Other Benefits:

• Off-Line Access – You can use GoldMine even when you don’t have Internet access
• Be More Productive – GoldMine operates faster than web applications and gives you the flexibility to be on more screens at once
• No Need to “upload documents” – Every time you want to link a file you won’t have to upload it – A big time saver and you don’t have to pay for storage
• The Data is Yours - When you stop paying rent for “software as a service” you don’t get your data back! With GoldMine your data never leaves your office unless you want it to. Because the data is in house you access it easily for integration and other uses

STOP PAYING RENT TO USE CRM SOFTWARE!

Unlike  the flat fields in GoldMine Contact1 and Contact2 tables, the GoldMine Details tab have a “one-to-many relationship” which offers great flexibility and advantages.  Below, I’ve listed all the fields associated with a “Detail.”  To help with clarity, I will follow one example all the way through - storing and searching for “Serial Numbers” – but this could be anything!

GoldMine Detail Information:

• Detail Name – the category or type of information you are storing (e.g. Serial Numbers)
• Details Reference – the primary look-up (e.g. Product Name)
• Note – a memo field that would allow you to describe and journal the entry
• Custom Fields – GoldMine Premium allocates 12 fields that can be custom labeled, however the field lengths and formats are predefined (eg. Product Version, Purchase Date, Number of User Licenses, etc.)
• Audit Information – GoldMine automatically enters the date the Detail was entered and updated including the user who did so
• Custom Tab – there is the ability to create a custom tab specially for this information

How to Search for a GoldMine Detail:

1. GoldMine Search Center – drop down the “Search By” and select Details
2. GoldMine Details Tab – right click on the specific category of Details and select “Lookup” from the local menu
3. GoldMine Lookup Wizard – to create custom SQL queries
4. GoldMine Universal Search – will pickup data stored in any of the Details fields
5. Report Writers – SQL Reporting Services, Crystal Report Writer, MasterMine, Stonefield, etc.
6. GoldMine Premium Dashboards- in GoldMine 9.x
7. Details Plus- offers filter capabilties and expanded integration with GoldMine Details including but not limited to Email and Letter merge

Have an idea for how you want to use Details and need a second opinion or some professional assistance, or any questions?  Let us know!

People learn differently and so training solutions need to address these preferences.  Some users train best in a group, while others require a more personalized coaching like style.  Some people have short attention spans while others may be able to focus for hours straight.  Some would prefer a self paced resource, such as a book or CD and others need live interaction.

A great source for all these GoldMine training options is First Direct Corp. (www.1stdirect.com) As a winner of  “GoldMine Training of the Year,” a Premier Elite Solutions Partner with more awards then any other GoldMine partner in the last ten years they are an extremely credible source for your GoldMine training needs. And, First Direct Corp offers all the training options to meet your GoldMine users training needs.

• Interactive Training CDs
• Training Books & Guides
• Sharpen Your GoldMine Knowledge Webinars
• Private Group Classes
• One-on-one coaching
• GoldMine Success Newsletter
• The GoldMine Guide to SQL Queries
• GoldMine 8.0 for Dummies
• Other Resources

In addition First Direct Corp. has services to help you before, during and after your GoldMine  implementation.

1. Dashboard Infrastructure

• Real-time, graphical, and interactive view of your CRM data provides you intelligent understanding of your business results and processes
• Benefit from intuitive and easy to read perspectives of you organization’s activities and the happenings with your prospects, customers, customer service issues, and more
• Includes many predefined dashboards along with the flexibility to modify and create your own powerful dashboards
• Because you can “drill-down” into the data and contact records associated with the tables that the dashboards are based on, unlike other competitive CRM solutions, GoldMine’s dashboards are superior tools for users and management and can contribute to greater productivity and effectiveness

2. Greatly Expanded MS Outlook Integration

• View related GoldMine record information, including record fields, notes, opportunities, cases, and more from your Outlook calendar, address book, and even linked emails
• Quickly and easily associate your Outlook calendar, addresss book, and even emails with records in GoldMine
• Apply GoldMine email templates when composing emails in Outlook
• Automated synchronization with many ways to control the transfer of data between Outlook and GoldMine
• Leverage Outlook as a conduit for communicating your GoldMine information with your Smartphone
• Many other benefits as well

3. Numerous Administration Improvements

4. Hundreds of User Interface Changes 

Many of us who have seen the new GoldMine Premium Edition 9.x as BETA testers and Solution Partners are very excited about what this latest update has to offer.  Personally, I believe this is a “game changer” for the entire GoldMine community, including the users.  Just when firms are beginning to appreciate the high ongoing rental costs and disadvantages of software as a service, GoldMine with its affordable one-time purchase price, and the many feature benefits that are native to the application is becoming a more attractive solution than ever!

Click here to see flash slides including the 8.5 Upgrade and the new GoldMine 9.x.

Click here to attend a live demonstration of GoldMine 9.x with First Direct.

GoldMine Premium Edition owners with Current Maintenance are entitled to this upgrade at NO software charge.
Older edition users can upgrade – contact First Direct for special pricing.

There are quite a number of CRM systems vying for your attention these days and, as the old saw goes, everybody “hates” the CRM they’re on and haven’t learned to hate the one they’re moving to… yet. Before you make a move toward changing out the “nervous system” of your company, consider this brief checklist of possible pitfalls:

First, think about what you already have invested in your GoldMine system. It’s probably more than you think at first blush. This includes, of course, your cost of the software and the hardware it’s installed on, but usually the real investment is in more intangible things.

 System Configuration: Over the years, since you got GoldMine, you have either hired out or internally worked out how to use GoldMine to “mirror” the real-world processes of your company. If it was done correctly, this was a very labor-intensive and detailed process. If it was not done properly, or if your business processes have changed so drastically that a ground-up redesign is needed, then maybe what’s really called for is system configuration work on your existing GoldMine or an easy upgrade. Chances are, this kind of mismatch is the most important reason you are giving up on GoldMine. So ask yourself: “If we aren’t prepared to invest in a detailed system configuration, why bother changing CRMs at all? And if we are prepared for this investment, have we really exhausted the possibilities with GoldMine?”

Training: Don’t underestimate the training time that has gone into making everyone functional in your current system. This is not just GoldMine “technical” training, but the vast amount of low-level business process training that got everyone entering data in the correct way, using commonly agreed codes and entering the key information in the right places. Every time you added a new sales rep, you invested more in this kind of training, and this is an asset to your company that will have to be re-created from scratch if you go to a new system.

Support Costs: Every CRM system requires active maintenance by knowledgable technicians who know both your business AND your CRM system’s technical back end. Getting this combination together is difficult and expensive. You’ve already done this.

 Now, second, think about the one-time costs you will face in converting to a new CRM system. I’ll simply list these potential costs:

 1. Software (the CRM itself). This is the one you’re probably already thinking of. Sure, it’s significant, but the list goes on a long way from here.

2. Cost of hardware upgrades to support new technology.

3. Data Conversion. “Connectors” often help, but they are never automatic and rarely easy as the salesman told you. This is often an expensive proposition and, again, full of hidden costs when you decide that your old information is not really as “junky” as you thought.

4. Cost of replacing add-ons and your custom-built solutions that tie into your current CRM. Rebuilding these, if they are not available off the shelf, can add a lot to your bill.

5. Configuring the CRM to match your business processes. This is not just a technical problem. It requires you, the people who know your business the best, to work closely with a system configuration expert, to completely describe all the moving parts of your company. You cannot successfully hire this out without also participating deeply in the process. We mentioned this above, but remember that whatever you invested before will have to be re-done from scratch for the new CRM System, as it has a different data structure and a different way of handling each process.

Finally, ask yourself if you are considering a move away from GoldMine because of one of the following:

 1. GoldMine doesn’t appear to be able to do what we need it to do.

2. GoldMine maintenance is due, and I’m tired of paying for “nothing.”

3. We can’t get the information out of GoldMine that we need, so people don’t put in the work to enter data properly.

4. The original people who set up the system have moved on. No one knows how it’s supposed to work, so it doesn’t work.

5. GoldMine is a “rudderless project,” because we don’t have a dedicated GoldMine administrator, either internally or external to the company.

The answer in each of these cases is NOT to go to a new CRM system. The answer is to get together with your GoldMine partner and really look closely at the situation, asking if the issue can be resolved with better planning, training, support, or add-ons.

Every CRM has its flaws and limitations. Like it or not, your commitment to GoldMine is real and more expensive than you may think. It’s a shame to find out about the limitations of your new system and the hidden benefits of your old system ONLY after you’ve thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

Source: Rob Machalek, MasterMine Software, Inc.
www.masterminesw.com

When management is in the system and comfortable with how the information they manage is collected, they are much better able to collaborate with the sale force and their support staff.  Just because a race car driver doesn’t change their car’s tires, doesn’t mean they don’t understand the mechanics of their car.  To the contrary, it is through this understanding of the engineering of their car that they are able provide their pit crew and race team engineers with input that empowers them to achieve greater performance!

Management that begins with clear goals & objectives can then devise coordinated strategies & tactics.  Having done this, then the next vital step is to align these with the design and usage of your CRM system.   When this is all done the users of your CRM will have a more intuitive workflow and produce better results for you.  What’s more, your reports will provide you with more helpful information to help you manage smarter.  And, because you’re tied into the same system as the people whom you manage, as managers you have a ready means for communicating with one another and delegating and tracking follow-up.

Managing how we handle customer service, from the back-office administrative aspects to the tracking and managing of customer service requests, is as important as any area of your firm.  While no technology on earth will replace the “human touch” including but not limited to the instincts, common sense, and good nature of your staff that handles your inquiries, these people can be aided by CRM.  Your administrators and customer service staff will only fully embrace the use of CRM if they are shown how its features can be applied to their day-to-day situations and help them to work in more efficiently in concert with others.

They need to know you’re watching!

I hate the phrase, “do as you say not as you do.”  Besides the fact that I don’t believe it works that way, it says the wrong message on a of couple levels!   This is true in many areas of your life, including your CRM system.  Management needs to get in to the system and the sales force needs to know you’re watching.   When management is on GoldMine, tracking and interacting with prospects and customers and the reps on those accounts it has a profound impact – providing both direct and indirect benefits!

Three reasons for assessing and benchmarking:

1. Set Goals and Action Programs. Know where you are, and know where you’re going. Benchmark ratios are inherently measurable and comparable, which makes them ideally suited for management-by-objective incentive programs. They help you focus your attention on the most controllable aspects of your business. Success and failure can be clearly evaluated.
2. Monitor Performance. Keep your eye on the ball. Benchmark ratios provide an objective standard by which to measure performance. By tracking key measurements at regular intervals, busy executives can pay closer attention to those key factors that affect a company’s performance. Follow the numbers, and the numbers will set you free.
3. Share the Results. Tell the world about your great results. Benchmark ratios enable your current and future stakeholders to objectively evaluate your company’s condition.  Many times, Senior Management will see nothing in CRM but a cost center.  So you can provide information that equates into sales, you are justifying the cost of ownership of GoldMine

Assessing your database can be revealing: 

Are you missing essential contact information? Are you reaching all the possible influencers and decision makers in your database?  Do you lack details that are needed for reports? Can someone significantly undermine your Goldmine database because of security holes in your user profiles? Are your leads being overlooked? 

First Direct has developed a GoldMine Database Scorecard - Assessment and Benchmarking Process that we use internally to review of our most important data.  We have learned that through this reporting, we are getting better data input as users are more attentive to the information they are putting into the GoldMine database. 

Special Offer – GoldMine Database Scorecard!!

If you would be interested in finding out more regarding how Assessing and Benchmarking works for First Direct and how it could be used to measure your GoldMine database, please contact us.  Ask about our special offer on our exclusive GoldMine Database Scorecard.   Email us at info@1stdirect.com and put “GoldMine Database Scorecard request” in the subject of the reply.

So we asked the customer what was happening and they told us that their GoldMine users were extremely frustrated with how GoldMine functioned.  Owners were ready to drop the system and spend a significant sum to replace it.  IT was ready to take on a large task of implementing a new system, figuring out how to migrate years of valuable data from GoldMine into the new system, and take on the responsibility of having to configure the system from scratch and train all the users over again. 

Of course, First Direct valued this customer and was disappointed to learn that they may be dropping GoldMine.  We asked them if they would be willing to explain so that we might have a chance to address their concerns and make an obvious attempt to salvage the relationship.  We agreed it was worth a try so we called a meeting to give some of their key users who had spoken out a chance to show us the functions that annoyed them.

As they ran down their list of complaints while demonstrating them in their live GoldMine system my colleague and I were able see that they simply were not aware of much better and easier ways for them to do what they were trying to do.  Within 60 minutes it became clear to both us and the customer that GoldMine was far more powerful and suitable than they thought.  All they needed was some help, which First Direct is here to provide. The customer came out of the meeting enlightened and with a new appreciation for the system they owned. 

Aside from the greater value they now recognized GoldMine had to offer, they also appreciated that as managers of the system they had a responsibility for their organization’s success with it.  And with that responsibility sometimes comes the need to get help.  The conversation is leading to a joint and proactive CRM Success Plan including set priorities and actionable steps. There is renewed commitment by all parties to find better ways of managing one of their firm’s most valuable business systems and assets – their GoldMine database. 

Here’s a list with live links to ways you can get help:

• Read the documentation / manuals
• GoldMine training solutions
• FrontRange Online Knowledge Base (You’ll need your “username” and “password.”)
• FrontRange Connect – online community
• GoldMine Sharpen Your Knowledge Events

OR CALL:
GoldMine Support Desk (with current maintenance – call (800)755-2100  (Use option 3, then 1 and have your customer number – HDA# handy.)
First Direct Corp. – (800) 935-4386

Submit a specific request to First Direct Corp.

You can think of a Digital Dashboard as a graphic summary of some aspect of your data, potentially with the ability to drill down into the component data.  For example, a chart of certain sales activities by sales person. 

GoldMine Premium and Corporate editions both operate on a Microsoft SQL Database which includes MS SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), a server-based report generation software system from Microsoft that can produce Digital Dashboards.  Because Digital Dashboards can be accessed via a web interface, they can be viewed from most any Internet Browser, as well as right within the GoldMine GM+ Views or GM+ Browser.   

This all sounds rather complicated and, technically, it certainly does require skills.  But from a user perspective the concept is simple and easy.  Digital Dashboards will give GoldMine users a fast and friendly way to get information on activity in your GoldMine database, or any accessible SQL database for that matter.  

Digital Dashboards accessed from your GM+ Views or GM+ Browser can help your company to work smart and efficiently.  Putting these highly intuitive and expressive sources of information at the fingertips of your organization is going to increase the ROI of your CRM and go a longer way toward garnering greater usage. 

For the report developers out there I’ll describe what it is like to create digital dashboards and reports using SQL Reporting Services.  First, when MS-SQL Server 2005 is installed it will give you the option to install Reporting Services. The RS designer installs as a snap-in to Visual Studio .NET. If you do not already have VS .NET installed that’s ok because the RS Designer will run as a standalone application. There are three major steps to building a report: query, layout, and deployment.

In step 1 you build a SQL query by selecting a datasource and then using the Query Builder (Figure 1) to select the fields and tables for your report. Then you are presented with a wizard (Figure 2) that will bring you to step 2, allowing you to set the major aspects of the report’s layout. Here you select what fields to group on, whether you want totals to appear, and select which fields you want to see in your details section. After going through this wizard you will then be brought to the actual layout view (Figure 3) and it is here where you will fine-tune your report. The best way I can describe this part of the interface is it is a cross between a traditional report designer like Crystal Reports and an Excel spreadsheet with a bunch of formulas. Although the wizard will take care of a lot of the grunt work for you, be prepared to roll up your sleeves and write some formulas in order to get the report to be the finished product you are looking for. Once you get the report looking how you want, it is time for step 3 – deployment. To deploy your report all you have to do is specify the web server address and folder that is to be the destination for your report and simply run the “Deploy” option from the main menu, that’s it. All your users need to view your new report is a web browser.

So those are the major steps to building your report. And a digital dashboard is really just a single report comprised of smaller reports all arranged on a single page (Figure 4).

Figure 1. Query Builder

Figure 2. Report Wizard Layout

Figure 3. Layout Fine-Tuning

Figure 4 – Dashboard made of several smaller reports

Digital Dashboards, are essentially just graphical reports which can offer the ability to drill down for details.  They are very popular now because they provide businesses with a highly visually and intuitive take on data.  Because they allow the viewer to access the dashboard from their Internet browser, it offers decision makers a very quick way to gain understanding and insight.  In essence, dashboards a great tool for managing smarter!

If you’d like to see a demonstration of Digital Dashboard or if you need help putting this idea to use, First Direct Corp. is here to help you.  Call (845) 221-3800 or email info@1stdirect.com to request assistance!

When it comes to CRM, you spend money to make money! You purchase CRM to significantly increase sales, productivity, and customer retention. You don’t buy CRM to save on the cost of your CRM!  Getting a one-time $100-a-user savings because of a special discount, is not the reason to purchase CRM. 

Furthermore, the cost of the software is just the beginning!  Everything which contributes to the success of your CRM implementation contributes to the success of your firm.  Investment in CRM expertise, training, report writing, let alone hardware, network performance, security, and telephony integration, are all worthy additional investments. 

Here are costs that should concern you more than the cost of your CRM:  The cost of slow sales because of the ineffective use of CRM technology; or, having to hire staff to do tasks that your CRM system could have automated.  Or, having no idea what’s going on with your prospects & customers when their sales rep leaves your organization because they kept it all in their own personal system which you have no record of. 

Training is smart investment. When it comes to training … provide as much as it takes!  It makes no sense to short-cut training for all your users!  If you don’t give your users the training they need, you’re actually handing them an excuse not to use the system you just invested in to run your business on! 

Reporting is another smart investment!  You put data into your CRM so you can get information out of it! Management can work smarter if it has the information it needs; information that could answer questions about the performance.  Much of this information can be derived from well designed reports based on the data in your CRM.  Don’t choose to operate in the dark, without the objective basis for their decision making – develop the reports you need! 

CRM Software is for making money, gaining a competitive advantage, handling new leads, better serving existing customers, working as a team, and more.  Once the emphasis for why you purchased your CRM is put on deriving tangible benefits from your system, the value of your CRM system will overshadow the costs of your system.  If you only focus on the costs, you’ll fail to get the results or the ROI.

One of the most significant investments that management needs to make isn’t about money.  That is an investment of time! Management needs to invest the time to plan out the strategic and tactical ways in which the organization can use their database technology to the organization’s benefit. When your employees see management making this effort they will know that there is a real commitment to the CRM system and your employees are far more likely to make the best use of it themselves. It’s time to show them you mean business!