Industry estimates tell us that as many of 80% of leads are lost through inadequate follow up -- and most of those people buy from someone within two years after we lose them.

Your CRM can change those figures for you.

One of the great things about online marketing is that it's highly measurable. You can see how many people came to your site and keep track easily of how many leads fill out your website response form or email you for information.

Or can you? It's supposed to be that way, certainly, but it doesn't always work out that way...

Opportunity, we're told, knocks but once. Fortunately, with a good CRM we can invite Opportunity in, make it comfortable, and give it a cup of coffee while it waits for us.

Opportunity tracking lets us keep track of leads and prospects, bring the right staff and strategies into the picture at the right time, and identify new revenue opportunities with existing clients, too.

Never miss another opportunity.

Rumor has it that Microsoft Dynamics is going to be Azure-based at some point in the future.

We're not talking here about the beautiful shade of blue known as "azure," but about Windows Azure, a cloud computing platform that integrates with other Microsoft products.

Right now, MS Dynamics cloud solutions aren't Azure-based, but word from the Convergence conference last week is that the next version of MS Dynamics ERP will be Azure-based, and that MS Dynamics CRM will also eventually be using Azure as well.

What does this mean to you? If you're a Customer Dynamics client -- nothing, really. We make sure that it's business as usual for you, even if there are technical changes.

We've said that you have to get everyone on board to see the full results of using CRM, and it's true. Effective implementation requires 100% involvement.

How do you accomplish this?

The economy seems to be on an upswing, or at least an upcrawl, but many of us are still being careful with our resources.

A good CRM solution, like Microsoft Dynamics CRM, can be part of that lean approach. First, think about what your CRM does for your business:

1. Identify the most profitable customers, based on data rather than feelings.

2. Easily provide data about those high-value customers to high-performing salespeople and customer service staff.

3. Routinely alert staff to events like birthdays or updates to products customers have ordered in the past.

4. Use data mining and segmentation capabilities to identify sales opportunities that might have gone unnoticed.

5. Keep sales and marketing activities streamlined and coordinated with customer support for maximum efficiency and customer satisfaction.

These are all terrific outcomes, but you could achieve them without Dynamics CRM -- if you have the budget...

What's a data silo? It's a collection of information that's separate from the organization's shared data. When one person keeps handwritten notes on sales prospects and another has details of costs in a spreadsheet, it's easy for decisions to be made that don't take into account the information in those two private collections.

Then you've got the raw materials for some unfortunate misunderstandings.

"How could you promise to do the job for that price?! You aren't even thinking about the tariffs."

or

"Listen, Jason told me you could do this. What's the hold up now?"

or

"No one told me that you were in charge. We decided to do it this way in our department."

Sometimes data silos are part of legacy systems. One organization told us that they were planning to migrate the data from the spreadsheets they'd been using into the online CRM they had switched to, but just hadn't gotten around to it yet.

The SNAFUs this can lead to make a data migration plan...

You're upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online, and you're going to love it! Out of the box integration with Sharepoint, multiple dashboards with complex reporting, and new customization options make the new version of MS Dynamics CRM as powerful and versatile as Salesforce or SAP. Yet it still lets you work in your own comfortable Outlook and Office work environment.

Here's what you need to do.

Upgrade the Outlook Client on each machine:

1. Uninstall CRM 4 Outlook Client

2. Download Link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=22dc423a-7194-491e-a169-6ace16bfdd36

3. Choose appropriate version (64-bit or 32-bit) for installed version of Outlook.

Now upgrade the E-Mail Router (if installed) and any third-party add-ons (if applicable).

Training is the final step – make sure you don’t lose users to the new interface/design.

...

A survey from research specialists at Gartner survey predicts that software spending overall will rise by about 31% in 2011. The highest level of increase will be seen in CRM, customer relationship management solutions.

It makes sense. As consumer confidence increases and the economy stabilizes, the companies that have kept in touch with their customers are the ones that will receive the orders.

We're also seeing a shift from the call center to the contact center. While many of our clients continue to receive most of their inbound customer services contacts by phone, the ability to offer email and chat options is increasingly appreciated by customers.

These multiple options have the benefit, too, of allowing your company to be more responsive to special needs and to differing levels of communication skill within your staff.

A solution like Microsoft Dynamics CRM lets you use a single integrated solution for all...