in turn puts money into the pockets of other people who intend spend, with the subsequent local economic benefit.

The more companies that do this (from financial plans the government must have already allocated) the better it will be. However, the crazy thing about it all is that we weren’t made aware of it in any official capacity. If it wasn’t for the sharp eye of our accountants we would be none the wiser and so in turn would not be spending the extra money that we plan to. It made me wonder how many other companies across the UK could be doing the same thing and if say 50,000 small businesses across the country are aware of this, it could be £15m going back into the economy each month just from a simple awareness and promotion campaign.

So, take 2 things from this blog. Firstly, if you run a small business check with your accountants that you’re paying the correct level of business rates. Best to be told no than not know at all. The second thing is that even something small like this could make a difference in both the financial sense and an increase in the feel good factor as companies celebrate new orders and sales.

So, help yourself Mr Osborne. £300 per month can make a difference and with a decent awareness campaign, it could help take UK PLC from 0.5% growth to 1.5% and out of these tough economic times.

But how many were actively asking for contact details from anyone who showed interest in their products or company? Since I am a  sucker for traditional cider and decent sausages I naturally made a beeline for the food stalls first - partly to satisfy my cravings of course, and partly to see what response I got.

I reckon, (and yes this is a true guestimate) that after visiting around 150 stalls (we did get past the sausages and cider eventually), that a sum total of only 4 or 5 actually requested my contact details and asked if they could send me further information such as an email marketing newsletter.  Only 4 or 5 out of 150?  What a missed opportunity!

A research study by Marketing Sherpa found that consumers who subscribed to email newsletters generated over 34% more sales for a company that those that didn’t.  So the answer – get those customers’ details in the first place, add them into a CRM database and get emailing.  It’s not rocket science but it is a sure fire way of growing your business.

Why oh why when they have paid the £700+ for their stand and the additional costs of having staff on the stand and the cost of samples, do so few of them do one of the basics of business marketing??

After we purchased a necklace for my wife, I asked one of the ladies what tools she uses to communicate with people who had purchased from her. She said that she relies on her website http://www.beautifulbracelets.co.uk/ for communication and she does not have the time to communicate with existing customers.

I liked her honesty and it was a great business with a great product. But she had a customer actively looking to receive communications from her that could lead to extra sales.  And she didn’t have time!  OK.

I don’t want to pick on this one business as she was in the same camp as the other 145 or so stall holders that I met on the day who also didn’t ask me for my details.  So ever the salesperson, I gave out my card and told them to look at what intouchcrm could do for their business.  That we could help save them time and grow!   Intouchcrm enables them to store all their customer information in an organised way but more importantly means that you can then segment that database as needed and send out marketing campaigns and emails to encourage more sales.  As a well known meercat might say, Simples!

Spending the money on being at any event, show or local market and then not asking for customer information (through either a business card or a simple competition card) is a sin. Not capturing this information and using it WHEN A CUSTOMER HAS ASKED YOU TO is plain stupidity in my view. Capture the details (if you’re clever you will ask for a special date such as an anniversary which can be used in the communication!), store it in an online contact database like intouchcrm, (so you can access it anywhere) and then when you have new products or a promotion send out a monthly email saying ‘have a look at something here which we think you will like’ . Then start planning your regular marketing communications with existing customers and watch those sales grow.  It really doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that.

More information on intouchcrm at http://intouchcrm.co.uk/

Before Christmas, we may have mentioned once or twice that we have some exciting plans for InTouchCRM in 2011.  And they’re coming soon to a PC or laptop near you!

When you log onto InTouchCRM on Monday 4th April, you’ll notice changes to the way the system looks but also some of its features.  We’re adding new functionality that many of you have asked for, but we’re also revitalising some of the existing features that need a little TLC…

A Summary of What’s Coming

New User Interface –simpler navigation & clearer information.

New Calendar – making it easier to store key appointments and share these amongst your colleagues

New Contact Management Screens – Simplifying the way in which you interact with your customers

New Email Editor create sexier emails in half the time

New Autoresponder Functionality set up automated email campaigns and save more time

We are due to launch our Beta program for the new InTouch on Tuesday 15th March. If you are interested in being part of this program (we will expect a few things from you!) then please contact the support team. We have a limited number of spaces available and so if your keen to take part then phone us now on 0845 310 9973.

Webinar Training

Don’t worry, we’re not planning on launching these new features and then just leaving you to it.  We’ll work with you throughout to make sure you’ve got all the information, advice and tips you need to get the best out of the system.  We’ll be running three weeks of webinars starting on 28th March to guide you through the new system and answer any questions you might have.  There’ll be 2-3 sessions each day from the 4th April and we’ll also post a copy of them onto our website for reference or if you can’t attend a webinar.  Look out for more information on webinars soon.

Your data is secure

Switchover to the new InTouchCRM will take place at midnight on Sunday 3rd April.  If you do happen to be logging on at that time to send a midnight missive to your customers, you might find the system a little slower than usual or notice a few moments of disruption.  Otherwise, you’ll see all the changes when you log in as normal on Monday 4th April.  As your customer information is as important to us as it is to you, we want to reassure you that the security of your customer data will not be jeopardised at any point and will remain secure and safe. We won’t bore you with the details but we are putting a number of safeguards in place to double and triple check that all your data will be available at all times during the changes.

Oh and of course any personalised or bespoke email templates that you have will also be available and usable within the new system as normal.

So that’s it for now.  We hope you’re as excited about the changes as we are. We’ve got an awful lot of work to do between now and then but we’ll keep in touch regarding any updates or new information.  In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, let us know on 0845 310 9973 or email us at info@intouchcrm.co.uk

Good customer service is a thing of the past

A bold statement I know but sadly for many businesses it is true.  And we all know that the point of difference between one business and another down the road selling the same thing is customer service. Show your customers the love and they will show it back, tenfold.

If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends.
If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.
JEFF BEZOS, Founder of Amazon.com

So, without sending each customer red roses, how can you show them that they are loved? More importantly, how do you get them to love you?

Well, there are millions of things that you can do, but here are 3 that I think are pretty key

Give a personal service

If a customer walks into your show, calls you up, emails you, however they communicate with you – they are still a person, a human being so treat them as such. They have a name – use it! Don’t send faceless unpersonalised emails or letters, use your email marketing and CRM system to personalise your communications and insert their name or a personal greeting.  It certainly ain’t rocket science but it’s surprising how many people don’t do this. You should be creating a rapport with each customer at every point so they feel they trust you, your business and brand.  Using personalised communications which can be created at the click of a button are a no-brainer.  If you need proof of this why not try a test on your next email campaign?  Send one version without personalisation and one with and see what results you get.  Or click email personalisation for more on personalised  campaigns.

Over-Deliver

Anyone can do just enough to get the job done, but that is not about creating customer love. Going over and above the call of duty is what builds that bond and that customer love, you have to manage expectations and make sure that first and foremost – you get the job done! At InTouchCRM we follow this maxim.

To my customer.
I may not have the answer, but I’ll find it.
I may not have the time, but I’ll make it.
UNKNOWN

Finally, BE A REAL PERSON

Customers are people and should be dealt with as such……and…..shock horror…..So are you!, It really is as simple as that. Treat others as you would want to be treated and you can’t go to wrong.

But although we all send emails to family and friends, sending a business related email is a very different animal that requires some planning and knowledge.  But once you know the tricks of the trade, it’s easy! Read on for our top tips on creating the most effective email message for your business.

Step 1: Get ‘em hooked

Just like a piece of bait on the end of fishing line, the title or subject line you give the email is vital to hooking the reader in.  You have maybe 1 or 2 seconds at the most to make that first impression  count and to ensure the reader opens rather than bins.

Don’t be too clever - don’t be tempted to be too clever with puns, innuendos or clever plays on words.  I can guarantee that the recipients of your email are just as busy as you are and want to be able to scan their inbox for messages that are either crucial or interesting to them.

Top tip: Ask yourself  ‘so what?’ when reading your own text. Does it clearly communicate the benefit or does the reader have to work it out? For example, instead of having a subject line of;

February Newsletter

Try…

Our guide to surviving Valentines Day as a singleton in this month’s newsletter

Step 2: Reel ‘em in

So you’ve hooked them with the subject line. But to reel them in and keep them reading the first few lines of your first paragraph are just as crucial.  Be very clear on what they’ll find in the email – the topic or item that was mentioned in the subject line plus one or two other bits too.  That’s it.  Nothing more, be obvious, succinct and clear.  Remember also that many people will see your email in a preview pane and so the top part is the only part that will be seen until they either scroll down or open it.

Top tip: Using bullet points, a list or short text highlighted in some way, will help.  Something like this;

In Our Newsletter this month:

• Win a Valentines weekend break
• 10% off all products in our new Spring range
• Spotlight on XYZ

Step 3: Be concise, clear and succinct

Better to write too little than too much when it comes to email marketing.  Ever heard of the term visual noise?  This is the marketing equivalent of not being able to see the wood for the trees, so don’t be tempted to cram in too much information just to fill space.

Break up your main text and avoid long paragraphs of copy.

Don’t be too clever - don’t be tempted to be too clever with puns, innuendos or clever plays on words.  I can guarantee that the recipients of your email are just as busy as you are and want to be able to scan their inbox for messages that are either crucial or interesting to them.

Top tip: Make use of;

• Bulletpoints,
• Lists,
• Subtitled Sections, or
• Box off sections of short text that you want to highlight

Step 4: Testing, testing

You probably won’t get it right first time. Email marketing systems like InTouchCRM help by providing a wide range of information on each campaign you send – how many opens, bounces, unsubscribes and crucially click throughs to your website.  This is where the really clever stuff happens.  The information you get from these reports is instantaneous and helps you to tweak and improve future email marketing.

Top tip: Try different subject titles or layouts to different groups of customers and see which one gets the best response (open rates).

Watch out for part 3 of our Email Marketing Effectiveness Guide which will be out soon – the do’s and don’ts of email design and layout.

See our website for more tips on email marketing success – www.intouchcrm.co.uk/resources

For more details on InTouchCRM’s campaign reporting features, click here

Before Christmas I wrote in this very blog how 2011 would be an exciting year for InTouchCRM and it will be.  We’re well underway with lots of improvements and additions to the system including:

• A brand new look with a simpler and more intuitive navigation
• New features such as autoresponders, sign up forms, a new and improved calendar
• New customer profiling tool that allows you to identify which your most responsive customers are based on previous campaigns, allowing you to create more targeted campaigns for the future
• Brand new email editor that is so much easier to use, and gives brilliant results, something that I know many of you have wanted for some time (including me!)

So when will all this be available I hear you cry.  Well at the moment that’s the million dollar question.  You know how tricky system development can be…and if you don’t count yourself lucky as it can be a real pain in the proverbial sometimes. But hey the InTouchCRM team will not be beaten and are working like Trojans (fuelled by chocolate of course) and so we’re aiming to get all of these new features and changes in place for March/April time.  There’s so much going on behind the scenes to get these exciting new developments completed and delivered, but I know it will be worth it.

If you’re an existing InTouchCRM user then you’ll already have seen some email communication about the changes and there will be more to follow as we get closer to d-day.  We’ll be providing training via webinars as well as a new and improved help and resources centre so I promise that all will become crystal clear in due course.  But if you have any burning questions meanwhile or want to add a comment or view, feel free to add in the box below. After all I do believe someone, and I forget who, once said it was good to talk.

When it comes to home life then silence can be golden but is often elusive with the usual hustle and bustle of day to day life.  But silence is not what you want in business.  If the phones fall silent then orders stop and the customers have gone elsewhere.

So how do you that “golden” silence? Simple…..Make some noise yourself!

1. Be old fashioned and actually ring your customers

Yes, radical we know but allocate ten minutes each day to pick up the phone and chat to a handful of your customers, ask them how their business is doing, find out about any concerns that you might be able to help with.  It might just turn into a new order for you.

2. Use email marketing to send your customers a monthly newsletter

Spend a couple of hours planning the next three months newsletters.  If you don’t contact your customers regularly, they’ll be forgetting you and moving on to your competitor who has taken the time to stay in touch with them.  If you’re new to email marketing or just want to brush up on the basics, check out this guide  – “5 Good Steps for Email Marketing”.

There’s a recession on – the perfect time to invest some time (and a little money) into marketing.

Marketing and communications are the first thing that people cut back on in a recession, they think it’s part of the budget that they can “trim the fat” from but you know what……..YOU CAN’T!!!  Stop communicating with customers and your business will become silent in more ways than one.

So embrace technologies that will allow you to work smarter instead of just harder and help you stay in touch with your customers in an organised and automated way. Email and SMS marketing are a very cost effective way of handling a large amount of sales and marketing tasks that’ll simply make your life easier, and your return on investment healthier. Here’s some examples of some successful email marketing campaigns as food for thought.

There are of course other marketing strategies you can use and you need to consider more than one at a time.  We’re looking to make noise in the market you’re in so one email campaign or SMS is never going to do it alone.  You’ll need to back that up with follow up campaigns, maybe a little bit of local press advertising or PR, a humdinger of a website to drive your customers to (from your email campaigns, naturally!).  There’s loads of things you could do and testing out a few ideas will help you decide what is right for your particular business…but at the heart of it is communication communication, communication.  Relevant, consistent and timely reminders of your business and what it’s all about.

It doesn’t have to be budget busting, technology and the growth of email marketing and the like has opened up a whole new channel to small businesses for getting their message across. But make sure you’re taking advantage to avoid the silence is golden trap.  For more information on InTouchCRM and how it can help your business, visit www.intouchcrm.co.uk

New Year, New Email Marketing Campaign? Make Sure you Avoid the Spam Folder

One of the key factors in email marketing is deliverability i.e. your emails reaching inboxes, not junk or spam folders. You probably wouldn’t keep a sales person who never made it to client meetings? Would you use a courier to deliver your products to customers who had a history of only delivering 50% of shipments? Well that’s where we come in for your email campaigns.

We’re constantly working in the background to ensure your emails are delivered. ISP feedback loops, throttling, MTA, bounce handling are just a few amongst the many things we take care of on your behalf and we won’t bore you with the details. We just want you to know we’re fighting your corner on a daily basis. But we can’t do it alone so here are just two simple ways of helping us to help you get all your emails to exactly where you want them – into inboxes

Step 1 – Send less emails!

I know it seems strange for a company providing a system that enables you to email your customers to say this, but yes, we think most people send too many emails. Or to maybe be more specific, too many emails that aren’t relevant enough to the recipients interests and needs. Research has shown that 75% of respondents say a lack of relevance is the biggest reason they choose to opt out of receiving regular emails, followed closely by being sent them too frequently at 73%. (Merkle Interactive Services 2009).

So how often is too often and how do you ensure relevance?

Well clearly it will depend on the type of business but a good rule of thumb is once a week if you are sending customers a promotional offer or a way of saving money/purchasing something new. Or for general company updates and “staying in touch” purposes, probably once a month is all that’s needed. To work out what’s best for your business, try a few different approaches and keep an eye on your open rates – if they start to fall, you can start to work out is it the content of the message that is the problem or the frequency.

Content is King

It’s just as vital to consider content. 41% of US internet users threatened to stop buying from companies that send them irrelevant messages (CMO Council & InfoPrint Solutions, 2010) so it really is a turn off for them. Unfortunately we see this happen a lot – if a customer signs up to receive your restaurant business newsletter and you then use that same customer’s details to also send them communications about a completely different business venture, you are effectively spamming them and they will complain and potentially unsubscribe.

Instead, include a link to your alternative business venture in your restaurant newsletter, invite them to actively sign up to the new communication or contact you for information and then you have a separate group of customers that you know are actively interested in your new product or offer. This means you can then segment that group and send them emails containing content that is timely but relevant to them.

Let a CRM system such as InTouchCRM do the hard work for you

Remember, the InTouchCRM system helps you manage all your email marketing communications and will track and report on open and click through rates as well as giving you the low down on delivery & bounce rates, unsubscribes etc. So the system will do a lot of the hard work, you just have to act on the information it gives you.

Step 2 – Keep your email list up to date

Let’s make this very simple. If someone receives your email and did not want it, that is spam. Even if they purchased from you in 1986 or told you at a trade show they would be happy to receive emails, if they click that junk button, its spam. That’s bad for you and bad for us. Once someone has unsubscribed from your emails InTouchCRM will not send them another email. However, what if you’ve sent someone 10 campaigns and they’ve not opened or clicked a link in any? Do you think they’re really interested? Do you think ISPs don’t notice this? We can assure you they do. Too many unopened emails and complaints will eventually lead to the ISP blocking you….and unfortunately this affects us too so we do everything we can to prevent it getting to that situation. But a regular check of your own email contact list and making sure all your permissions are up to date and current is essential. If you don’t, at best you’ll look unprofessional and at worse the emails just won’t get there. Make it a new year’s resolution to check your list once a month!

That’s it for now. Nothing too strenuous whilst we all ease back into work mode. We’ll have some more tips on improving email effectiveness over the coming weeks so watch this space for more information soon. Happy emailing and for more help or advice visit us at www.intouchcrm.co.uk

We already know what our new year’s resolutions are – Make InTouchCRM even better!

With Christmas just around the corner and a healthy dose of festive spirit starting to build, we could sit here and just wait for the snow to fall (ok just looked out the window and that’s that box ticked already), or for someone to pass a mince pie or two.

But whilst we’ve been growing well over the past year, we know there is always more that we could do to improve InTouchCRM ensuring it remains the most flexible and integrated CRM platform for small and medium sized businesses.

We recently sent out a survey asking for your views and feedback as these are crucial to shaping any development for the future.  We hope that you will take this opportunity to tell us what you think, warts and all if necessary, and don’t forget there are £100 of John Lewis vouchers up for grabs as a thank you.

Exciting New Features for 2011

Whilst your feedback is incredibly important to us, we haven’t been resting on our laurels either.  We have spent the last couple of months reviewing the InTouch platform, what it offers, how easy it is to use and navigate as well as working on a range of new features and functionality.  This together with the feedback we get from our customers will shape the development of an exciting new phase in the story of InTouchCRM.

We’re not going to give the game away just yet as to what the new features are…but rest assured we think you’ll like them!  We will also take the opportunity to review some of our existing offer including the support packages we provide…but it will all be designed to make things quicker, easier and more effective for you our customers.

So watch this space for more information – as soon as we have a definitive launch date for the updated version of InTouchCRM we will of course let you know.  But with a fair wind, not too many portions of Christmas pud to slow us down and some useful feedback from you the customer and we should be ready to rock and roll by February.

If you have any questions, or indeed concerns, please don’t hesitate to give me a call – it’s always great to hear from you.  Meanwhile I’d like to take this chance to wish you a very Happy Christmas and New Year.  Thank you for your support in 2010 and I look forward to working with you in 2011.

With best wishes

James

CEO

InTouchCRM

Ps – if you haven’t yet sent your customers a Christmas card, check out our Christmas e-card promotion on our website.  A quick, hassle free and environmentally friendly way of wishing your customers Happy Christmas. Just go to www.intouchcrm.co.uk/christmas_offer.aspx

We hope that you’ve had a successful year in 2010 and are looking forward to putting your feet up for at least a few days over Christmas and the New Year.  We already know that we’ve got an exciting but very busy year coming up in 2011 and will be adding some exciting new features and developments to InTouch.

So to ensure we kick all of that off with plenty of charge in our batteries we’ll be taking a little break;

Our offices and main telephone lines will be closed from 12pm on 24^th December and will reopen at 9am on Tuesday 4^th January.

During this time, please email us at info@intouchcrm.co.uk with any queries or alternatively raise a support ticket in InTouch and we will respond, as normal, as soon as we can!

We will continue to offer the same response times to tickets and email approvals as we do now even throughout the Christmas period! It’s just the phone support that won’t be available!

If however you have an urgent question or problem that needs an immediate response, we will have an emergency telephone number available.  Please call us on the standard 0845 310 9973 support number and you will be given further information on what to do.   It’s likely that we’ll be enjoying our turkey sandwiches at the same time, but we’ll do our best to solve the issue as quickly as we can.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support over the course of 2010 and I very much look forward to working with you all again in 2011.  With good wishes for a fantastic Christmas and New Year.

James White

Chief Executive – InTouch CRM