Staying Productive

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Making the Most out of the current situation

The Corona virus (COVID-19) caught the world by surprise and we all are now forced to cope with the present reality. Staying at home and avoiding social contact is what the experts say, is the best way to beating the pandemic. Companies have taken the cue and are doing everything they can to avoid a grinding halt. Many of them have shifted their operations to a work-from-home setup, because, from a business standpoint, there are still opportunities to pursue and services to render. With that being said, here are some ideas to staying productive amidst the spreading global health crisis.

Re-imagine the workflow

Because of the pandemic, we now face a new normal – and that is little to no social interaction. Because of this, working from home has become more of the norm than the exception, and for sales teams used to doing field work and meeting with clients, this can come as a shock. Thankfully, CRM systems are configurable to our current predicament. With a little tinkering, these systems can be automated to send out alerts to key persons when certain situations arise – a good example would be reminders for follow-ups. Another situation that these systems can help with is when an employee falls ill; work will be delegated to other team members until they can get back, so the workflow doesn’t skip a beat.

Spring cleaning

Another drawback from working at home is it generates downtime. Flip it to become an advantage by delegating clean-up runs. Let’s face it, not everyone will be busy during these times; identify key personnel and give them database clean up tasks. This way, when everything returns to normal, you will have a lean and clean CRM machine.

No place like home

Marketers know that during these times of social distancing, customers will be turning to the Internet more than ever. If it hasn’t been done it yet, now would be the perfect time to integrate the company CRM system with the website. Integration is fairly easy (any decent CRM system – SAP, Oracle, HubSpot CRM, or Microsoft Dynamics, will already have this feature built-in) and ensures that any customer data entered into the website gets saved into the database. This is then cascaded to the right people or be integrated into the workflow. Make sure valuable data does not fall between the cracks during the next weeks. This will be key in keeping businesses moving forward.

And while we’re at it, why not integrate CRM with your business calendars and email campaigns as well? Send out bulk emails to set customers in a consistent and timely fashion. Similar with website integration, it would also be a great to incorporate CRM solutions with business productivity tools. Before the pandemic, a transition like this would disrupt your team’s workflow, but since a good number of your team members would have free time on their hands anyway, getting them all on board with this initiative would be highly beneficial in the long-term.

What we can do now is very limited, but this should not deter us from being productive. Doing so ensures a quick bounce back, post crisis. With a little effort, we will all come out of this better and stronger than before.

Hey DAN Taking Action Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

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Mitigating a crisis requires instant and decisive action, yet unprecedented events, like the current COVID-19 situation, make it all the more challenging as you try and navigate your way through uncharted waters. Thankfully, Hey DAN saw the implications of what COVID-19 might mean for their operations and within a 24-hour period, was able to enact its Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and was fully operational;  ready to support all clients.

Helping you. Helping them.

Hunkering down and staying  home is the only way to fight the current pandemic and with this in mind, Hey DAN implemented a fully remote workforce with the approval of the customers they support. It has a trickle effect wherein the current setup keeps Hey DAN employees working, ensuring support and services to their clients are met. At the same time, client workload volume increased due to  their need to connect with their clients, knowing full well that  CRM and client data is more important than ever.

Our continued efforts keeps business moving and customer needs fulfilled thus averting an economic situation from overlapping the current health crisis.

Time to Shine

Hey DAN prides itself in its ability to collaborate with their clients and pivot to meet their ever changing needs. The value of this becomes more evident in times of crisis. Essential, yet taken-for-granted, CRM expertise is now more useful than ever.

Email communication, phone calls and virtual events are top on the priority list for our clients as these communication methods have become the preferred method to engage clients while face to face engagements are unable to occur.  Hey DAN ensured these vital client engagements were quickly memorialized in the CRM.

Getting the Job Done

With everything going on around us, Hey DAN is doing its part by utilizing technology in helping the community as well as making sure to support its employees in providing a full workforce to perform essential business processes to keep business going.

How Voice Technology affects the future of CRM

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In 1984, the first Macintosh was introduced, and one of the most applauded parts of that product unveiling was when Steve Jobs made the Mac literally “speak” for itself. Ever since, it has become the stuff of Internet legend. More than 30 years have passed and voice technology has advanced by leaps and bounds – doing much more that just say, “Hello. I’m a Macintosh”.

Voice technology is everywhere. People speak to their phones or computers more and more these days, asking directions for the nearest Mexican restaurant or dictating a to-do list to their virtual assistant. The fact is, voice interaction with smart devices has become more ubiquitous and there seems to be no slowing it down. This stems from our desire for convenience – where everything is within arms reach or in this case – a voice command away.

According to research firm Ovum, voice assistants like Siri and Cortana will outnumber the entire human population by 2021. Don’t worry; it’s not a SkyNet situation. It only means that people are getting more comfortable with the technology and are rapidly adopting it in their everyday lives. Businesses are also incorporating voice technology into their workflows, especially in the CRM space, where 83% of customers are willing to share information, given that businesses are transparent with how their data is being used and if it results in a better customer experience.

Advancement in voice technology and artificial intelligence, has greatly improved the user experience in the CRM software space. Where before, the task of populating a database was purely a manual chore, a faster and more accurate process that involves these core technologies has now replaced it. This produces a database with lesser errors for more accurate data analysis.

Enter Hey DAN, a Voice-to-CRM solution that incorporates a unique combination of voice and AI technologies that greatly increase the efficiency of CRM data entry. With this solution, the agent only needs to speak the information into their mobile device, after which, voice technology and AI take over. All relevant CRM fields are automatically filled up with accuracy. This means no more manual entry that take up valuable time, and best of all, it adapts to whatever CRM system your company currently uses.

From its humble beginnings at Bell Labs, to that legendary Apple unveiling, voice technology has definitely come a long way, but it’s not done yet. Future plans include incorporating emotions to AI voice replies and voice recognition that also picks up the nuances and tone of voice being used by the speaker. Someday, voice technology may be enabled to carry out complex conversations and take on roles such as coaching and counseling – a far cry from “Hello. I’m a Macintosh”.

Data Mining and Privacy

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We all have a Kramer* in our lives –  that nosy neighbor that asks the personal questions or conveniently drops in uninvited for the football game and leeches on the six-pack and pretzels. Most of us feel the same way about Kramer and data mining, in that we think that both are invasive to the point that they undermine our privacy. But unlike our uninvited house guest, data mining actually has ethics.

Getting Personal

The general notion about data mining is that, the consumer’s personal information is being unscrupulously collected and sold without their knowledge or consent. Some have even thrown out the idea that companies collect intimate data, like photos from customer’s social media accounts. This is very far from the truth. In reality, all your data is yours to keep.


The Boogeyman doesn’t need your vacation photos or cat videos. Customers are always given a choice of either accepting or opting out of data collection. This is usually in the form of a data privacy statement that you can either choose to accept or not. Always read this. Even though most companies are very clear on how they use your data, there are still those who lack ethical concern and may choose to use your information otherwise. These companies run the risk of backlash from consumers and the government just to gain a competitive edge from their rivals. Ethical companies on the other hand, only collect certain data points that would help them in product development and improve customer experience. So in the end, privacy still rests on the hand of the consumer. Read and understand these privacy agreements, and steer away from those that have vague policies regarding the privacy of your information.

Speak and you shall find

Voice technology coupled with data mining can reap massive benefits for businesses. It can capture more usable information more accurately, resulting in richer data sets that helps you better understand your customer’s needs. More defined customer behavior produces better targeted advertising, better products, reduces production cost and helps you build a more tailor-fit customer experience.

For Better or Worse

Privacy is a touchy subject and rightfully so. Big businesses must be more transparent regarding their data collection methods and usage. Governments must work in tandem with businesses in protecting the consumers right to privacy. On the flipside, consumers must be well-informed of the consequences of sharing their information with companies. In the end, good companies turn out a profit the right way, while shady ones will not care about your data as long as they gain even the slightest edge against their competitors. Would it be worth it to gain a small advantage but lose your credibility in the process?  Even Kramer can answer that question.

* Cosmo Kramer, usually referred to as simply “Kramer”, is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld, played by Michael Richards. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmo_Kramer)

Keys to Successful CRM adoption

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The Lowdown

CRM adoption is a daunting task. A study shows that 63% of all CRM projects fail – that’s almost 2 times out of every 3; which is a pretty big number. So off the bat, adopters have a lot going against them.

As with anything new, it takes a while to get used to something. Succeeding will require more than just having lady luck at your side, so we have compiled some interesting statistics that you could integrate in to your current plan or just get some tips to use as a spring board for your adoption strategy.

The Struggle is Real

Hubspot puts manual data entry as the No. 1 reason why companies struggle with CRM adoption. Let’s face it, data entry is not something sales people look forward to. Between interacting with customers and typing from of a keyboard, reps would choose to do fieldwork in a heartbeat. Reducing or eliminating this task altogether would almost certainly boost the success rate for CRM adoption everywhere.

 

Here are 5 common struggles that sales people encounter

1. Change

People are resistant to it; no one can escape it; and everybody will concur that it’s a good thing when deep inside they are terrified by it. Truth of the matter is; people are generally put-off by the idea of change. We get pretty disoriented outside our comfort zones. We tend to get so used to things the way they are not realizing that we’re missing out on a lot of good stuff.

Statistics show that 32% of sales people spend an hour a day typing away on their computers doing data entry tasks. Drive this point home. CRM systems can save them all that valuable time. Now isn’t that a change that they might be interested in?

2. Intimidation

Sometimes, we may be open to change but feel that it’s too much or too soon. CRM systems can be a frightening proposition for the uninitiated. These systems can be pretty intimidating for first time adopters whose organizational arsenal is a spreadsheet, some sticky-notes and the back of a napkin. Statistics show that 1 out of 5 reps don’t even know what a CRM is. Ween out those bad habits by demonstrating what the system can do for them.

Get them cozy with it by providing adequate training. Don’t overfeed them once and leave them to figure it out for themselves. Turn this into an ongoing process. Finally, don’t forget to make these sessions fun and interesting.

3. This system in not right for me

The usual complaint you hear from your sales people is that, the system is clunky, difficult, confusing or generally not worth the time to use. This can be a deal breaker because you WANT them to use it.

There are a ton of options out there, so be sure to configure a system that’s just right for your team. Make it easy to use. Don’t go crazy and put everything in it. It’s nice to have all the bells and whistles but not to the point that it becomes a distraction and hinders adoption to your system. Ask for their input on the features they’d want. This will save you valuable time and money.

If you feel apprehensive, why not test drive a free CRM solution? There are numerous options available and some of them are actually not half-bad. Hubspot trumpets its product as “The Free CRM with Something for Everyone”. It’s got features that are useful for a variety of roles; from managers, to sales reps and even business owners. And if the time comes that you feel the need for additional features, you can add modules and customize your system. It’s a great way to get your feet wet before you make that final leap.

4. Meant to be

Ask any sales rep if they enjoy data entry – and then get ready for an earful. 32% of agents exhaust up to an hour typing-in data. This pulls them away from what they were meant to be doing – sales. The bottom line is data entry depletes the valuable resource of time. It strips away around 5 hours a week on average which could be utilized for client meetings and follow-ups.

Try to look into data entry automation solutions. Take back those lost hours by eliminating manual data entry. This also creates a more agent-friendly system to use and your data will always be kept current.

5. Say What?

What you are about to read is a bit disturbing. According to Hubspot, 22% of salespeople have no idea what a CRM is. With over 90% of companies having implemented a system, that’s 1 in every 5 not utilizing the investment and driving down overall efficiency.

If you are planning to invest in a system or if you already are, it is important to spread the word to your team. Do not assume that they already know. Include an information drive and proper training in your deployment plan.

Maximize. Maximize. Maximize.

Did you know that only 45% of CRM adopters use their systems for its intended purpose? Hubspot states that less than half of the companies that have a system use it for managing and data storage. The other 40% still rely on emails and spreadsheets while the rest still use – gasp! – traditional methods like pen and paper.

With almost all business moving to adopt a CRM, it’s surprising to see that the majority don’t maximize its potential. You can address this issue by implementing ongoing training and monitoring agent usage.

Conclusion

There are many hindrances to a successful CRM adoption. Knowing the issues and planning around it will give you a better chance for effective implementation. A reliable Voice-to-CRM service is a relative low-cost investment that provides solutions for most of the problems that may spell the difference between successful integration and wasted resources.

Expense Reporting and CRM

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You have to spend money to make money. If you are running a business, it’s a saying you have probably heard. And if you have been running a business for some time, there is a good chance that you have experienced this first hand. But spending is just one side of the proverbial coin, the other side is record keeping. And with all the expenses needed to keep a business going, one will need to have an expense report.

What is an expense report?

Just to address the elephant in the room, an expense report is a detailed account which tracks business expenditures. It can include anything from gas, parking, meals, accommodations and even the occasional bottle of vintage. Reports are usually generated on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly basis.

A typical expense report contains a plethora of information about a given transaction. Normally it would include the date of the transaction, where and what was purchased, what/where/whom it was used for, and on occasion, have some accompanying notes to explain the expenditure.

Expense reports have been an invaluable analytical tool for finance departments and an indispensable instrument for verifying company expenditures. It can be used to analyze how certain departments utilize their budget and during lean times, the data can be used to pinpoint which expenditures to reduce or remove in order to gain profit.

Time equals money

And since we are on the subject of spending money, having your sales reps perform administrative duties is akin to wasting money. Imagine the time they would spend consolidating all that information, entering it into a spreadsheet or filling out fields in a CRM system; time that can be used to make money either by closing a sale or following-up on a lead.

Now, imagine a system where they can just simply dictate information into their mobile devices each time an expense is incurred, and that’s it! The system automatically populates the report with the pertinent information with speed and accuracy. This is the power of Hey DAN, a voice-to-CRM system that literally takes tedious admin work off of your sales agents hands. With its unique combination of technology and intelligence, HeyDan achieves fast and accurate data parsing for your chosen CRM system, effectively giving your agents more time for what they do best – selling.

Efficiency equals more profit

Streamlined expense reports are a boon to any business. It tracks your company’s spending while providing you with a bird’s eye view of your expenditures. A voice-to-CRM system that frees more time for your sales reps and provides fast and accurate data for your expense reports is a definite win-win by any measure.

Spending on the right technology that increases overall efficiency and profitability can be the next big step for a growing business. Accurate data, happy employees, more profit – what’s not to like?

The Information Gold Rush

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When you hear the word “mining”, the mind often conjures images of people in hard hats and carts filled with ore under a hot dimly-lit mine. It’s a cumbersome, yet rewarding process that involves a lot of digging and sifting, and digging, and extracting and dig… – you get the picture. Data mining shares a lot of similarities, but instead of tunneling through a mountain or burrowing beneath the ground, analysts excavate and examine heaps of information stored in data warehouses and process it into meaningful reports for the end-user, like sales teams and managers.

The Process: A Quick Run-Through

Data mining starts with identifying data source. Let’s take your CRM database as an example. The information is housed in a data warehouse, which could be a local server or a cloud-based solution. This raw data is then organized and run for analysis to search for different patterns like purchasing behavior, web searches, social media interactions and so forth. The output is refined through a series of rule revisions and data queries – similar to processing ore in traditional mining – until the data analyst uncovers the outcome he is looking for. From there, the sales team or managers can formulate a plan of action based on the interpretation of the findings.

Get with the program

So you want to integrate data mining into your system. It’s not as difficult as it may seem. You need not look any further than your current CRM. Most popular CRM packages offer data mining add-ons or may have third party solutions already developed for it. You may be pleasantly surprised that the feature you’ve been wanting to add existed all along, right under the hood of your current system.  Hubspot is a perfect CRM system that enables you to perform data mining capabilities with partners that are quite experienced and capable. With evolving  This ensures that your system grows in tandem with the needs of your business, so you wouldn’t need to make a drastic shift to another platform.

Conclusion

When implemented correctly, data mining capabilities can effectively move your business forward to the next level. That is why covering all the bases with a solid program is the next logical step to any growing operation. The insight gained from data mining can be tremendous for your business. It can save you money on costs, increase your ROI, and most importantly, keep those smiles stuck on your customers faces. After all, a deep knowledge of your client base will do your business no harm – you just have to keep on digging.

The Value of Proper CRM Data Entry

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Whether you are in the business of selling a product or offering a service, customer relations play a vital part to its success or failure. Installing a CRM system can do a lot for your business. It can generate organized data sets for analysis and customer insights, provide easy access to client contact information and automate processes related to sales, marketing and customer support – with one caveat. It needs to be filled with reliable data.

The state of data collection

Modern technology coupled with the Internet has given rise to new communication channels, resulting in an exponential increase to the amount of information that your sales team has to track. This means more data to encode and additional time spent on administrative tasks. On the average, a sales agent consumes 4 hours a week just to input his information into the system.

Free them from this tedious task – they’ll thank you for it. Implement a CRM data entry service – not only does this give them more time to sell, but it also makes for happier agents. But don’t just settle for any data entry service, practice due diligence and choose a provider that is fast, accurate and knows the workings of a CRM system.

Knowing is half the battle

It is worth noting that CRM data entry is different from normal data entry, in that it curtails a significant amount of analysis before the actual input occurs. Containing numerous data fields, these systems need precise data input for optimal operation. This is where a thorough understanding of CRM systems comes into play. Speed and accuracy is nice to have, but it takes a significant hit when it lacks familiarity with a certain system. The quality of data suffers and you may not get the desired results or any meaningful insight about your clients. In the end, managers and agents blame the system, when in reality, the fault lies with inferior data entry. As managers, practice due diligence in choosing the right data entry service to implement. This will save you a great deal in time and money down the line.

Realize. Specialize.

Hey DAN is a Voice to CRM service that utilizes a unique combination of intelligence and technology to achieve efficient and accurate data captures. It understands the inner workings of multiple systems – it not only inputs information with speed and accuracy, it also does this meaningfully – allowing for rich, accurate data sets and makes significant customer insights possible.

Final thoughts

A CRM system is not a magic bullet – it doesn’t guarantee an increase in sales performance. To get the most out of these systems, you need to constantly nurture it with applicable information. Incorporating a specialized CRM data entry service ensures fast, accurate and relevant data captures that greatly adds to the value of your data warehouse and client servicing.

Increasing Sales Performance with Voice to CRM

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Efficiency and accuracy – two qualities that any manager would want for their sales team and also from their CRM system. With Voice to CRM, you can increase the efficiency of your sales team while virtually eliminating mistakes during the data entry phase. This translates to more opportunities and better client relations which in turn increases sales performance.

Voice to CRM boosts your sales rep’s productivity by removing the tedious administrative task of typing in customer details. By cutting this out, you could gain anywhere from 2 to 6 hours a week. Multiply that by your number of agents, and you’ve just created an abundance of valuable time. This can be repurposed to generate more opportunities, do more sales activities or close more clients. It’s pretty basic. After each meeting, they need only to speak the specifics into their devices and it’s off to the next. The data will then be parsed and will meaningfully populate their CRM system. No drop-downs, no buttons, no frills. Just pure simplicity.

Without a Voice to CRM system, sales reps would either scribble down notes, or worse, try to remember all the important details from each meeting they took that day, which often times number in the dozens. Handling valuable information in this manner will most certainly produce costly mistakes down the line, especially during the data entry phase. Imagine having to manually enter all the data that you committed to memory or extracting important details from your hastily scribbled notes at the end of each day. How about having to collate all this information and performing the bland administrative task of inputting them after each week – that’s a lot of time and effort to put in for something that can be rendered non-existent by Voice to CRM. What’s more, this also leaves them wide open to commit critical errors that can badly hurt the relationships they painstakingly built with their clients. Voice to CRM fixes all of that. When your sales reps use Voice to CRM, they effectively save all pertinent data in real-time. This virtually eliminates those instances that they may forget some useful nugget or make a clerical mistake from trying to remember all the information they collected from the numerous clients they interact with each day.

The best kind of data are the correct ones and Voice to CRM ensures that valuable client info is fed to your system with utmost precision. By utilizing a unique combination of technology and intelligence, Voice to CRM produces spot-on data captures. And the best part is that it only takes 30 seconds on the average to dictate the information, then all the work is done in the background – quickly and accurately.

With its simplicity and ease-of-use, Voice to CRM will prove to be a boon to your business. By spending lesser time on data entry and having a clean, accurate database, your agents gain more time to dedicate on sales and not worry about pulling the wrong information on a client. This creates a happier sales team which leads to a natural increase in sales performance.

Better data – Better insights to closing a sale

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Ten years ago, BBM (Blackberry Messenger) was the weapon of choice, MySpace was (sort of) what Facebook is today and binge-watching TV shows could only exist in your dreams unless you planned ahead and recorded your shows on the daily. Today, BBM is all but gone, MySpace is a shell of its former self and on-demand video content has become the norm rather than the exception. Interesting how there have been so many advances in critical and non-critical areas of life, but for your sales team, taking down meeting notes is still a drudgery to perform, yet remains an integral part of the sales process.

Meeting notes are the vital details exchanged and gained during a client meeting. The information is used to gain customer insight, to plan for activities and improve sales performance. Today’s CRM systems are so sophisticated that the amount of detailed information they contain is mind blowing. To populate this, sales agents would have to take down client notes after each meeting and then manually input the information into their CRM systems.

There are times that sales reps are so busy that they skip note taking altogether and commit the details to memory. With the sheer volume of meetings they attend per day, keeping track of all the nitty gritty becomes a daunting task. Enter Hey DAN – a Voice to CRM service that does just that. No more jotting down on paper or risky mental notes. All it takes is 30 seconds, and it’s done. Accurate CRM entries are achieved with a unique combination of intelligence and technology. Sales reps just need to dictate the information into their mobile devices after each meeting – when it is still fresh in their memory, and Hey DAN does the rest. CRM entries are meaningfully and precisely populated so you don’t have to worry about pulling up incorrect information.

Now that your data is well organized and your CRM is set up, planning the next steps is a breeze. Easily find contact information, like social media accounts and store addresses. Track interactions with potential customers and convert them into leads for prospective sales. Access client email addresses to send proposals, quotations, or promotional materials. Most importantly, with a complete database, you can now get routine (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) summary reports like sales figures, sales performance and the like. You can also generate a forecast or make a detailed analysis based on the saved data.

In today’s world, information is paramount. Having the correct data at your fingertips may spell the difference between closing a sale or losing a customer. Take full advantage of the information from your CRM system. Experience what Voice to CRM can do for your business today.