Salesforce vs Maximizer

Tracey,

In answer to your question Maximiser is more of a contact managment system, great for looking after contacts and can be configured relatively easily but you may wish to think about scalability and flexibility as your company grows. Salesforce in contrast is a true CRM product and is easy to implement, however you should consider issues with up-time of the service and the cost of the offering after 3 years.

I would strongly recommend that before you decide on a product ask a CRM consultant to analyse your business and define your requirements from a neutral perspective this will then give you a structured way to make the right decision on product.

To be honest there are many, many CRM systems out there that can hold the details you require. The trick is to find the right application that will do all the things you need now, has the flexibility to grow with your organisation and is the most cost effective.

In summary, from the CRM requirements you have listed I would recommend that you should consider the following options over and above Maximiser and Salesforce.com:
MS CRM
Sage MME
Act!
Goldmine

Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.

Goodluck!

Sarah McRow
sarah.mcrow@pythagoras.co.uk

Tracey,

We're biased of course, but on the face of it Really Simple Systems, www.reallysimplesystems.com, would meet your requirements.

Our Campaign Management include multi-tier campaigns (write, then call, then email) and the ability to send and track marketing emails from within the system, unlike Salesforce et al.

Regards,
John Paterson

Hi

Sage CRM would be well worth considering particularly given its capabilities to manage subscriptions with an integrated best of breed e-mail marketing tool.

Back office (subscription invoicing) and free of charge integration to Sage Accounts applications is also well work considering.

Sage CRM is available in both an onsite (maximiser type model) and hosted environments (salesforce type model) with the added beneift of trying before you buy in a hosted environment.

I would be happy to set up a free of charge trial / discuss your requirements in more detail / provide a more tailored demonstration.

As one of Sage's largest resellers we have over 700 customers with many subscription / membership organistaions in that number

kind regards

Robert Pope
robert.pope@bdegroup.co.uk
0870 128 7800

Hi Tracey,

Have you considered GoldMine? We at Armstrong Consultants are experienced in CRM implementations - indeed I have a case study of a customer for whom we replaced Telemagic with GoldMine.

Drop me an email and I'd be happy to help further.

kind regards

Claire Jones
Armstrong Consultants
claire.jones@armstrong-consultants.com

Tracey, the only advice I would give is before you make any choice ask the MD to consider how far he wants to go with CRM and does he have a customer strategy in place?

Research and experience repeatedly show that having a customer strategy in place that systems, processes and skills can accomodate, is much more likely to lead to success and a successful choice.

Good luck with your decision.

warmest regards

Jeremy

p.s. if you want to email me directly with specific questions you contact me on: jeremy.cox@mycustomer.com

Let us know how you get on.

Have you considered Sage CRM.com? Or a "hosted" solution utlilising Sage SalesLogix? Let me know if you would like further information.