Introduction here: For the most part I have spent the last five weeks in front of my computer, listening to Sirius Radio (The Vault), eating seeds (Art’s Sunflower and Pumpkin) and deconstructing the D-Tools/Zoho CRM system. In tough economic times sometimes the only thing you can do is to fine tune your internal business processes to stay ahead. This has the double advantage of making your company more competitive and efficient and when the economy improves (it always does) you will be in position to immediately capitalize on it. But before you can fine tune your processes you need to make sure you have the right tools for the job.

Introduction here. I changed the title of this series from Explaining the D-Tools Zoho CRM system to Deconstructing the D-Tools Zoho CRM System because I realized that as I was trying to explain it I was tearing it apart an re-configuring it as I was explaining it. Just the act of explaining it made me realize it could be improved. In fact that explains my silence for the past few weeks. I have been deep inside our system trying to make it more reliable, easier to use, easier to explain, more accurate and ultimately more productive for all the users.

One of the features released with SI 5.2 was Global Settings for reports.  These settings give you added flexibility on how your data displays.  To change/view your settings, open the Reporting Center and select Tools->Global …

Seattle-based professional services organization to offer Visio Shape Development and integration services for users of D-Tools System Integrator software.
CONCORD, CA – OCTOBER 22, 2008 — D-Tools, Inc., the worldwide leader in system integration software, today …

Title Blocks #1: How to Display Existing Document Information
Title blocks on drawings are important for many, many reasons.
If your company has created more than a small number of drawings, it’s useful to know who …

The word for today is refine. We are currently undergoing an overhaul of our internal processes, which you can read all about here. We have implemented Zoho as our CRM to help us better manage and control communicating with our prospects, customers and partners. I won’t go too much into that because Adam is documenting our process and will continue to add to this category as we continue to move forward with our Zoho implementation.

How much pricing detail should be shown on a proposal?  Opinions vary on this but the general consensus seems to be “as little as possible”.  Of course you will always have clients that demand more …

Now when you attend any of the D-Tools weekly webinars, whether the New User Orientation series or the Gold Support series, you will have the option of calling the conference line for audio or you …

Introduction here. As I have stated at least twice now we have a LOT of leads in our system and we needed a solid process to manage all of these leads. In the previous post on Sales Roles I explained how each person on the D-Tools sales team has a specific role and and how we use our Zoho CRM system to manage the job function for each specific role.

As I previously mentioned we have a lot of leads in our CRM system. Without some sort of solid process for managing these leads we would never be able to see the forest through the trees. Good lead management is a critical aspect for our company (really, all companies) because nothing happens without the sale and most of our sales start out as leads. The reality is the future of your company hinges on how you currently manage your leads. You need to plant your seeds before you are hungry.

I just read a post titled “NetSuite parts ways with largest reseller” in Phil Wainewright’s SaaS blog on ZDNet. Our sad story was mentioned in the post as a possible reason for the split. Hard to say, I don’t think NetSuite loses any sleep over how customers are treated. If I had to guess and knowing what I know about the owner of Skyytek I would agree with Phil in that it is more about NetSuite directly competing with their partners with their newly minted “SuiteSucess” consulting division.

Oh no, not another posting about wires. Yup!  I like wires and I like wiring diagrams, especially drawings that are well laid out and easy to read.  Color coding your wires helps considerably and adding …