Just got this in me inbox from Top Producer…It’s interesting, and makes a lot of sense that they’ve branched out from being just a crm over the past few years.
I don’t think it’s a bad list, but at a glance I think it’s missing 2 things? :
- 1. Your Lead Capture proposition should be to offer something of value that’s both pretty darn interesting while being something visitors can’t find on your competitor’s sites. Software can’t do this, of course, so I guess it makes sense that it’s not on TP’s list.
- 2. And hey! No mention of social media integration?
Is anyone out there developing a CRM / Lead Management system that includes these last two? Is it even possible?
Number 1:Actually seems like a software company could possibly deliver this if said company hired an in house USP thinker-upper-executer? Sorta blend the software with initial/ongoing guidance as a way to attract/retain customers?
Number: Will Twitter/Facebook apps/api’s allow for contacts to be imported and assigned to activity series/follow up plans automatically? Just seems our Twitter/Facebook connections should be part of our pipeline, and should be incubated as such, even if they’re way further down that pipeline than actual folks we’ve met or talked to on the phone…
Thoughts? Is TP missing anything else?
Eric Bramlett says:
Hey Ryan –
I’m not super familiar with 37signals Highrise, but know it incorporates twitter into the CRM. When you open up a prospect (if you’ve entered the twitter username) it shows you their latest tweets.
What else did you have in mind with regards to social media incorporation into a CRM?
October 6, 2009 — 11:28 am
Ryan Hartman says:
Highrise is cool… but really feature limited… like they don’t have activity series/processes, and it’s 37signals, and they don’t seem in a hurry to add features.
Also, batchblue’s doing a pretty good job at showing the social stream. And gist too I think…
But what I was talking about and would really like to see is a way for my twitter followers to be auto imported as contacts with a task generated that forced me to add additional info, such as first name, last. (The mere task of gathering this info might spur on a deeper connection)
And, as part of this process, I’d also like to be able to attach the contact to a follow up plan. (Of course, these lower quality social media contacts would be on a different type of incubation plan, then the real live contacts…)
October 6, 2009 — 11:53 am
Ryan Hartman says:
Highrise is cool… but really feature limited… like they don’t have activity series/processes, and it’s 37signals, and they don’t seem in a hurry to add features.
Also, batchblue’s doing a pretty good job at showing the social stream. And gist too I think…
But what I was talking about and would really like to see is a way for my twitter followers to be auto imported as contacts with a task generated that forced me to add additional info, such as first name, last. (The mere task of gathering this info might spur on a deeper connection)
And, as part of this process, I’d also like to be able to attach the contact to a follow up plan. (Of course, these lower quality social media contacts would be on a different type of incubation plan than the real live contacts…)
October 6, 2009 — 11:55 am
Keahi Pelayo says:
Thank you, I am using your list as a check list for a rework of my site.
Mahalo,
Keahi
October 6, 2009 — 12:30 pm
Eric Bramlett says:
Exporting/Importing the data wouldn’t be too difficult. It would be on par with the import address book feature on linkedin (and a million other websites) – you give a piece of software your login credentials, it scrapes your followers (or whatever,) and looks for the pertinent info. You could built a tool using highrise’s API (but it doesn’t sound like you’re a fan of 37signals.)
Your post had me thinking today… Obviously I’m a fan of registration, but I like the idea of allowing users to sign in with their existing twitter or facebook credentials. It might be cool to build a tool that auto-follows/friends someone after they log into your site. You can even deliver new listings to the user via twitter dm or facebook messaging.
October 6, 2009 — 12:46 pm
James Boyer says:
Never been a fan of the top producer websites. That being said, it is a good list. Not the be all end all list, though and I don’t think that Top Producer is very good at many of the things on that list.
October 6, 2009 — 7:29 pm
Greg Dallaire says:
Eric and Ryan,
I think you guys are on to the new product of the CRM World. It would be a tough feat to develop a program that really incorporates these features the way they could really be used.
I manually enter all my facebook friends into my database and any twitter people that I actually have real information on as well.
The big secret about facebook is that typically everyone’s email is correct and could be used to gain business if used in a light touch mentality.
I look forward to everyone elses thoughts on this.
October 6, 2009 — 7:45 pm
Rebecca Levinson says:
Saleforce.com has social media integration. Also can check out their free version, force.com.
October 6, 2009 — 8:58 pm
Paul Caparas says:
Looks like TP covered it all. Its a good list to follow.
October 7, 2009 — 1:18 am