I’ve posted a new article on my website. Over the past several years I’ve conducted a non-scientific survey of association executives, asking them simply what was top of mind with management of their database. For a change of pace, I’ve asked the AMS vendors to respond to a set of three questions about how their […]
New Article Posted – What AMS Vendors Think – 2010 Read More »
A good friend of mine, Vinay Kumar, once owned a printing company that he grew from under $200,000 in annual sales to over $5 million! I asked him how he did it, and he pointed me to this post on his blog, where he writes: Every quarter or so, we would print out a “year-end”
Using your data to increase sales Read More »
I was recently reading about a speech that Emily Yellin, author of Your Call is (Not That) Important to Us, where she recounts meeting a customer service representative (CSR) who had worked as a CSR for two and a half years but had never met a customer. She was, naturally, appalled by this, and suggested
Have you ever actually MET your members? Read More »
There is an old aphorism in sales that objections are a sign of interest. In other words, whether a sales prospect is agreeing with you or disagreeing with you, that’s okay, because it means they’re engaged. The worst type of behavior is indifference. And so it is with data management. Users that are requesting new
More Requests Means Staff is USING the Database Read More »
In a recent issue of CRM magazine, an article outlined how Beazer Homes was able to use their database (salesforce.com) to increase sales by 52 percent, even though the number of leads coming through the organization had gone down (35% fewer!). They did this by systematizing how they managed sales leads, and by focusing on
Fewer Leads, Higher Sales Read More »
A colleague of mine asked me, at what point do you say: “Our database is good enough? We don’t need to keep upgrading?” I think that’s a fair question. And I think the answer lies in whether or not you’re achieving success with your current system. Fact is, I’m a big geek. I love technology
Success, not perfection, with your database Read More »
Avectra is one of the major players in the AMS market, and a company with which I’ve been associated for over a decade (even prior to their creation as Avectra). NFI Studios is a web-development firm that, among other things, has a product called MemberFuse, which is a white label social networking platform. Avectra announced
Avectra Acquires NFI Studios Read More »
The latest product to be added to the large list of companies serving the association market is Membersuite. Membersuite is headed up by Andrew Ryan, who has a long history of software development in the association market. I’ve had a chance to see a demo of the new product, and at first blush, I’m very
New AMS Vendor Enters the Market Read More »
For the past four days I’ve been a single parent. My wife has been on a well-deserved trip (to the Bahamas!), which means it’s been my job to take care of, and shuttle around to activities, all four of my children. Over the course of the past four days, I’ve had to take kids to
Single Parenting and Data Management Read More »
I’ve posted a new article to my website. Customizing your database is always an option, but it should be the last one rather than the first. I’ve written quite a bit in the past about my distaste for homegrown custom software systems. My logic is simple: for most association management processes, the wheel has already
New Article Posted – Sometimes You HAVE to Customize Read More »