Unlocking CRM Potential: What to Look for and Why

Let’s get this out of the way right now: I am not a CRM implementation expert. My job is to train and strategize with Online Sales Counselors (OSCs) and companies to help them thrive in their roles and their adoption of the CRM across all departments. It’s important for the marketing, sales, and online salespeople to all be rowing in the same direction when it comes to big tools like the CRM. I’ll give you the ideas and the parameters, but I leave the nitty-gritty of CRM setup to the techies and specialists. What I do know is what a CRM should be able to do for you as an OSC in the homebuilding industry. It’s up to you to become the expert on the platform your company uses. And let’s be honest—often OSCs end up being the CRM experts in their companies. So, roll up your sleeves, dive in, and figure it out. Here’s the good news: there are resources everywhere. Your CRM likely has a support team, a knowledge base, and (bless the internet gods) YouTube. You can Google just about anything these days. Or—and here’s a crazy idea—you can play with it. Tinker, explore, and press all…

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Gaining Momentum: Positive Energy Creates Positive Results

August 28, 2010

I’m a true believer that positive energy creates positive thoughts, positive thoughts lead to positive ideas, positive ideas produce positive actions and positive actions garner positive results. That’s the operating principal behind Blue Gypsy Bluesfest and my efforts put for this charity event taking place on September 25th at Hunt Club Farm in Virginia Beach to benefit Habitat for Humanity and the Nachel’ Blues Network. I’ve been making calls, sending email and talking about this…

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From The Archives: A little Inspiration "Remember to Say I Can"

August 25, 2010

Youtube is crowded with entertaining mindless videos of cats caught on ceiling fans, manatees bumping into aquarium glass, and giant slides that will land you in a kiddie pool of water…but every once in a while you come across a gem that brings tears to your eyes and teaches you real life lessons. This is why social media can have such an amazing impact on our lives. I used to teach kids team building, leadership…

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Frequently Asked FB Question: How Do You Tag Someone in a Status Update

August 22, 2010

This is a very remedial blog post for novice facebook users who would like more dynamic interaction with their friends, networking buddies, and old high school friends. Many people are aware of how you hot link a person in a status update, but since I’ve had 3 people in the last week ask me how I do it, I decided (In the interest of being on vacation and still wanting to put up a post)…

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It Takes A Village: To Put Together A Fundraiser

August 15, 2010

It Takes a Village. I’m putting together a local charity fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity and Natchel Blues Network and it really does take a whole village to put together the event. While I’m planning this “alone” I’m not really alone in the world of Social Media. Now I know many people think Social Media is the miracle fix for just about everything. You’re throwing an event? Put it out on Social Media and people…

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From the Archives: 5 Twitter Duh’s and No Brainers….

August 10, 2010

Since it’s a hectic month of planning for the Blue Gypsy Bluesfest and I’m sure there’s lots that I can tell you about that and it’s connection with social media moving it forward, right now….I’m pulling some oldies but goodies from the archives. Here are just a few things to think about as you get up to speed with your twitter account. 1) If you have multiple twitter accounts (And I mean like 3,4 or…

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How To Use A Facebook Personal Page For Your Business

July 31, 2010

I know all the experts, gurus, and Social Media Ninja’s are going crazy over the headline of this post. I can hear them yelling at me and I’m sitting in a quit room writing this. Haven’t we yet learned that all the definitive statements about Social Media are wrong? The only reason people write rules is so they can be expertly teaching their rules and by creating a wrong way to do something they create…

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