Author: Gwen Tamayo

FreeAgent + Mailchimp Resource Guide

You already know all about the latest release FreeAgent CRM Bonsai and the much anticipated best-in-class integration with Mailchimp (the industry-leading email marketing solution).

To help you get started – or take your campaigns to the next level – we’ve created a resource guide with helpful topics that range from pairing Mailchimp within FreeAgent to template design tips to getting the most out the insight of campaign reporting.

FreeAgent + Mailchimp Overview

If you missed the fiesta, find out about the benefits and features of the latest FreeAgent CRM release.

Mailchimp 101

If you’re just starting out with Mailchimp as a marketing tool, this article is a great place to begin.

Getting Started with FreeAgent + Mailchimp Together

Unleashing the power and simplicity of Mailchimp within FreeAgent CRM is as simple as pairing your Mailchimp account.

Email Design Guide

Look and feel professional when using your Mailchimp templates with campaigns launched within FreeAgent. Here’s some great advice on conveying your message with great looking emails for better conversion.

Create Your First Mailchimp + FreeAgent CRM Campaign

Annnd launch! When it’s time to create your first campaign, here’s all you need to know to get started.

Email Marketing Benchmarks

Ever wonder how your campaigns are doing compared to other businesses in your industry? Mailchimp has compiled benchmarks for you.

Getting the Most from Your Mailchimp Reports

See your campaign reports directly in FreeAgent CRM. Follow up perfectly with customers who opened-and-clicked.

Additional Resources

We’re just scratching the surface of what’s available on both platforms. For deeper information, start here:

FreeAgent CRM Tutorials
Mailchimp Marketing Resources

Happy campaigning!

(Customer) Relationship Advice from the Experts – Valentine’s Day Edition

FreeAgent CRM, Customer Relationship Advice

All great relationships require nurturing. And while we don’t usually think of customer relationships the same way we think about love… when it comes to the best expert advice on the subject, we couldn’t help but notice a lot of similarities.

For Valentine’s Day, enjoy this timeless advice from the experts about customer relationships – or any other relationships on your mind today!

1. Challenge your limiting beliefs

Cultivating great relationships with customers even as your company grows is every businesses’ top priority. If you want to scale, you’ll need the right tools, like a great CRM. But you’ll also need the right mindset.

In The Psychology of Selling, Brian Tracy talks about “self-concept.” A person with a good self-concept believes that every day presents a myriad of opportunities – sales opportunities! – no matter what the pipeline looks like, because they believe in their own mission and they believe in themselves to achieve it. They know – and project – that they’re providing immense value. When you’re confident in your own value, customers will believe in your value too. It’s contagious!

2. Be of service

In To Sell is Human, by Daniel Pink, a man is looking to buy a vacuum. But instead of just selling him a vacuum, he suggested being a “problem finder” instead of only a “problem solver.” How can we become more attuned to the hidden problems, rather than the stated problem?

The problem in this case is: He has too much dust in his house. There are many solutions to this – new windows, a housecleaner, or perhaps a new vacuum. Which is the best for him though?

As Pink says,

“This is what it means to serve: improving another’s life and, in turn, improving the world.”

3. Sell benefits, not products

Zig Zeigler, one of the original motivational speakers, and author of many books on sales, says in Selling 101,

“Prospects do not buy products. Prospects buy products of the products — known as benefits… Prospects buy what the product will do for us.”

We can only know how our customers will benefit from our solution when we truly understand their problems. When we really listen.

A benefits-first approach helps your customers get to the heart of your business much faster. After that, be honest about what problems you can solve, and which ones you can’t. We must be authentic in order to foster brand trust and of course, our product must actually benefit our customers in order for them to keep coming back.

(As an aside, Zig also wrote Courtship after Marriage: Romance Can Last a Lifetime. It seems there are crossover qualities in sales and love!)

4. Face your fears

In Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Red Book of Selling, he says,

“You will not get rid of the butterflies, but you can get them flying in formation.”

We all fear rejection, or failure. Avoiding risk, though, is no path to success. Edison tried a thousand times before he successfully built the first light bulb; Michael Jordan missed over 9,000 shots; and Babe Ruth was known as The King of Strikeouts. What these greats have in common is that they were not afraid of failure.

You won’t always be able to help every customer, and you might even get some tough feedback from time to time – or maybe even your whole first year of business. Those companies willing to face challenges – and fix their mistakes – are long-term business material.

FreeAgent CRM is a platform that helps small businesses nurture quality customer relationships. Get set up in less than 20 minutes and start working with a company that believes that CRM means Customer Relationships Matter. Check us out.

Changing the M in CRM

If you’re reading this, you probably already know that CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management; and that a CRM is a system that supposedly manages your contacts and sales cycle.

But in a world of social media where customer relationships die as quickly as they’re started, do customers want to be “managed?” And do customers really want to be managed by a “system,” a robot so-to-speak?

I think not!

Customer relationships actually matter. Feeling unappreciated is the number one reason customers switch away from products and services, and as any successful business owner can tell you, as business expands, time seems to contract.

Customers don’t need to be managed… but time, now that’s another story.

As business grows, there’s a lot less:

Time for follow-ups
Time spent with customers
Time to train employees
Time for product improvements
Time to answer emails

Holy crap… It’s a wonder you ever have any time to sleep!

If you’re pressed for time, can a CRM help?

In a word, YES! Technology is not a be-all/end-all (like some people may have you believe), but automation can definitely help enhance customer relationships. And one of the biggest ways it does this? By freeing your time to focus on what matters most: your customers.

Automation is not a robot

You may be thinking: But the reason I’m successful is because I give everyone a personal touch. They want to do business with ME. But when you’re busy, then what? Emails fall behind, or even worse, get written hastily, without care.

But what if your customers receive a personalized email, at exactly the right time – without you having to remember? AND without you having to repeat the same task every single time, for every single customer? What if you could look down a to-do list with all your follow-ups in one place and never miss a beat?

A CRM that truly fits your business can be easily set up with your personal touch, your voice, your language, and your schedule. Handling business in a timely manner is about as personal as it gets and automation can help you get there.

Data is not your enemy

You might think that tracking every little thing might be a burden, but what if you didn’t have to do anything differently? What if you just did your job and all your communications were logged and filed; and when you wanted, you could just go to a dashboard and see what was happening at any point in time?

An easy-to-use CRM system can do this for you. Look for a CRM that integrates with the tools and services that you’re already using. You know how to do business and a good CRM fits into the way you’re already working. Spend time on cultivating relationships, and leave managing data to your CRM.

Two heads are better than one… until they’re not

Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone could just know what everyone else was doing with customers, so you didn’t have to explain every single thing to every single person? And when there are 30 balls in the air, anyone can grab one and run with it?

A good CRM can make this happen. A CRM that can be simply set up to map to how you do business makes collaboration a way of life, or better put, a way of work. Once you have collaboration running smoothly, you’ll wonder how you managed before.

But my employees won’t use it

If my boss came to me and showed me how my job would be more efficient by following a few simple steps (and maybe if she gave me cookies!), I’m pretty sure I’d get on board pretty quickly!

A CRM platform that is easy to set up and simple to use makes everybody happy. Remember: a good CRM fits into the way you’re already working. (See above!) Productivity goes up without any extra effort; who wouldn’t be happy with that?

So sit down and take a breath

You have time… you deserve it!

FreeAgent CRM is a platform that helps small businesses nurture quality customer relationships. Get set up in less than 20 minutes, and start working with a company that believes that CRM means Customer Relationships Matter. Check us out.