<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?><!-- generator=Zoho Sites --><rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"><channel><atom:link href="https://www.ragingsanity.com/blogs/tag/CRM/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><title>Raging Sanity Consultants - Cloud Rainmaker Blog #CRM</title><description>Raging Sanity Consultants - Cloud Rainmaker Blog #CRM</description><link>https://www.ragingsanity.com/blogs/tag/CRM</link><lastBuildDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 07:54:57 -0700</lastBuildDate><generator>http://zoho.com/sites/</generator><item><title><![CDATA[Want and easy way to copy/paste contact information from a record in Zoho CRM?]]></title><link>https://www.ragingsanity.com/blogs/post/want-and-easy-way-to-copy-paste-contact-information-from-a-record-in-zoho-crm</link><description><![CDATA[<img align="left" hspace="5" src="https://www.ragingsanity.com/CopyContactInfo.gif"/>Sometimes you just want a quick copy and paste from your CRM so you could for example quickly send someone another contacts information by email. CRM ]]></description><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="zpcontent-container blogpost-container "><div data-element-id="elm_D6KFfauPRVWdWrjFKr-t3g" data-element-type="section" class="zpsection "><style type="text/css"></style><div class="zpcontainer-fluid zpcontainer"><div data-element-id="elm_MP6gZhrgRBq36D495cAiJQ" data-element-type="row" class="zprow zprow-container zpalign-items- zpjustify-content- " data-equal-column=""><style type="text/css"></style><div data-element-id="elm_CdJAfdmyQAuI-WosrLJ7Cg" data-element-type="column" class="zpelem-col zpcol-12 zpcol-md-12 zpcol-sm-12 zpalign-self- "><style type="text/css"></style><div data-element-id="elm_JWmwNyhGRyCgfZsY_fTkMQ" data-element-type="heading" class="zpelement zpelem-heading "><style> [data-element-id="elm_JWmwNyhGRyCgfZsY_fTkMQ"].zpelem-heading { border-radius:1px; } </style><h2
 class="zpheading zpheading-align-center " data-editor="true"><span style="font-size:36px;">Zoho CRM Contact <span>Info </span>Copy/Paste Tricks</span><br></h2></div>
<div data-element-id="elm_MmVJjiQmRGqENrrIaFRyeQ" data-element-type="text" class="zpelement zpelem-text "><style> [data-element-id="elm_MmVJjiQmRGqENrrIaFRyeQ"].zpelem-text { border-radius:1px; } </style><div class="zptext zptext-align-center " data-editor="true"><p></p><div style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:16px;">Sometimes you just want a quick copy and paste from your CRM so you could for example quickly send someone another contacts information by email. CRM systems such as Goldmine back in the 90s had this functionality built-in. Things get a bit trickier hen we are talking about cloud applications - though if you ask me they should not be.</span></div><span><div style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:16px;"><br></span></div><span style="font-size:16px;"><div style="text-align:center;">Case in point, Zoho CRM, one of the best and most affordable CRM platforms on the market does not come preconfigured to simple let you get a contact info dump like in the image below. But with just a little setup, you can create a solution that will let you copy a record's contact information with just a couple clicks.&nbsp;</div></span></span><p></p><p><br></p><p><img src="https://sitebuilder-679602491.zohositescontent.com/ContactInfo.png" style="width:406.53px !important;height:174px !important;"></p><p><br></p><p>First off, there are two different methods depending on whether you are looking at a List View or an individual record. We'll deal with the List View first.</p><p><br></p><p><img src="/list%20view.png"><br></p><p><span style="font-size:16px;">What you want to do first is Create a New List View. Call it something like Quick Contact Info or just Contact Info. You will need to do this for each module where you want this functionality, such as Leads, Contacts, and maybe Accounts. Just include in the List View all the fields you want. Be sure to give it a name, specify who can use it and save it. Now, with this List View activated, you can simply select a record by clicking the check-box next to it, then an Action Button will appear at the top of the screen. Click the Action Button and select Print Mailing Labels and you will get a nice pop-up which you can now copy. The address won't have perfect formating, but you can easily fix that when you paste it where you plan to use it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:16px;"><br></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12px;color:rgb(255, 0, 0);">Easy Contact Info Copy/Paste In Action</span></p><p><br></p><p><img src="/CopyContactInfo.gif"><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><span style="font-size:16px;"><br></span></p><p><span style="font-size:16px;">Now when you are looking at an individual record, there is another technique that you'll need to use. You can simply click the More Actions Button (the one with 3 dots on the top right side)&nbsp; and select Print Preview.&nbsp;</span></p><p><br></p><p><img src="/single%20record%20label.png"><br></p><p><br></p><p><span style="font-size:16px;">But before that will work for you there is just one more thing to set up for each module where you want this functionality. You will need to make a Contact Info Template. I prefer to use an email template but you could do it in a Mail Merge template if you prefer. On the template, just layou out the merge fields the way you'd like to see them. This will format better than the previous method, though it will leave spaces for empty fields.&nbsp;<br><br>You can find your templates in Settings (The Gear Icon in the top right). From the Settings Screen, find the Customization Section and select Templates. Choose the category of Email or Mail Merge and then hit the Create New Template button. To add a field, just hit the Pound character (#) and a pop-up will appear that will let you select various modules and fields in the chosen module.&nbsp; If you are creating this for Leads records, just choose the Leads Module and the field you want to add. You can format them as you like. The end result will look something like this:</span></p><p><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;font-style:italic;color:rgb(65, 29, 226);"><br></span></p><div><div><div><div><div><p style="text-align:left;"><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;color:rgb(65, 29, 226);">${Leads.First Name} ${Leads.Last Name}</span></p><p style="text-align:left;"><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;color:rgb(65, 29, 226);">${Leads.Company}</span></p><p style="text-align:left;"><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;color:rgb(65, 29, 226);">${Leads.Email}</span></p><p style="text-align:left;"><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;color:rgb(65, 29, 226);">${Leads.Phone}</span></p><p style="text-align:left;"><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;color:rgb(65, 29, 226);">${Leads.Mobile}</span></p><p style="text-align:left;"><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;color:rgb(65, 29, 226);">${Leads.Street}</span></p><p style="text-align:left;"><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:14px;font-style:italic;color:rgb(65, 29, 226);">${Leads.City}, ${Leads.State} ${Leads.Zip Code}</span></p><p style="color:inherit;text-align:left;font-size:13px;"><br></p><p style="text-align:center;color:inherit;"><span style="font-size:16px;">After Saving (and be sure to save your work), subsequent edits will require you enter something in a pop-up to comment on the change. Do this for each module. That's it! Now from an individual record you can select this template when you click More Actions (3 dots button) and Print Preview which will give you a nice block of contact information for you to copy.</span></p><p style="text-align:center;color:inherit;"><span style="font-size:16px;"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:center;color:inherit;"><span style="font-size:16px;">Hopefully this will be helpful to you. If you would like even more powerful customizations for Zoho CRM that can make your employees more efficient and their jobs easier, by leveraging Zoho's great automation tools - just call or email us at Raging Sanity Consultants.</span></p><p style="text-align:center;color:inherit;"><span style="font-size:16px;"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:center;color:inherit;"><span style="font-size:16px;"><br></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12px;color:rgb(255, 0, 0);">How to Edit a Template</span></p><p style="color:inherit;text-align:left;font-size:13px;"><br></p><p style="color:inherit;text-align:left;font-size:13px;"><img src="/EditEmailTemplate.gif"><br></p><p style="color:inherit;text-align:left;font-size:13px;"><br></p><p style="color:inherit;text-align:left;font-size:13px;"><br></p></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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</div></div></div></div></div></div> ]]></content:encoded><pubDate>Thu, 14 Apr 2022 18:25:24 -0700</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA["Everyone is so excited about the new system!" - said my Zoho CRM client]]></title><link>https://www.ragingsanity.com/blogs/post/Everyone-is-so-excited</link><description><![CDATA[<img align="left" hspace="5" src="https://www.ragingsanity.com/Zoho/zoho-logo-512px.png"/>&quot;Everyone is so excited about the new system!&quot; I love to hear this.&nbsp; It tells me we are doing things right by listening to the employees ]]></description><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="zpcontent-container blogpost-container "><div data-element-id="elm_8R3nLTIkTIyI06p4C9o5lg" data-element-type="section" class="zpsection "><style type="text/css"> [data-element-id="elm_8R3nLTIkTIyI06p4C9o5lg"].zpsection{ border-radius:1px; } </style><div class="zpcontainer-fluid zpcontainer"><div data-element-id="elm_w8Jdzi0KQ0unTxtv8mrVpw" data-element-type="row" class="zprow zprow-container zpalign-items- zpjustify-content- " data-equal-column=""><style type="text/css"> [data-element-id="elm_w8Jdzi0KQ0unTxtv8mrVpw"].zprow{ border-radius:1px; } </style><div data-element-id="elm_keY6BDYQSjix1riwvghpdg" data-element-type="column" class="zpelem-col zpcol-12 zpcol-md-12 zpcol-sm-12 zpalign-self- "><style type="text/css"> [data-element-id="elm_keY6BDYQSjix1riwvghpdg"].zpelem-col{ border-radius:1px; } </style><div data-element-id="elm_Q1pq0AB0S0u3U2fpz4SbQg" data-element-type="heading" class="zpelement zpelem-heading "><style> [data-element-id="elm_Q1pq0AB0S0u3U2fpz4SbQg"].zpelem-heading { border-radius:1px; } </style><h2
 class="zpheading zpheading-align-center " data-editor="true"><div style="color:inherit;"><h1 style="margin-bottom:5px;font-size:24px;">Customizing, Simplifying, and Automating a Client's Sales Process in Zoho CRM</h1></div></h2></div>
<div data-element-id="elm_5FEUQaLuTeKyql3o8xyKmw" data-element-type="text" class="zpelement zpelem-text "><style> [data-element-id="elm_5FEUQaLuTeKyql3o8xyKmw"].zpelem-text { border-radius:1px; margin-block-start:20px; } </style><div class="zptext zptext-align-center " data-editor="true"><div><h1 style="margin-bottom:5px;font-size:24px;"><span style="color:rgb(255, 0, 0);">&quot;Everyone is so excited about the new system!&quot;</span></h1></div><div><img src="/I%20can-t%20believe%20it.jpg" style="width:297px !important;height:197px !important;max-width:100% !important;"><span style="color:rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br></span></div><p style="text-align:center;"><br></p><p><span style="font-size:20px;">I love to hear this.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="text-align:left;"><br></p><p style="text-align:left;">It tells me we are doing things right by listening to the employees to understand what they want out of the CRM system they will use every day. When end-users are not included in the discussion they become fearful that some arbitrary system will be imposed on them that only makes their jobs harder. They might simply choose to not use the new system properly or worse, sabotage the whole project in order to protect their own sanity at work. This results in a failed CRM project and a waste of the business owners' development money.</p><p style="text-align:left;"><br></p><p style="text-align:left;">I can't provide the name of the client company because I'm actually a sub-contractor on this project for another Zoho Partner. The client is not my direct customer, even though I'm working alone with the owner to build this great new system for their medical services company.</p><p style="text-align:left;"><br></p><p style="text-align:left;"><span style="font-size:20px;">What they had:</span></p><p style="text-align:left;">It's not uncommon for me to encounter Zoho CRM installs that were done with the best of intentions without the help of a Zoho expert that result in a poorly designed system. It's understandable that many smaller businesses simply don't have the development funds at the beginning to hire an expert, and the business owner is too busy keeping their business afloat to learn the necessary skills to at least get the basics right. This leads to many problems such as this client experience:</p><ul><ul><li style="text-align:left;">Too many fields that make it time consuming for users to find the right fields to enter their data. This results in a poorer experience for their customers and frustration for employees.</li><li style="text-align:left;">Wrong field types being used. Dates are put in text fields. Picklists are not used, or when they are, they are a mess. This creates a mess that needs to be cleaned up if the business owner ever wants to generate useful reports or create any automation triggers down the line.</li><li style="text-align:left;">Bad data relationships from the lack of using the right modules or creating custom modules. This impacts reporting, automation, and even makes it difficult for users to find the information they need in a timely manner.</li><li style="text-align:left;">Inconsistent data because data normalization techniques are ignored, such as using well thought out picklists that map to the desired sales process.</li><li style="text-align:left;">Inconsistent business practices because from a data entry point of view, it's the wild west with each user doing their own thing with no understanding of how it impacts others in the organization.</li><li style="text-align:left;">Inability to get business insights. As mentioned above, good business intelligence is based upon reports that can focus on data filtered precisely. Such filters can't be trusted when the data is inconsistent or not even in the proper fields.</li><li style="text-align:left;">Inability to use time-saving automation features. These depend on triggering conditions that in turn depend on consistent data in the right fields.</li><li style="text-align:left;">Leads fall through the cracks because there is no way to escalate issues beyond what each sales rep is able to remember. These lost opportunities are lost revenue.</li><li style="text-align:left;">Delays in the sales process. without proper data checks and reminders in place, overwhelmed or forgetful employees may miss that certain prerequisites have been overlooked, and the client they thought they were ready to close isn't. These delays result in lost deals and more lost revenue.</li><li style="text-align:left;">A real headache to clean up. If the company is able to finally prioritize development with skilled help, it will cost them more in the long run than if they would have done a few basic things right at the beginning.</li></ul></ul><p style="text-align:left;"><br></p><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-style:italic;font-size:16px;color:rgb(255, 0, 0);">The overall result is a CRM system that users hate to use and that does not provide any useful insight into company operations or measurements - exactly the opposite of what CRM systems promise.</span></p><p style="text-align:left;"><br></p><p style="text-align:left;"><span style="font-size:20px;">What I've built for them:</span></p><p style="text-align:left;">First, I've guided them through a continuous process of discovery to understand their desired business processes, their reporting goals, and what their users need to be able do do their jobs in a more efficient and less frustrating way.<br></p><p style="text-align:left;"><br></p><p style="text-align:left;">A key part of this was to map out their sales process and them represent that with a well thought out picklist type status field for Leads and Deals.</p><p style="text-align:left;"><br></p><p style="text-align:left;">Next, we are cleaning up their data using proper fields, field types, and modules. They were not even using the deals module until I showed them how it would allow them some key benefits, such as tracking multiple deals per lead and projecting future revenue based upon probability mapping.</p><p style="text-align:left;"><br></p><p style="text-align:left;">I'm also helping them design a simpler, user-friendly interface with Zoho CRM's wizards, Canvas, layout rules and workflow automations. With these tools, users can more easily find the fields they want, and redundant or duplicate data entry is eliminated.&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align:left;"><br></p><p style="text-align:left;">With those parts in place, this is where the really awesome stuff becomes possible! I've designed a Zoho CRM Command Center Journey and blueprints for the Leads and Deals modules that:</p><ol><ol><li style="text-align:left;">Make data entry easy.</li><li style="text-align:left;">Ensure that leads and deals always follow the established sales process, never falling through the cracks.</li><li style="text-align:left;">Automatic service level alerts and messages are generated to keep other users or departments informed of important events.</li><li style="text-align:left;">Ensuring that only appropriate staff are able to advance leads and deals to the next step.</li><li style="text-align:left;">Even more automation is leveraged getting rid of the boring busy-work that users no longer need to worry about.</li></ol></ol><p style="text-align:left;"><br></p><p style="text-align:left;">We are not quite done, but the users already see the potential and are excited. In fact, the more they see that I and the owner are building this system to make them more successful, the more they are contributing great ideas.&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align:left;"><br></p><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:18px;color:rgb(41, 128, 185);">Are your CRM users happy with what they have?&nbsp;</span></p><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:18px;color:rgb(41, 128, 185);">Are owners and managers happy with the business intelligence their CRM generates?&nbsp;</span></p><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:18px;color:rgb(41, 128, 185);"><br></span></p><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:18px;color:rgb(41, 128, 185);">If not, drop me a line. Perhaps Raging Sanity Consultants, with an awesome tool like Zoho CRM can build your dream business solution!</span></p></div>
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</div></div></div></div></div></div> ]]></content:encoded><pubDate>Tue, 08 Mar 2022 15:40:50 -0700</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Sendōgo (SendOutCards) Now Integrates with Salesforce]]></title><link>https://www.ragingsanity.com/blogs/post/sendogo-now-integrates-with-salesforce-sendoutcards-users</link><description><![CDATA[<img align="left" hspace="5" src="https://www.ragingsanity.com/card.jpg"/>Imagine my surprise when I received a hand written card, the front of which was a photo of some of my barracks-mates from the Marines involved in some ]]></description><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="zpcontent-container blogpost-container "><div data-element-id="elm_oPFOelmSTKGOz2q-POdyxw" data-element-type="section" class="zpsection "><style type="text/css"></style><div class="zpcontainer-fluid zpcontainer"><div data-element-id="elm_D-TZpivVSEmPPjmetMRw9A" data-element-type="row" class="zprow zprow-container zpalign-items- zpjustify-content- " data-equal-column=""><style type="text/css"></style><div data-element-id="elm_0Bwhn-YXSx6mljWOscx0AA" data-element-type="column" class="zpelem-col zpcol-12 zpcol-md-12 zpcol-sm-12 zpalign-self- "><style type="text/css"> [data-element-id="elm_0Bwhn-YXSx6mljWOscx0AA"].zpelem-col{ border-radius:1px; } </style><div data-element-id="elm_AyoGd0jFQd-DCq0pse3oJA" data-element-type="heading" class="zpelement zpelem-heading "><style> [data-element-id="elm_AyoGd0jFQd-DCq0pse3oJA"].zpelem-heading { border-radius:1px; } </style><h2
 class="zpheading zpheading-align-center " data-editor="true">And Here's a Great Way to Really Impress Your Recipients</h2></div>
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                type:fullscreen,
                theme:dark"><figure role="none" class="zpimage-data-ref"><span class="zpimage-anchor" role="link" tabindex="0" aria-label="Open Lightbox" style="cursor:pointer;"><picture><img class="zpimage zpimage-style-none zpimage-space-none " src="/card.jpg" size="fit" data-lightbox="true" style="height:233px;width:310.98px;"/></picture></span></figure></div>
</div><div data-element-id="elm_i2GIycOeSoma7z2sEVEowg" data-element-type="text" class="zpelement zpelem-text "><style> [data-element-id="elm_i2GIycOeSoma7z2sEVEowg"].zpelem-text { border-radius:1px; } </style><div class="zptext zptext-align-left " data-editor="true"><p><span style="font-size:16px;">Imagine my surprise when I received a hand written card, the front of which was a photo of some of my barracks-mates from the Marines involved in some serious dress-code violations. I spend several minutes really thinking about this cool service. Apparently, what my friend Preston Mayon did was find a public image I had posted in socials some time ago, and then used that as the card cover. What a powerful idea (Just make sure it's a good memory they shared that you are re-sharing with them).</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="font-size:16px;">If you use or have thought of using SendOutCards, know that they have created an application integrations company called Send<span style="color:inherit;">ō</span>go.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size:16px;color:inherit;">Sendōgo now integrates with Salesforce and Zapier with more integrations on the way. To find out more, just click the button below for a <a href="/files/sendogo.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">PDF</a> that will explain more and let you know how to get in touch with my friend Preston.</span></p></div>
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</div></div></div></div> ]]></content:encoded><pubDate>Fri, 16 Aug 2019 12:34:23 -0700</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Cool Handwritten Style Cards of SimplyNoted.com Now Integrates with Salesforce via Zapier!]]></title><link>https://www.ragingsanity.com/blogs/post/cool-handwritten-style-cards-of-simplynoted.com-now-integrates-with-salesforce-via-zapier</link><description><![CDATA[<img align="left" hspace="5" src="https://www.ragingsanity.com/simplynoted.png"/>Now You can send SimplyNoted.com cards from Salesforce via Zapier.]]></description><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="zpcontent-container blogpost-container "><div data-element-id="elm_9sIdLLr1RCmm6lI8mhk3Jw" data-element-type="section" class="zpsection "><style type="text/css"></style><div class="zpcontainer-fluid zpcontainer"><div data-element-id="elm_3a5gROTMSF6oDklfCzkGug" data-element-type="row" class="zprow zprow-container zpalign-items- zpjustify-content- " data-equal-column=""><style type="text/css"></style><div data-element-id="elm_mJg4PasRSkaJdNTiQ_oKqg" data-element-type="column" class="zpelem-col zpcol-12 zpcol-md-12 zpcol-sm-12 zpalign-self- "><style type="text/css"> [data-element-id="elm_mJg4PasRSkaJdNTiQ_oKqg"].zpelem-col{ border-radius:1px; } </style><div data-element-id="elm_VcL2Fw30iWJwpnraKG6oJw" data-element-type="image" class="zpelement zpelem-image "><style> [data-element-id="elm_VcL2Fw30iWJwpnraKG6oJw"].zpelem-image { border-radius:1px; } </style><div data-caption-color="" data-size-tablet="" data-size-mobile="" data-align="center" data-tablet-image-separate="" data-mobile-image-separate="" class="zpimage-container zpimage-align-center zpimage-size-original zpimage-tablet-fallback-original zpimage-mobile-fallback-original hb-lightbox " data-lightbox-options="
                type:fullscreen,
                theme:dark"><figure role="none" class="zpimage-data-ref"><span class="zpimage-anchor" role="link" tabindex="0" aria-label="Open Lightbox" style="cursor:pointer;"><picture><img class="zpimage zpimage-style-none zpimage-space-none " src="/Simplynoted4.jpg" size="original" data-lightbox="true"/></picture></span></figure></div>
</div><div data-element-id="elm_shC7jEFdQ_OW8EVtJjtSFg" data-element-type="heading" class="zpelement zpelem-heading "><style> [data-element-id="elm_shC7jEFdQ_OW8EVtJjtSFg"].zpelem-heading { border-radius:1px; } </style><h2
 class="zpheading zpheading-align-center " data-editor="true">Handwritten Envelopes Get Opened! Now Send The From Salesforce.com via Zapier!</h2></div>
<div data-element-id="elm_dMgXTry6QYGFmV6zFKGqEg" data-element-type="text" class="zpelement zpelem-text "><style> [data-element-id="elm_dMgXTry6QYGFmV6zFKGqEg"].zpelem-text { border-radius:1px; } </style><div class="zptext zptext-align-left " data-editor="true"><p>Ideally, we'd love to send a handwritten note to all of our clients and prospects. They deserve such&nbsp; attention. What if you could send any number of custom cards and envelopes even on your busiest days? That's what <a href="https://simplynoted.com/" title="SimplyNoted.com" target="_blank">SimplyNoted.com</a> does for you. Essentially, it uses automation to create handwritten styled cards and envelopes. There are a variety of writing styles to choose from, and I think you can even have your own style scanned into their system.<span style="color:inherit;">&nbsp; And we all know that Handwritten envelopes have a higher open rate.&nbsp;</span></p><p><br></p><p>This technology has been around for decades. But Rick Elmore, the founder of Simply Noted, had the vision and invested the time an money to improve the automation and bring it to scale. I've met Rick. He's a straight shooter and a really bright guy (in spite of banging his head against things for a while in professional football).&nbsp;<br></p></div>
</div><div data-element-id="elm_jPaZ6PZeaCA0qSo5gE_ejg" data-element-type="image" class="zpelement zpelem-image "><style> [data-element-id="elm_jPaZ6PZeaCA0qSo5gE_ejg"].zpelem-image { border-radius:1px; } </style><div data-caption-color="" data-size-tablet="" data-size-mobile="" data-align="center" data-tablet-image-separate="" data-mobile-image-separate="" class="zpimage-container zpimage-align-center zpimage-size-original zpimage-tablet-fallback-original zpimage-mobile-fallback-original hb-lightbox " data-lightbox-options="
                type:fullscreen,
                theme:dark"><figure role="none" class="zpimage-data-ref"><span class="zpimage-anchor" role="link" tabindex="0" aria-label="Open Lightbox" style="cursor:pointer;"><picture><img class="zpimage zpimage-style-none zpimage-space-none " src="/Simply%20Noted%20Web%203.jpg" size="original" data-lightbox="true"/></picture></span></figure></div>
</div><div data-element-id="elm_m_LSL93-uoDSsgUb8hcv3w" data-element-type="text" class="zpelement zpelem-text "><style> [data-element-id="elm_m_LSL93-uoDSsgUb8hcv3w"].zpelem-text { border-radius:1px; } </style><div class="zptext zptext-align-left " data-editor="true"><p>The Cool news is that now SimplyNoted.com integrates with Salesforce via Zapier (<a href="https://zapier.com/developer/public-invite/27690/a14b419f142ef350556c85f9ccafe775/" title="Here's the actual place to set this up" target="_blank">Here's the actual place to set this up</a>). That means that you can essentially send a custom handwritten card to a client right from Salesforce. Want to automate even that step? That can be done with automation tools like workflows in Salesforce (probably - I've not yet tried it myself). Imaging creating a process so that every client or prospect that enters a particular stage automatically gets a handwritten card from you. It's stuff like that that makes me love this business.<br><br>Here's a little video down below of the system in action. Now imagine it to scale sending love to your clients and prospects!</p><p><br></p><p>Click on the Button below to visit <a href="https://simplynoted.com/" title="SimplyNoted.com" target="_blank">SimplyNoted.com</a> to learn more!</p></div>
</div><div data-element-id="elm_eaKnqfEyKYgyX36QuVP2xQ" data-element-type="iframe" class="zpelement zpelem-iframe "><style type="text/css"> [data-element-id="elm_eaKnqfEyKYgyX36QuVP2xQ"].zpelem-iframe{ border-radius:1px; } </style><div class="zpiframe-container zpiframe-align-left"><iframe class="zpiframe " src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/263101180?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0" width="640" height="360" align="left" allowfullscreen frameBorder="0"></iframe></div>
</div><div data-element-id="elm_7RxhbT6kQEyEBWd8ZwxIIA" data-element-type="button" class="zpelement zpelem-button "><style> [data-element-id="elm_7RxhbT6kQEyEBWd8ZwxIIA"].zpelem-button{ border-radius:1px; } </style><div class="zpbutton-container zpbutton-align-center "><style type="text/css"></style><a class="zpbutton-wrapper zpbutton zpbutton-type-primary zpbutton-size-md zpbutton-style-none " href="https://simplynoted.com/" target="_blank"><span class="zpbutton-content">I Want to Learn More</span></a></div>
</div></div></div></div></div><div data-element-id="elm_N2nMGCJCRY2aA7YGzkuRDg" data-element-type="section" class="zpsection zpdefault-section zpdefault-section-bg "><style type="text/css"> [data-element-id="elm_N2nMGCJCRY2aA7YGzkuRDg"].zpsection{ border-radius:1px; } </style><div class="zpcontainer-fluid zpcontainer"><div data-element-id="elm_sCD4QyQ8PeMjuBRTU32IUw" data-element-type="row" class="zprow zprow-container zpalign-items-flex-start zpjustify-content-flex-start zpdefault-section zpdefault-section-bg " data-equal-column=""><style type="text/css"> [data-element-id="elm_sCD4QyQ8PeMjuBRTU32IUw"].zprow{ border-radius:1px; } </style><div data-element-id="elm_eOBVpbuDiPole2kwbB9Vog" data-element-type="column" class="zpelem-col zpcol-12 zpcol-md-12 zpcol-sm-12 zpalign-self- zpdefault-section zpdefault-section-bg "><style type="text/css"> [data-element-id="elm_eOBVpbuDiPole2kwbB9Vog"].zpelem-col{ border-radius:1px; } </style></div>
</div></div></div></div> ]]></content:encoded><pubDate>Thu, 08 Aug 2019 12:45:36 -0700</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Needy Veteran Gets A New Home!]]></title><link>https://www.ragingsanity.com/blogs/post/A-Needy-Veteran-Gets-A-New-Home</link><description><![CDATA[<img align="left" hspace="5" src="https://www.ragingsanity.com/KristaKeys.jpg"/>This rough video shows the moment that Krista is given the keys to her new home. She was about to be homeless until Operation Enduring Gratitude took ]]></description><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="zpcontent-container blogpost-container "><div data-element-id="elm_HPOszLGdRKypBFdqei7arw" data-element-type="section" class="zpsection "><style type="text/css"></style><div class="zpcontainer-fluid zpcontainer"><div data-element-id="elm_wOD8pycUTQe2Zg5J3g_7PA" data-element-type="row" class="zprow zprow-container zpalign-items- zpjustify-content- " data-equal-column=""><style type="text/css"></style><div data-element-id="elm_q_x6z0erQf2-ZX_pVetqKw" data-element-type="column" class="zpelem-col zpcol-12 zpcol-md-12 zpcol-sm-12 zpalign-self- "><style type="text/css"> [data-element-id="elm_q_x6z0erQf2-ZX_pVetqKw"].zpelem-col{ border-radius:1px; } </style><div data-element-id="elm_YvlXURCJRNi8eepcOWG_3g" data-element-type="heading" class="zpelement zpelem-heading "><style> [data-element-id="elm_YvlXURCJRNi8eepcOWG_3g"].zpelem-heading { border-radius:1px; } </style><h2
 class="zpheading zpheading-align-center " data-editor="true">Raging Sanity is honored to partner with Operation Enduring Gratitude to help veterans in need.</h2></div>
<div data-element-id="elm_eGflFO4SI4fmwD3vK07fDA" data-element-type="video" class="zpelement zpelem-video "><style type="text/css"> [data-element-id="elm_eGflFO4SI4fmwD3vK07fDA"].zpelem-video{ border-radius:1px; } </style><div class="zpvideo-container zpiframe-align-center zpiframe-mobile-align- zpiframe-tablet-align-"><iframe class="zpvideo " width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/kxuWjQR4NeM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
</div><div data-element-id="elm_T6CF2YpRQWmnvbGd240tSg" data-element-type="text" class="zpelement zpelem-text "><style> [data-element-id="elm_T6CF2YpRQWmnvbGd240tSg"].zpelem-text { border-radius:1px; } </style><div class="zptext zptext-align-left " data-editor="true"><p>This rough video shows the moment that Krista is given the keys to her new home. She was about to be homeless until Operation Enduring Gratitude took the lead in organizing with other great companies, organizations and ministries to help Krista out. Also, by moving to Arizona, Krista is able to help her brother while he is fighting cancer. When the mobile home park saw what was happening, they stepped up and offered to sell the mobile home being remodeled by teams connected to Operation Enduring Gratitude for only $1<br></p><p><br>Raging Sanity Consultants is honored to be a part of the <a href="http://www.operationenduringgratitude.org" title="Operation Enduring Gratitude" target="_blank">Operation Enduring Gratitude</a> team. We manage design and manage their website as well as their Salesforce system donated to them by Salesforce.com . I also went out there one Saturday to lend a hand on the project so I could see first hand what they do. There were many other great agencies such as Mesa PD, Mesa Fire, and Archangels among others that provided manpower, resources, free furniture, and funds to make this a July 4th Krista would never forget.</p><p><br></p><p>If you know of an Arizona veteran in need, contact&nbsp;<a href="http://www.operationenduringgratitude.org/" target="_blank">Operation Enduring Gratitude</a>&nbsp;to find out how they might be able to help.</p><p><br></p><p>Many 501(c)(3) organizations don't know that Salesforce make a special Non-profit version of their Sales and Service platform available for free for the first 10 licenses and at a drastically reduced rate after that. If you would like to learn more, contact us at Raging Sanity Consultants. I've got a heart for those that have a heart to serve others.</p></div>
</div><div data-element-id="elm_4J4d6im1TGGGIN3Sd2UQ6A" data-element-type="button" class="zpelement zpelem-button "><style> [data-element-id="elm_4J4d6im1TGGGIN3Sd2UQ6A"].zpelem-button{ border-radius:1px; } </style><div class="zpbutton-container zpbutton-align-center "><style type="text/css"> [data-element-id="elm_4J4d6im1TGGGIN3Sd2UQ6A"] .zpbutton.zpbutton-type-primary{ border-radius:1px; } </style><a class="zpbutton-wrapper zpbutton zpbutton-type-primary zpbutton-size-md zpbutton-style-none " href="/contact"><span class="zpbutton-content">Learn More about Salesforce for Non-Profits</span></a></div>
</div></div></div></div></div></div> ]]></content:encoded><pubDate>Fri, 05 Jul 2019 15:13:44 -0700</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Zoho One Creates A Buzz At Galvanize In Phoenix]]></title><link>https://www.ragingsanity.com/blogs/post/larger-than-expected-crowd-for-the-phoenix-stop-of-the-zoho-one-us-tour</link><description><![CDATA[<img align="left" hspace="5" src="https://www.ragingsanity.com/Zoho-One.png"/>Zoho One is a collection of over 40 integrated applications that can cost as low as $30 per month per user.]]></description><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="zpcontent-container blogpost-container "><div data-element-id="elm_BBh6u6V4S5-sW4iyn9DC9Q" data-element-type="section" class="zpsection "><style type="text/css"></style><div class="zpcontainer-fluid zpcontainer"><div data-element-id="elm_XLj7iHYzQxCz3HK8jbA49g" data-element-type="row" class="zprow zprow-container zpalign-items-flex-start zpjustify-content-center " data-equal-column=""><style type="text/css"></style><div data-element-id="elm_eWqLGnimSZ68cgNMunKsTw" data-element-type="column" class="zpelem-col zpcol-12 zpcol-md-12 zpcol-sm-12 zpalign-self- "><style type="text/css"></style><div data-element-id="elm_awKT8qgzQci-1Dr66HQbBw" data-element-type="heading" class="zpelement zpelem-heading "><style></style><h2
 class="zpheading zpheading-align-center " data-editor="true">It Suddenly Seems Like Everyone Has Been Paying Too Much For Software!</h2></div>
<div data-element-id="elm_4USk_M6wQjqiP2Qmdg9PKw" data-element-type="text" class="zpelement zpelem-text "><style></style><div class="zptext zptext-align-center " data-editor="true"><p style="text-align:left;">I decided to spend the day with the Zoho One Tour at Galvanize in Phoenix last week to gauge the interest level for the products in the small business community. It was quite the turnout, larger than the Zoho team had expected. That, and the quality of the presentations confirms for me that so far this company is really doing things right. The Zoho One Tour Staff did an excellent job with their presentations in spite of the internet playing some games with our connections. The audience of business owners had some excellent questions, and the Zoho staff was spot on with the answers. Every software package and organization has it challenges, but so far I'm very impressed with Zoho as a set of solutions and as an organization. Galvanize is a great place to visit too. The place just oozes with startup creativity.</p><p style="text-align:left;"><br></p><p style="text-align:center;"><img src="/galvanize-6_1024xx1008-567-0-95.jpg" style="width:411.8px;height:232px;"><br></p><p><br></p><p style="text-align:left;">Zoho One is a collection of over 40 integrated applications that can cost as low as $30 per month per user when all computer using employees are signed up (5 user minimum), or $75 per user per month for any number of users. That is simply an amazing deal that really is an operating system for business covering marketing, sales, accounting, operations, personnel, service, and everything in between.. No wonder Zoho is getting some organic buzz from within the small business community. Of course, their whimsical marketing style does not hurt:&nbsp;</p></div>
</div><div data-element-id="elm_bnEioDlEPswpjTQIzvHD_Q" data-element-type="video" class="zpelement zpelem-video "><style type="text/css"></style><div class="zpvideo-container zpiframe-align-center zpiframe-mobile-align- zpiframe-tablet-align-"><iframe class="zpvideo " width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/8jl8iK4vvFU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
</div><div data-element-id="elm_fPLN4DX54mrGrO5DYpu-Yw" data-element-type="text" class="zpelement zpelem-text "><style></style><div class="zptext zptext-align-left " data-editor="true"><p>At Raging Sanity Consultants, we have actually converted all of our systems from Salesforce to Zoho. Not that <a href="/salesforce" title="Salesforce " target="_blank">Salesforce </a>isn't an excellent solution, but for our current size, Zoho offers just so much more bang for the buck, especially with the marketing applications such as Zoho Campaigns for email marketing, Zoho Social for social media management, Zoho PageSense for heat mapping and A/B testing, and others. It's a rare small business that can afford the excellent marketing suite offered by Salesforce, so Zoho has strategically targeted the SMB space with an impressive suite of affordable tools that let small businesses market themselves like the big boys - assuming they also dedicate the staff to writing good copy. It also made sense for use to use this product since we decided to add it to our list of offerings at Raging Sanity Consultant. And there's no better way to discover the promise and frustration of software than to use it yourself. Fortunately, my experience as been more promise and less frustration when it comes to Zoho. That's not to say that there is not a small learning curve, or that occasionally I scratch my head as to why they designed something a certain way. Yes, I have posted a few suggestions for improvements since taking on this project. But, in some instances, I discovered that it was my own thinking that was outdated (I've been in this game a while), and that Zoho was actually designed for the way things work NOW rather than a few years ago.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>So, if you are a small business looking to do more (marketing, sales, analytics, support, BUSINESS) with lower software costs, call or email me and I will help you to determine whether <a href="/zoho" title="Zoho " target="_blank">Zoho </a>or some other outstanding product is the best way to leverage technology to grow your profits.</p><p><br></p><p>-- Rich Astone</p></div>
</div></div></div></div></div><div data-element-id="elm_wPXCg1zIFFuYNGCDmaBw5g" data-element-type="section" class="zpsection zpdefault-section zpdefault-section-bg "><style type="text/css"></style><div class="zpcontainer-fluid zpcontainer"><div data-element-id="elm_MDHYS5MskwTwNA2dtqUgAw" data-element-type="row" class="zprow zprow-container zpalign-items-flex-start zpjustify-content-flex-start " data-equal-column=""><style type="text/css"></style><div data-element-id="elm_LbYjVdYfJinoO04tG-ahGQ" data-element-type="column" class="zpelem-col zpcol-12 zpcol-md-4 zpcol-sm-12 zpalign-self- zpdefault-section zpdefault-section-bg "><style type="text/css"></style><div data-element-id="elm__OV5QKvfSNST1Qwho6IkXA" data-element-type="button" class="zpelement zpelem-button "><style></style><div class="zpbutton-container zpbutton-align-center "><style type="text/css"></style><a class="zpbutton-wrapper zpbutton zpbutton-type-primary zpbutton-size-md " href="mailto:rich@ragingsanity.com?subject=I want to know more about Zoho One for my business." rel="nofollow"><span class="zpbutton-content">Email Me!</span></a></div>
</div></div><div data-element-id="elm_8dbGYsn-spFaluhyGzc8pg" data-element-type="column" class="zpelem-col zpcol-12 zpcol-md-4 zpcol-sm-12 zpalign-self- zpdefault-section zpdefault-section-bg "><style type="text/css"></style><div data-element-id="elm_1oUZ0Iz0aXtIBow2qkDt2A" data-element-type="button" class="zpelement zpelem-button "><style></style><div class="zpbutton-container zpbutton-align-center "><style type="text/css"></style><a class="zpbutton-wrapper zpbutton zpbutton-type-primary zpbutton-size-md " href="/zoho" target="_blank"><span class="zpbutton-content">Learn More</span></a></div>
</div></div><div data-element-id="elm_Xie-JGlrkodJL69xH9KYmQ" data-element-type="column" class="zpelem-col zpcol-12 zpcol-md-4 zpcol-sm-12 zpalign-self- zpdefault-section zpdefault-section-bg "><style type="text/css"></style><div data-element-id="elm_q888WoAN1kpHaxhv6151nw" data-element-type="button" class="zpelement zpelem-button "><style></style><div class="zpbutton-container zpbutton-align-center "><style type="text/css"></style><a class="zpbutton-wrapper zpbutton zpbutton-type-primary zpbutton-size-md " href="tel:8885090367" rel="nofollow" title="You'll need an IP phone for this like RingCentral"><span class="zpbutton-content">Call Me!</span></a></div>
</div></div></div></div></div></div> ]]></content:encoded><pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2019 18:29:20 -0700</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Rich Helps Entrepreneurs Learn the Importance of Business Processes at the Arizona Women's Education and Entrepreneur Center!]]></title><link>https://www.ragingsanity.com/blogs/post/Rich-Trains-Entrepreneurs-In-Biz-Processes</link><description><![CDATA[Rich from Raging Sanity Consultants trains entrepreneurs in business processes at Arizona Women's Education and Entrepreneur Center.]]></description><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="zpcontent-container blogpost-container "><div data-element-id="elm_KlN5bQ07RYK2_YJk2oqiQA" data-element-type="section" class="zpsection "><style type="text/css"></style><div class="zpcontainer-fluid zpcontainer"><div data-element-id="elm_shxTMo_LSsyz9YVzNl6M2g" data-element-type="row" class="zprow zprow-container zpalign-items- zpjustify-content- " data-equal-column=""><style type="text/css"></style><div data-element-id="elm_t_fBCZufSJ2K_Rr0JmYirw" data-element-type="column" class="zpelem-col zpcol-12 zpcol-md-12 zpcol-sm-12 zpalign-self- "><style type="text/css"></style><div data-element-id="elm_VBzJbZLbOwF0dEcl7u6mjw" data-element-type="heading" class="zpelement zpelem-heading "><style></style><h2
 class="zpheading zpheading-style-none zpheading-align-left " data-editor="true"><span style="font-size:26px;"><b>Rich Helps Entrepreneurs Learn the Importance of Business Processes at the&nbsp;</b></span><span style="font-size:26px;"><b>Arizona Women's Education and Entrepreneur Center!</b></span><br></h2></div>
<div data-element-id="elm_OsjJI63kujaiVUxHUxoCxQ" data-element-type="image" class="zpelement zpelem-image "><style></style><div data-caption-color="" data-size-tablet="" data-size-mobile="" data-align="center" data-tablet-image-separate="" data-mobile-image-separate="" class="zpimage-container zpimage-align-center zpimage-size-medium zpimage-tablet-fallback-medium zpimage-mobile-fallback-medium hb-lightbox " data-lightbox-options="
                type:fullscreen,
                theme:dark"><figure role="none" class="zpimage-data-ref"><span class="zpimage-anchor" role="link" tabindex="0" aria-label="Open Lightbox" style="cursor:pointer;"><picture><img class="zpimage zpimage-style-none zpimage-space-none " src="/pexels-photo-1181534.jpeg" size="medium" data-lightbox="true" style="width:640px;"/></picture></span></figure></div>
</div><div data-element-id="elm_0fvAUrZkTlmbJF3ki72tYg" data-element-type="text" class="zpelement zpelem-text "><style></style><div class="zptext zptext-align-center " data-editor="true"><div style="text-align:justify;font-size:13.3333px;"><span><span style="font-size:16px;">AWEEC is a great organization. While their mandate is to help women to start their own businesses, but they help anyone with an entrepreneurial drive to achieve their dream by offering classes and consulting. In fact, They have been conducting the Dreambuilder classes for the Small Business Development Corporation in Phoenix.</span></span><br></div><div style="text-align:justify;font-size:13.3333px;"><br></div><div style="text-align:justify;font-size:13.3333px;"><span><span style="font-size:16px;">I admit I have the teaching bug and really miss teaching college students. Which is why I started to get involved with the SBDC as a student at first to explore whether such organizations could use volunteer teachers to help others understand how to start and run a business. That's where I met the AWEEC team, and both they and the folks at the SBDC were awesome. I wish I would have used the services of such organizations when I started my first business in the 90s.</span></span><br></div><div style="text-align:justify;font-size:13.3333px;"><br></div><div style="text-align:justify;font-size:13.3333px;"><span><span style="font-size:16px;">So several months ago, I reached out to Laura at AWEEC to see how I might be able to assist them as an instructor. I suggested several possible classes, but the one Laura really seemed to like was one on The Importance of Business Processes. Now, I'm not a certified Business Process Analyst (a profession that intrigues me), but anyone who implements Customer Relationship Management technologies for businesses understands how important the underlying business processes are. So, in my field, one can't help but learn a fair amount about Business Processes. In the end, I wound up producing about 4 hours of material for a 2 hour class. (In my defense, I always think it's better to over-prepare, and one really never knows the pacing of a class until it is actually taught the first time).</span></span><br></div><div style="text-align:justify;font-size:13.3333px;"><br></div><div style="text-align:justify;font-size:13.3333px;"><span><span style="font-size:16px;">So, Last week we held our first Business Process class at the AWEEC offices in downtown Phoenix. I wasn't sure how well it would be received because some of the material seemed so basic to me, I was afraid it might be too basic for the students. But even though the students all had solid backgrounds in the business world, they all gave positive responses on the after-class survey. The students also had some great insights to offer from their own experiences, so I like to think they were co-instructors with me.</span></span><br></div><div style="text-align:justify;font-size:13.3333px;"><br></div><div style="text-align:justify;font-size:13.3333px;"><span style="font-size:16px;">In the class, we explored all the benefits accrued from sound business processes, why we often fail to implement good processes, principles of good business process design, why good processes are more important than technology, and then focused on some specific marketing and sales processes.<br></span></div><div style="text-align:justify;font-size:13.3333px;"><br></div><p><span style="color:inherit;"></span></p><div style="text-align:justify;font-size:13.3333px;"><span><span style="font-size:16px;">Laura asked if I would offer the class again in a couple months. so if you know anyone thinking about starting a business in the Phoenix area, have them check out the classes offered by AWEEC (<a target="_blank" href="http://aweecenter.org/">http://aweecenter.org/</a>). Perhaps I'll see them there.</span></span></div></div>
</div></div></div></div></div></div> ]]></content:encoded><pubDate>Mon, 04 Feb 2019 18:47:24 -0700</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Story from the CRM Trenches – When a little knowledge is dangerous, or Let the experts do their job.]]></title><link>https://www.ragingsanity.com/blogs/post/story-from-the-crm-trenches-when-a-little-knowledge-is-dangerous-or-let-the-experts-do-their-job</link><description><![CDATA[<img align="left" hspace="5" src="https://www.ragingsanity.com/imported-files/angry-man-300x199.jpg"/>Story from the CRM Trenches – When a little knowledge is dangerous, or Let the experts]]></description><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="zpcontent-container blogpost-container "><div data-element-id="elm_4p0odnRCSJ6aw-UN8ZJIRw" data-element-type="section" class="zpsection "><style type="text/css"></style><div class="zpcontainer-fluid zpcontainer"><div data-element-id="elm_V4_XbcGrQLu8Yrh_vQ_EOw" data-element-type="row" class="zprow zprow-container zpalign-items- zpjustify-content- " data-equal-column=""><style type="text/css"></style><div data-element-id="elm_pLfOtigUTXWcVFi89cRGsw" data-element-type="column" class="zpelem-col zpcol-12 zpcol-md-12 zpcol-sm-12 zpalign-self- "><style type="text/css"></style><div data-element-id="elm_ZyNvBIGrSc2vH-D8JXPoXQ" data-element-type="text" class="zpelement zpelem-text "><style></style><div class="zptext zptext-align-center " data-editor="true"><div><h2><span style="font-family:Arial;">Story from the CRM Trenches – When a little knowledge is dangerous, or Let the experts do their job.</span></h2><div><span style="font-family:Arial;"><img src="/imported-files/angry-man-300x199.jpg" style="width:177.69px;height:118px;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;">Photo by Młgorzata Tomczak (whoismargot)</span></div><div style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">&nbsp;“Your system deleted all my vendor data!” The voice on the other end of the phone was the president of an engineering firm that built water filtration systems for cities around the world. He was understandably quite upset. My company had just finished a CRM implementation for his company, and I had been quite satisfied with the results, having designed some nice sales and marketing automation as well as custom user screens. What could have gone wrong? I needed to scramble to try to assist him and save my company’s reputation. I returned to the client’s offices to begin my investigation. I knew I had done everything within my power to do it right. But I had a sneng suspicion that the problem was related to not something that I did, but something that the client would not let me do. This was before the cloud days. To support his field sales staff, we were using a data synchronization feature in the CRM product to propagate changes to the database. I had attended two days of training to get certified in that module, and had experience setting it up with other clients. But during the implementation, the president (being an engineer) decided that to save some money. He had instead insisted on setting up the synchronization himself, against my protests. I decided to bring in a third party, paying out of my own pocket to hire the best consulting firm in the area that worked with that CRM product. The president of that company came out to review the situation himself. It was a bit tricky to do the forensics, but he soon discovered the problem. “There is nothing wrong with the work you did” he informed me. “He did this to himself.” When the president of the engineering company set up the synchronization, he failed to input a necessary code that would identify which datasets would sync. As a result, when he did the batch sync of what he thought were all his sales records, his vendor records went along for the ride. Then, a field sales rep saw those vendor records, and trying to be helpful, decided to delete them. When the sales rep synced his data back to the home office, the deletions flags were sent as well, deleting the all the company’s vendor records. Having that third party helped me to convince the president that this was his doing, and not a problem with the general CRM implementation I had provided. Now all he had to do was pull the vendors from his backups. When I first started the implementation, I told the president that I wanted to check his backups before I did anything. This he also would not allow, because he managed the backups personally, and they were fine. Or so he thought. It turns out that, being busy running his business, he had not properly set up his backups. Thus, his vendors had not been backed up in ages. At this point, he agreed that none of this was the fault of my services, but because of his decisions to go against my recommendations. I felt bad for him. But I still fired him as a customer. It cost me some money, but I kept my company’s reputation intact. The software vendor soon made dataset codes a requirement to prevent those sorts of mistakes made by clients who didn’t want to pay for trained professionals to do the work. And in hindsight, perhaps I should have made the customer pay for the third-party consultant if the error was discovered to be his. Perhaps I should have insisted that I do all the work, at the risk of sounding like I was trying to milk him for all the business I could get. Running a business is a learning experience after all. Still, I had cleared my name, and in that situation, it’s what mattered. Of course, had the issue been caused by me or my staff, my number one priority would have been fixing the issue and making the customer whole. Even though the nature of technology is different today, there are still some good lessons that I learned in this situation, which I’ll share now.<br></span></div></div><div><ul><li style="text-align:left;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">It’s important that good service contracts are in place to protect both the consulting firm as well as the customer. In this situation, at least the client had enough integrity to admit that the faults were his. But what if he had not? It could have been very costly for me if I didn’t have proper sign-offs and stipulations in my contract.</span></li><li style="text-align:left;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">We all need to be careful about the dangerous combination of having ‘enough’ knowledge to figure it out ourselves and the desire to save every dollar. Pride (and being cheap) often go before a fall.</span></li><li style="text-align:left;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">We need to cultivate a relationship of trust with clients. When money is an issue we need to show we are willing to work with them to achieve the win/win. But if we have built enough trust, we should also expect that they will not resist our strong recommendations.</span></li><li style="text-align:left;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">If clients are still resistant to our sincere warnings. We need to pause to consider if we can improve the trust in the relationship, be willing to respectfully walk away from the project in a way that does not leave the client in the lurch, or at least review contracts and agreements and get the client to state in writing what services they are bypassing against our recommendation.</span></li></ul><div style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Fortunately, with cloud-based platforms, losing backed up data is less of an issue. But we still need to be wary for the sake of all involved that we are not too prideful about our capabilities whether we are service providers or clients. Honesty about what we are good, and not-so-good at is still the best policy. A touch of humility doesn’t hurt either.</span></div></div>
</div></div></div></div></div></div></div> ]]></content:encoded><pubDate>Wed, 03 Oct 2018 10:22:25 -0700</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Raging Sanity Consultants Teams up with Operation Enduring Gratitude to help veterans in need. Here's how you can help too!]]></title><link>https://www.ragingsanity.com/blogs/post/raging-sanity-consultants-teams-up-with-operation-enduring-gratitude-to-help-veterans-in-need</link><description><![CDATA[Raging Sanity forms team to build CRM for a non-profit serving veterans]]></description><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="zpcontent-container blogpost-container "><div data-element-id="elm_hE1g1cbATfGiBYRRQX4sLw" data-element-type="section" class="zpsection "><style type="text/css"></style><div class="zpcontainer-fluid zpcontainer"><div data-element-id="elm_Im_V1Ah4R9egbwO-lR5tcw" data-element-type="row" class="zprow zprow-container zpalign-items- zpjustify-content- " data-equal-column=""><style type="text/css"></style><div data-element-id="elm_dkU_EJDZRNGBd3bSbPxHQg" data-element-type="column" class="zpelem-col zpcol-12 zpcol-md-12 zpcol-sm-12 zpalign-self- "><style type="text/css"></style><div data-element-id="elm_DTb5YKnIRg6LN1j3aZozPw" data-element-type="text" class="zpelement zpelem-text "><style></style><div class="zptext zptext-align-left " data-editor="true"><h4 style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Raging Sanity Consultants Teams up with Operation Enduring Gratitude to help veterans in need. Here's how you can help too!</span></h4><div style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><br></span></div>
<div style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">I met Charlie at a recent Boots to Business training session. He is a man with a passion to help veterans. While he has his own construction company, he lives a spartan lifestyle and devotes most of his energies into his non-profit <a href="https://operationenduringgratitude.org/">Operation Enduring Gratitude</a> (OEG) which constructs access mobility ramps (AmoRamps) so veterans (an others) with mobility challenges can more easily enter and exit their homes. They especially help veterans who have been denied assistance by the VA because their disability is not service connected. I mentioned Charlie at a recent <a href="https://www.southwestveteranschamber.com/">Southwest Veterans Chamber of Commerce</a> meeting, and a couple ladies from another organization which aids veterans shouted out &quot;We love Charlie!&quot; That, and my own lengthy conversations with him lead me to believe that he and his organizations are deserving of their excellent reputation.&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Recently, Raging Sanity Consultants began helping OEG with some web development, and more importantly, integrating their website with their Salesforce instance. We are building an online application for volunteers, donors, and recipients which will post right into Salesforce as a Lead. This will save Charlie and his future staff a lot of time and allow for more robust outreach initiatives in the future.&nbsp; We hope this will help Charlie take OEG to the next level so he can help even more veterans. Many Non-profit organizations don't know that Salesforce generously offers 10 user licenses of a special Non-profit version of their platform. If you'd like more information on this, contact me at rich@ragingsanity.com So what can you do to help? Get the word out! <a href="https://operationenduringgratitude.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/AmoRamp-flyer.pdf">Here is a flyer from Operation Enduring Gratitude</a> to help.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div>
</div></div></div></div></div></div></div> ]]></content:encoded><pubDate>Fri, 07 Sep 2018 17:10:41 -0700</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[East Valley Business Lunch asks Rich Astone to Share about Cloud CRM]]></title><link>https://www.ragingsanity.com/blogs/post/east-valley-business-lunch-asks-rich-astone-to-share-about-cloud-crm</link><description><![CDATA[A 20 minute presentation on how to do CRM right.]]></description><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="zpcontent-container blogpost-container "><div data-element-id="elm_4FNhMHvBQmSMQ7Udgp5R_g" data-element-type="section" class="zpsection "><style type="text/css"></style><div class="zpcontainer-fluid zpcontainer"><div data-element-id="elm_BvQjPtdZQL6R0T2DOCxyJw" data-element-type="row" class="zprow zprow-container zpalign-items- zpjustify-content- " data-equal-column=""><style type="text/css"></style><div data-element-id="elm_Bd3wCc3wQNukOfKX7EYW7A" data-element-type="column" class="zpelem-col zpcol-12 zpcol-md-12 zpcol-sm-12 zpalign-self- "><style type="text/css"></style><div data-element-id="elm_LUT-T958RgaaYFv9BXBoMA" data-element-type="text" class="zpelement zpelem-text "><style></style><div class="zptext zptext-align-left " data-editor="true"><div style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Once again, Rich was asked to present a 20 minute version of How to Do CRM Right to a full house of the EVBL. Our hope is that we can save EVBL members time, money and frustration as they explore ways to improve their business productivity with various cloud solutions. Here’s this shorter version of the presentation that we wanted to share with everyone. https://youtu.be/_YaQbIyE1Zg &nbsp;</span></div></div>
</div><div data-element-id="elm_wwlzT3IkztLNBfzmfNdW3A" data-element-type="video" class="zpelement zpelem-video "><style type="text/css"></style><div class="zpvideo-container zpiframe-align-center zpiframe-mobile-align- zpiframe-tablet-align-"><iframe class="zpvideo " width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/_YaQbIyE1Zg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
</div></div></div></div></div></div> ]]></content:encoded><pubDate>Thu, 23 Aug 2018 14:38:33 -0700</pubDate></item></channel></rss>