Wizard Systems

Making Your CRM Work Harder While You Enjoy the Holidays: A Year-End Checklist

As the festive season approaches and teams prepare for extended breaks, it's crucial to ensure your CRM system, whatever it is, is properly prepared for both the downtime and the new year ahead. Here's a comprehensive guide from Wizard Systems for both users and administrators to maximise CRM effectiveness during the holiday period.

For CRM Users: Wrapping Up the Year

Before logging off for your well-deserved break, take these steps to ensure a smooth return:

Clean Up Your Pipeline
Review all your open opportunities and deals. Update status, next steps, and projected close dates. This prevents any nasty surprises when you return and helps maintain accurate forecasting. Move any deals that won't close by year-end into the new year, and add detailed notes about their current status.

Update Contact Information
Take time to review your key contacts' information. Many people change roles or organisations around the new year, so ensure all contact details are current. Add any new information you've gathered during recent interactions that hasn't been recorded.  Maybe start with your most important contacts.

Complete Outstanding Tasks
Review your task list and either complete or reschedule any pending items. Set realistic follow-up dates for when you return, and add detailed notes to help you quickly recall where you left off. Don't forget to set up appropriate out-of-office automated responses on your email system.

 

For CRM Administrators: System Optimisation

The holiday break presents a perfect opportunity for system maintenance and optimisation while some users maybe logged out (at the office party!!):

Data Quality Assessment
Run reports to identify duplicate records, incomplete fields, and outdated information. Use this quieter period to clean up data and establish better data quality protocols for the new year. Consider archiving obsolete records to improve system performance.

Security Audit
Review user permissions and access levels. Deactivate accounts for departed employees and ensure current team members have appropriate access rights. Update password policies and security protocols if needed.

Backup and Maintenance
Perform a complete system backup (if you have an on premise system) before the break. Schedule any necessary maintenance or updates during the low-activity period to minimise disruption. Test backup restoration procedures to ensure data can be recovered if needed.

 

Planning for the New Year

Before the break begins, put these elements in place for a strong start:

Reporting Templates
Create or update report templates for the new year. Set up dashboards that will help teams track their 2025 goals and KPIs effectively. Consider what metrics were most valuable this year and adjust accordingly.

Automation Review
Evaluate your current automation rules and workflows. Are they still serving their purpose? Could they be optimised? Set up new automated processes to support your 2025 objectives.

Training Documentation
Update your CRM documentation and training materials. Plan refresher sessions for the team when they return, focusing on any new features or processes implemented during the break.

 

Upon Return: Hit the Ground Running

When everyone returns in January, implement these strategies for a productive start:

• Schedule a CRM kickoff meeting to align everyone on system changes and expectations for the new year. Review any updates or improvements made during the break.
• Have teams verify their pipeline data and contact information is still accurate after the holiday period. Early January often brings personnel changes at client organisations.
• Set up new goals and metrics in the CRM to track 2025 objectives, ensuring all team members understand how to use new reports or dashboards.  What things did not work in 2024 that you may want to adjust for the new year.

 

Final Thoughts

Get in touch with Wizard Systems, CRM specialists for any advice going forwards.  A well-maintained CRM system is crucial for business success, and the holiday break provides an ideal opportunity for both maintenance and strategic planning. By following these guidelines, you'll ensure your CRM continues to be a valuable tool that supports your business goals in the new year.

Happy holidays and best wishes for 2025.

 

Are you getting the most out of your CRM system? Spotting the Signs of Underutilisation

 

As a business owner, you've invested in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to streamline operations and boost productivity. However, like any powerful tool, its effectiveness depends entirely on how well your team uses it. What can you keep an eye out for to show you it's not being used to its full potential!

Inconsistent Customer Data
When you notice your customer records containing outdated information, missing entries, or inconsistent formatting, it's a clear signal that your team isn't maintaining the CRM properly. For instance, if you find multiple entries for the same customer or crucial fields left blank, your staff might be bypassing the system's data entry protocols. This not only creates confusion but also diminishes the CRM's value as a single source of truth for customer information.  Reports you run, marketing campaigns you run on that data will suffer!

The Email Trail Tells a Different Story
Pay attention to how your team communicates about customers. If you frequently receive emails asking for customer details that should be in the CRM, or if important customer conversations are happening in email threads rather than being documented in the system, your team might be reverting to old habits. The CRM should serve as the central hub for all customer-related communication. And make sure email is connected to your CRM.  That can make it really easy to keep email details up to date and changes of contacts at an organisation.

Reporting Challenges
When managers struggle to generate meaningful reports or need to combine data from multiple sources to get a complete picture, it often indicates that your CRM isn't being used systematically. Spot those gaps when you run reports.  It could mean some users aren't updating the system!

Limited Feature Adoption
Most modern CRM systems offer advanced features like automation, workflow management, and predictive analytics. If your team is only using basic functions like contact storage and task management, you're missing out on significant productivity gains and the point of using CRM. This is particularly evident when you observe staff performing manual tasks that could be automated through the CRM, like common emails or a sequence of tasks.

The "Shadow Systems" Phenomenon
Watch for signs of parallel systems emerging alongside your CRM. These might include excel spreadsheets tracking customer interactions, separate note-taking applications, whiteboards around the office, notebooks or personal contact lists. The existence of these shadow systems suggests that your CRM either isn't meeting certain needs or that users haven't been properly trained on how to accomplish these tasks within the system.

Poor Data Quality in Sales Forecasting
When sales forecasts consistently miss the mark or sales managers can't explain their pipeline numbers with confidence, it often indicates that opportunity management features aren't being used effectively. A well-utilised CRM should provide accurate, real-time insights into your sales pipeline.  For most companies, opportunity management is a key thing they want to track.

Low User Login Rates
Whilst this might seem obvious, many businesses don't regularly monitor CRM usage patterns. If certain team members are logging in infrequently or not at all, they're likely managing their work outside the system, which creates gaps in your customer data and process workflow.

 

How to solve underutilisation of a CRM solution?
We at Wizard Systems are here to help you with our advice, reviews and training.  Understanding those signs above is just the first step. To improve CRM adoption, consider implementing regular training sessions, creating clear usage guidelines, and establishing KPIs that encourage proper system use. Remember that CRM adoption is an ongoing process that requires consistent attention and refinement.

Most importantly, take time to understand why users might be avoiding the system. Often, resistance stems from unclear processes, insufficient training, or features that don't align with actual workflow needs. By identifying and addressing these root causes, you can work toward achieving the full potential of your CRM investment.

Remember, a CRM system is much more than a digital address book – it's a comprehensive tool that should drive efficiency, improve customer relationships, and provide valuable business insights. By staying alert to these signs of underutilisation, you can take proactive steps to ensure your team is making the most of this valuable resource.

Contact Wizard Systems for a review on how you can get more out of your CRM technology!

Workbooks CRM - All you need to know in under 30 minutes - Event 13/12

Looking for a new CRM?  Take a look at Workbooks CRM and see why it's different from other CRMs out there.  Please join us on our next online event on 13th December at 2pm and we will cover:

Core Functionality

• What it looks like!
• The fundamental CRM capabilities for managing customer relationships, sales pipeline, and marketing activities
• How it handles contact management, lead tracking, and opportunity management
• Integration with email and calendar systems
• Reporting and analytics capabilities

SME-Specific Benefits

• Pricing structure and how it compares to competitors like Salesforce
• Scalability aspects - how it grows with your business
• Implementation timeframes and complexity
• The level of technical expertise required to maintain it

Differentiators

• What makes Workbooks particularly suitable for SMEs versus enterprise-focused solutions
• Any industry-specific features or capabilities
• Integration capabilities with other business tools commonly used by SMEs

The event is on Friday 13th at 2pm UK time

PLEASE REGISTER HERE

 

Nurture those Long-term enquiries with GoldMine Automated Processes - Event 12/12

Are your valuable long-term prospects slipping through the cracks due to limited resources? Join us for an exclusive webinar where we'll reveal how to leverage GoldMine CRM's powerful automation features to maintain meaningful connections with prospects throughout extended sales cycles.

Some companies may have opportunities that may take months or even years to convert. While these prospects require consistent nurturing, manually keeping in touch can strain your sales team's resources and time. That's where GoldMine's automated processes become your secret weapon for maintaining engagement without overwhelming your team.

In this practical, hands-on webinar, Wizard Systems will demonstrate how to:

• Design and implement automated communication sequences that keep your company top-of-mind
• Schedule timely, personalized touchpoints that feel natural and meaningful
• Create intelligent triggers for sales team follow-up calls at optimal intervals
• Monitor prospect engagement and adjust your approach accordingly
• Balance automation with personal interaction for maximum impact

You'll learn easy to implement strategies for building automated processes that maintain consistent contact with prospects while freeing your sales team to focus on high-priority activities. Our experts will share proven templates and best practices that you can implement immediately in your organization.

Don't let valuable long-term opportunities fade away due to resource constraints. Join us to discover how GoldMine automation can transform your prospect nurturing strategy.

Webinar Details: Thursday 12th December at 2pm UK time.  Duration about 20 minutes

REGISTER HERE WITH THIS LINK

Space is limited, so reserve your spot today. Attendees will receive exclusive access to automation templates and a recording of the session.

Presented by Wizard Systems, your trusted GoldMine CRM expert. Our team has helped countless organizations optimize their sales processes through intelligent automation.

Register now to learn how to keep your long-term prospects engaged while maximizing your team's efficiency.

Email Marketing first time user? Mailchimp and Workbooks could be a great place to start - Event 11/12

Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to reach customers and prospects. If you have never done email marketing before, and need something simple to start with, yet has basic integration with Workbooks then look no further.

We are running an online event to our Workbooks CRM customers on Wednesday 11th December at 2pm UK time to show the basics of the integration.

REGISTER HERE TO ATTEND

The integration between Workbooks and Mailchimp bridges the gap between your customer data and email marketing efforts, eliminating manual data entry and reducing the risk of errors. By automatically syncing your Workbooks contacts with Mailchimp, you can ensure your email lists are always up-to-date and your campaigns reach the right audience.

Key Benefits of the Integration

The Workbooks-Mailchimp integration offers several advantages for businesses looking to enhance their email marketing efforts:

Automated Contact Synchronization: Changes made to contact records in Workbooks automatically reflect in your Mailchimp audience lists, ensuring data consistency across both platforms.

Segmentation Made Simple: Leverage your Workbooks data to create targeted segments in Mailchimp, allowing for more personalized and effective email campaigns.

Campaign Performance Tracking: Monitor email campaign metrics directly within Workbooks, giving you a complete view of customer engagement and campaign success.

Time and Resource Savings: Eliminate the need for manual data entry and list management, freeing up your team to focus on creating compelling content and analyzing results.

Getting Started

Setting up the integration is straightforward. Once configured, you can begin mapping your Workbooks contact fields to Mailchimp audience fields, ensuring that the right information flows between the systems. This allows you to maintain clean, accurate data while taking advantage of Mailchimp's robust email marketing features.

Making the Most of Your Email Marketing

With the integration in place, you can:

Create targeted email campaigns based on customer data stored in Workbooks Track engagement metrics and campaign performance Automatically update contact information across both platforms Use Workbooks reporting tools to analyze campaign effectiveness and ROI

The combination of Workbooks' powerful CRM capabilities and Mailchimp's user-friendly email marketing platform creates an efficient solution for businesses of all sizes. Whether you're sending newsletters, promotional campaigns, or targeted communications, the integration ensures your message reaches the right audience with minimal manual effort.

Ready to enhance your email marketing strategy? Contact Wizard Systems to learn more about implementing the Mailchimp integration for your organization.

QuoteWerks new integration with ACT! for Web!

Are you an ACT! CRM User and have a need for a comprehensive quote solution integrated to your CRM?

Let's explore some of the key advantages QuoteWerks offers (here's the basics):

• Effortless Quote Creation: QuoteWerks empowers you to create professional-looking quotes quickly and easily, enhancing your brand image and making a positive impression on your clients.
• 55+ Seamless Integrations: QuoteWerks seamlessly integrates with over 55 popular platforms, including Act! for Web, streamlining your workflow and ensuring data consistency across your business applications.
• Boost Your Sales Pipeline: QuoteWerks provides insightful dashboards and reporting tools, enabling you to track your sales pipeline effectively and make data-driven decisions to improve your sales performance.
• Streamline Your Quote-to-Cash Process: QuoteWerks simplifies the entire quote-to-cash process, from quote creation to order fulfillment, allowing you to manage your sales operations more efficiently and accelerate your revenue cycle.

And here's how QuoteWerks seamlessly integrates with Act! for Web, further optimizing your sales process:

• Contact Management Made Easy: Search for Act! contacts directly within QuoteWerks, eliminating the need for manual data entry and ensuring accuracy in your quotes.
• Automated Data Transfer with DataLink: This innovative feature pulls essential customer data, such as terms, sales tax rates, and pricing profiles, from Act! into your quotes, saving you time and reducing errors.
• Personalized Quotes with Print Layouts: Customize your print layouts to include specific Act! data fields, enabling you to create highly personalized and informative quotes that cater to each client's unique requirements.
• Effortless Quote Tracking: QuoteWerks automatically generates links to your quotes within Act!, facilitating easy access, organization, and a comprehensive record of your client interactions.
• Enhanced Sales Opportunity Management: When you save a quote in QuoteWerks, it automatically creates a corresponding Sales Opportunity in Act!, providing valuable insights into your potential revenue and allowing you to manage your sales pipeline proactively.
• Seamless Order Conversion: Upon customer acceptance, QuoteWerks smoothly converts quotes into orders and updates the associated Act! Sales Opportunity, reflecting a completed sale.
• Detailed Line Item Tracking: Choose to incorporate individual line items from your QuoteWerks quotes as Products/Services within the Act! opportunity, ensuring detailed tracking and accurate reporting.
• Follow-Up and Scheduling Made Easy: Schedule follow-up calls, meetings, or to-do items directly from QuoteWerks, all linked to the specific quote, ensuring a structured and organized sales process.
• Automated Email Logging for Complete Transparency: Emails sent through QuoteWerks are automatically logged in Act! history, providing a centralized repository for all client communications and maintaining a transparent record of your interactions.
• Dynamic Lookup Lists for Enhanced Flexibility: Leverage macro values within QuoteWerks lookup lists to access Act! data fields, further enhancing flexibility and ensuring consistency across your systems.

QuoteWerks empowers your business to create professional, compelling quotes, gain valuable insights into your sales pipeline, and streamline your entire quote-to-cash process.

Ready to transform your sales process? Contact Wizard Systems today to discover the latest QuoteWerks features and how we can help you harness the full potential of this powerful software.

Why Excel Isn't the Right CRM Choice for Your Growing Business

As your small business expands, managing customer relationships becomes crucial for success. While Excel might seem like a convenient solution for customer data management, it's holding your business back. Here's why a proper CRM system is the smarter investment.

1. Limited Collaboration
Excel files can only be edited by one person at a time, creating bottlenecks when multiple team members need to update customer information. Modern CRMs allow simultaneous access and real-time updates across your entire team.

2. Security Risks
Spreadsheets lack robust security features. Customer data can be accidentally deleted, overwritten, or accessed by unauthorised personnel. CRM systems offer role-based access control and audit trails to protect sensitive information.

3. No Automation
Unlike CRMs, Excel can't automatically track customer interactions, send follow-up emails, or generate reports. This manual data entry wastes valuable time your team could spend building customer relationships.

4. Poor Scalability
As your customer base grows, Excel becomes increasingly unwieldy. CRMs are designed to handle large datasets efficiently, with powerful search and filtering capabilities.

5. Limited Integration
Modern businesses rely on multiple tools. CRMs integrate seamlessly with email, calendar, marketing platforms and accounting software. Excel's integration capabilities are basic at best.

6. Data Quality Issues
Excel lacks validation rules and standardisation features, leading to inconsistent data entry. CRMs enforce data standards and reduce duplicate records, ensuring your customer information remains accurate.

7. Cost of Missed Opportunities
While Excel might seem cost-effective initially, consider the revenue lost from missed follow-ups, delayed responses, and inefficient processes. A proper CRM pays for itself through improved customer retention and sales efficiency.

8. Not 'Transactional'
Normally using a CRM system you want to record things like follow up actions, record tasks you have done.  Excel can't do this easily.  It's 'flat'.  A CRM system however allows you to track this transactional information as standard.

9. Poor Reporting
While Excel might be able to create fancy charts and graphs, CRM systems can do this as standard and normally come with ready-made charts that you would typically want like number of leads, sales opportunities, quotes outstanding, etc..

For growing businesses, investing in a proper CRM isn't just about managing contacts—it's about building a scalable foundation for customer relationship management. The initial learning curve is worth the long-term benefits of improved efficiency, better customer service, and increased sales.  Looking for a new CRM system?  Consult with Wizard Systems today.  In the last 30 years, we have implemented over 3000 systems!

Build or Buy: The Case for Off-the-Shelf CRM Systems like Workbooks

Managing customer relationships effectively is crucial for the success of any organisation . As companies grow, they often face the dilemma of whether to build a custom/bespoke Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system or purchase an off-the-shelf solution.  And it might be tempting if you think your business is unique and that an off the shelf system just would not fit.  Whilst the idea of a tailor-made CRM might seem appealing, there are compelling reasons why opting for a ready-made system is often the smarter choice.

Cost-Effectiveness

One of the primary advantages of choosing an off-the-shelf CRM is the significant cost savings. Developing a custom CRM requires substantial investment in time, money, and resources. You'll need to hire skilled developers, designers, and project managers, which can quickly add up to a hefty sum. In contrast, pre-built CRM solutions offer a more predictable and often lower total cost of ownership.

Time to Market

Speed of Implementation is a critical factor in today's fast-paced business environment. Off-the-shelf CRM systems can be deployed rapidly, allowing your team to start benefiting from improved customer management almost immediately. Custom-built solutions, on the other hand, can take months or even years to develop, test, and implement fully.

Reliability and Support

Established CRM providers offer robust, tried-and-tested systems that have been refined based on feedback from numerous users across various industries.  These solutions come with:

• Regular updates and improvements
• Dedicated support teams
• Extensive documentation and user communities

When you build your own CRM, you're responsible for all maintenance, troubleshooting, and updates, which can be a significant ongoing burden for your IT department.  Problems could occur down the line if for example the bespoke system is created by one person, and that person then is on holiday/leaves the scene.

Scalability and Flexibility

Modern off-the-shelf CRM systems are designed with scalability in mind. They can easily accommodate your business growth, whether you're adding new users, expanding to new markets, or integrating with other tools. Many offer customisation options and APIs that allow you to tailor the system to your specific needs without starting from scratch.

Focus on Core Competencies

By choosing a pre-built CRM, your company can focus on its core business activities rather than getting bogged down in software development. This allows you to allocate resources more efficiently and concentrate on what truly sets your business apart in the market.

Continuous Innovation

Leading CRM providers invest heavily in research and development to stay ahead of industry trends.  They continuously add new features and capabilities, ensuring that your CRM remains cutting-edge without additional effort on your part. This ongoing innovation can give your business a competitive advantage that would be challenging to maintain with a custom-built solution. 

In conclusion, whilst the idea of a bespoke CRM system may be tempting, the benefits of off-the-shelf solutions are hard to ignore. From cost savings and rapid deployment to ongoing support and innovation, pre-built CRM systems offer a compelling package that allows businesses to improve their customer relationships without the headaches of custom development.  For businesses looking to implement a powerful and flexible CRM solution, Wizard Systems stands out as a premier supplier of Workbooks CRM.  With their expertise in tailoring Workbooks to meet specific business needs, Wizard Systems can swiftly put together a solution that combines the best of both worlds – the robustness of an off-the-shelf system with the personalised touch of a custom implementation. By partnering with Wizard Systems, you can leverage their experience to ensure a smooth deployment of Workbooks CRM, allowing you to focus on what matters most – growing your business and delighting your customers.

Contact Wizard Systems for a chat about your CRM requirements today!

 

Workbooks CRM - Putting your own 'stamp' on things!

Make your Workbooks CRM environment truly your own by personalising it with your company's branding. Join our upcoming webinar on 4th December to learn how to create a professional, branded experience for both your team and customers. Register now at workbooks.com/webinars/branding-customisation.

Desktop Customisation

The Workbooks desktop interface offers excellent opportunities for tailoring to reflect your company's visual identity. Our webinar will demonstrate how to personalise your workspace effectively.

Your company logo takes pride of place in the top navigation bar of your Workbooks interface. We'll show you how to navigate to Configuration > General > System Settings to upload your logo. For optimal results, we recommend using a high-resolution image in PNG or JPEG format with a transparent background, sized at 200x50 pixels.

The colour scheme of your Workbooks interface can be customised to match your brand colours. You'll learn how to modify the header background, menu items, and button colours through the System Settings area, creating a cohesive visual experience aligned with your company's identity.

Document Branding

Maintaining consistent branding across all your business documents is crucial. Our webinar will guide you through setting up your logo for PDF documents:

We'll demonstrate how to access Configuration > Templates & Documents > PDF Templates, where you can upload your company logo for all generated PDFs including quotes, invoices, and other business documents. We'll cover the recommended image specifications:

• Resolution: 300 DPI minimum
• Format: PNG or JPEG
• Dimensions: 400x100 pixels for optimal display
• File size: Under 1MB

Once uploaded, your logo appears automatically in the header section of all PDF documents generated through Workbooks. During the webinar, we'll show you how to customise the placement and size of your logo within each document template to meet your exact requirements.

Additional Branding Options

Beyond logos, discover how Workbooks offers several other branding customisation options for your documents. Our experts will demonstrate how to:

Customise header and footer content, add background watermarks, and include additional brand elements like company taglines or contact information. These elements can be configured individually for different types of documents, allowing you to maintain distinct yet branded templates for various business purposes.

Join Our Webinar

Don't miss this opportunity to learn how to maximise your Workbooks branding potential. Our webinar will cover all these topics in detail, with live demonstrations and a Q&A session.

Date: 4th December Time: 14:00 GMT Duration: 20 minutes Register now: wizard systems/webinars/branding-customisation

By attending this webinar, you'll gain the knowledge to create a professional, branded experience that reinforces your company's identity throughout every interaction with the Workbooks CRM system.