Imagine being able to see detailed and vivid analysis of your GoldMine data or data pulled from an external database in the form of professional looking charts, graphs, and reports right within your GoldMine screen, even within the GoldMine Contact Record. 

What’s more, how nice would it be to have immediate access to this information from anywhere over the Internet through a web browser?  Or even, to automatically distribute reports on a timely basis to the right people?  It’s all possible with the new Microsoft SQL 2005, improved SQL Reporting Services, and the features in GoldMine!

As far as reporting solutions go, Microsoft is a relative late comer to the scene. But within the past two years Microsoft released Reporting Services as a free add-on to SQL Server 2000. With its ability to deploy web-based reports, connect to any ODBC data source, and various display export and print options, SQL Reporting Services became a serious contender on the reporting circuit.  Now with the recent release of SQL Server 2005, Microsoft has made significant improvements to SQL Reporting Services (2005). Included with this recent version is Report Builder which allows a user to design an ad hoc report in an easy-to-use interface.

Possibly the most exciting aspect of SQL Reporting Services is its web-based report deployment. All reports are viewed in a web browser such as Internet Explorer.  In other words, users can launch reports from anyplace from a web address/URL … GoldMine users can launch reports from their “Task Bar.

Reporting Services automatically creates a web-based report management tool that allows users to run reports either on-demand or on a scheduled subscription basis deliverable via Email. Reports can be printed or exported to a variety of file formats including Adobe PDF, Excel, HTML, and XML.

Since SQL RS is web-based, it lends itself perfectly to many of GoldMine’s frequently under utilized features. SQL Reporting Services is a perfect match for GoldMine’s GM+ Views, GM+ Browser, and MyGoldMine. At their core, all three of these tools are really web browsers and can be setup to display information from your GoldMine database or even an external database system with a tool such as SQL Reporting Services.

Consider a few possibilities:  You could be on a GoldMine Contact Record and the GM+ View tab showing monthly sales orders and product information relevant to that company/contact. Or envision using the GM+ Browser, introduced in GoldMine CE 7.x to look at a company-wide pipeline report without having to leave your GoldMine screen. Or use MyGoldMine for what it is really meant for, a dashboard interface that shows you at a glance exactly what you need to know when you need to know it. Pie charts, bar graphs, data from multiple sources, and all of it web-based. SQL Reporting Services is such a good fit for GoldMine, it looks and feels like a natural part of GoldMine … truly seamless integration.

Another great thing about SQL Reporting Services is that it is a 100% server side solution. Client machines do not have to be installed, no need to worry about creating DSN connections or loading DLL files on the client machines. And GoldMine Corporate Edition v7.0 has built-in tools to allow users to subscribe and schedule reports from right within your GoldMine menus. Microsoft SQL Reporting Services has already made a big impact on the reporting scene since its recent release, and we can be sure to see its popularity grow!

Want to see a demo or start using MS SQL Reporting Services … contact First Direct.

What would you say if I offered you a salesperson that works tirelessly, or never forgets to follow-up, or never complains about compensation no matter how successful they are, is 100% loyal, and completely focused on what you direct them to do?  What if I told you this sales rep costs less than any other salesperson you pay today?  You’d say, “What’s the catch?” 

There’s always a catch … especially when something sounds this good.  But even with the catch, it’s still a great offer!  A fantastic offer!! 

First, meet your salesperson … their name is GoldMine Automated Processes!   Now, don’t go saying this is ridiculous … hear me out.

To begin with, let me quote the person reputed to be the “father of modern advertising,” and the founder of Advertising Age Magazine.  John Kennedy said, “Advertising is sales in print.”  Furthermore, it is generally accepted that most direct marketing body copy is approached from the perspective of a salesperson writing or speaking to an individual prospect or customer.  As they say, “You put the salesperson in the letter” and “You demonstrate in your brochure.” 

There’s a lot of “selling” going on in letters, emails, faxes, and related website pages.  With videos, flash, and now even podcasts, you can package a salesperson’s presentation, let alone their personality, and distribute at any time.  Not to mention communications intended to maintain and build relationships and loyalty.

Surely there is no replacement for human interaction – via a phone call or face-to-face.  By the same token, I’m not suggesting you do away with your sales force.  I’m asking you to question your next hire, or maybe even your next fire, if you get my point.  Plus, done right, GoldMine Automated Processes (AP’s) will make your existing sales force much more effective! 

GoldMine Automated Processes is an incredible tool that’s used by approximately 2% of users!  Why is that?  In part it’s a reflection on how poorly we prepare and manage salespeople in general.  We send them out to sell, but we don’t equip them.  How well have you done in defining an effective process, creating template letters, and training reps on how to leverage your firm’s website to help them sell, and more?

Automated Processes can send emails, print letters, send faxes, print reports, and more.  But with APs, this preparation is even more critical, because APs can only do what you design them to do. Nothing more, nothing less.  By the same token, the time, effort, and investment you make in Automated Processes can reap benefits and rewards over & over again! 

I don’t recommend jumping into GoldMine Automated Processes without the guidance from someone with years of experience – not because they are technically hard, but because they are conceptually very challenging.  You are very likely to overlook a critically important aspect.  Because of the nature of Automated Processes, to do things automatically at a rapid speed, the potential for damaging relationships is pretty high.

When it comes to accountability, as a manager I often take the position “if it’s not in GoldMine it didn’t happen.”  Here’s what I mean and why it works so well.

GoldMine can be used to document a lot of things!  And, as a workgroup solution, the information is easily accessible. GoldMine lends itself to tracking everything – from the source of a lead with the creation date, to the date of the last call, any scheduled follow-up, to all sorts of other details. 

In addition, GoldMine features an InfoCenter (a.k.a. Knowledgebase) where you can maintain “books of knowledge” for such purposes as policies and procedures, marketing information, even ISO documentation. 

Let’s get back to this notion of “if it’s not in GoldMine it didn’t happen.”  As a manager, ideally we try to be objective and fair.  That’s why it really helps to “have the facts.”  Relying on people’s memory presents problems – people have very selective memory, let alone their personal bias and their self-interests which can lead them to skew the facts.  This is where GoldMine can really help!

• Who brought in the lead?  Look at the Summary Tab of the record and see who created it in the GoldMine database.
• Who has been following up on the prospect and deserves credit for the commission when the prospect calls in to order?  Look in the History Tab and review the calls.
• When did the customer call in to request certain information?  Check History Tab.
• Is somebody following up on a lead?  Check Pending Tab.
• When did the customer say they were mailing the check?  Check “Call Notes.”

When you take the attitude that “if it’s not in GoldMine it didn’t happen” an interesting dynamic comes about.  From that point forward, people start to take more responsibility for entering important information.  Users recognize each time there is a situation in which “the facts” that should have been stored in GoldMine are needed, that someone either did or didn’t do their job properly by entering them.  Therefore, the quality of the documentation in GoldMine becomes a reflection on the quality of a person’s work.  So, if people take any pride in what they do, they will start tobe more attentive to what they enter into GoldMine.

When you take the position, “if it’s not in GoldMine it didn’t happen” you’ll be surprised at how much more useful information ends up IN Goldmine!  And, in the process, you’ll be able to be a stronger manager.

Recently I wrote a paper called “How to Use Reporting to Grow and Manage a Business".  It has a powerful message and one that needs to get out there more.  So, I want to mention some of the key points of the paper and direct you to a link where you can download and read the full story. 

Reporting can empower an organization to make smarter, more informed decisions.  Reporting can reveal, reward and punish behavior.  Reporting can stir positive competition and motivate constructive efforts.  Simply put, reporting can help you to succeed.  With all the good things reporting can do, you’d expect there to be a lot more of it in today’s database-driven world!

I’m not taking anything away from gut instinct.  Yet, as I see it, reporting is extremely under used. There are a number of reasons for this:

• Managers don’t know how to use reports and what to report on
• Managers lack the abilities and resources to design and write reports
• The data does exist to report on, so no one writes the report, so no one collects the data, and you end up with a kind of circular problem which only perpetuates both problems.

Like anything that’s not getting done and needs to, the solution begins by recognizing there is a problem.  Just recognizing the need for better reporting is a big move in the right direction!  From there, with some investment of time and resources, this is certainly one area of your business where you can expect meaningful improvements in a relatively short amount of time.  Over time, you can build a portfolio of valuable reports that help all areas and aspects of your organization.

Looking for a place to start?  Why don’t you start by reading my article “How to Use Reporting to Grow and Manage a Business".  After that, I invite you to take another step … if you’d like, give me a call and let’s talk about your organization’s reporting needs!

In addition, as a GoldMine user, I highly recommend you entertain a personal demonstration of the following popular report writing solutions for GoldMine:  MasterMine, Stonefield Query and Crystal Reports. And, don’t overlook this lesser known tool for creating real-time HTML reports that can be viewed in the GM+Views window - DbNetGrid.  Contact First Direct Corp. for further information or to arrange a personal demonstration.

Do you have a big prospect list that you want to split up evenly for several telemarketers or sales reps to call? Use the Group Scheduling feature in GoldMine to equally divide the calls between multiple users.

Once the list is in GoldMine, filter or group the records. Then schedule a call with the proper details and notes. Before you press schedule, go to the Users tab and add all the people you want working on the calls. Then go to the "Group Schedule" tab and check "Schedule to a group of contacts." Check the box to "span over multiple days" and to "skip weekends" if those are appropriate. Set the start date and time and how many calls you want scheduled overall each day. Once you press "Schedule" you'll see, after the process monitor is done, that the calls have been divided evenly and that each call is assigned to one sales person only.

Ever feel like no matter how hard you try you can never get caught up? Here's one way to clean house - and deal with outdated activities that hang over you.

One nice feature in the Activities List is the option to "Auto Update" your pending activities. This local menu feature, within any of the open activities tabs (open, calls, appointment, action, etc.), enables a user to complete or delete all the activities in view.

By selecting your date range and applying a filter beforehand, you can select those activities you want to complete or delete in one fell swoop.

You can also assign an Activity Code to all the activities you complete. This may even be a non-descript code, such as "FLD Filed" which doesn't indicate whether you did or did not do the actual activity, rather that it was pending and now it's filed. Or, you may have addressed a whole bunch of literature call backs with emails or fax follow-up and you therefore chose to use a code that indicates so.

There is also a "Roll-over" option in the same local menu. This will enable you to push forward a whole group of activities. Again, you may want to limit the view by date range and filter. (Caution - there is a known issue with rollover not honoring the "filter", so test this on a limited date range before you do it for large date range.)

So much focus is given to how GoldMine is used for sales and marketing that we sometimes overlook GoldMine’s tremendous value as an interoffice workgroup solution. 

Nearly 15 years ago, before MS Windows was even introduced, the founders and creators of GoldMine, Jon Ferrara and Elan Susser, had the vision for a workgroup contact management system, soon to be referred to as sales force automation, that would allow all the various members inside the organization to share one central database for prospects, customers, vendors, and other key contacts. 

From the start, GoldMine featured functions that would help organizations work together more effectively.  Believe it or not, ever since the DOS version, GoldMine offered task delegation, group scheduling, network-based electronic mail, document storage, a knowledge base and other functions.  These qualities have always made GoldMine stand out over other contact management systems and are some of the reasons it’s won so many awards.  In addition to helping sales and marketing, GoldMine has always offered workgroup features which are valuable to the organization at large including but not limited to the ability to:

• Track in-house interactions in relation to database records
• Capture significant facts and activities regarding these records that others need
• Document important internal and external conversation notes or instructions pertaining
• Check availability of co-workers
• Delegate scheduled follow-up pertaining to records in the database
• Notify or copy staff or management regarding aspects on records
• Offer an efficient way for multiple departments with different roles and responsibilities to share files while at the same time having options to hide or limit access to restricted information

GoldMine has always been much more than a stand-alone contact management or sales automation tool!  Working together more effectively remains vital to any organization’s success – so owners of GoldMine are smart to leverage it to help them do so.

One tell tale way to know if you're really using your CRM/Sales Automation System is whether you're relying on reports. Rolling up data into useful views can serve any number of purposes, from pipeline to market analysis.

Successful reporting, which is akin to successful CRM, depends on good data integrity and good report design/layout. We've covered data integrity in other issues of GoldMine® Success™ and ways to ensure it.

Choosing the best report writer to create your report will make achieving your objectives a whole lot easier. There are popular tools to use with GoldMine for report writing - GoldMine's native report writer, and two award-winning add-on tools - MasterMine and Stonefield Query. As well as excellent generic report writers such as Crystal Report. (They each have very different benefits to offer, so contact your Solution Partner for an explanation and/or a demonstration!)

Designing an effective report takes a special combination of skills and talents. Including technical abilities, understanding of the subject data structure and an appreciation of how to use the data to tell the story the "owner" or "user" of the reports desires. It often takes more than one person to plan, design and create the report.

Reporting brings the truth out! Reporting can showcase performance (or lack there of), highlight quality issues, or provide important information for other departments to follow-up, etc., etc. Reporting will help you hold users accountable - as they see the output of their input; they're more likely to appreciate how their attention to detail and activities impact their standing on reports that management uses.

With the New Year, now would be a great time to give more thought to your GoldMine reports and how you can manage smarter through them.

GoldMine's "AutoUpdate" feature within the GoldMine system Lookup.ini allows you to automatically populate the data in fields to save time and improve data quality. Some common examples of when it is appropriate to do so include:

■Entering Territory and/or Sales Rep based on State or Logged-in User
■Entering "User Login" name for appropriate sales rep to work in conjunction with Automated Processes
■Entering a numeric total into a field based on the sum of other numeric fields
You can configure GoldMine to update fields automatically when a user either creates a contact record or enters data in specified fields by Including the [AutoUpdate] section in LOOKUP.INI.

To configure GoldMine to update one or more fields automatically when a user creates a contact record include the following statement in the [AutoUpdate] section in LOOKUP.INI.

NewRecord=field(s)

Example 1.
[AutoUpdate]
NewRecord=Key1

This will update the Key1 field whenever a contact record is created. To specify the value to appear in the Key1 field, add a [Key1] section to LOOKUP.INI.

Example 2.
[Key1]
Lookup1=&username

JDOE=John Doe

This will place the full name of user JDOE in the Key1 field.

Example 3.
[URep]
Lookup1=State

CA=Jon
NY=Mike
Otherwise=Mark

This will update the Rep field in every new contact record with Jon when the State entry is CA, with Mike when the State entry is NY, and with Mark for any other State entry.

Updating Fields upon Record Creation

You can configure GoldMine to update fields automatically when a user enters data in specified fields by including the [AutoUpdate] section in LOOKUP.INI. Place the following setting(s) in the [AutoUpdate] section of LOOKUP.INI. field a=field b will update field b when a user types a value in field a.

For example:
[AutoUpdate]
State=uSalesRep

Zip=Key5

This will update the SalesRep field as soon as a user types a value in the State field, and will update the Key5 field as soon as a user types a value in the Zip field.

You can set GoldMine to update multiple fields when a user types a value in one field.

For example:

[AutoUpdate]

State=uSalesRep, Key1

This will update both the SalesRep field and the Key1 field when a user types a value in the State field.

Creating Auto-fill expressions can be more challenging than many of the ordinary GoldMine administrator functions, so it may be a good idea to work with your Solution Partner for assistance.

Perish the thought of taking away Outlook? Maybe not! Believe it or not, there are thousands of GoldMine users who have no need for Microsoft Outlook and many who frankly don't miss it a bit.

While at the same time GoldMine offers more features for integrating with your Microsoft Outlook than ever before, there are many GoldMine users who could care less, or even prefer to keep Outlook off the desktop. Here are some reasons sales managers and users may want to take the stance that GoldMine IS the company's business email client:

■Computer viruses are very commonly written to use Outlook's address book for self-propagating
■Outlook tends to hold a great deal of personal email and contacts
■Important information that should be shared and accessible to others in the company may be stored in inaccessible personal folders
■Outlook data often "disappears" once a person leaves
■Contact information, such as faxes, email addresses, etc. maybe hard to round up for campaigns. And, once various personal folders are compiled there is often a duplicate problem.
■Non-authorized confidential company information is available for most users to export
GoldMine 5.7's email client and email center are full featured and possess all the bells & whistles one needs to manage email communications. And, you can easily avoid the pitfalls listed above.

It's this author's opinion that one reason more firms don't make the decision to rely completely on GoldMine email is that the decision makers are part of the problem - they find it just as appealing as their staff does to take advantage of features that favor the user, rather than the organization's interests. On the other hand, a dedicated employee whose focus is to help the company achieve its mission will do what's in the firm's best interests to achieve their personal success in the process. Entrepreneurs, as well as Presidents, CFOs, and CEOs who are reading this article, wake up and smell the coffee. If you don't put your foot down on this subject, chances are it isn't going to happen.

The other reason people don't change is the "comfort factor." Folks are comfortable with Outlook email. They haven't familiarized themselves with GoldMine's client or email center. And, maybe they find GoldMine's "linking" feature strange. (Frankly, this linking feature which make's GoldMine email so powerful and appealing.)

Making GoldMine's email system a requirement for sales, marketing and certain support personnel, doesn't mean that you have to require it throughout the firm. Nor does it mean that you have to entirely take away Outlook or Outlook express as client for "personal" types of communication.

Life can function without Outlook. And with GoldMine, you may find your business functions much better!

Outlook® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.