Ask YC: What CRM do you use? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask YC: What CRM do you use?

#21

Post by nickhac » Thu, Feb 28, 2008, 2:33 PM UTC

nickhac wrote: post #18

We evaluated SugarCRM and i have heard at least 20+ reccomendtations to use it. In the end we went with salesforce.com and our guys love it... The outlook integration has made it easy to bake into everyday processes (along with xobni for search etc). That said ideally we would like to see something more holistic from CRM. It seems most "CRM" products are really just great at sales pipeline management, and dont really…

You got me thinking so i wrote a blog post about our CRM experience.

Thanks for the inspiration YC :)

http://www.shiftedpixels.com.au/blog/2008/02/choosing-crm-fo...

Re: Ask YC: What CRM do you use?

#22

Post by vdm » Thu, Feb 28, 2008, 2:35 PM UTC

Please, link these things up people.

Re: Ask YC: What CRM do you use?

#23

Post by jyu » Thu, Feb 28, 2008, 2:46 PM UTC

nickhac wrote: post #18

We evaluated SugarCRM and i have heard at least 20+ reccomendtations to use it. In the end we went with salesforce.com and our guys love it... The outlook integration has made it easy to bake into everyday processes (along with xobni for search etc). That said ideally we would like to see something more holistic from CRM. It seems most "CRM" products are really just great at sales pipeline management, and dont really…

What you're asking for doesn't seem like a something a CRM should do. It seems more like a managerial accounting question.

First off, for every new customer, you should have built in metrics to figure out where they came from. For instance, use a different number on your direct mail pieces, use trackable order links in your e-mails and PPC campaigns.

Secondly, place a system to automatically follow up with existing customers. E-mail power user tips after 15 days, Phone call after 45 days of use to gauge satisfaction, etc. For gauging customer satisfaction, you get more useful feedback from someone on the phone than filling out a survey.

Re: Ask YC: What CRM do you use?

#24

Post by carpal » Sat, Mar 01, 2008, 4:09 AM UTC

dshah wrote: post #13

carpal wrote: post #10

Salesforce.com at the moment. It is pretty awful and kind of expensive, so we're developing our own.

Is it really worth it to develop your own CRM (no matter how awful Salesforce.com might be)?

For us, yes. We spend about as much per month on Salesforce as a developer's salary. Might as well devote 2 or 3 months of developer time and come up with something that actually fits our needs.

(sorry for the late response)