NOTE: This is only true of GoldMine Standard Edition & Corporate Edition.  GoldMine Premium Edition now stores Notes in a database table and each note is a separate entry in the table.

Here are some things to be aware of if you are one of those businesses that are over-using the Notes tab in GoldMine.

THE PROBLEMS:

1) NOTES Character Limitation

 After about 65,000 characters (or about 8 pages) information will simply start to disappear. In some cases I have even seen where the notes from one contact are incorrectly linked to another contact, due to data corruption.

2) Notes Don’t Sync Well

Only notes inserted via Contact | Insert a Note will sync, because they are time/date stamped. But changes to that note, or any notes not added using that method will not sync, because they are not time/date stamped.

3) No Security.

Anyone with access to the Notes Tab can go in and delete everything in there.  So if you are storing all your important information in the Notes Tab, the potential for data loss is great.

4) No Analysis. 

If you want to find out how many calls, appointments, or actions were completed by date or completed by GoldMine user then you are out of luck with the Notes tab. GoldMine does not have a way of analyzing this data, because of how it is stored in the system.

THE SOLUTION:

Use the Schedule & Complete menu options to schedule activities and then complete them, this will put them into the Pending and History Tabs in GoldMine. This will allow you to keep a nice record of who did what and when. You can even store Notes into these scheduled/completed activities. You can even setup short cut macros in the Tollbar/Taskbar to  make this as easy as a single click.

NOTE: If you’re using the Notes Tab in GoldMine, and have used the Contact | Insert a Note  menu option to create your notes, which creates a date/time stamp, you can use a GoldMine add-on called  GoldBox to convert all your Notes to completed history, based on those Date/Time Stamps. If you didn't use the Contact | Insert a Note then you are out of luck.

WHAT IS THE NOTES TAB GOOD FOR?

With all this said you're probably wondering what is the NOTES tab good for? The Notes tab is great for jotting down or making "NOTE" of something  such as directions, comments about the contact.  You might also use it for keeping track of personal information such as contacts favorite restaurant, names of kids, or any information you feel might help you with managing your relationship better with this contact. Maybe your contact has a hard to pronounce name, so rather then offend them the next time you call,  you can write down in the Notes tab the proper pronunciation of their name.

SEARCHING THE NOTES WITH A SQL QUERY

One last thing about the Notes Tab. If you are on GoldMine Corporate or Premium Edition you can use a SQL Query to search the NOTES for specific terms. Simply copy the following SQL Query into your GoldMine SQL Query pane and where it says ENTER YOUR SEARCH TERM HERE, replace that with the word(s) you want to search for (be sure to leave the % signs).

SELECT   c1.company, c1.contact, c1.Phone1, c1.key1 as "Record Type", notes.createddate as "Date Created", notes.userid as "User", notes.note as "NOTES", c1.accountno as "GOLDMINE ACCOUNTNO"
FROM     contact1 c1
INNER JOIN notes
ON       c1.accountno = notes.accountno
WHERE    notes.rectype             = 'c1'
AND      CAST(CAST(notes.note AS VARBINARY) AS VARCHAR(8000)) LIKE '%ENTER YOUR SEARCH TERM HERE%'
ORDER BY notes.userid, createddate

The GoldMine consultant asked them how they managed things like bad addresses and returned mail. They said the company had a whole pile of envelopes that had been returned by the post office. One day they were going to put that information into their database, but not today! The consultant asked about duplicate names. The company said that it happened sometimes, but they thought it was really important to send their brochures out right away to show they really cared. The consultant was a little bothered by this, but the company didn't seem to mind the money they were throwing away. Then, from the back of the room, a little voice said "What about those guys in prison?". Well, you can imagine everybody's reaction! The consultant said "What guys in prison???". And the little voice (that belonged to the girl who saw to it that all the brochures went out) explained: "We get a lot of cards from guys in prison. A lot of the magazines we advertise in are free, so they fill out the cards so they can get mail. I guess they're lonely…".

After talking with all the important people at the company, the consultant found out that they wasted more than twenty thousand dollars every year, sending their nice brochures to prisoners and lots of other bored people in the world. Best of all, almost twenty percent of what they sent out were duplicates! So, as you can see, even a simple lead management process can benefit from some common sense database practices.

If you would like help with cleaning up your  GoldMine database please contact First Direct Corp.

We can assist you with:

• Removing Duplicates
• Removing  Invalid Email Addresses
• Removing Bounce Back Emails
• Address Verification Services
• plus much more

We provide these Online Training & Events as a service to you! Learn practical information from an expert that will help you stay up-to-date on the latest trends and best practices.

If there is a topic you would like to see presented at one of our upcoming training events,
please let us know.

Solidify your web marketing strategy and take advantage of the benefits associated with Internet marketing using GoldMine Web Import.

Overview of GoldMine Web Import:

With GoldMine's web import feature you can put the power of the Internet to work for you by capturing information from the Internet (such as Sales Leads and Customer Contact Information) and automatically create a contact record in GoldMine.

Then, you can unleash the power of GoldMine with Automated Processes. Automatically send an e-mail, automatically trigger a drip marketing campaign, automatically schedule a follow up call! GoldMine Web Import frees you from time consuming "busy work" and allows you to focus on serving your customers and building your business.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE...

Why Use Our HTML Email Design Services?

Save Your Time

First Direct Corp. can provide you attractive HTML e-mail templates that you can use over & over, so you can save time to focus on your message and copy. These communications can be added to your GoldMine Document Center so your GoldMine users can send out high impact communications quickly and easily.

Convert Your Existing Documents to HTML

Don't make the mistake of attaching files (PDF, Word, graphics) to your marketing emails. Converting your content to HTML, shrinks the size of your message, reduces SPAM blockage, and speeds up your communications.

Speedy Delivery & Impeccable Quality

We can deliver a rough draft of your campaign to you in a relatively short time, usually 1-2 days. Secondly, we are fully committed to customer satisfaction. We are keen in meeting all our customers'' requirements to the last detail.

Click to learn more...

In addition to performance improvements for email message merge and send, new features released in version 7.6 include:

Reporting Dashboard - "Real Time Campaign Analytics"

Get a "real time" snap shot of your tracked campaign results using the IntelliClick Dashboard. Drill down to those who are showing the greatest interest in your campaigns. Once you update, follow the instructions provided in the IntelliClick User Quick Reference Manual on page 59 or click here for instructions.

Resume Failed Or Suspended Campaign Send

If during a send you should have a loss of connectivity to the Internet or something interfers with the email merge and send process, IntelliSend will now prompt you to resume the last send if it fails. This will automatically exclude all those who already have had emails sent to them and will proceed to deliver the remainder of the target group.

Other improvements to IntelliSend include the ability to now send, track and manage email address integrity for multiple GoldMine databases. You can now also flag to update hard bounce and unsubscribe email addresses from external files such as those generated from an email service provider.

SQL Query Examples

You now have access to SQL queries than can be used in GoldMine to help yo segment your audience based upon past campaign responses. These queries can be accessed from the IntelliClick Wizard under HELP | SQL QUERY EXAMPLES or these can be found in the User Quick Reference Guide beginning on pg. 62. You can then copy and paste any of these queries into the GoldMine to access the results.

Data Integrity - Email Address Verfication & Email Append Services

IntelliClick offers new services to enhance our existing product features and make sure unsubscribes and hard bounce (undeliverable) email addresses are excluded from your email campaigns. In response to demand from our customers to help improve their email data integrity, we now offer email address verfication and append services. For questions or to arrange for a data file to be processed, please contact support.

Email Address Verification

To reduce hard bounce rates and increase the liklihood of good campaign delivery, you can now have your entire database of email addresses verified for deliverability. For as little as1¢ - 1.25¢ USD per email address, we will process a file of email addresses you provide in Excel or CSV format. Email addresses will be flagged if invalid or corrected where possible. The returned file can then be used to easily flag all undeliverable emails using the latest IntelliClick feature to flag GoldMine email addresses from the resulting file.

Email Address Append

The Email Address Append service helps to add email addresses to accounts where you have none. You simply provide an Excel or CSV file of contact information, including street address and this will be cross referenced against an email database of 400 million+ email addresses (B2C and B2B). Identified email addresses are contacted on your behalf to get permission to email to them and you only pay for email addresses that have not opted out. Cost ranges between 25¢ - 35¢ USD per appended email address.

The first thing you will need is an audio file to be played when ever you receive new email. There are lots of them available for free on the internet. I used the famous AOL  audio file. "You've Got Mail!" Once you have downloaded the file save it to your GoldMine  directory, or any where you choose.

Next Login to GoldMine and go to your Email Center.
Right Click on your inbox and select Options >> Set up E-mail Rules
In the Email Rules Center, in the left hand column, Right Click on Default and choose New >> New Rule

In the first field provide a unique name for this New Rule, I would suggest  "You've Got Mail".
Then check the Incoming Email radio button
now click Next >

Check the "All of the following conditions must be true" radio button
and then click the NEW button at the bottom

In the Mail Field drop down select To:
and in the "Logical condition" drop down select Contains
and the Value field will be your email address, for instance I entered @1stdirect.com

You might ask, why just the @1stdirect.com?

I receive email from several different email addresses into my GoldMine, so
I am accounting for them all by putting just @1stdirect.com, you can do the same on your
end or just put your full email address if you only have 1 email account.

Once you are done hit OK

Then hit the Next > button

Now we are going to specify the action to take when the
previous condition is met, ie, when we receive new email.

Click the New button
In the "Action on Mail" drop down list, choose "Notify with a Sound"
and then browse out to where you saved the You've Got Mail audio file and select it.

Now hit Finish.

Last but not least, you will need to click  SAVE at the top of the Email Rules Center.

You should also check to make sure that you have your email account
set to auto retrieve and auto delete your emails from the mail server. If you
need help with that please contact First Direct Corp, for further assistance.

1. Finding all records in GoldMine that have any Automated Process attached
2. Finding which records in GoldMine have a particular Automated Process attached.
3. Finding which records in GoldMine have an Automated Process waiting on a specific "Event."

Here's an example and my explanation of a situation that presents the need for #3.  Suppose you're working on editing an existing Automated Process and you're changing an event.  Let's also say you know that that this process is already attached to records in GoldMine.  Any prior triggered events will not be effected by your changes, but any records that are up to and on the event that you're changing may be effected by your change.  So you want to know which records those are.  Therefore you need a way to find only those records that have that Process attached AND are on the event you're editing.  What's the way to do this?

GoldMine SQL Queries are the answer.  A query can list out all the records on this event.  The query statement can be written using the actual "event" description (name).  For purposes of writing any of these queries you need to know that "Automated processes are stored in the "contsup" table with "rectype=E" and the "Event" name is listed in the "contsupref."

Would you like an overview of the capabilities of Microsoft SQL Queries and Reporting Services for GoldMine?  Check our our Sharpen Your Knowledge Training Event.  (Note:  The events are run on a recurring basis so if you can't make a specific date just let us know you're interested and we'll notify you of a future date.)

No one is more relevant to the success of your CRM system than the GoldMine Administrator!  These days, CRM software is an integral application that enables businesses to work more effectively as a team and improve productivity.  It’s easy to see why the CRM Administrator's role is critical to ANY organization.

A CRM system affects many essential areas of an organization including but not limited to marketing, sales, and customer service.  The quality and usage of your CRM data has broad implications for the entire organization.   In order to choose a GoldMine Administrator (GA), you need to know the role and duties it takes to fulfill the job.  This requires that the administrator know many the aspects of the GoldMine application including but not limited to:

• Database Structure & Functionality
• User Properties & Preferences
• Designing Screens and Tabs
• Configuring Functional Areas (e.g. Service Center, Opportunity & Project Management, etc.)

The Administrator should also be familiar with CRM Best Practices in areas such as:

• Mapping Business Process and Objectives into Design
• Maintaining Data Integrity
• Uses of Queries and Reporting
• Applications for Automation
• Adequate Resources and Application Updates
• Establishing Internal Usage Protocols and Documentation
• Training Needs

Because the GA cannot succeed alone, they also should consider the areas of cooperation they must get from others such as:

• Corporate Support and Advocacy
• Management Input, Usage, and Advocacy
• User cooperation and diligence
• Pitfalls and Common Issues

CRM can be a competitive advantage in business!  The GoldMine Administrator has a tremendous effect on whether this happens for your organization.  The GA can only do their job properly if they are given the training and support they need to perform to the best of their abilities.

First Direct Corp. conducts a four-part web training series to help prepare GoldMine Administrators.  If you'd like to find out about this click here.

"As with all GMPE service packs, the biggest driver for GMPE 9.0.4 is product quality. This release contains over 30 fixed issues for improved product stability and quality, as well as support for GoldMine Mobile Edition 9.0."  

IMPORTANT:

While I certainly agree that this release has many important fixes, I have to say that First Direct has identified what we believe that FRS has also introduced a new very significant issue with Automated Processes.  If your firm uses GoldMine's Automated Processes (AP) feature, then I recommend you DO NOT implement 9.0.4 until you hear me say it is addressed!   This issue was reported immediately to FRS and FRS has acknowledge the issue and it has been submitted to development to fix it.

AP Issue Update - 3/30/12:  FRS has identified the root cause of the issue and have addressed it in the hotfix.  Their testing shows that the hotfix does indeed correct the issue.  First Direct has also tested.  FrontRange reported that they expect to have a new public release with this fix in approx. a week.  As soon as it is released First Direct will install it, test it, and I will update this post.

4/18/12 - NEW BUILD IS OUT!  FrontRange has released the fix in an updated release 9.0.4.46!  Release notes will be posted to the link above as soon as I can get my hands on them (by 4/20).

Speaking My Mind - by Bob Ritter, President of First Direct Corp.:

It is more common than I would like it to be that these releases take "2 steps forward and 1 step back."  Nonetheless, it is still good for there to be forward momentum.  FRS must keep moving the product forward, and we all must keep the pressure on FRS for greater R&D and product quality.  GoldMine is a great product that has many advantages over other solutions, but it also needs significant improvements and that will take FrontRange Solutions' investment and commitment.  Partners like First Direct Corp. and customers/users such as you play an important role.  We all need to speak up in an effort to encourage that from FRS!   If you own GoldMine and you want it to be a better CRM product, write the manufacturer with your thoughts, ideas, and concerns.