Customer Relationship Management Software

By Syed Ali

A small business competitive advantage has always been the ability to react and respond far faster to business conditions than a larger organization. Some consumers actually prefer to deal with a small business because they have a perception of a more personalized “better” service than from a larger company.

They are in some cases, prepared to pay a premium for that service. One reason for this is that in a smaller business, the decision makers are closer to the customers and have a more direct link to the trading pulse.

For short term decision making, this “intuitive” feel for what is actually happening gave managers and owners the ability to make decisions such as dropping a stock item, identifying a buying trend long before their counterparts in big business or simply physically being there to give a customer a refund if they have an issue. Many providers of customer relationship software, such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM, have recognized that there is a market for this solution across the spectrum of businesses.

As technology has taken hold and information is flying around faster and faster, larger businesses have been able to respond to market conditions much more rapidly and this small business “competitive advantage” has been eroded over time. Using technology, big business has been able to develop and deploy Customer Relationship Software solutions at a huge cost, way beyond the means of small to medium sized companies.

Traditional reporting methods always had a major fault – they were out of date by the time they got into the hands of whoever needed the information. They look back at what has happened but they do not give you “what is happening now” information.

Customers increasingly expect that their suppliers will know who they are and what their needs are, while those staff in customer facing roles will want to know what a customer is talking about when they call to say “We didn’t get our delivery yesterday as promised!” At this moment it is not only the customer that is demanding a better service, it is the poor customer representative wishing they could deal with the customers issue and have the information to make a good decision.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM takes the view that a good decision in this context means one that the customer likes and brings them back again!

If a customer service representative who has never had contact with the customer before can say something like “We dispatched it to you as promised with FedEx but we’ll chase them up and call you back right away.” Does that not go a long way to mollifying an otherwise irate customer? What does that do for your business relationship with that customer?

Consider which business you as a customer would be happier with; a company that resolves your issues with a “We’ll get back to you when we know what’s happened” after you call to find out why your delivery didn’t turn up or one that contacts you beforehand to say “We did send this out to you yesterday but we are calling you to say it will be late because our delivery truck was struck in traffic, it is on the way though and we’re sorry for the inconvenience.”

This is what a Microsoft Dynamics software solution can deliver – the ability to be forward thinking, to be proactive and not reactive to customer situations so your customers see and feel they are getting a good, if not exceptional service.

A customer perception of a business is largely based on how well they believe they are taken care of after they purchase your product or service. With a Microsoft CRM software solution there is an opportunity to enhance your business image and reputation in the minds of prospects and consumers by ensuring that everyone in your business is in a position to deal with customer issues promptly, effectively and knowledgeably whether they are initial enquiry, pre-sale, delivery, or post-sale issues.

As the market for Customer Relationship Software solutions has developed, scaled down versions of enterprise class CRM solutions have been developed specifically to meet small and mid-range business’ needs and their check books. Implementing a Microsoft CRM solution in a small or medium sized business empowers them to recover the competitive advantage differential they have by natural reference to their size and proximity to their customer base. Out goes the rolodex and in comes the networked PC, and now a customer can be tracked from being a prospect, through to becoming a qualified sales opportunity to order and from there on as a valued business customer. At the same time everyone within that business can access the information when they need it (usually when the customer is on the phone), whatever they are doing, sales, dispatch, customer service or management, and wherever they are, at Head Office or on the road with a cell phone and laptop.

About the Author: Syed Ali, is the lead CRM consultant for a Toronto based company. His company offers, http://www.crmsoftwareprovider.com, Microsoft CRM Syed can be reached at Tel : (905) 815- 1995 ext 22, email :asyed@cqsolutions.com

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Why Do Almost All Projects Run Late?

By Samuel Okoro

Activities classed under the term project are so diverse that it is sometimes difficult to appreciate commonalities among them. For example, social activities like the organisation of parties, picnics or weddings are projects. Construction work like building a bridge, developing a housing estate, power plant construction, expansion of a fibre optic network also constitute projects. So do producing a movie, developing software, launching a marketing campaign for a new product, implementing an ERP system or the relocation of a family from one city to another.

For each of the examples mentioned above, the following hold true:

The objective is a unique, non-routine outcome.

The effort required to achieve the outcomes desired is temporary. That is to say projects have a start and finish date. This is in contrast to operations which are ongoing. The non-routine nature of projects accentuates the impact of uncertainty. In spite of the many unknowns, executors of the project must make three commitments at the outset. These are commitments as to content or scope, commitments as to delivery date and commitments as to cost.

In spite of these commitments, the existence of a rich and detailed body of knowledge on how to manage projects, and the availability of purpose-built project management software tools, almost no projects are delivered on time. Unless there are major trade-offs in content and/or cost. Why is this the case?

Enter the human factor.

Project Time Estimates

The uncertainties involved in projects mean that time estimates used for planning are just that, estimates. What does estimate mean? It means that the time given for each project task is an average number. But wait a minute. Using truly "average" figures for time estimates would mean that chances are fifty-fifty that the task will be completed early or late. No one will give an estimate that has a fifty percent chance of failing.

So what actually happens is that the estimates are padded to account for uncertainty. The level of padding depends on how badly the estimator has been burned in the past when he/she provided inadequate "cover".

In addition for padding provided by each task performer, there is also an overall padding by their boss. For example if three resource persons working on various tasks in a project estimate 5 days, 7 days, and 3 days as their respective task completion times, will their manager report an estimated completion time of 15 days to his own boss? Highly unlikely. He most probably will offer 20 days and only very reluctantly allow it to be negotiated down to 18 days minimum.

If as described above, project times are already padded from the start (through padding of each task and further padding at each level) how come most projects still end up finishing late? There are two psychological mechanisms at work that thwart individual attempts to protect the project against uncertainty and cause all the safety provided to be wasted.

Student's Syndrome

At the conclusion of a lecture, a professor informs students that they will be taking a test on the material taught in one week from today. What is the typical reaction of students? They will protest that they are not ready, that the time is too short... If the professor relents and gives an extra two weeks for preparation, do students immediately begin to study for the test? They do not, if they are typical students - until the night before exam.

In projects, having padded the time estimates, resource persons will typically delay (probably busy working on things unrelated to the project) to the latest possible moment before commencing work on the project task. And while they're working Murphy strikes. Since the extra time was already consumed by Student's Syndrome, the task is finished late. The next dependent task is forced to start late.

Parkinson's Law

Parkinson's law states that work expands to fill the time available for it. What is the implication for completion times of project tasks? Assume that a particular task estimated to take 7 days actually is completed in four days, does the performer deliver it to the next resource person? Not likely.

Because the time estimates given are negotiated numbers, reporting an early finish of a task means that future estimate given by the project worker will be trimmed by the manager. To avoid this possibility, rather than report early task completion, the worker is likely to spend the extra time performing checks and adding nice to have "bells and whistles" not strictly required by the specifications.

Result? Extra time gained is wasted.

Integration Requirements

In most projects, the final stage is an integration of the outputs of several previous paths. Assume in a particular project that the final stage is the integration of the results five paths. Assume again that the time estimates for each of these five paths is such that there is an 80% chance of on time completion, what is the change that integration will commence on time?

For the integration to commence on time, all the five paths must be complete. The chance that one path is completed on time is 80%. The chance that two paths are finished on time is 80% X 80% which is 64%. The chance that four paths are finished in time for integration is 64% X 64% or about 40%. The probability of all five paths being finished in time for integration to commence is about 33%! More likely than not, integration will commence late. Considering that in real life, projects are far more complex and integration will typically involve far more than five paths, it is no wonder many projects fall victim.

Multi-Project Environments

A further killer of time in multi-project environments (software development companies, construction companies, engineering departments) where more than one project is going on simultaneously and resources have to be shared between the projects, is multitasking.

The resulting lack of focus, combined with constant "set up" requirements leads to late delivery of all the projects being worked on.

Conclusion

We have shown that original project time estimates are padded to protect against uncertainty. However, a combination of Student's Syndrome and Parkinson's Law lead to a frittering away of the enormous safeties embedded in the estimates.

In addition the need for integration in most projects, and the incidence of "bad" multitasking in multi project environments lead to added delays, virtually guarantee that projects are delivered late.

About the Author: Samuel Okoro is the CEO of Leapfrog Alliance Ltd, a management training and consulting firm that helps organisations to reduce costs and improve quality through better business processes. His personal passion is to help move Third World business to world-class levels. For further details please visit http://leapfrogalliance.com

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What Is Performance Management?

By Trevor Marshall

Nowadays, a great significance is being given to Performance Management, as companies incorporate them in their effective management strategies. However, a lot of people find this process a complicated one, mostly because of the many options that it offers – on the organization, a specific department/branch, a product or service, and on employees, among others.

In order to minimize this confusion, the items below will give you a general idea of what Performance Management is all about as well as the activities that are involved in this process.

What is Performance Management?

Performance management is a process that provides both the manager and the employee (the person being supervised) the chance to determine the shared goals that relates to the overall goals of the company by looking into employee performance.

Why is it important?

Performance Management establishes an outline for employees and their performance managers to assess and to come to an agreement on certain concerns and aims that are in accordance with the overall structure of the company. This enables both parties to have clear objectives that would help them in their work and in their professional growth.

Who conducts Performance Management?

Performance Management is carried out by those who oversee the performance of other people – work/team leaders, supervisors, managers, directors, or department chairs.

What are the processes involved?

Below are the phases of the Performance Management process:

1. Planning

This phase of Performance Management process includes establishing job descriptions and identifying the employee’s essential functions as well as defining the strategic plan/s of the department or the company as a whole.

Job Description

A job description is used to advertise a vacant position, which typically specifies the following:

- The specific functions, tasks, and responsibilities of the position - The amount of time needed to act upon each function - The qualifications needed (skills, knowledge and abilities) to perform the job - The physical and mental requirements of the position - Salary range for the position - To whom the position reports

Job descriptions should be disclosed to the employee as soon as he or she is hired. Note, however, that job descriptions are listed using words that make it difficult to measure the employee’s performance. They are in contrast with competencies, which list the skills needed in performing such tasks and are described using terms that can be measured.

Strategic Plan

In effect, a strategic plan tells you three things:

- Where the company is heading in the coming year/s. - How the company is going to get there. - How the company will know if it is already there or not.

Included in a strategic plan are the following:

Mission statement – the primary reason why your department (or company) exists.

Goals – associated with the mission statement, they determine the results that will advance said statement/s.

Strategic initiatives – specifies definite steps that must be taken to accomplish each goal. It is a dynamic process, usually examined during periods such as one or two years.

2. Developing

This phase of Performance Management process includes developing performance standards, which offers a scale that describes how a specific job should be performed in order to meet (or exceed) expectations. They are explained to newly hired employees and are later used to evaluate work performance.

Performance standards are generally outlined with the help of the employees who actually perform the tasks or functions. There are a number of advantages with this approach:

- The standards will be suitable to the requirements of the job

- The standards will be applicable to actual work conditions - The standards will be easily understood by the employee (and performance manager as well) - The standards will be acknowledged (and received) by the employee and the performance manager

Standards of performance are usually in the form of ratings (1 to 5, A to E) that are used by performance managers to rate the employee’s actual level of performance.

3. Monitoring

This phase of the Performance Management process includes monitoring employee’s work performances and giving feedback about them.

As the basis of feedback, observations should be verifiable: they should involve noticeable and work-related facts, events, behaviors, actions, statements, and results. Feedback of this type is called behavioral feedback, and they help employees improve and/or sustain good performance by precisely identifying the areas that the employee needs to improve without judging his or her character or motives.

4. Rating

This phase includes conducting performance evaluations. This is the critical aspect of the Performance Management process, especially because it is important for performance managers to arrive at an unbiased assessment.

A performance appraisal form has the following features:

- Employee information - Performance standards - Rating scale - Signatures - Employee performance development recommendations - Employee comments - Employee’s Self-appraisal

Why conduct performance appraisals? It provides an opportunity to improve performance in the future not only for employees, but for managers as well. Performance appraisals enable managers to acquire information from employees that will help them make employee's jobs more productive.

5. Development Planning

This phase of the Performance Management process includes establishing plans for improved employee performance and development goals. This advances the overall goal of the company and at the same time increases the quality of work by employees by:

- Encouraging constant learning and professional growth. - Helping employees maintain the level of performance that meets (and exceeds) expectations. - Improving job - or career-related skills and experience.

In closing, Performance Management is a process that, when executed fairly and effectively, can improve the quality of the company’s workforce, raise standards, increase job satisfaction, and develop professionalism and expertise that would benefit not only the employees but the entire organization as well.

About the Author: For more great performance management info and advice check out: http://www.performance-mngt.com

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Different Types Of Business Management

By Naz Daud

Business management combines an interesting mix of theory and practice, and it is a particularly good topic for management and entrepreneurial types to study. Finding a business management style that suits your personality and the nature of your business is both important and worthy of time investment, as being self-aware and being able to identify strengths and weaknesses of various approaches will enable more effective personal development and ultimately more effective management.

While many have their own individual business management styles, these are traditionally broadly categorized into three main classes of business management approaches.

Autocratic Management

Firstly, there is what has come to be known as the autocratic approach to management, which installs more trust in the leadership as opposed to the individual staff. This involves pulling rank and leaves employees in no doubt as to whom the management is or what decisions are being made. Rather than engaging employees within the decision making process, this business management style typically concerns businesses that require direct, effective leadership to produce results, often under pressure of working in a tough environment. Upon hearing the term autocratic, many tend to visualise a dictatorial approach to management. While that is perhaps the case, it is seldom as strict as this and it is often a necessary management style, for example in the armed forces or in a high-paced trading environment, where there is no margin for deliberation and group consideration.

Democratic Management

Alternatively, there is a business management style known as the democratic style, where employees are effectively engaged in consultation before decisions are made. While some consider this to be more motivating and more enjoyable to work under, it does nevertheless have its own disadvantages. Giving employees a say may undermine the authority of the management, and may ultimately cause inefficiencies in the decision making process. It is also time intensive, and perhaps not as effective in larger organisations with thousands of employees. While of course at a board room level this kind of decision making goes on everyday, it’s one that works most effectively in slower paced business where decisions can be fully deliberated and considered.

Laissez Fair Management

An alternative to those two business management styles and the third main category is what’s known as the laissez fair management style. This is by definition a more hands-off approach to management, which puts the trust of running the business within the hands of employees themselves, and allows a greater degree of autonomy than would otherwise be the case. While this is strong in creative industries, some business people find that this style of management can lead to a fragmented approach to doing business and is less organised and perhaps less professional.

Whichever business management style you liken yourself to; there are advantages and disadvantages of that approach. What’s important is not that you recognise which of these categories you fall under, but rather that you’re aware of the improvements that can be made to make your management more effective and efficient while also improving the relationships you share with employees at all levels of the organisation.

About the Author: Naz Daud - CityLocal Business & Franchise Opportunities http://www.citylocal.co.uk/ http://www.citylocal.co.uk/frontend/franchiseinfo.php?cityid=79 http://www.citylocal.ie/ http://www.citylocal.co.uk/cities/Dundee/news/article/921/ http://www.citylocal.co.uk/cities/Dundee/news/article/922/

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Surveys Are A Very Effective Management Tool

By Martin Day

If your perception of conducting surveys is that they can be a useful exercise but are too time consuming to prepare, cumbersome to deploy and require considerable resources to process the numerous responses into a meaningful report it is perhaps time to think again.

Online surveys turn what was once a time consuming, resource hungry, cumbersome process into a low cost, quick, easy exercise that delivers real-time reporting.

Ease of Design

Out with the word-processor, now there is a quick and easy way for almost anyone to create surveys using a simple menu system that allows surveys to be created in minutes and with the ability to add additional questions and modify and move existing questions around.

Ease Of Delivery

Once a survey has been created it is deployed through the internet or organisations intranet making it instantly available to anyone with access to the internet.

Ease of Promotion

There are a number of easy ways to invite respondents to participate in a survey such as sending an email that contains a link to the survey or linking to the survey from a suitable website.

Ease of Participation

Online surveys don't just make it easy for the publisher as most respondents find that, when compared against the traditional pen and paper survey, completing a survey online is quicker and easier and from the publishers point of view a lot less prone to mistakes such as respondents missing out questions or multiple responses being entered against single response questions.

Ease of Survey Management

With an online survey the publisher can see in real-time the response rate and summary results.

Ease of Analysis

At the end of the survey the response data is ready for detailed analysis, the information can be loaded into a spreadsheet or third-party analysis program where the respondent data can be sliced and diced.

Appreciating the Ease

Once the ease of the total life cycle of conducting a survey online has been appreciated by business managers they will begin to recognise the multitude of new opportunities that exist.

The costly annual employee satisfaction survey can now be done quicker and cheaper allowing the exercise to be conducted bi-annual or quarterly ensuring any employee problems are identified and dealt with early. There is also now an opportunity to conduct smaller and more targeted ad-hoc surveys on a departmental level or a niche area of the business improving employer/employee communications.

A survey can be used to help deliver a management message and measure the employee support and concerns of introducing new initiatives, something a simple one way memo style directive cannot do.

Survey's can be used as a marketing tool as the survey explains the benefit of a product or service and gathers the response from potential customers.

ROI today

Technology too often delivers better ways to perform certain tasks but with a Return on Investment that often requires 'investment' first and the 'return' later. Many of the available online survey services such as www.surveygalaxy.com have not only turned a cumbersome task into a cinch, but reduced the cost down to a pinch, giving you a return on investment from day one and opening up a world of possibilities and further savings.

With the opportunities that online surveys bring it is a tool the smart manager will always have to hand in their personal tool box.

About the Author: Martin Day is a Director of Survey Galaxy Ltd a web site that allows anyone to create, design and publish online surveys. For more information please visit http://www.surveygalaxy.com

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What Is The Productivity Management System�?

By Heidi Richards

“Success is about deciding what’s important versus what’s irrelevant in your life; it’s about self-motivation, self-discovery, self-confidence and enjoying the rewards of achieving your goals.” Heidi Richards

This is part three in the PMS - Productivity Management System™. This is your to-do list of processes and steps you must take in order to fully realize your goals. Once you have crystallized exactly what it is you wish to accomplish, it is important to know which steps you must take and in what order so you will set yourself up for success.

Action begins with proper planning. Writing down the tasks you must take to achieve your goals (step-by-step) will help you to be a success in the areas of your life you focus on.

Set reminders and deadlines. Schedule deadlines and reminders in the same way you schedule appointments and celebrations. Use a calendar, daytime planner or a contact manager software program to help you schedule the tasks and deadlines for each.

By now you should have filled out thePMS/GPS - Productivity Management System™ for Goal Planning and Setting chart to help you to put your total plan together. If not, you can download it at http://www.speakingwithspirit.com/freearticles.asp.

Think in logical order - each major step should support the next step in succession

Be specific - write out the objectives in as much detail as it takes to fully understand what needs to be done

Set a deadline for each major objective you must complete

Break down each major task into smaller tasks with shorter deadlines.

Review your goal plan regularly. Perhaps the most important step in the goal management process is reviewing your goals. For most people, the most common reason for failing to achieve goals is omitting the review step. Reviewing your goals keeps them fresh in your mind, and keeps you motivated and focused on what is important. Review also allows you to make adjustments and change your goals when necessary. One of the best ways to review your goals is to look at your goals chart daily, see what steps you need to take and “do it!” Putting the goal in the forefront of your consciousness, makes you think about it often. It helps you to better manage your time.

Remain flexible. Plan for flexibility and change. Be ready to change course when and if necessary in order to accomplish your goals.

Be willing to sacrifice small things for the bigger, nobler accomplishments. Be patient. Incubation time is often necessary in order to attract the right events, resources and people who can help you to achieve your goals.

Reward yourself. When you accomplish a goal, celebrate! Reward yourself in ways that make you feel good about your accomplishments. When you do, your subconscious recognizes the positive reinforcement and tells you that if you did it once, you can do it again.

What do you expect out of life? By now, you should be able to answer that question by taking and use goal setting to power your life. Now you know the steps you need to achieve your goals. Using the PMS - Productivity Management System™, you can and will increase your opportunities for a more meaningful life. When you plan your goals, create and manage your plan of action and visualize your success, you will do whatever it takes to become a master goal achiever! Dream big, and believe that almost anything is within your reach. Because it is!

The article is based on the PMS – Productivity Management System™ a system that was developed to help you set and accomplish your life’s goals. When you join the Women’s ECommerce Association, International, you get the complete system including the PMS/AST™ Action Steps and Tasks Chart – based upon the steps referenced in this article. Go to www.wecai.org – Basic membership is FREE.

© 2005 - Heidi Richards

About the Author: Heidi Richards is the author of The PMS Principles, Powerful Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Business and 7 other books. She is also the Founder & CEO of the Women’s ECommerce Association, International www.WECAI.org (pronounced wee-k+) – an Internet organization that “Helps Women Do Business on the WEB.” Basic Membership is FREE. Ms. Richards can be reached at Heidi@speakingwithspirit.com.

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10 Ways To Be a Better Manager

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=M_James]M James

If you're a manager who is struggling to reach deadlines, have ever increasing targets that are harder to reach, and unproductive staff, then perhaps the problem isn't with everyone else, perhaps the problem is you.

Here's how you could be a better manager

1. By being better at communicating with your staff, you'll be able to make sure that they understand what you want from them, and they need from you. You'll also know when a phone call, email or visit in person is most suitable, and most effective.

2. You want your workers to be more productive. How are you going to achieve this? Do you need to shout at them, force them to work late, or take away privileges? Or will you do as much as you can to help them, and get your hands dirty too?

3. If you workers are more productive, are they also more efficient? Perhaps you can make them more productive by removing red tape and other things that might be slowing them down.

4. What about improving your time management? Could you make better use of your days? Do you need to travel to all those meetings? Do you need to read every email the moment it arrives in your inbox? How much of your workload could you realistically delegate?

5. How are your people skills? Do you take criticism well? What do you staff really think about you? How often to you talk with other departments, suppliers or customers in order to try and make things quicker and easier for all concerned?

6. How much value do you place on staff training? Should your staff know everything they need to know before they start? What about as and when the industry or technology changes? How can they best help you?

7. Are you open to advice and ideas from your staff? Have you tried implementing any schemes, and how can you make them effective? What about going back to the floor, and spending some time actually working with your staff, and seeing the obstacles that they come up against?

8. Are you good at spotting and dealing with staff issues? Are people late because they are lazy, or because they have problems at home? What about colleagues that just don't get on?

9. Are you making the most of technology? What about for communicating with people in different offices, or in different countries? How much of your production line can you automate, or manage with technology? What about laptops, or smartphones for your field based staff?

10. Why not invest in a management training course? It will teach you lots of skills, and even if you've been a manager for years, you're sure to learn something that will help you be a better manager.

Now you know how to be a better manager, what's stopping you from taking a Management Training Course today?

Find out more about the benefits of a Management Training Course, and see how Sales Training can help your workforce, at SalesTrainingIntl.com today.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?How-You-Can-Be-a-Better-Manager&id=3261110] How You Can Be a Better Manager