Regardless of the size of your business, your operational workflow or number of employees, one constant is true; manual methods and archaic processes will hold you back. The longer you take to produce a result, the less results you’ll produce. It’s pretty straight forward. That means less revenue and negative growth.

All too often I hear business owners that say, “We’re not there yet” or “we’re not ready for that.” My questions is, ready for what? Success? Growth? If YOU don’t have the vision to improve, innovate, automate or expand, then it might be time to work with someone who can provide a foundation for accelerated growth, because this is something your competitors are most likely already doing and they’re not waiting for you to catch up. In the event you’re concern about you’re employees and their ability to adjust, I would say if you don’t have the employees willing to take on the challenge or make a critical shift in thinking, then it’s probably time to make some tough decisions about your team. All this to say, it’s time to take action and action means change.

Assess your current situation.

The fundamental question is; are you doing it right, today? Because if you’re not you maybe heading for imminent failure, and if you’ve been doing the same thing year after year and generating similar results in annual revenue, then you’ve most likely become complacent. If you’re ok with that, stop reading now. The rest will bore you. For those of you wanting to take your business to the next level then it’s time to change. Implementing the right sales and marketing automation program and strategies are initiatives guaranteed to reduce your effort, and increase (or sustain) your sales.

Automate. Now!
No matter your business or your industry something in your service delivery model can be eliminated, replaced or automated. Shorten the distance between two points, whenever and wherever you can. I’ve still yet to meet a successful, thriving business that once automated their processes, actually choose to downgrade their capabilities to use manual methods instead. Start small, work your way up. Employees who resist automation and prefer manual methods are more set on making value for themselves, rather than for the company. Change their mind or change their position. Period.

5 results you’re bound to see in the first 3 months of incorporating Sales and Marketing Automation.

Faster ROI
Today, far too often when it comes growth, employees and managers alike usually equate growth opportunities to adding bodies to the organization in order to accomplish more. The typical reflex response to needing or having to accomplish more, “we need to hire more people”. If that’s the case, then you better guarantee an increase in revenue (or savings) to justify and pay for the additional person and allow the employee related expenses that follow. It’s often difficult to justify a new hire if the results are unpredictable and speculative. Very few approach growth potential by first improving existing processes to free up wasted time. Implementing timesaving methods, automating processes and eliminating or refining processes should always be the first step towards achieving your growth goals.

Greater perspective
No matter your position or role, automating the administrative duties (in any position) frees you up to be more productive in other responsibilities and allows you to introduce new ideas and processes that can further grow the business. By not overwhelming yourself with administrative work, your mind can focus more clearly generating new ideas to better your operations and tasks, simply because you have the time to. Everyone in the company has an idea, a contribution to bettering the company. Freeing up time and resources is a sure way to executing any idea worth pursuing.

Reduction in workload
Doing less has its personal advantages, without a doubt, but that can mean so much more for the growth and potential of your business. There is always work to be done, but by reducing the administrative and laborious tasks that clutter our days, weeks and months, you will see incredible effect on your business. Administrative duties, like writing follow-up emails, etc. can often be short-cut to take less effort by implementing templates and/or email automation.

Increased Opportunities
If it were possible to take on more business, while actually reducing your workload, wouldn’t you? Sales and marketing automation allows you to accomplish just that. Automating your sales processes lets you increase your sales volume which means increasing your close ratio. Additionally, automating your sales process elinminates time spent with prospects who may not ready to but from you. It also helps keep you stay engaged with leads until they are ready to buy, turning them into opportunities.

Greater Productivety
Whether your reducing repetative work or eliminating it altogether, one thing is for sure, you personnel will feel less stress and pressed for time trying to achieve their sales goals or tasks. Oiling the machine gives your employees renewed focus and energy to contribute in new ways. Challenge them with new responsibilities that have greater rewards.

As a business owner, what do you want from a customer relationship management system? Chances are, you approached the CRM marketplace with a specific set of issues or problems in mind, and so were looking for a piece of software which would provide an effective and comprehensive solution.

This is what separates the men from the boys, so to speak, at least in terms of the right CRM. While the best systems are designed strictly from a solutions-oriented point of view, others offer users a raft of flashy gimmicks, but not much in the way of substance. Below we have a list of some of the mistakes that CRM designers make, and why this sort of thing just will not cut it in the market.

Mistake 1: Disconnect Between Features and Process

With a substandard CRM, the flashy features are like the lure on a fishing line, leading customers towards the hook. There is no logical reasoning behind the conception, development, and deployment of these features, but they look good and sound great. That is until you come to use them, and find that they are completely incompatible with your sales processes.

The best CRMs – just like the best products in any field – are developed with solutions in mind. Their design retains a connection between the features offered and the sales processes operated by the businesses who will be using the software.
When selecting a CRM system, analyze your own sales processes first and assess whether they marry with the capabilities of the product in question. Products like Insightly or Base, for example, require their users to invest in third party systems to produce quotes or proposals. Do your research and avoid paying for two pieces of software to do the job of one.

Mistake 2: Closed Systems

Businesses are not generic entities. Each one has its own quirks and idiosyncrasies, its own nuances and particularities. With this in mind, you need a piece of customer relationship management software that you can make your own, that you can tinker with to ensure that it fits your business-specific processes like a well-made glove.

In order to achieve this, you need a system you can customize and make your own. A really good piece of software will give you a solid base level of functionality which is closely related to your sales processes, but also enable you to go above and beyond its standard abilities.

This is where CRM solutions like Sugar, Mothernode and Salesforce really come into their own. As well as providing a comprehensive array of functionality designed to fully meet the requirements of a growing business, these CRM products operate with customization in mind, giving a business a platform upon which to create a truly bespoke system, especially as their needs evolve.

Don’t settle for an off-the-peg solution. This kind of product might suit a very small operation with only a limit number of requirements and a simplified sales process for a short while, but it is going to do very little for larger operations or for those which are experiencing growth.

Mistake 3: No Fluidity

Just like no two businesses are identical, a business is unlikely to be the same as it was five years ago, or the same as it will be in five years time. As a company grows, its sales processes will change along with it. Its customer retention strategies and success rates will change too. In fact, its entire operational landscape will be altered. A piece of CRM software must be able to keep pace with such developments.

A good CRM is one which has the fluidity to grow with the organization. As functional and operation requirements change, the CRM platform should enable your business to seamlessly transition to the next level.

A piece of software like Mothernode CRM, for example, was scaled down from a larger system, which means organizations experience different levels of functionality as they grow. This top-down approach is beneficial because it prevents a business’ operations from suddenly grinding to a halt when it gets too big for the software it is using.

In fact, the functionality of a system like Mothernode is so wide-ranging that it can be implemented across an entire business, something that most platforms would not be able to cope with. This ability unifies the sales processes within an organization, boosting customer retention rates and delivering improved growth in all areas of the business.

This is the sort of thing you need to be looking for when you go shopping for a new CRM: a mid-market system which grows with your company, enables customization, will boost customer retention rates, and will provide a truly useful level of functionality. There are plenty of them out there; you just need to look.

Offering discounts is a great way to encourage your customers to make a buying decision. Using discounts can help you differentiate your business from your competitors. If you carefully plan your costs, sale price and profit, you can improve your overall results using discounts. Use these tips to use discounts effectively.

1. Attract Customers with One Product Discount

Discounting a product can be a great way to start a relationship with a new customer. Eventually, you may be able to sell that same client a more profitable product down the road.

Say, for example, that you sell hiking gear and outdoor travel packages. You attract a new client with a discounted price for hiking boots. The same customer buys a hiking trip package from you a month later. The second purchase is more profitable for your business.

2. Offer a Discount for Longer-Term Relationships

You can also offer a discount in exchange for a long-term commitment. If you sell magazines, for example, you can discount your subscription price. The price per magazine may be cheaper for a 2-year subscription, rather than a 1-year commitment.

3. Offer Additional Services for Free

Businesses can also discount by offering an additional service for free. A software company may sell and install software while offering software training for free.

If you face heavy competition, you may want to offer discounts to compete for business. It’s important, however, to know your break-even level. Don’t offer a discount that is less than break-even. This strategy allows you to discount and still earn a profit on each sale.

4. Bundle Products Together

Bundling your products allows you to heavily discount one product and still make a reasonable profit on the entire bundle. A bundling strategy can work because the products you put together can be enticing for your customers.

A grocery store may display charcoal, hot dog buns and other grilling items during the summer. The store may heavily discount the charcoal, but make their normal level of profit on the bundle of products.

5. Heavily Discount One In-Demand Product

To draw customers to your business, you may heavily discount a single product that is in demand. This loss leader strategy may increase the number of clients the come into your business. Those clients end up buying other products that have can generate a higher profit for you.

Discounting can be an effective strategy to increase your total sales. Make sure, however, that you’ll clear about the profit you will generate on each product you sell. By using several different strategies, you can increase your sales and profit.

In today’s economy, more businesses are focused on finding ways to improve productivity, acquire more customers, and increase their ROI. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software can make these objectives and many more—a reality for companies that adopt them. Businesses that implement CRM systems realize more opportunities and greater revenue, without necessarily investing in additional sales staff.

However, choosing the right CRM for your unique business needs can prove rather difficult, especially when considering the seemingly endless amount of features, options and price points, across a long list of providers. Below are the top nine best practices for selecting the right CRM for your business.

1. Understand Your Ultimate Needs

What are your company’s growth objectives and current pain points? Do you need a solution that will help drive more business? Where would you like your company to be in the next year years? Do you want to improve customer satisfaction and retention? Choosing the best CRM must entail not just forecasting current needs, but planning for the future as well.

2. Solicit Feedback from Your Team

Determine the ‘must haves’ from the ‘nice to have,’ and understand the bigger picture of how each department creates, accesses and stores data. In addition to involving your marketing, sales, and IT departments, it’s critical to obtain buy-in from a minimum of one C-level executive. Keeping your entire team aware and engaged during the process of CRM selection will ensure the final choice, is the correct choice.

3. Prioritize Your Problem Solving

Getting the whole view of your organization from the standpoint of results and performance can be challenging. It’s pertinent to realize exactly which problems you’re trying to solve today and looking into the future. Some examples of typical problems may include:

• Lost income potential
• Long sales cycles
• Lack of competitive insight
• Failure to track key business metrics
• Communication errors and difficulties

Creating a list of problems that a CRM should help solve provides a more accurate idea of the success you can expect, upon adoption of the platform.

4. Reporting – Garbage in, Garbage Out

Carefully consider which reports are likely to be needed, and ensure the solution you’re considering can actually create them. Many companies are optimistic about their overall performance until a CRM provides the true numbers, and disappointment shortly ensues. Having the ability to create custom reports based on specific data that’s unique to your company, gives you a bird’s eye view of your strengths and weaknesses, and highlights opportunities that could improve your business.

5. Classes of CRM: Be Informed

Your business may need certain features that are only available in certain CRM platforms. Knowing the differences between the various CRM classes is critical to avoid making an expensive mistake, or a mistake which could threaten your company’s existence. Be sure to learn and fully understand the difference between budget CRMs, Mid-market CRMs, and Enterprise CRMs.

• Budget CRMs – often cater to a single user’s needs, and provide only limited functionality
• Mid-market CRMs – cater to teams and organizations for 5 or more users, and generally, have rich functionality with an emphasis on collaboration
• Enterprise CRMs – are designed for larger companies that require complex integrations with other systems, as well as customization

6. Pricing

Cheaper is not always better when choosing a CRM. Sure, budget CRMs attract customers with their monthly subscription models and low pricing, but that’s partly because turnover is so high, and vendors anticipate drop off. In contrast, mid-market CRMs generally require an annual agreement, unlike most budget CRM products.

It’s important to consider, however; once the purchase has been made, additional investments into equipment, software customization, integration, training, maintenance, and upgrades will be needed—if not now, in the years to come. Therefore, it’s crucial to consider not just the upfront costs, but the long-term costs and benefits the CRM will deliver.

7. Implementation and Setup

Implementation and setup activities usually fall under implementation costs and are often a requirement for Mid-Market and enterprise CRMs. Setup and configuration generally include some or all of these types of services:

• Migrating existing Customers and Contacts
• Migrating existing Leads and Opportunities
• User account setup
• Importing Goods and Services
• Configuring your CRM account and workflows for your business
• Training

Be sure to select a CRM vendor that will assist in the setup of your account. It’s important that you get help from a qualified party to set up your CRM, thus maximizing your investment. Failure to have your account setup correctly can lead to poor adoption, or even worse, the ultimate failure of your company’s precious investment.

8. Training and Support

It’s important to ask what kind of training and support the CRM vendor provides after the sale. Ask what forms of training are available and whether it’s on-site or online because if your team is unable to use the software, the best CRM in the world becomes practically worthless.

Furthermore, a certain percentage of users will need extended training and ongoing access to documentation, in order to learn the new CRM and have success using it in their roles. Since support can become a major problem, be sure to inquire about the vendors’ support policies, support hours, and any additional costs which might be involved.

9. Ease of Customization

How many of your business functions can be done with the CRM—right out of the box? How easy can the CRM be customized if more features are needed? Some CRM platforms require setting up the basics in order to start using them, while other systems require advanced customization prior to implementation.

Approaching CRM customization (even basic customization) incorrectly can prove very costly down the line, especially if improper setup warrants the conversion of data into a format that’s more usable or report-friendly. Your CRM should have the flexibility to handle the necessary functions while scaling with your business and its challenges, without needing a replacement.

Choosing the right CRM for your company is a serious process that should be planned thoroughly. Instead of making a quick dash to the most tempting offer, keep this guide handy when the time comes to purchase your first CRM, or upgrade your current platform. Carefully assess your company’s ultimate needs and expectations, and then move into the research process, with everyone onboard. After the right CRM has been adopted and deployed, you’ll have an unfair advantage—even in the fiercest markets.

Measuring profitability, Hollywood style

I recently read a Forbes online article (late 2014) that showcased the top 10 actors in Hollywood that produced the least ROI on their films. At the top of the list was Adam Sandler who returned $3.20 for every 1.00 paid. Adam was followed by Johnny Depp who was next in line at $4.10 returned for every $1.00 spent.

While these numbers won’t put an end to their careers, they certainly are revealing to the kind of initial return these actors could make for their future films. Their next films might be great productions told by Academy Award-winning directors, but for these actors with a recent portfolio of less desirable films, it may just be the kind of prediction producers would like to avoid, based on the reputation of their recent works.

A sucker for business intelligence, I thought about this analytics and wondered how many business owners and sales managers measure similar criteria with their own sales reps. Essentially, how well do you know your own sales? Whether you’re a veteran CRM user or a pro at Excel, sales analytics are instrumental in making the right decisions for your business and its ultimate success. But do you really know or routinely measure the cost of each sale or more specifically; each sales rep?

Incomplete data tells only half the story

Caution: CRMs can be deceptively optimistic in some cases because many of them only show you sales performance and neglect much of the relevant data that can tell you whether or not your rep is as successful as your dashboards charts and graphs make them out to be. Almost every CRM on the market focus on sales performance and don’t tell the other side of the story, which are the costs that coincide with sales. If your reps are diligently using their CRM then tracking their sales (revenue) is the obvious part. Your accounting software will fill in the blanks and tell you the rest of the story.

Here are some costs that you need to factor in that will help illustrate how successful your sales reps truly are.

Salary and Benefits

Seems like an obvious starting point, but what employees and sales managers often omit when injecting salary into the equation are hidden costs that the company incurs like payroll taxes and benefits, to name some. Be sure that you sum up the complete compensation package and not just the base. A few variables that may or may not apply are payroll taxes, 401(k) contribution, and insurances such as health, dental, vision, life, etc. Add all those up and you’ll quickly discover that benefits and taxes can easily add another $15,000 – $20,000 on top of a base salary. Rising healthcare costs are re-negotiated on an annual basis, so you should be sure to adjust these numbers each year before setting sales quotas.

Commissions

Most sales reps earn commissions on each sale and usually subject to various types of sales activities, margins, products, seasons, etc. These should always be tracked separately because this number is generally different each month unless the rep consistently doesn’t sell a dime.

Travel Expenses

If you’re in outside sales, travel is part of the job. For some, travel may be local and simply mean driving from one side of the town to the other, visiting prospects, engaging in meetings and knocking on doors. Expenses may include mileage reimbursement or a car allowance, and even a few lunch meetings. These would be general expenses that influence the cost of your rep. For other’s, regional, national and even international selling requires one or more long-distance trips that include airfare and/or all the expenses that come with lodging. Meals and entertainment also play a factor. Always factor in your travel expenses and how many times you will be required to visit the customer at their location during and after the sale. Neglecting to consider this type of activity can wildly distort your rep’s profitability.

Meals and Entertainment

While this can coincide with Travel, it’s a category on its own, simply because you don’t have to travel to take a client to lunch or offer them tickets to a local baseball game. Lunch meetings can be deceptively inexpensive, but if your rep finds that’s the best way to do business it will add up quickly. Consider factoring this into your sales budget and letting your rep know what their monthly expenditure is. This is also is part of their overall cost.

Lead Services

Some lead services can be a great way to bypass prospecting and qualifying leads early in the sales cycle, allowing your sales reps to enter a maturing sales process, shortening the time to close. However, lead services cost money and are usually determined by the lead criteria. If your sales rep depends on this service, then this cost (at least the cost of the leads they’ve been assigned) is also a significant attribution to their overall expense.

Associations and Memberships

Sometimes you have to pay to play, even if it just means keeping up appearances. Joining an association may bring you closer to prospective clients and keep your company’s name top of industry mind, but not without cost, so you’d better be sure there is adequate ROI when paying your membership dues. Chamber memberships and networking organizations are the most common examples of organizations with annual or even monthly fees.

As a consumer aren’t you always impressed when the vendor you are buying from has made your purchasing process convenient, by offering online merchant services? Whether it’s ordering from your favorite pizza shop, booking a weekend getaway or shopping for the holidays, buying made easy gets you want you want quickly and is easy money for the vendor, creating a win-win for everyone. In fact in this day and age you would expect nothing less than e-commerce from vendors, and might probably think less of any vendor who didn’t offer the convenience of online transactions.

But not all business is transactional, meaning you can’t always order, pay and get your product delivered. Sometimes you need to request a quote, because your order has too many custom or unique elements. We often experience this when ordering products that require complementing services as well, like custom setup or installation for products such as kitchen cabinetry, flooring services, painting and so on. In these cases, each require estimates based on variables in your home that are unique to you.

These instances are consultative sales as opposed to transactional sales and require boots on the ground to provide accurate, custom pricing. One of the disadvantages of this kind of sale is it takes a time commitment for the vendor to provide pricing and estimates to the customer and more often than not, the customer is shopping multiple vendors to get the best pricing and services possible.

As the consumer, there are observations you’ll make in the buying process when selecting a vendor. Price and product quality and options are certainly at the forefront. What about the company’s image? The look of the truck outside the house or the salesman’s appearance and professionalism. They also play an important factor. I think we’ve all been discourage enough times by poor representation that it cost a vendor losing the opportunity to earn our business.

As the vendor, when competing for business, you need to do anything and everything you can to differentiate yourself from the competition. Time kills all deals, so as the vendor you’ll need to consider what you can do to shorten your sales cycle, especially in a bidding situation.

We already agree and appreciate the convenience of order automation, however, we’ve also determined that electronic ordering isn’t a solution for every business and industry, because not all transactions can occur online. But what about electronic quoting? Wouldn’t that be a valuable asset that could differentiate you (the vendor) from the competition and even shorten your sales cycle in come cases?

Providing accurate pricing options, quickly to your customers (even on the spot) in an electronic format could just be the advantage you need to win the sale. Here’s a few considerations.

• Automating your quoting process is the first significant differentiator in your sales process .
• Because the quote is a PDF document, prospects can share the document with other decision makers by simply forwarding it in an email.
• The customer has everything they need in a clean PDF format in order for them to review.
• Customers have the convenience of approving the document online.
• Throughout the sales process you can review how many times the customer has viewed the document or be alerted if they have even viewed it at all. This can help you gauge their interest and you can follow-up accordingly.
• Signed documents are automatically archived with the original quote and the customer profile.
• Your complete selling process is electronic and everything, including your customer’s approval is incorporated into your workflow.
• Your business is participating in an environmental conscience process.

Examples

These short tutorials provide you with an overview of 2 types of electronic quotes you can prepare for your customer in Mothernode CRM and ERP.

Download

The download option lets you send the quote electronically with a link to download. Once the document is downloaded, the viewing activity is recorded in the quote. The feature is also available for other types of transactions in various Mothernode editions, including Purchase Orders, Sales Orders, Change Orders, Work Orders and Invoices.

Approval

The approval process allows your customers automatically approve the quote and proposal in addition to downloading it. Customers will receive a copy of their signed transactions and Mothernode users will also be alerted to when the quote was approved and a digital copy will be archived with the quote.

Want to learn more about how Mothernode CRM and ERP can benefit your business? Schedule a demonstration for your business today.

http://www.mothernode.com/mothernode-demo/

Delivering quotes to your prospects in a timely and professional format can be an important influencer in your sales process, even more than you may think. It can demonstrate your company’s ability to quickly deliver results, even before the sale is made, which can have significant impact when it comes to winning business over the competition. Offering premium services to prospects and customers alike is a key differentiator, especially when you combine those services with competitive pricing.

But your customers aren’t the only ones who benefit from quote automation. Automating the quoting process also means streamlining and simplifying your own workflow. The ability to generate and deliver quotes faster means you can manage more business opportunities, with less effort. Essentially, Mothernode Quotes help you increase your close ratio and win more business in less time.

Here are a few Mothernode Quote features that can help you produce and deliver powerful, profitable quotes in record time.

1. Products and Services

Products and Services is a ‘light’ inventory feature available in all Mothernode products that allows to quickly add items to new quotes. This will save you time when adding common line items to your quotes by automatically populating item names, descriptions, price, markup, and even lets you determine if it is taxable or not. You can also configure select products and services to be added in to all types of transactions, like Purchase Orders, Sales Orders as well as Quotes. Other modules will depend on your Mothernode Edition.

2. Advanced Inventory

If you want more features for your goods and services and pricing needs, Mothernode’s Advanced Inventory Module gives users the ability to add multiple items with ease. You can add related and upsell products, set multiple pricing levels for each product, keep track of stock levels, create sales bundles and more. Using Mothernode Inventory is a great way to save time when adding items you sell to quotes and other transactions.

3. Line Item Notes

Add notes to each of your line items with the option to communicate special information internally or to your customer. When reselling goods and services from vendors, you can also notate your original pricing source for your internal records.

4. Margin Watch

Mothernode helps users stay on task when it comes to pricing by giving them the tools they need to make sure markups and margins are carefully guarded, so your business can maintain the profitability you expect. This option feature let’s Sales Managers and Business Owners alike determine their baseline margin options.

5. Sub Items

Mothernode users have the ability to combine one or more line items together and roll them up into a single item and cost. This is ideal for complex pricing needs or in situations where you don’t want to reveal costs associated with particular products or services.

6. Electronic Delivery

Mothernode gives users the ability to submit quotes to their customers and prospects electronically via email and downloadable link. Mothernode automatically let’s you know via notifications each time the recipient receives and downloads their quote. This fantastic feature helps users gage their recipients’ interest and confirms their proposal was successfully transmitted and received. Electronic delivery is also available to communicate other transactions, such as Purchase Orders, Invoices and Work Orders, in applicable Mothernode Editions.

7. Electronic Signing

Simplify your approval process by giving your customers and prospects the ability to electronically sign their quotes. Mothernode gives you the option to send your prospects an electronic version of the quote they can approve on their desktop, tablet and mobile device. They even have the option to sign with their finger. All signed proposals are archived with the original quote for quick and easy reference, and all parties are notified when documents are approved.

8. Collaboration

Users can interact with their colleagues when creating quotes. Social media style collaboration lets users request pricing assistance and communicate important decisions to people on your team. Notifications communicate necessary actions and updates to everyone involved.

9. Discounting Options

Global discounts are neatly communicated to your customer at the bottom of every quote. Users can also offer discounts for each line item, when needing to provide more aggressive pricing.

10. Tax Exempt Quotes

Users who often deal with Tax Exempt situations can easily include Tax Exempt IDs into quotes, which will automatically remove any applicable tax charges from quote totals.

11. Resorting

Add line items quickly and resort them for proper presentation when they’re completed. This time-saving feature lets you complete your work quicker and worry about format at the very end.

12. Multi-Currency

Whether you have offices around the globe or have a client base around the world, Mothernode lets you assign currency settings to your customers and vendors, so payment information is clear on all your Quotes, Invoices, Sales Orders and Purchase Orders.

Mothernode is the perfect cloud-based CRM solution for small to mid-sized businesses who are looking for a reliable way to organize their customers, contacts and sales process. Its easy-to-use interface lets users accomplish more, with less effort. Users can collaborate more effectively using Dialogue, a powerful social media style collaboration component that keeps everyone updated on important activities while reducing unnecessary internal communication.

There are multiple Mothernode Editions emphasizing different solutions and capabilities, such as sales and marketing, customer support, lead capture forms, campaign management, cases, quotes or vendor management, to name a few. All editions focus heavily on customer management, placing your relationship history, notes, emails, events and transactions at the center of it all, in a single screen profile. Users can also benefit from email and calendar integration with Outlook, iCal and Google, letting them simultaneously keep track of communications and appointments in the applications they depend on most and in their Mothernode contacts. The Mothernode Mobile platform makes accessing your data, servicing your customers, adding new opportunities and interacting with your team all possible on your IOS, Android and Windows devices, with slick, easy-to-use interface.

Mothernode is one of few CRMs on the market that can include ERP capabilities, such as advanced inventory, order fulfillment and even invoicing. All of this is made possible by adding features from Mothernode ERP when and if required. This is a plus for customers that are looking for a CRM with added workflow or features that traditionally don’t exist in the CRM world. As your business or usage needs expand, customers can grow into different Mothernode modules rather than grow out of the product’s native capabilities, which often requires additional investment in third-party technologies.

Each Mothernode Edition begins with a 5 user minimum. Unlike other CRMs in its class, customers with term agreements can benefit from flexibility of monthly subscriptions and avoid annual balloon payments that can often occur with term renewals.

For customers that are looking for quoting and proposals, Mothernode rises above any other CRM in its class. Users can produce powerful quotes in minutes and have the option to use our advanced inventory module to add bundles, upsell and recommend products, combine line items to make a single product, version their quotes, export them to QuickBooks and so much more. Mothernode is also one of the only CRMs to offer electronic quote approval, a feature commonly offered in complementary products and add-ons for an additional cost. Let your customer sign quotes from anywhere, including their tablet and smartphone by simply using their finger to scribe their signature.

Mothernode delivers an intuitive interface throughout every module that stimulates easy adoption. In fact, independent studies, based on user feedback have recognized Mothernode to be best in class for ease of use, ease of deployment and overall best value for a CRM in the small and mid-sized business market.

Customer service and support are also at the forefront of our client success stories. Unlike other software titles, each Mothernode CRM customer is assigned their very own Account Manager (1 or more) who will partner with them for the life of their subscription on all term agreements. From implementation through routine support, Mothernode provides our customers with the peace of mind and product experience that can lead them to unlocking the full potential of their CRM.