I thought I’d start a regular feature (maybe bi-monthly) about the software tools and services used at Clearly Simple Solutions. Of course, there are caveats to this, namely that this post reflects what I use and think is cool at a  specific point in time. What seems like the perfect tool today may not fit the bill tomorrow and I may already have a new favorite. You never know.

I’ll kick off the feature with my current favorite, Batchbook. Batchbook is a “social crm” (the company’s moniker, not mine) from Batchblue. I’ve been using it 6-8 weeks now and so far so good.

How did I chose it? I wish I could say I took copious notes at the time I was reviewing the options, but I didn’t. Personally, I cared about a few things:

• ease of use

• ability to import and export contacts

• to-do list management

• ability to keep track of communications with contacts

• some simple way to do campaign management

• low cost

• web-based

Of course, even though I was looking for a tool for my own business, I was on the lookout for tools that would work well for my small business clients as well. So I discovered a funny thing about CRM tools for small businesses – there are a lot of good ones. I felt like there were a lot of viable choices.  Many small business are successful with Highrise, ZohoCRM, SugarCRM or one of the other major contenders. What it came down to was, well, personality.  What I mean by that in this case is how was combination of design, functionality and support suitable so using it isn’t a chore?  In my case, Batchbook fit the bill.  The site and the tool had the right feel, the right vibe and the right level of functionality; not too little (some are barely more than contact list), not too much (in some the sales and marketing features made me cross-eyed).  I haven’t used the support directly myself yet but the forums and FAQs are easy to use and suggest friendly, quick customer service.

What do I like?

• It was easy to use right away.  For me, reading instructions is what you do after you can’t figure out how to do something.  I very rarely have to read instructions for Batchbook.
• The error messages, when you get them, are clear.
• It is easy to find things.
• Nothing is “in your face” or shouting at you.
• It is way easy to import and export contacts.  You can also add contacts by just forwarding an email to Batchbook.
• I love the social media connections; for each for my contacts I can monitor their Twitter activity, LinkedIn and other social outlets.
• Although I have way too many contacts for the free version, the next level up is attractively priced.
• And the tags and supertags are way cool – anything you can’t do somewhere else you can do with them.  Finally, it integrates well with Mail Chimp which was a pleasant surprise.

What could be better?

• Well, it could be faster, for a start.
• If you add a contact with tags it is two steps instead of one.
• Reporting could be seriously juiced up – I know I am a reformed software engineer but how can you do good queries with no parentheses and no ability to search for null or empty fields?
• What is up with no Facebook integration?

Other than those small quibbles, so far so good.  Not only do I like the tool, I have recommended it to a few friends.  The folks at Batchblue don’t know me from Adam so this is an unbiased opinion.  Tools like Batchbook are ideal for small businesses.

What do you use for YOUR small business?

Over the past few months I’ve needed to local a variety of service providers for my home – oven repair, a new fence, and rodent removal all come to mind. Like I mentioned before, I don’t have a phone book. If the service providers weren’t online, they were out of the running.

In all of these instances it took more work on my part to find providers than I would have liked. Each time I started with a Google search but was quickly frustrated because of the lack of ratings and reviews and because local and non-local companies were co-mingled. I then went to Kudzu.com (a local business directory). I had to do several searches before I found companies to call; if (in the case of the fence companies) their website was to fancy or included ornamental iron work for instance, I skipped them; they must be too expensive or too big to take a small job. I skipped firms with no website or really really ugly websites. I skipped companies with no ratings or reviews. I skipped companies, in the case of the oven repair, that didn’t specifically mention my brand range.

I finally found satisfactory service providers and in all cases I was very happy with the work I had done. But, it should have been a lot easier. What could they have done to make me find them faster?

• If a company doesn’t have a website, it should get one. You don’t HAVE to – many of the local directories allow you to create a free ad without a website. There are, however, folks like me that question your credibility and reliability if you don’t have a site. You can use Google to create a free site now which should be enough to get you started. Eventually, though, I think you’ll find it worth your while to at least invest in a simple, well-designed site to represent your business.

• Companies should take business directory sites like Kudzu more seriously. Most companies have few reviews; encouraging your customers to review you on sites like Yelp.com or Kudzu.com can easily distance you from your competition. And don’t limit yourself to one business directory service; in most metropolitan areas there are usually 3 or 4, including some local area ones. You don’t know which one your customers might use so make sure you are up to date on all of them and that you encourage reviews on all of them. In most cases these listings are free.

• If they find they are getting a decent amount of traffic from one or more of these services companies could consider paying for an “upgraded” account that will often push you up in the search results.

• List your business on the Google Local Business center

• Learn about SEO or hire someone to help them improve their site rankings on the search engines. Particularly in the instance of the appliance repair, having their site show up high in a search for “Atlanta appliance repair Thermador” would have caught my attention.

• Consider adding their company to LinkedIn or adding a Facebook fan page. While these social networking sites might not seem like obvious place for someone to look for services, content on both is regularly crawled by the search engines and would improve site rankings. Besides, you never know WHERE you customer is going to look for you!

Today fewer and fewer people are using traditional media (phone books or newspapers) to find companies. They are using the internet and they aren’t just using search engines. To be successful small companies have to take the time to make sure that they have a wide-spread online presence and that it is appealing and up-to-date because ONLINE is where the customers are!

P.S. In each case, after I received good service from the providers, I went back to Kudzu.com to give them a good review. I happen to know it is good for them but not every customer will think to do that. Another suggestion is to remind your customers at the end of the service that you would appreciate a review!

Fence photo: