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Technology Monthly
Software News for the
Promotional Products Industry |
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Newsletter
May 2011 Vol 1 Issue 1 |
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Newsletter Mission Statement |
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| Antera Software is an ECM (Enterprise Content Management) custom software developer. Antera works with many different industries assisting in business automations and increased efficiencies. In the promotional products industry, Antera has recently seen a heavy need for increased business automation, and Antera would like to use this publication as a resource to disseminate the problems, workarounds, and breakthroughs that we encounter on a daily basis in the promotional products industry. Antera hopes to provide enlightened suggested solutions to common industry dilemmas and inspire new ideas and brainstorms along the way. |
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Why Should Your Company Invest in CRM Software Immediately? |
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| A properly implemented Customer Relationship Management Software Program can bring significant benefits to any organization. Let's take a look at the advantages that a CRM can bring to companies in the Promotional Product industry. |
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Shared or distributed data
These days' customer relationships are happening on many levels (not just through customer service or a web presence). This fact creates an urgency in the need to share all available data throughout the organization. A CRM system is an enabler for making informed decisions and ensuring follow-up on all the different levels of customer service. |
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Better Customer Service
All data concerning interactions with customers is centralized. The customer service department can greatly benefit from this, because they have all the information they need at their fingertips. No need to guess, no need to ask the customer for the n-th time. A CRM allows any employee handling customer service to lead the customer towards the information they need. |
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Increased Customer Satisfaction
The customer feels that he is more "part of the team" instead of just a subject for sales and marketing (the proverbial number), because customer service is better and the customer's needs have been anticipated. |
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| Many companies think that if customers are satisfied that this is a good predictor for repeat business. However, this is not the case. Only delighted customers have a great level of loyalty. Whether it was Employee A, B, or C that dealt with Customer A last, a CRM allows the next employee to deal with Customer A to have all past conversations, notes, and transactions at his/her fingertips. |
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Better Customer Retention
If a CRM system can help to enchant customers, this will increase customer loyalty, and they will keep coming back to buy again and again, hence customer retention. |
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Loyal customers
Loyalty is what every salesperson of promotional products works toward every day. |
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More repeat business
The repeat business is coming from the delighted customers, who are turned from doubting clients into loyal advocates. |
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More new business
If you are delivering the ultimate customer experience, this will seed the word-of-mouth buzz, which will spawn more new business. |
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More Profit!
More business at lower cost equals more profit. Increased profit equals motivated salespeople. Motivated salespeople equals customers getting more attention.
One added bonus associated with purchasing CRM software in 2011 is the purchase is 100 percent tax deductable.
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| Can your business afford not to be practicing Customer Relationship Management? Even the smallest operations have current customers and |
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| prospective clients. A properly used CRM can be the difference in a business with satisfied customers compared to a business with delighted customers…which company would you rather work for? |
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| Which CRM is the right CRM? |
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| We at Antera Software have customized the #1 rated open source Sugar CRM for the promotional products industry. What we call LINK CRM is perfect for managing customers, contacts, sales opportunities, and daily planning. Through our work with current customers in the promotional products industry, we have customized and refined LINK CRM with beneficial features unique to the industry to ensure the success of salepeople who use the system properly. We have even included a link to over 150 custom training videos. |
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| Because LINK CRM is derived from open source software, there is no charge for user-licenses. This allows the product to be offered at a fraction of the price of its competitors (see below), but every bit as functional. |
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Type of Service |
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Salesboom Professional Plan |
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Act Premium Edition |
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Link CRM Enterprise Edition (Sugar CRM) |
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| Consulting and Implementation Fees |
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$0 |
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$1,000 |
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$1,800 |
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| Licenses |
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$540/user/year |
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$780/user/year |
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$895/user/year |
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unlimited licensing |
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| Phone Support |
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$0 |
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$199/User/Year |
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$600/year |
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| 3 year cost for 5 users |
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$8,100 |
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$11,700 |
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$18,910 |
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$3,600 |
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| 3 year cost for 15 users |
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$24,300 |
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$35,100 |
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$51,730 |
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$3,600 |
3 Successful Marketing Tips Using
Promotional Products |
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By Remy Lebeau February 28, 2011 |
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| Today, it can be said that the cheapest vehicle for marketing is promotional products. Most corporate gifts just cost less than a dollar each and that's extremely low. An Advertising Specialty Industry research said that approximately 56 % of the people who are given advertising merchandise keep the items while approximately 58% remember the company imprinted in the promo products. This only proves that advertising through a bunch of imprinted items, one can pull off a cost-effective promotion and save a lot of money in the process. Here are some great tips on how one can use promotional products for a campaign: |
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| Tip 1: Give what your market wants |
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| The key to any kind of promotion using corporate gifts is being market-driven all the time. You must always remember to make every promo item that you will give away customer-appropriate, because you want your prospects to keep them. The only way you can do this is by making your promotional products something that your clients need or want. To determine this, you must therefore conduct a market research. |
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| Be very cautious in doing this because companies have the tendency to lose the core message of their campaign, simply because they want please their target market. Always keep in mind that you still have to express your brand identity in your advertising merchandise so people will know who you are with 100% clarity. |
| Tip 2: Less is more |
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| When designing your promo items, always remember that: less is more. This means that the less text and color included in the design, the better. Too much words and colors tend to make them chaotic and messy to look at. Simplicity always assumes elegance and you want to project |
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that to your clients. Plus, untidy look often gives the customers the impression that you a company that lacks professionalism, and who would like that kind of negative image, right?
| Tip 3: Haggling is money |
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| Most people see haggling as desperate. But really, haggling is simply a kind of business negotiation done by the wise entrepreneur to cut costs. People just do not utilize it often because they think that it's pathetic. But really, would you like to be pathetic and rich than to be full of pride and poor? Know the basic rules of negotiation and you will save a lot of money! |
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Using promotional products for marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to improve your business and increase revenue. Follow the 3 easy-to-follow tips above and you will definitely be on your way to success.
Remy Lebeau is a promotional products expert, specializing in Promotional Sunglasses and Promotional Sports Balls. |
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