A new level of support for web-based CRM - Story From: BigContacts Product News
At BigContacts it has always been our goal to deliver dependable and timely support to our customers. We feel that a great support experience can never be commoditized and we are committed to delivering the best support in our industry and are driven to do more than our peers.
To deliver on a great support experience… We include email support, live chat, and an extensive knowledge base library to all of our free trials and customers. For most of you this is not news. This is not the "new level of support" that we are offering for our web-based CRM software platform. But what we have done is roll out an entirely new support suite to better deliver our support services.
This new support suite includes all of the services that have grown accustomed to and they are delivered in a much easier to use format.
Some new services we've added...
In addition to this new, easier to use and more modern interface… We have added:
- User forum
- Support satisfaction surveys
- Integrated knowledge base articles with text, screenshots and videos
- Robust keyword search tool
3 ways to access the BigContacts support suite…
- The BigContacts website
From virtually any page on the BigContacts website you will find a live chat button that will allow you to start a live chat with one of our agents Monday through Friday 8 AM to 5 PM EST.
- Your BigContacts CRM account
While logged into your BigContacts CRM account, you can select the "support" tab to access our full library of knowledge base articles, the user forum or start a live chat.
- Your Email
You may have a quick question for us about your account and you are not in front of a computer or log into your account. From any Internet connection (including your mobile phone) simply email us at support@bigcontacts.com and this will instantly create a ticket for you. This ticket will be assigned to a support associate and responded to as soon as possible.
Attention: Registered Support Users...
If you are already a registered user in our old system...we will be sending you an email invitation to establish a password on the new support system.Some good news for Internet explorer users…
Our new support tab in your BigContacts CRM account is now also fully encrypted just as your BigContacts account has always been. You will no longer see a pop-up asking you if you wish to open the support tab. Simply click on the tab and start searching for your support answers.Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts, CRM
BigContacts… CRM software with no data storage limits - Story From: BigContacts Product News
BigContacts has always offered our customers the ability to store an unlimited number of contacts within your account. We have just added a new element to our unlimited capacity.
Not only can you upload an unlimited number of contacts but you can now store an unlimited amount of data/files/history for your contacts. It is our goal to make it as easy as possible for you to store as much information as needed about all of your contacts.
So, feel free to start loading all the notes, files and history that you need for your contacts.
Just think...how nice will it be to have access to all of your important contact information from any Internet connection?
Here's to a Happy and Prosperous New Year!
Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts, CRM
A revolutionary new CRM platform for Small Business - Story From: BigContacts Product News
As many of you may already know, BigContacts has invested a great deal of time over the past 2 years gathering in-depth feedback and ideas from our customers.
Our research has been focused on better understanding how our customers currently use BigContacts to help you improve your day-to-day operations, and what we can improve with our software to help you even further.
At BigContacts, it has always been our mission to give small businesses an easy-to-use tool that will help you get more organized so that you have more time to focus on:
i) Finding more prospects (marketing)
ii) Converting more prospects to customers (sales management)
iii) Keeping more of the customers you already have (customer retention, operations)
We have recently completed our research, and have begun the development of a revolutionary new platform! We are confident that “BigContacts 2.0” will help small businesses to level the competitive playing field when it comes to attracting and retaining more customers.
It is our goal to complete and release this new platform in the June–July timeframe in 2012. Please note that this is a “target” that we are aiming for and we will keep you updated with more specific dates, as we get closer to this new release.
Over the next several months I will share with you highlights of each of the major modules within this new system. Stay tuned for more information on what we think will become the easiest to use, most powerful and effective small business CRM software on the market today!
Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts, CRM
Affiliate Marketing Opportunity for BigContacts – Web Based CRM - Story From: BigContacts Product News
BigContacts has just rolled out a unique opportunity for you to spread the word about our service and get paid for doing so!
As you may already know, BigContacts is a Web-Based Contact Management (CRM) Software designed for small businesses that have outgrown basic solutions like Outlook, Goldmine or ACT but don't want the cost or complexity of CRM solutions like Salesforce.
Our software is helping many thousands of small businesses all over the world to:
-
Organize their business
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Track More Prospects
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Close More Sales
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Retain More Customers
About the BigContacts Affiliate Program
Unlike many affiliate programs we don't require a "sale" in order for you to get paid. All we require is that you refer leads to BigContacts and we will pay you for every lead that starts a verified* 30 day FREE Trial of our software.
You can promote our site with text or banner ads on your site, or spread the word on social network sites like Facebook, and earn a commission for every verified FREE Trial you refer. Access your Affiliate Control Panel to see your results, and get paid monthly...it's that simple!
BigContacts offers a very simple commission structure. You earn $5 for every verified* FREE Trial that you refer. As long as the referral signs up for a FREE Trial within 90 days you get credit for it!
A check will be issued to you at the end of the calendar month following the month your commission account reaches or exceeds this $50 level . For example, if you generate $50 or more in commissions this month, and we will send a check in the mail at the end of the very next month!
* A verified FREE Trial is one that we are able verify/ validate both the phone number and email address on the free trial signup form.
Bonus Offer
Signup today and post your first Affiliate links on your site within 7 days of your application approval...and instead, earn $7 for every verified* FREE Trial that you refer to BigContacts. In order to qualify, you will need to email us (within 7 days of being approved) at affiliate@bigcontacts.com with a link to the page where the text or banners ads have been placed. If you have questions about our program and how to get started, I would be happy to speak with you.Questions?
If you have questions about our program and how to get started, our Affiliate Program Manager, Matthew Smith, would be happy to speak with you.Matthew Smith
Affiliate Program Manager
1.888.286.6578 Ext. 709
Become a BigContacts Affiliate
Start Making Money today!
Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts, Web-Based Contact Management Software
Update: Mobile access to BigContacts - Story From: BigContacts Product News
BigContacts iPhone App
We wanted to let our iPhone users know that we have just released our latest iPhone App. This has been updated to work properly with Apple’s new iOS5 operating system and is now available in the App Store.
If you already have the BigContacts iPhone app loaded on your phone, you can simply click the App icon on your phone to retrieve the update. If you have yet to download our iPhone App, you will want to go to the App Store and search for “Big Contacts”. (notice the space between the two words) Here you will find the latest download.
BigContacts "Mobile Edition"
We often get asked if we are going to release other apps for all the great smartphones on the market - like the Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile Devices, etc.
We want you to know that we have NOT forgotten about you. After a great deal of research and planning, we have realized that we can deliver much greater value to ALL smartphone users by thinking beyond Apps. 
At BigContacts, we have decided to develop a full “Mobile Edition”.The BigContacts Mobile Edition will do things that an App cannot deliver:
- You will be able to access to ALL the features and functionality of the main application without any restrictions – limitations you may find in a lightweight App.
- You can handle and access more information than your phone will ever handle if the data were all to be downloaded – synced directly to your phone.
The point is that a Smartphone has limits as to the data it can house directly on the device and still perform up to the standards you may demand for speed and efficiency.
With the BigContacts “Mobile Edition”, we can give you access to ALL of your contact information without any capacity issues that your Smartphone may have. We do all the heavy lifting on our end and deliver ONLY the data you need, WHEN you need it - directly to your mobile interface.
The Mobile Edition will work on any web enabled phone (over a 3G or better network) and will always give you access to the latest features & functionality. No updates or upgrades needed!
Stay tuned for more information on this great new addition to the BigContacts family. This new Edition will be avilable when we roll out our new platform - "BigContacts 2.0". We hope to complete this in mid-2012.
Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts, Web-Based Contact Management Software
BigContacts has eliminated downtime during daily backup window - Story From: BigContacts Product News
As you may already know, BigContacts takes great measures to ensure the safety and security of your important customer data. To protect your data, we perform a system-wide backup every day from 1:00am - 1:45am EDT.
In the past you had very limited access to your BigContacts account during this backup window. We realize that this caused a great inconvenience for some of our customers in certain parts of the world as this was the middle of your business day.
We have recently implemented some changes to our main data center that has eliminated this downtime during our daily backup window! Say goodbye to the daily 45 minute window of limited to no access.
BigContacts is now available to you 24 hours per day – 7 days per week!
If you are in an area of the world that was affected by this daily backup window, we would like to hear from you. Let us know how the system performs for you during this backup window. We think you will be pleased with the new results.
Questions or comments?
Feel free to drop us a note at support@bigcontacts.com
Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts, Web-Based Contact Management Software
Convert more Prospects to Customers with Web Based CRM Software - Story From: BigContacts Product News
The goal of any business is to convert as many of the right prospects as possible into paying customers. The more organized and efficient you are in the “CONVERT” phase of the customer lifecycle, the more prospects you can effectively move through your sales process so they become customers.
Every time I look at a broad set of sales statistics, I am reminded that winning in this stage of the customer lifecycle is not possible without a heavy dose of persistence. You could have the best product and a great value proposition and message, but unless you generate enough “touches” with your prospects, you won’t reach the conversion rates you need to succeed. These touches include actually asking for the order.
It’s estimated that only 19% of sales close in the first 4 contacts or touches. The remaining 81% close on or after the fifth one. Many businesses I speak to know this, yet few have a plan in place to ensure they are “showing up to the party” often enough to give themselves a chance to break out of the 19% bracket.
According to Dartnell Corp., 90% of businesses follow up with their prospects 4 times or fewer and only 10% follow up 5 times or more. It doesn’t take a math wizard to figure out who is getting most of the business. Don’t waste all that time and effort on the front end and stop short of the finish line.
Be sure to get in those 5 or more touches and contacts with your prospects.
The only way to ensure success in this area is to have a centralized database that can automate some of these required touches, track the notes and history of interactions with the prospect, and assign tasks at the appropriate time to ensure the sales rep can be visible at the right times to help move the sales process forward to closure.
The more prospects a sales rep must juggle to reach goals, the more precious this commodity of time becomes.
With the estimated average cost of an onsite sales call at nearly $400, a good Web Based CRM system is well worth the investment. It will help to increase the productivity of your sales team, while containing or even decreasing your overall cost of sales.
Want to learn more about Web Based CRM Software and how it might help you in your business? Give us a call. One of our CRM Advisors will be happy to assist you.
1.888.286.6578
Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts, Web-Based Contact Management Software
Just Released: CRM book for Small Business - Story From: BigContacts Product News
Bob Walton – our Founder and CEO, has just completed a book titled “BIG Contacts – How small business can harness the power of technology to attract and retain more customers”.
Without customers, a business has nothing – regardless of how good the product or service may be. For your business to thrive over the long-term, you need to pay close attention to your biggest asset – your customers. The sobering reality is that the typical business will lose half of its customer base every five years.
CRM software is one of the best tools for strengthening your customer relationships and can transform your business. BIG Contacts gives you what you need to confidently research, review, and choose the CRM software that is right for their business. Learn to identify the features you need, the questions to ask, and the steps to take for success.
In this book, Bob uses his 20 years of business experience to help you better evaluate how you are managing the customer lifecycle today and then shows you how you can leverage CRM technology to get a handle on the entire customer experience.
Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts
BigContacts now syncs with Google Calendar & Google Contacts - Story From: BigContacts Product News
At BigContacts we are constantly working to help you streamline your important prospect and customer information. One of the biggest challenges in managing this important data is trying to keep your calendar and contact information "synchronized" across the multiple platforms that you may use to manage your business.
Google Calendar and Gmail are 2 of the most widely used applications by small businesses today. These programs are easy-to-use and are great ways to manage your time, send and receive emails and store basic contact information.
Our new 
function will automatically synchronize all of this important information every 5 minutes - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can now add,edit, or delete a meeting on your Google Calendar or your BigContacts calender and this new information is automatically synchronized. No more copying and pasting to multiple programs and NO more manual synchronization. We take care of all this for you.This applies to your contacts as well. Add or edit any information in either program and rest assured that this data is now current in both programs.
If you use one of these great programs offered by Google, we encourage you to learn more about this new synchronization module.
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about this new module or general questions about BigContacts.
1.888.286.6578
Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts
BigContacts now syncs with Outlook,iPhone,Android,Blackberry and more - Story From: BigContacts Product News
BigContacts has just released our new Sync Module. We are calling this new module "AutoSync". This new module will be in a (BETA) release for the next 30-45 days to allow you to try this great new functionality at no charge and to identify potential bugs that may need to be corrected.
When we first began this journey toward a sync module, it was our goal to only sync with Outlook. The module was initially going to be offered at no additional charge. After months of creating different design options, it was decided that this module was too limited in it's functionality.
We made the decision that this was not the direction that we wanted to take with this important new feature. So after going back to the drawing board and developing an entirely new suite of devices and applications that we now sync to, we are pleased with what has resulted - AutoSync.
What will this new Sync Module do?
This initial release of BigContacts AutoSync will allow you to sync BOTH your contacts and meetings between our software (BigContacts) and any one of a number of desktop applications, mobile devices and tablets that are listed below.
With our initial release, you will be able to seamlessly and automatically perform the following sync functions:
Contact Sync
- Add or Edit a contact on one device or application and have any changes automatically sync/ update to BigContacts or visa versa.
- Add, Edit, or Delete a meeting on one device or application and have it automatically sync/update to BigContacts or visa versa.
What applications and devices do we currently Sync with?
The following clients are currently available for synchronization.
NOTE: When downloading a sync client - if prompted to register for myFunambol, SKIP this step and proceed to the login screen.
NOTE: When downloading a sync client - if prompted to register for myFunambol, SKIP this step and proceed to the login screen.
Don't see a client for your needs listed here? Contact us at support@bigcontacts.com for additional client options.
Who did we partner with to deliver this new sync module?
We work with only the best providers in each area of our industry and chose Funambol (pronounced Fu-NAHM-bol) to help us deliver a first class sync tool for our customers. Funambol's vision is to make it easy to sync billions of mobile phones, personal computers, tablets and connected devices with the systems and websites people use everyday via the cloud.
Funambol has grown to become the leading mobile open source project in the world, with millions of downloads. We feel that they are uniquely positioned to do this using an open source approach that provides the greatest degree of device compatibility as well as flexibility and control.
For more details on this exciting new module and to get started, please visit our website for more details.
Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts
BigContacts now offers option of Live Phone Support - Story From: BigContacts Product News
It has always been our mission to deliver a level of support that is superior to what you will find with other Web Based CRM Software companies. We are committed to helping you realize all the benefits that BigContacts has to offer for you and your business.
We think this is one of the things that makes BigContacts different. As many of you know, we already offer a number of support services that are included (at NO additional charge) with your standard subscription of BigContacts.
Over the past several months, we have received a number of requests to add live phone support to what we currently offer. Well, as we always try to do - we listened!
We have now added the additional resources that are necessary to offer live phone support through our Customer Support Center here in Atlanta, GA. Beginning Monday, August 15th, 2011 - you now have the option to contact a live phone support representative at a cost of only $20 per call*. Live phone support is available Monday through Friday (8am – 5pm ET). You can reach one of our support representatives during these hours by dialing 1.866.417.0707.
We are excited to offer this new level of service and hope that you will realize even more value from our software as a result.
* A representative is committed to remaining on the call with you for up to 20 minutes to answer your questions. If you require more intensive assistance and consulting, we offer a full suite of consulting services that the representative will be happy to arrange for you.
Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts
3 Customer retention moments & how Web Based CRM can help - Story From: BigContacts Product News
Successful customer retention is interwoven into the entire "Customer Lifecycle". It starts with the first contact you have with a prospect and continues over the lifetime of the relationship. Customer retention is more than giving the customers what they expect; it’s about exceeding their expectations so that they become loyal advocates for your product or service.
Harry Beckwith, author of What Clients Love, has a great philosophy that he calls “Your Three Key Moments: 3, 24, 5.” Explaining the numbers, he makes the following points:
Research shows that the first 3 seconds of interaction with a customer influences the level of their satisfaction more than the amount of service time that follows for that interaction.
How can Web Based CRM help?
Whether you're reaching out to a customer or they're calling you, a good Web Based CRM program will allow you to quickly display and review all pertanent information using a "dashboard". This dashboard should display all the important information about this customer in a single view.
Having this information readily available ensures an informed and personal conversation with your customer. And what customer doesn't appreciates feeling like their vendor knows who they are and really undestands their needs?
When customers received a follow-up within 24 hours of any interaction or request, a study found, they enjoyed a 40% higher level of satisfaction.
How can Web Based CRM help?
Often times an email will suffice as a follow up after a service call or sale. A Web Based CRM system can automate much of this for you. A good system will allow you to set certain triggers to have an email (or even a series of emails) go out over a given period of time. The emails can be set to look as if you crafted the email yourself and personally sent it out to them. All of this can happen automatically and is recorded directly in the customer's record for future reference.
Sending a handwritten note within 5 days after a significant interaction is another great way to increase customer satisfaction.
How can Web Based CRM help?
A CRM system can never fully replace you. This is one that you will have to do on your own. (hand-writing the note to the customer)
BUT, your CRM system can generate a task reminding you to actually write and send this letter. Another great way this software can help you to stay organized and deliver "What Clients Love".
Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts
Choosing the right CRM software for your business - Story From: BigContacts Product News
CRM software has so many features and dimensions to it that it is more important than ever that you take a systematic approach to the process of choosing a vendor. This is the only way to ensure you find the best fit for your company.
If you look at this review process on two levels, you can better evaluate and rank your options. There is the provider level, and the product level. There are certain things you want to look for and demand that the provider offer to you if you are going to purchase software, and there will be a certain set of features that the product will need to offer in order to meet your specific business needs.
Below are a few of the questions that you will want to cover as you go through this review process.
Provider Level Criteria
- Customer Self-service – are there resources available that make it easy for you to locate answers to your questions 24/7?
- Help Functionality – you want a help/support suite that is intuitive, yet comprehensive in nature. You should be able to find answers to virtually any question you may have about the software.
- Support – a minimum level of support should be included with the price of the software; including email ticketing support and live chat. It’s good to pay attention to how responsive a vendor is during your selection process.
Keep in mind that you are buying more than just the software - you’re also buying the service and support that this vendor will deliver. If you’re uncomfortable with the service or support, then don’t invest in the software. - Training –Training videos should be available so that you can learn at your own pace, and the company should at least offer live training to you and your team even if it is for an additional charge. This is very important as there may be situations that are specific to your business that you need answers to that a generic video cannot deliver.
- Intuitiveness of system – the system should be so easy to use that anyone on your team can jump right in and start using it. A good system should require very little training to at least get started.
- System navigation – really pay attention to how many clicks & tabs (on average) you need to use to perform your key functions within the system. These are the things that you will be using day in and day out to manage your prospect and customer relationships. It may not seem like a big deal at first but over time the number of clicks and tabs you must navigate to perform your key tasks each day can have an impact on how much you can get done and the ground you can cover as you work through your day.
- System Features - when evaluating any system, it helps to look at it from the perspective of the Customer Lifecycle, which encompasses the essence of managing and growing your business.
The Customer Lifecycle is made up of 3 main phases:
I. FINDing the right prospects
What tools/ modules does the system offer to help you to more effectively capture and organize leads?
II. CONVERTing more Prospects to Customers
What tools/ modules does the system offer to help you more effectively:
Organize key information about your prospects
Track opportunities through each stage of your sales process
Deliver targeted and timely messages to ensure that you stay top of mind to your prospect and they move through their buying process
Manage automated tasks/ reminders to your sales people to ensure that they touch base with the prospect at just the right times throughout the sales process – ensuring that no opportunity falls through the cracks
III. KEEPing more customers
What tools/ modules does the system offer to help you more effectively touch base on a regular schedule with your customers? All this with the goal of:
Staying top of mind with your customers so that next time they go to make a purchase they will think of you
Reminding customers that you care about them and appreciate their business
Managing your workflows and tasks to ensure timely customer service and follow-up
Making your final decision
After you have completed your review and ranking of several systems, you should now have a thorough side-by-side comparison to make your most informed decision.
Every decision has its advantages and disadvantages. The challenge is to figure out which choice will provide you with the greatest net advantage based on your priorities and specific business needs.
Questions? Give us a call
For answers to your important CRM questions, give us a call at 1.888.286.6578 - (Monday - Friday 8am - 5pm EST). We would be happy to help.
Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts
How to Video – Managing User Roles & Permissions - Story From: BigContacts Product News
As promised, we have created a video that will walk you through all of the features and capabilities of our new user roles and permissions module. This video is in reference to the blog post released on 02.16.2011
Take a look and please feel free to visit our support center with any additional questions you may have.
Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts
3 Steps to better control your Contact Manager - Story From: BigContacts Product News
BigContacts has just released a new module to help you better manage and control access to certain contact information and reports within your Contact Management Software.
This new module can be found under the "Admin" tab within your system and now gives you much greater flexibility in what and how you can grant access to certain information and reports across your entire team. Outlined below are the three sections that you will see in this new module along with an explanation of how to set things up so that you can gain even more control over your data.
I. Manage User Roles
In this section, you can manage the user roles for your account. Roles are a way to manage permissions for your users. After creating a role, you can assign that role to users. Whenever you make a change to a role, all users assigned to it have their permissions changed as well.
It very easy to either add or change an existing User Role and the permissions/ access they have to your system. To edit an existing user role simply click on the name of the user role in the gray bar and after you have made the needed changes, you will save them and the changes are immediately in effect.
Please remember: Whenever you make a change to a user role, all users assigned to it have their permissions changed as well.
To add a new user role, you will click on the "Create New" button under the "Manage User Roles" section as shown below. Carefully configure the permissions you wish to grant this user type and save your changes.
______________________________________________________________
II. Assign Roles to Users
In this section, you can assign roles to your users. You can change the role assigned to a user at any time.
III. Manage your Teams
Teams allow you to create groups for your users. You can restrict access of contacts and meetings to team members by editing a users role above.
We hope you find this new module helpful in managing your team. Please feel free to submit a support ticket or join us for a live chat should you have any questions as you work with this new module.
Stay tuned... we will be releasing a video that will walk you through each section in greater detail. We will post the new video to our blog as soon as it becomes available.
Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts
Text Editor helps better document Contact Management history - Story From: BigContacts Product News
At BigContacts, our web based contact management software has always offered an easy-to-use, yet robust set of tools for documenting your meetings, notes, tasks, and calls with clients and prospects.
Based on feedback from subscribers, we decided to enhance your ability to document and store information about your contacts. There are two important enhancements that have been made that we want to point out here.
1) Notes that are written and Calls that are logged in a contact record are now permanently recorded and cannot be later edited. With ever increasing demands for data integrity and documentation it is no longer possible to comply with current data standards while allowing notes and calls to be edited. Each note or call that is logged in your system contains a date and time stamp - allowing one of your users to edit this information after the fact diminishes the integrity of your data. As the date and time noted in the record are no longer valid.
If you currently edit your notes and calls after the fact - we encourage you to create a new note for any subsequent information that you wish to add to that contact record. This will ensure a very accurate accounting of your notes and history in the future and can actually protect you should you ever need this important accounting/ time line to accurately track the activity of an employee, or need an accurate accounting of interactions with a client or prospect.
2) The next time you use the "write a note" or "log a call"functions in the contact record, you will see the same rich text editor that we offer in our email module. This new enhancement will give you much greater flexibility to store different forms of information. No longer are you restricted to text only notes and history.
Some of the more common uses we think we will see with this new tool might be to:
- Embed website links in your notes that refer to information pertinent to a call or meeting that was held
- Link to and display images/photos from the web that may be helpful for later reference
- Embed a video for easy access and playback as needed
- Insert a table to more effectively display a set of important numbers
- Insert pure HTML You can get fancy and paste in full HTML to reproduce and store any HTML document you wish to embed directly into your notes
- Use rich text You may simply want the ability to bold, bullet point, number , underline, or even change the color of your text for more emphasis on certain parts of your notes
These are just a few of the many uses for this new text editor. We hope you fund this to be useful to you in your day-to-day efforts to better manage your contacts. I look forward to hearing your ideas for using this new tool.
NOTE: We will be releasing a video on this to show in greater detail how each of these new functions will work and how they will look when viewing them in the history section of your contacts record.
As always...stay tuned for more enhancements as we are about to release a new "User permissions" and "Team Management" module that we think you will really like.
Please feel free to comment here or send us an email at support@bigcontacts.com with any questions you may have on this article or any other aspect of BigContacts.
Please feel free to submit a support ticket or join us for a live chat should you have any questions as you work with this new module.
Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts
BigContacts – now a Certified Partner of HubSpot - Story From: BigContacts Product News
A website is a very important part of any business today. Your website operates as a virtual storefront, a cyber window into your world. A well designed and optimized website can help you to:
- Create more visibility for your business
- Generate more qualified leads, and ultimately
- Convert more new clients for your business
The challenge most businesses face is how and where to turn to get affordable and competent help in designing and updating your website. A standard HTML website requires that you either know how to write in HTML or hire someone every time you need to update anything on your site. When you’re paying someone by the hour the costs can add up quickly.
Over 18 months ago BigContacts faced this same challenge. It was so expensive and took so long to make updates and enhancements to our site that we essentially let it sit - hoping that what we had was good enough to help us grow our business. To make matters even worse, we had no way to measure our success as the website we had provided no tools for us to monitor and analyze the traffic that was visiting BigContacts.
It was through great fortune that we found HubSpot. HubSpot has provided us with the tools we need to easily manage our own website. These easy-to-use tools have helped us to significantly grow our web presence over the past year and a half. And today we can say, with confidence, that not only have we doubled our web traffic and qualified leads, we now know the areas we need to continue to work on and improve going forward so that we can continue to grow our business.
Seeing results like we have, we believe so strongly in this great resource that we have decided to integrate BigContacts with the HubSpot platform. Soon all BigContacts subscribers that also have a HubSpot “Medium” or “Large” account will be able to seamlessly capture, nurture and convert leads that come directly from your website. Stay tuned for more information on this exciting new integration!
If you are serious about growing your web presence, generating more qualified leads from your website and converting more of these leads to clients, you NEED to put HubSpot to work for you.
Learn More about this great platform and how this can work with BigContacts to help you streamline your sales and marketing efforts.
Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts
Got duplicate Contact Records? A new tool for your Contact Manager! - Story From: BigContacts Product News
We have just released a de-duplication (de-dupe) tool for Contact Management Software. With this new tool, you will be able to merge standard contact fields, custom fields and ALL notes & history!
This new tool will allow you to check for duplicate records using (contact names) or (email addresses) as the primary comparison points. You can also filter for a certain subset of your contacts. For example, you may only wish to look at all of the contact records with the last name of (Smith) in your search for duplicate records. This tool will allow you to narrow your filter down to any subsection of contacts to make your de-duplication work more manageable.
The are two primary "use cases" for the BigContacts de-dupe tool.
Importing contacts
When importing contacts to your BigContacts account you can choose to have the de-duplication tool automatically activated after a new list of contacts has been imported. You will find a checkbox where you can select option when using the import wizard. This will allow you to quickly and easily identify new contacts that have been imported that are in fact duplicates of records that already exist in your database.
General database maintenance
From the “Contacts” Tab in the upper left hand corner of the screen you can select the “Show All” button. I here you will find a button labeled “De-Duplication”. Selecting this will activate this tool and allow you to check your entire database for duplicates.
This is a very intuitive and easy-to-use tool, yet is very thorough in what it will allow you to merge in your database.
Using 3 simple screens you can clean up your entire Contact Manager database.
1st Screen
Step 1 – You will select which filtering mode you wish to use (name) or (email). Selecting "name" will group duplicates by first and last name. Choosing "email" will group by both the personal and company email addresses.
Step 2 - You can choose to be more specific/ narrow in your filtering by adding another level of filter. For example, you may only want to work with all contacts that have the last name of “Smith”. In the field provided you would type “smith”. If you want to do a partial search use "%". For example, if you wanted to match all contacts with a bigcontacts.com email address, you would enter "%bigcontacts.com". This is not a required filed and is only necessary if you wish to further narrow your search.
Step 3 - Select the number of contacts that you wish to be able to view and work with per page as you go through the de-duplication process.
After you have your criteria selected, press the “Proceed” button at the bottom of the screen.
2nd screen
On this screen you will see the contacts that we found to be duplicates based on your search criteria.
There are a few things to pay attention to when reviewing each Contact record.
- Number of contacts – Just under the contact name you will see the number of contacts that were found that are duplicates.
- Field Conflicts – Just under the number of contacts you will see whether or not there were "conflicts" in any of the fields within the duplicate records.
A conflict occurs when two contacts have different values for the same field. You will need to pick one of these values to keep.- If there are conflicts, you will see the name of the field and then be given the choice to select the value that you wish to remain after merging the duplicate records.
- If there are not any conflicts, you will simply see the message "There were no field conflicts."
For each of the remaining records, you will want to resolve any field conflicts. If there are more duplicates to check, you will see a button at the bottom to show more. Click this when you are ready to proceed.
After you have reviewed all contacts, select the "Finish" button at the bottom left hand corner of the screen. This will save the changes you have made on this screen and move to the next screen of duplicates.
PLEASE NOTE: You may wish to only merge certain contact records that we show as duplicates. For example, you may have (3) “John Does” that our system has identified as possible duplicates. You may find that only (2) are duplicates and the other record is legitimately a different/ unique “John Doe” in your system. In this case you will follow these steps:
“Un-check” the box in the upper right hand corner for these duplicate records. Doing this will separate the contacts in a list of individual records.
“Re-Check” the box in the upper right hand corner of each individual contact record that you wish to merge/ de-duplicate.
3rd Screen
Your duplicate contact records have now been merged! You can now select the “Return to Contact Tab” button to return to the main system.
Please feel free to comment here or send us an email at support@bigcontacts.com with any questions you may have on this article or any other aspect of BigContacts.
Please feel free to submit a support ticket or join us for a live chat should you have any questions as you work with this new module.
Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts
Make Contact Management fields “Required” or “Hide” them if you like! - Story From: BigContacts Product News
Have you ever wanted to hide certain fields that you just don’t use in BigContacts? Or maybe there are certain fields that you really need to have completed by your team anytime a new contact is added or edited in your database. We have just released a need “Field Management” feature that will now allow you to do both.
If you are an administrator on your company’s BigContacts account, you now have access to this “Field Management” feature. This can be accessed by going to the "Admin" Tab and then by selecting the “Field Management” Tab.
It’s our goal to keep any new feature/ module that we add to BigContacts very simple and easy to use. This is no exception. Once you open the “Field Management” tab you will see the view displayed below. There are two columns; one for setting the fields that are going to be “required” in the contact record and a column for those fields that you wish to have “hidden". Simply make you selections in each column and save the changes. It’s that easy!
So, how does this look on the front-end?
Any fields that you mark as required will now have an (*) asterisk next to them. The next time a contact record is either added OR edited within your system these fields will now be required. If one of your employees/ team members adds or edits a contact record without completing all of the required fields, any field that still requires data will turn red to make it visually very easy to see what is still missing from this record.
As for the hidden fields, they will simply disappear from view as seen below in the “before” and “after” images.
Before hiding certain fields
After hiding certain fields
Please Note: This new feature will initially affect adding contacts, editing contacts, reports, and searching for contacts.
In the future we will extend the “required” field feature to our web-forms. Any web-form that you have connected to BigContacts for lead capture can be set up to require the prospect filling out the form to complete certain fields as well. If they miss or omit a field, our system will direct them back to the form and note the fields that are required in order to complete your web-form.
To learn more about how to use this great tool in BigContacts, start a live chat (Monday - Friday 8am-5pm EST)
Or join us for a live webinar to see first hand how this can work for you in your business.
Please feel free to submit a support ticket or join us for a live chat should you have any questions as you work with this new module.
Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts
NEW resource for customizing Contact Management Software - Story From: BigContacts Product News
At BigContacts we're constantly working to deliver a better user experience. It's our mission to ensure that you have all the tools you need to get off to a quick and successful start with your new Contact Management (CRM) system.
As you may already know, we already offer an entire suite of articles, videos, user guides, and worksheets to help you get setup and to customize the system in a way that works best for your business.
For your convenience, I have listed links to these resources below:
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Video Library |
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How-to Articles |
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Quick Start Guide |
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Customization Worksheet |
So what's New?
One of the requests we frequently hear is that some customers would like one-on-one consultations to help them think through the organization of their contact database and ultimately the customization of their account with BigContacts. They have a database or spreadsheet now, but they want to figure out a better system for getting organized.
We've gone to great lengths to develop self-guided resources for you, but sometimes it makes sense to pay for some one-on-one time to discuss your specific business needs in order to determine the right formula for organizing your database and customizing the system to best meet your specific business needs.
Well, we have listened and now offer a one-on-one "Getting Started with BigContacts" Consultation. This service is geared toward customers that want help in organizing their database of contacts and customizing their system on the front-end. This service will ensure that you implement all of the best practices for organizing your business as you get started with BigContacts.
What's Included?
- (2) 30 minute phone sessions to discuss your business and determine the best organization of your database
- Areas covered can include (non are required):
- Identify the groups, categories, contacts types and tags needed to best organize your contacts
- Identify common tasks and workflows within your business
- Identify sales process and pipeline stages
- Areas covered can include (non are required):
- Implement customization that is needed in your BigContacts account
- Import your Contacts into BigContacts (all contacts and custom fields - notes and history are not inlcuded in this service)
What does this service cost?
The total time invested to complete this process is approximately 4 hours. In order to cover our core costs, we are offering this new service for a flat fee of $195.
For more information on this service or to get started, give us a call at 1.888.286.6578 Ext. 701
Categories: BigContacts, Contact Management Software, Sales and Selling Tags: Big Contacts
