customer management software

I use Outlook Business Contact Manager which comes with Office 2007 small business edition. What I really like about it is that it integrates with Outlook which I find to be the best email and calendar application out there at the moment. There is a good 'Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager for Dummies' book out there too. So, some of the things it can do are:
1. Every time you get an email from a client, it can automatically link it to their contact record so you get a complete breakdown of communciation with them (you can add phone call records too and even bill for your time)
2. You can set up marketing campaigns which allow you to 'mail merge' to email. This is really useful if you occasionally press release to your contacts like I do.
3. It will integrate with Microsoft Office Accounting 2008 (free UK edition) which, although not as well supported as things like Sage, and it has some quirks, is a completely free accounting package that will manage everything a small business needs.
So, if you are going to buy or upgrade to Microsoft Office 2007 then I would recommend looking at the small business edition and getting the book I mentioned.
Jeremy

Replies

Richard Loader January 24, 2009 at 8:11pm

I use Time and Chaos http://www.chaossoftware.com/ the intellect version - it's cheap, been around for years - dead easy to use. I use it for all my contacts, appointments, notes, web links - the lot.
There's loads out there though
Jeremy Dore January 24, 2009 at 9:02pm

I use Outlook Business Contact Manager which comes with Office 2007 small business edition. What I really like about it is that it integrates with Outlook which I find to be the best email and calendar application out there at the moment. There is a good 'Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager for Dummies' book out there too. So, some of the things it can do are:
1. Every time you get an email from a client, it can automatically link it to their contact record so you get a complete breakdown of communciation with them (you can add phone call records too and even bill for your time)
2. You can set up marketing campaigns which allow you to 'mail merge' to email. This is really useful if you occasionally press release to your contacts like I do.
3. It will integrate with Microsoft Office Accounting 2008 (free UK edition) which, although not as well supported as things like Sage, and it has some quirks, is a completely free accounting package that will manage everything a small business needs.
So, if you are going to buy or upgrade to Microsoft Office 2007 then I would recommend looking at the small business edition and getting the book I mentioned.
Jeremy
Nicky @ GardenImprovements.com January 29, 2009 at 11:21pm

Hi Jeremy

Where can I get a free edition of Microsoft Accounting 2008?? Been hunting for it since reading this but cannot find - only free trials?

Cheers

Nicky Patterson
PRO

Craig McGinty January 30, 2009 at 8:57am

There is a 'lite' version Microsoft Office Accounting Express that is free to use and should give you an idea of how it all works.
Matthew@Westend Landscapes May 31, 2013 at 11:21pm

I like the idea of the outlook small business package all the items tick the boxes, as this thread is now 4 years old does anyone know of a newer CRM that's about that can integrate with my mac, ipad and iPhone easily without me changing from iCal and my apple email which I get on fine with.
Or any other suggestions I wish to store client details digitally so I always have them on any device, a few notes to accompany work done, what next etc. I also want to mail drop to groups of clients different things during different seasons.
I'm not looking for a cheap solution but something that's ease of use and multi platform, and multi user.
Thanks in advance, Matthew