How do you manage your sales process and leads?

dereko

We already have basecamphq(project management), blinksale(invoicing) and 1time(timetracking) for us service base companies. Now I need a way to keep track of leads,contacts etc. Can anyone tell me any nice software hosted or otherwise that i can use to manage my sales process?

growler

I've used salesforce.com as our ASP CRM system that can integrate quite nicely with marketing email campaign management and source tracking.

Figment

37 signal guys are due to have one out soon Derek.
If it integrates well with Basecamp it might be worth hanging on.

dereko

Thanks alan, I didn't know 37 signals were creating a crm tool. I'll defo keep an eye out for it. I see they just lanched a calendar, pretty nifty.

As for salesforce i'll have a look adn see for now anyhow. I thought salesforce was directed towards big companies?

Figment

Salesforce looked a little too big for us anyway. I have been half thinking about building something custom...

leftofcentre

Salesforce is the number one online CRM system. Its for company's of all sizes, they charge per user so it can be used by anyone.

Why not sign up for the free trial and give it a shot:
http://www.salesforce.com/ie/

Its an excellent system. There are software systems like act! and goldmine, but its there are several users you will find online solutions are less hassle.

dereko

I've had a look at salesforce and maybe its because I'm not a salesperson by trade but I can't see the value in it at all for a small (i.e less than 5 person) service company. It seems very bloated for what i want so far anyhow and i know its sales software but the constant sales crap they spout on page after page trying to get you to buy is ridiculous.

I need a way to track leads easily and possible quantify sales, track where i'm at in the sales proccess with each lead.

Surely there has to be something already out there that does this? I'd love to see a 37signals version i have to say but in the mean time are there any alternatives to salesforce?

Figment

dereko wrote:

I've had a look at salesforce and maybe its because I'm not a salesperson by trade but I can't see the value in it at all for a small (i.e less than 5 person) service company. It seems very bloated for what i want so far anyhow and i know its sales software but the constant sales crap they spout on page after page trying to get you to buy is ridiculous.

I need a way to track leads easily and possible quantify sales, track where i'm at in the sales proccess with each lead.

Surely there has to be something already out there that does this? I'd love to see a 37signals version i have to say but in the mean time are there any alternatives to salesforce?

I agree.

In the words of the great Flash Gordon.."Lets all team up and fight them".
Or build what we, and many other sme s, need.

dereko

definitely an idea alright.. checked the pricing of the salesforce for a sme like myself 70 euro per month per user which is very expensive really considering the price of basecamp and blinksale for example.

so what exactly do we need in the app?

contact managment (quick and easy contact intertion, imports and exports)
status of each contact (lead, proposal send/meeting, customer)
possible link with standard proposal/contracts documents
integration with outlook would be nice

anything else?

Figment

Integration with the basecamp api would be nice as i hate having to type out all my contacts for every application.
But thats about it. Some way to mark a contact as a sub contractor but thats a minor one and there are lots of work arounds.

dereko

Just looking at a few options..

SugarCRM - Not sure but i think it is almost as big as salesforce and not really ideal for our particular senario: http://www.sugarcrm.com

Pipeline - Seems to be more down our ally but haven't tested it yet : http://pipelinedeals.com/

Figment

Pipeline looks a lot closer to what i need.

Owen

We use Kerridge which is crazy expensive, but required by our distributors. I used to use outlook before that, and place contacts into folders : prospects, hot leads, closed, lost, archived. I set reminders after that.

dereko

only just starting to use pipeline.. first impressions are good

Its isn't a polished application as it needs to iron out a few bugs but in general i think it works perfect for what i want actaully even few options i didn't even think about.

WhiteWashMan

i use salesforce as well, and im a big fan.
this is the second company ive worked for that uses it, and its very different to what i used to use.
i guess thats a lot to do with custom design.

also used pivitol, which has been useful, but just far too picky and difficult

also not very intuitive.

salesforce also wraps nicely into outlook as well, so everything can be tracked.

SouperComputer

not a total solution, but may be worth looking into: http://www.egroupware.org

You have email, bulletin board, conatcts, calendar and many more, all open source too. It may even replace your basecamp as I think it offers time tracking. Have a look at the live demo and see what you think.

Kolab may be worth a look too.

Or perhaps open exchange as this has outlook support? Not sure how good the CRM with it is though.

Have a look on sourceforge for CRM and groupware, theres a good bit of stuff there that might suit your needs.

scribs

Sage has a range of CRM Solutions

ACT
ACT Pofessional
ACT Professional for Workgroups
ACT for Web

Sage CRM MME (Standard)
Sage CRM MME (Advanced)

Saleslogix Standard
Saleslogix Advanced

If yee want more info PM me

mikeanywhere

I was going to suggest ACT and the other one is Goldmine.

In my previous company we Siebel but that tends to be company specific (€€€€)

tom-thebox

Have been using the quotations part of our Line50 package todate, has been doing the job.

Zascar

A friend of mine has a small company and he has just been set up with Sugar CRM - its free and aparantly excellent. We have a friend that has a small web developemnt business and set the whole thing up for him for very cheap. PM me and I can get him to tell you more if you are intersted.