Mobile support now available for BigContacts

BigContacts support is now available directly from your mobile phone!  If you are out of your office and have a quick question about BigContacts, simply use the same URL that you use from your PC and you can access the mobile version of the BigContacts helpdesk.

https://bigcontacts.zendesk.com

It's our mission to deliver the best support possible and to assist you in anyway we can...to help you better utilize BigContacts. We know that with the right information on the tools that BigContacts offers…we can help you to better organize your business, work smarter and do more.

We encourage all our customers to save this link as a favorite on your mobile phone and in one click you can access all of our knowledge base articles or even start a live chat with one of our Live Support Associates.

When you first click on the link to go to the BigContacts helpdesk you will see this main menu that will then allow you to drill down to the appropriate section of the support suite to find the answers you're looking for.

Home page of the BigContacts mobile helpdesk

In addition to all of the support articles, you can click on the link in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen labeled "go to full site". This will launch the live chat window that you see below. Monday through Friday 8 AM to 5 PM ET you can chat with one of our Live Support Associates directly from your mobile phone.

 

Live chat window for the BigContacts mobile helpdesk

 

I encourage you to give this a try and please let us know your thoughts on this new addition to our support services.

BigContacts Featured in case study for Email Marketing

In 2009, BigContacts partnered with VerticalResponse - an email marketing company.  Adding a full email marketing module has been a great addition to our web based CRM software.

VerticalResponse recently featured BigContacts in a case study on your website highlighting some of the key benefits of this partnership. I thought I would share this case study with you below.

___________________________________________________________
 

BigContacts Offers Full-featured Email Solution, Powered by VerticalResponse  
     

Background
 

BigContacts is a software company that was formed with a singular focus on developing affordable and easy-to-use Web-based customer relationship management (CRM) software for small businesses. Founder and CEO Bob Walton started BigContacts in 2006 after using several CRM systems and realizing that they were either too big or too small for most small businesses. He decided to create a CRM system that would cater mostly to smaller businesses that may be too big for their own customer management system, but not large enough for the major CRM solutions in the marketplace.

Problem
 

Before coming to VerticalResponse, BigContacts had three levels for sending emails, which it still currently offers as part of the BigContacts CRM platform. The first level is the ability to send one email at a time, which is ideal for personal, one- on-one interactions. The second level is a limited group email allowing up to 100 identical emails to be sent at a time. The third level is for automated, drip marketing-type email campaigns. The three levels together enables BigContacts users to form individual relationships, maintain a relationship with people as a group, and then market to their customers.

Although this approach worked, BigContacts soon saw a need to provide a more robust self-service email marketing tool to its customers, particularly for larger email marketing campaigns.

Discovery
 

BigContacts wanted to partner with a company that 1) could integrate an email marketing functionality into its existing CRM platform, and 2) be able to report on email opens, clicks, bounces and unsubscribes while maintaining its own CRM software.

After learning about the VerticalResponse Email Partner program, BigContacts saw that it could integrate a small portion of the VerticalResponse API functionality with its own tools, and provide a “pay as you go” method that would be more cost- efficient for its small business users. It was a win-win.

 

Solution
 

The integration of VerticalResponse into its system solved BigContacts’ dilemma. It helped the company to be more competitive with other CRM providers, and filled a gap that makes it a more viable solution in the marketplace.

Results
 

As a result of the integration, BigContacts is now able to offer a full-featured email solution, powered by VerticalResponse, to every customer as a paid service. Since the partnership, BigContacts customers using VerticalResponse have been growing 10 percent year over year, clearly demonstrating the effect that email marketing can have on helping small business succeed.

___________________________________________________________ 

CLICK HERE to learn more about all the email marketing services BigContacts has to offer, OR start a LIVE CHAT. We are here to answer your questions!

BigContacts CRM Tip: Create a shortcut to BigContacts on your desktop

We are always looking for ways to save time, so I thought I would share with you a simple way to save a little time in your day.

Every morning when you login to BigContacts to start your day, there are one of two ways that you may currently get to your BigContacts login screen.

1. You might... 
    
• go to the BigContacts website
• click on the "account login" link in the upper right hand corner of the screen
• click on the "BigContacts" login button
• and THEN begin entering your login information 
   
2. For those of you that like to save some time, you might... 
    
• have bookmarked your BigContacts login screen  
• for this, you open your browser, click on your bookmarks link
• select the BigContacts bookmark
• and then login.  This is certainly better as you have already saved a few steps from #1 above.

Well, there is an even better/ faster way to access your BigContacts account every morning.  You can create a shortcut that will appear directly on your desktop.  With this shortcut you can get to your login with a single click.
 
Not only is this more convenient but it will save you alot of time.  Lets say this saves you about 1 minute each day.  If you are like most and work about 260 days a year...you just gained 260 minutes (thats over 4 hours) of your life back each year.  Its little things like this that always amaze me in how they add up over time.

Creating a BigContacts shortcut on your desktop 

Below are the steps that you have to take (only one time) to create a BigContacts shortcut for your desktop. 

1. Copy the BigContacts login page URL:  https://webapp.bigcontacts.com/login.html
   
   
2. Go to your desktop and "right click" with your mouse 
    
3. In the menu that opens select "New" and then "shortcut" 
    
4. You will be asked what item you want to create the shortcut for. It is here where you will paste the URL for the login page. 
    
5. You will then be asked to name your new shortcut, so enter "BigContacts Login" or something like this 
    
6. Click "Finish" and thats it!  You now have a direct shortcut to your login page.
   
   
    

BigContacts partners with SaaSMax - a new SaaS marketplace

At BigContacts, we are expanding our distribution channels and have recently partnered with SaaSMAX.  SaaSMax was founded in 2011 and is an on-line platform that will help us to facilitate the reselling and purchasing of BigContacts through various types of Value-Added Resellers, Solution Providers, Trusted Advisors and other resellers.  They recently showcased their Channel Marketplace and Channel Management Platform at CompTIA Breakaway 2012 that was held at the ARIA Hotel in Las Vegas on July 30 through August 2nd.   BigContacts was one of their featured vendors at that show.
 

The SaaSMax Platform is currently in Beta, but they have already begun to assemble a high-quality portfolio of exciting, innovative business SaaS and Cloud App Vendors. Dina Moskowitz, Founder and CEO, SaaSMAX puts it this way… “SaaSMAX has been and continues to review, test and select best of breed SaaS and Cloud Applications for small businesses and medium-sized enterprises.” 

 

We are excited to be a part of this new and growing platform and wanted to let you know what we are up to.  Most of you already know who we are, but for those of you that don’t…BigContacts, is an affordable, simple-to-use web-based Customer Relationship Management app (“CRM”) that is designed for small businesses that have outgrown basic solutions like Outlook, Goldmine or ACT but don't want the cost and complexity of CRM solutions like Salesforce.

 

A Recurring Revenue Opportunity

If you are a Value-Added Reseller, Solution Provider, Trusted Advisor and other type of reseller, I encourage you to take a look at the SaaSMAX platform.  There are a growing number of companies that you can resell and the opportunities can be very attractive. 
 

For example, you can resell BigContacts through the SaaSMax platform and earn monthly recurring revenue equal to 25% of the monthly subscription for each customer that you setup. This recurring revenue stream will continue as long as the customer remains a paid subscriber of BigContacts.
 

In addition, Solution Providers can earn additional revenue and billable hours by helping their customers with setup, implementation, data import, product customization and more.
 

I encourage you to take a look at this new platform and stay tuned for more announcements as we continue to expand the distribution of BigContacts!

Web Based CRM Tip: Multiple browser tabs help you to work faster

Have you ever wanted to view the details of more than one contact record at a time? Or maybe you are viewing a list of contacts in a report and want to be able to work your way through this list without losing your place in the report.

BigContacts allows you to work in multiple tasks at one time. Using multiple tabs can save you a lot of time and help you work more efficiently.  It is very easy to do this. Below are the steps that you can take to open and use more than one tab at a time.  

1. Hover your mouse over a tab at the top of the screen 
    
2. Right-click on any of the tabs in your account: "Contacts", "Reports", "Marketing", "Support", or "Admin"
    
3. You will then select the "Open link in a new Tab" link in the popup that opens
    
4. This will open the new tab and allow you to easily toggle between each tab for faster more productive work 

NOTE: If you prefer instead to have a completely new window open you can choose this option labeled "Open link in a new Window".    

Give this a try and see if this helps you to increase the speed and efficiency in which you can work through your contacts a daily basis.

Web Based CRM now with free unlimited live support!

Dependable Support is really what makes us BigContacts. It's our drive to do more than our industry peers. It's our goal to make a difference every day for you and every customer.  In addition to all the free support services that we have offered for years…

BigContacts now offers live best practices webinars every week.

The webinars are free to all our customers. You can attend one or all of them as many times as you like.

During these short 30 minute webinars we will focus on key aspects of the system and share with you the best practices and tips for maximizing the value of BigContacts in your business.  All webinars are presented live and are opened up for questions & answers at the end of each session.  We want you to know that we are here to ensure your success with BigContacts and to help make a positive impact on your business.  

Click the "Learn More" button below to see a complete listing of topics...along with webinar dates and times.



Not a customer yet, but want to learn more about BigContacts?

We offer live webinars three times each week to introduce you to BigContacts and share with you 4 tools that we think will ensure your success with our web based CRM platform.  CLICK HERE for dates and times and register for a live CRM webinar today!

Dependable Support delivered the way you want it...

The diagram below highlights all the levels and types of support available to you as a customer of BigContacts.  

 

The BigContacts challenge...
 

Over the years we have had the privilege of working with tens of thousands of small businesses around the globe. This amount of experience has made us very confident that there is not a business problem that we cannot help in some way to solve.

If you face a challenge in your business that you have not found a way to solve with BigContacts, please reach out to us in one of the many support channels that we offer and put us to the test. We would like to have the opportunity to assist you in solving this challenge.

CRM Best Practices: Creating a shortcut on your iPad

Over the years we have found that there are certain questions that we get asked over and over again.  One of the things we have done to address some of these common and very important questions is to develop a complete support library of articles and videos to answer some of these important and frequently asked questions.

 For those of you that have not had a chance to visit this library, you can find it in one of two ways.

1. While logged in to in your BigContacts account you can click on the "support" tab and in here you can browse the various categories within the support library or search by keyword to find what you're looking for. 
    
2. If you are not logged into your BigContacts account or do not yet have a BigContacts account you can CLICK HERE to visit our support library directly.

In addition to this library, I decided to start a Web based CRM "best practices" series of blog posts. The goal of this series is to periodically post key tips and techniques that you can use as a best practice with our CRM system. It is my hope that through this series we can help you maximize the benefit of the BigContacts platform within your business.

Web-based CRM software is a very important and powerful software that should be implemented within any business.  We realize that, like any tool, we need to help our customers learn how to best use this very important tool.  

I hope that you will find these posts very useful and want to encourage you to comment and provide any feedback and ideas on what you would like to see discussed. Together with your input and our insights… I am confident that we can help you to maximize the value of BigContacts platform and make a real difference in your business.

Today's CRM tip/technique

To kick this series off I thought I would start with a simple yet very useful tip for those that use an iPad. As you may know, BigContacts has an iPhone app that gives you access to some of the core functionality of our system. This app is free and can be found in the app store.

Often times we are asked if we have an iPad app as well. We chose not to develop an iPad app because our full BigContacts application works great and displays very nicely on the iPad. Being able to access the full application on your iPad gives you all of the functionality of BigContacts and does not limit you in any way like a traditional app would.  The only real downside is that you have to go through a few steps to get to the site and get logged in to your account. It is not as quick and easy as clicking an icon on your iPad screen that will instantly open your app for you… or is it?

Great news! You can in fact create your own "app like" button on the home screen of your iPad.  There are a few simple one-time steps that you can take to create a button that will take you directly to your BigContacts login page. Below I will show you the steps along with screenshots to help you set up a quick and easy link to your BigContacts application right from your iPad home screen.  

Step 1
You will want to open your Safari browser and go to the BigContacts website at www.BigContacts.com.  Once the BigContacts website opens you will want to click on the "account login" link in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

Step 2
After you click on this "account login" link you will be brought to the main BigContacts login page. Here you will want to click on the button that corresponds to your system. For example, if you are on the main BigContacts system you will click on the blue button to the left. 

Step 3
Here you'll see the familiar login screen for your BigContacts account. This is the screen that we are going to turn into a direct link under a button on your home screen.

 

Step 4
Now that you are on the login screen you're ready for your final step. Below are two screenshots that will show you where and how to add this as a button to your home screen. 

Now that you have created your bookmark icon, you will see your button for direct access to your login page for your BigContacts account. You now have one step access your login page and you are ready to go!




I hope that did you find this tip to be very helpful and a big timesaver.  

I encourage you to post comments here and ideas for the best practices that you would like to dive into and learn more about. Look for more great tips and ideas to come.

How web based CRM can put your business in the top 10%

At the beginning of the customer lifecycle, there are various methods you may be using to find qualified prospects. Identifying them is an essential first step, whether you purchase a list of prospects, get their names at a trade show, use social media to attract leads (blogs, twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), or capture them directly from your website using a Web form.

The buzzword for this today is “lead generation.” Times have changed, and it has become much less productive to take the same approaches for lead generation that have worked in the past.

The numbers show that response rates aren’t what they used to be, whether you use an unfocused direct mail campaign, generic email blasts, or a good old-fashioned telemarketing campaign. It is easy to spend a lot of time and money on things that worked in the past but don’t work today. 

A full discussion on lead generation is beyond the scope of this article, but it is important to consider a few of the basics as we look at the customer lifecycle. 

Before you jump into a full-fledged lead generation program, it helps to create a plan. Here are some essential questions to help you define the best approach for your business: 

• What is the profile of your ideal customer?
   
• How would you identify your target market(s)?
   
• What are the needs of this target market?
   
• What is the content of your marketing message?
   
• What media do you plan to use in your marketing plan?
   
• What activity and revenue goals will you use to measure success?
   
• What system will you use to track the leads that you generate?
   
• What lead nurturing plan do you have to handle leads not ready to buy today?

 

A successful lead generation program is an essential element of any company and will ensure your long-term success.
 
“Don’t spend so much time trying to choose the perfect opportunity,” Michael Dell said, “that you miss the right opportunity.” 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 this phase, the more prospects you can effectively move through your sales process so they become customers. 

You must be both efficient and persistent in the sales process. 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 four 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 four 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.

CRM Software can help you touch your Customer base regularly

This blog post is another in a series on how to “KEEP more of your Customers”…      



The best way to prove your commitment to delivering a high level of service is through your actions. When a customer has an issue or needs technical assistance, make it your priority to resolve it immediately. Every time an issue is resolved in a timely manner, you will build the confidence your customers have in your company to deliver what they need. Prompt follow-up is a great opportunity to show your commitment to the customer, and turn a potentially bad situation into a real positive one.  

Let’s say you have made all the right changes and have now turned your customer service/support center into an asset for your company. You’re now in a position to turn this into an area that can actually generate more revenue for your company.  With the right approach and the right information at their fingertips (by using a good CRM system), your customer service and support team now has the opportunity to cross sell or up-sell the existing customers that they support. If done right, this part of your business can transform from a pure overhead item to a profit center.





An essential part of any client retention program involves direct feedback from your customers. There are a variety of ways to gather feedback from your customers, but one of the most efficient and effective tools we have used is a customer survey. It wasn’t too long ago that the common practice was to send a survey in the mail. You sent it out and then waited for your customers to mail it back to you.  

Today, there are a number of great, easy-to-use survey tools that allow you to simply email the survey, collect the data electronically and gain a good picture of where things are. All without licking a stamp or running off to the post office with a box full of envelopes.  

This function should be a built-in tool in the suite of tools that you use to manage the customers’ lifecycle. A well-written survey can provide invaluable insights into what your customers like and dislike about your product or service. This information can help shape anything from the direction you take in your product development to the way you deliver customer service.  

Listening closely to this feedback and acting upon it will go a long ways to increasing your customer retention over the long run. If your customers share their complaints with you in this process, that’s a very good thing.  


What can you gather from a survey?

Customer satisfaction: Find out what your customers think about your product or service.

Company insight: Identify any improvements that you could make to increase satisfaction for both your customers AND employees – as your employees ultimately influence customer satisfaction.
 
Evaluate the competition: Find out what other companies your customers may like and what they like about them.    

According to 1st Financial Training Services, 96 percent of customers don’t complain, they just leave. Of those that leave, 91 percent will never come back.



Finally, surveys are also effective with former customers. If you can find patterns for why they left in the first place, you can work to improve the experience for current customers. No matter how well your product or service ranks in your specific marketplace, you can grow your business by mastering the customer lifecycle.  

If you put the right processes and technology in place you can outmaneuver, outsmart and outshine your competition – all without improving one thing about your product.  Getting this critically important aspect of your business right will ensure that you have a healthy business for many years to come.

BigContacts now offers personalized CRM Coaching

One of the requests we frequently hear from customers is that they 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.

Well, we have listened and just rolled out our one-on-one CRM consulting services. In addition to all of the FREE "Getting Started" resources that we offer... we now offer our “QuickStart Program”. Whether you are just getting started with BigContacts or have been using the system for a while and want to improve the way you are doing things…we can now help… in a personalized “One-on-One” setting.

System Setup & Customization

We will work directly with you to get your account setup the way you want it...get your contacts imported...and the system ready to use!  Whether you are just getting started with BigContacts or have been with us for a while and would like help in re-organizing a bit…we are here to help.

 

Contact Import......................................................................................................................................  $95

Just send us a properly formatted Excel spreadsheet with your core contact information and we will
import this data for you… Including any custom contact fields that you have included in your spreadsheet!

Contact Import & System Customization.........................................................................................  $285

In addition to the contact import, we will schedule a 30 minute one-on-one phone call to review your business processes. (we will send a comprehensive worksheet for your completion prior to the call)  during this call we will identify:

• additional custom fields are needed in your contact record
• tasks you will want to add to your system
• sales stages that you will want to customize your sales pipeline

We will then take all of this information and load this information into your system so that it is customize and ready to meet your specific needs.

Best Practices Coaching

We offer best practices coaching that is tailored to meet the specific needs of your business.  Whether you are new to the system or adding some new team members that need to be trained... we are here to help you get more out of BigContacts.

One of our Advisers will work directly with you to customize a specific plan to cover any aspect of the system and in any level of detail that you need.  All coaching sessions are delivered live to you and your team via phone call and webinar format.  See it live while we review the best practices for your account!

Each 30 Minute Coaching Session..................................................................................................  $75


To learn more about this service feel free to give us a call at 1.888.286.6578 Ext. 701...or CLICK HERE and complete the form to request a phone call to discuss how we can customize a program for your company.