Every now and then when strategizing with a client about their business, we get a puzzled look from someone, expressing “what is a CRM?”  CRM, is an abbreviation for Customer Relationship Management, which dates back to the 1970s when companies began using computers to track interactions with their customers.  In fact, while working for Accenture in 2001 I was on the development team designing and developing a custom CRM system for AT&T.  This new platform was able to merge all client data from old legacy systems into one customer portal.

Back in the day, CRM software was not purchased off the shelf… it was 100% custom built for the business needs. With current technology today, there are plenty of low-cost, yet powerful options.  S9 Digital always discusses a CRM during an initial digital transformation strategy meeting with our clients.

CRM Systems for Small Businesses and Enterprises

Most businesses today use some form of CRM, such as a simple single-user setup or a true enterprise-class software configuration. Originally serving as a basic database for customer names and contact information, systems evolved over the past 20 years to include highly-specialized industry functions, interfaces, extensive data analytics, and API integrations. A quick Google search will reveal thousands of CRM products. Although some solutions provide general customer tracking, many offer industry-specific CRM systems. Such as a platform to handle real estate, finance, mortgage, investment, or even insurance industry data.

The Purpose of CRM Systems

A CRM system provides a way to organize and optimize a businesses customer information and activities supporting customer relations. That is, the software can store contacts, notes, activities and far more – for customers or prospects. That data can be made accessible to sales teams, support staff, management, accounting departments or anyone else who needs access. A CRM system today is often the hub for a business, driving nearly all marketing, sales, support, and accounting operations. It becomes a highly valuable component of the business. So a CRM can serve as lead management, customer service, billing or any number of other functions.

Do You NEED a CRM System?

If your company doesn’t already use a CRM System, perhaps you may want to consider one to help you collect valuable business data in a single location, while making it accessible to your team across locations and devices. If your company is growing, a central customer database becomes essential. Finding a CRM solution that addresses all your unique requirements can be a daunting task (remember there are thousands of CRM systems!)  Start by developing a wish list of ideas that would streamline your customer management that you use in your evaluations. Once the CRM system is in place, you can focus on serving the needs of your prospects and customers. The CRM system helps you keep better track of the results.

Of course, there are tons of CRM systems out there, each with plenty of features to choose from.

Best Business CRMs on the Market Today

1.) HubSpot

The CRM from HubSpot is entirely free to use with the option of paying for extra marketing or sales modules. This is a great solution for small businesses on a tight budget. HubSpot’s CRM offers reliable basics such as logging emails, tracking deals, assigning tasks and building databases. The best thing about this system is that it supports unlimited users and storage. However, the reporting tools leave a lot to be desired, so you might have to use HubSpot Sales, which is free. Still, for a free package, it is super useful and reliable.

2.) Zoho

If you choose to use Zoho, you can opt for the Standard $12 per user/month plan, the Professional $20 per user/month plan, the Enterprise $35 per user/month plan, or the ultimate $100 per user/month plan, according to your needs and expectations. A flexible solution for small businesses, Zoho offers contact management, sales automation, social media integration and more. If you need more out of this CRM, you can use other compatible Zoho products such as web forms and customer support. Additionally, the practical mobile app gives you access to data on the go and allows you to locate leads on maps.

3.) Insightly

Insightly values versatility, which is why they offer 5 plans for their customers to choose from. There is a Free plan for up to 2 users, the Basic plan for $12 per user/month, the Plus plan for $29 per user/month, the Professional plan for $49 per user/month and the Enterprise plan for $99 per user/month. A powerful CRM, Insightly emphasizes project management. It allows you to assign tasks, establish milestones, define schedules, create reports, make notes, attach files and much more. The sales management features include mass email support and social networking integration.

4.) Salesforce

Salesforce is the big player of the CRM world, with mature products, trailblazing features, and an unbeatable installed user base. The Salesforce CRM catalog is always evolving, but the Sales Cloud is a good bet for most enterprises. Its AI-driven opportunity management engine, Einstein, is one of its more popular new innovations.

5.) Pipedrive

Pipedrive is focused around activity-based selling – that is, all the actions that lead to a sale. That makes it perfect for inbound selling, as it takes a granular approach to identifying, reporting, and leveraging lead actions that can move the sales process forward. It comes in an easy and intuitive package out of the box. For power-users, everything can be customized to meet your exact needs.

6.) Apptivo

With Apptivo you can choose one of their three pricing plans. The Starter plan is free for three users. Alternatively, the premium plan is $8.33 per user/ month, and the ultimate plan is $20.83 per user/month. The last two plans can be tested in a free trial. Apptivo promises to increase your sales with the help of a Sales Pipeline that allows you to keep an eye on closing deals and prospects. The Conversions option enables users to convert opportunities into invoices, quotes or projects. A comprehensive CRM, this intuitive system helps you easily manage tasks, schedules, contacts and notes in a time-efficient manner.

7.) Nimble

Nimble offers a single pricing option for their clients: $22 per license/month to get access to their contact management, sales, and marketing automation, deal pipeline and reporting, e-mail tracking and analytics and much more. You can also try the system for free for 14 days to see if Nimble is a good match for your small business. Nimble’s lightweight platform allows you to focus on the fundamentals. All online conversations are visible and the powerful search tool quickly pulls out all the data you need.

8.) Bitrix24

Bitrix24 CRM is free to use if you have less than 12 users. The Plus plan is $39 per month for 24 users.  However, the Standard plan is only $99 per month for an unlimited number of users. At this price, it’s a low-cost enterprise solution. An excellent choice for small businesses, Bitrix24 offers many powerful tools such as document handling, employee management, collaboration, project management and instant messaging. This powerful system allows you to log sent emails, recorded calls, leads and issued invoices without breaking a sweat.

9.) Capsule CRM

You can use Capsule CRM for free if you have up to 2 users or you can choose the Professional plan for $12 per user/month. The idea behind this system is a minimalist approach that focuses only on the basics.  Such as tasks, sales pipeline, scheduling, collaboration, and contact management. The handy tools of Capsule CRM allow you to keep track of your client’s social media, tag or organize contacts and attach documents to their records.

10.) InStream

The Freelancer plan for InStream is $6 per month for one user, but you can easily upgrade to the Basic plan for $10 per user/month, the Business plan for $19 per user/month or the Premium for $29 per user/month. Stay up to date with the nifty features of InStream.  Such as their social media integration, logged calls and emails, and detailed contacts management. Thanks to its flawless integration with other systems, InStream is easy to use.  It also will sync with your Google calendar to keep you on top of your schedule.

Watch YOUR Vision Come to Life

Today’s digital challenges cannot be solved with conventional approaches. The unique blend of our expertise and experience across the world of digital enables us to create products, solutions, and campaigns which truly transform brands and organizations – opening up new possibilities, inspiring audiences, and attracting customers. If you are interested in a CRM for your company or organization, then please contact S9 Digital to set up your FREE Consultation.

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Lake Stevens Tax Service Launches New Website

S9 Digital is pleased to announce the launch of a new and improved website for Lake Stevens Tax Service | LSTAX.com.  The new website is an important component in the firms effort to demonstrate leadership in the digital space among accounting, audit and tax advisory firms.  We invite you to visit www.lstax.com and explore the services that the firm has to offer.

“I’m excited about the launch of our new website,” said Juston Masuda, CPA and Owner.  “As we continuously focus on adding relevant and engaging content, we believe that the site will become a valuable resource to our clients, and be a big asset to the firm.”

Website Design Features

Key factors among the improvements include:

• Responsive design that assures all content adjusts to the user’s individual device, be it a desktop, tablet or smart phone, and scales information so that it displays correctly, and provides an optimal viewing experience.
• The new site has a clean, modern design which improves a visitors’ experience so that they can easily navigate through the site and find the information they need. Additionally, we have included custom images of Lake Stevens and their team, in order to provide a more personal and realistic representation of the firm.
• Lake Stevens Tax Service’s professional staff have a wealth of experience and expertise that will be shared via the website news and insights section where they can offer high quality content via blogs, eNewsletters, eBooks, guides and white papers.
• Individual pages that are simpler, yet detailed and unique which better explain Lake Stevens Tax Service’s capabilities in each service area and across each unique industry that they serve. Here are examples of a service page.

New Client Portal

Partnering with S9 Digital, Lake Stevens Tax Service was able to create an innovative new website focused on creating a positive user experience for its clients.  Not only was a new website launched, but we also integrated a new client portal utilizing ShareFile, by Citrix.  The new portal will allow Lake Stevens Tax Service staff to effectively and securely communicate and share important tax documents with its clients.  This will ultimately save the firm time, thus allowing their staff to focus on what matters most… exceptional client service!

About Lake Stevens Tax Service

Lake Stevens Tax Service has been providing high quality personal and business tax preparation services to thousands of clients since 1981. Our clients are our number one priority and our main source of new business.

For many, tax preparation is an extremely stressful annual event; our goal is to make the process fun, relaxing and stress-free. Our knowledge of the tax code is based on years of experience, not computer software, which allows us to focus on your individual situation and needs.

Lake Stevens Tax Service is open year round for your accounting and tax preparation needs. We have five employees working at the office to receive your calls, prepare returns, represent you before the IRS or state agencies, and to deal with any issues that need your attention. Most calls to the office can be answered immediately and without a charge to you, unlike most of those larger firms.

Watch YOUR Vision Come to Life

Today’s digital challenges cannot be solved with conventional approaches. The unique blend of our expertise and experience across the world of digital enables us to create products, solutions, and campaigns which truly transform brands and organizations – opening up new possibilities, inspiring audiences, and attracting customers. If you are interested in a digital transformation of your company or organization, then please contact S9 Digital to set up your FREE Consultation.

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Overview

To be successful, business’ need to enhance their online presence and optimize their virtual footprint to compete in today’s digital world. Our team at S9 Digital has over 20 years of combined experience in helping clients successfully design and implement digital solutions ranging from mobile sites and web applications to marketing and operations.

Without a comprehensive marketing strategy in today’s digitally-driven culture, it’s easy to lose ground to competitors. This is even more evident while operating in the highly competitive real estate industry. After our FREE consultation, Kathi Davis, a Seattle east-side based real estate broker realized that in order to stand out in a competitive market she needed the right digital agency to help with:

• Creating a compelling business website that drives traffic and customers.
• Connecting with users across multiple online traffic channels and deliver them to the website.
• Systematically builds meaningful relationships with visitors and turn them into customers.
• Use data to better understand her target customers and optimize her marketing strategies over time.

If a small investment was not made in developing an irresistible online presence, Kathi would miss the opportunity to reach an enormous group of new customers. This could result in a loss of market share and ultimately hurt her brand.

The Market – Real Estate

Real estate is an integral part of the economy of any country. On an average, it accounts for about 11% of the gross domestic profit.

A Seattle east-side based real estate broker was facing challenges in achieving sales due to stiff competition and changes in the economy. The broker soon realized that the old brochure-style website was a passé which needed to change in a hurry. An upgrade to help her promote new properties and break new ground was the need of the hour. The owner also wanted to offer her clients some value-added services that would help them get more takers for their properties.

When Kathi Davis came to S9 Digital, the majority of her new leads came from referrals. Though this is a good situation to be in, however, she wanted to maximize her online presence to attract more visitors to her website. As a strategy to convert more leads into clients, she wanted to position her brokerage as a market leader in residential real estate specializing to both buyers and sellers. She also wanted to offer assistance to her current clients to help them sell faster and maximize their profits thereby building customer loyalty.

Gap Analysis

• To emerge above the competition and design a search engine optimized website.
• To drive more traffic to the website.
• A mobile responsive website.
• A website optimized for lead generation.
• To create a news | insights section.
• A website with social media integration.
• To create SEO optimized landing pages for new property listings.
• To create a comprehensive marketing plan.

S9 Digital Transformation Solutions

• We created a strong web presence so that the site could be easily indexed on search engines. Making her website search-engine friendly was vital to boost local organic SEO and attract new leads.

• We did on page & off page optimization to drive a sizeable traffic to the site as well as achieve top keyword ranking in major search engines. We also expanded the digital footprint by making an impactful presence across major social media.

• We built the platform using a Content Management System (CMS).

• Content is king. Keeping in line with this, we had to create an eco-system such that the content from any blog is efficiently updated on all integrated social media channels like Facebook and Twitter and create as many backlinks as possible to the site. Which is why we also factored in an ongoing backlinking strategy to continually improve rankings.

• With over 60% of traffic coming from a handheld device, it was imperative to make the website perfectly responsive. We built the website in a way to ensure that it renders well across all devices of varying screen sizes.

• We connected her website to the MLS listing service to allow clients to easily search new listings and quickly request a showing with Kathi via the live chatbot.

• We created, developed, and launched a website and a full marketing plan with the following:
  • A contact form linked to an email address created specifically for the property.
  • A fully interactive gallery showcasing all properties.
  • A traditional and interactive marketing plan created specifically to drive qualified leads back to the website.
  • Optimized the website for search results (SEO).

Results

After delivering our Digital Transformation Solutions to the customer, our client is already starting to see the benefits with an 1160% increase in website traffic in only a few weeks since going live.   However, we are just getting started with several marketing campaigns that include Google AdWords and target social media marketing that will drive even more site traffic, in turn, delivering new leads.

Watch YOUR Vision Come to Life

Today’s digital challenges cannot be solved with conventional approaches. The unique blend of our expertise and experience across the world of digital enables us to create products, solutions, and campaigns which truly transform brands and organizations – opening up new possibilities, inspiring audiences, and attracting customers. If you are interested in a digital transformation of your company or organization, then please contact S9 Digital to set up your FREE Consultation.

To Learn More about Kathi Davis Real Estate or get a FREE home selling or buying consultation please visit her new mobile site KathiDavisRealEstate.com.

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