Volume 6, Issue 1

Links to this issue's topics:

CCC Partners With Sage CRM
CCC Gets Off to a Fast Start with Sage CRM
GoldMine 6.5 Is Here -- What's New?
eMarketing With GoldMine -- a Powerful One-Day Workshop
CCC's Referral Plan Can Be a Profitable Experience
BounceLinker Now Handles DNC Lists
Tech-Talk -- (GoldMine 6.0 and 6.5)
We Wander the Web (Weblinks You Should Know)
Upcoming Training Dates
Hardware Services Including News About Our New Asset Tracking System
Newsletter Archives

A Word From The President -- News About Our Partnership With Sage CRM

I wanted to share some exciting news regarding a recent development in our business: CCC's partnership with Sage^® International.

Before we go any further we want to make it very clear that we are not abandoning GoldMine^®, nor our valued GoldMine clients. Our commitment to GoldMine for the last 10 years has resulted in CCC being recognized as a "top authority" worldwide, with thousands of satisfied, active clients. We intend to continue to service our GoldMine clients with the same expertise as we have for a decade.

While you may have thought of us as the "GoldMine Guys" for a long time now, in our minds we have always been "CRM Guys" and "Business Consulting Guys." So, for the past three years we have been searching for additional CRM systems and tools. That search has literally taken us all over the world trying to find just the right product to fit those companies with requirements that go beyond GoldMine's capabilities.

We have reviewed literally hundreds of options, and have even become dealers for some of them. Sometimes we thought we almost had our hands on something good, only to find out the company behind it wasn't solid, or the pricing wasn't right, or that there were serious flaws in the product.

But, now we are confident we have found a premier product from a rock-solid company. Sage CRM has every advanced feature we've been looking for. It's a product that fits many of our clients whose needs have gone beyond the system they have.

We did not simply want an overlapping offering, but one that offered functionality not found in GoldMine such as:

• 100% Web Architecture - meaning the product deploys in a Web Browser and requires no installation beyond a central server.
• Native and Robust Integration with Microsoft Outlook/Exchange^® - if desired, a user can continue to use Outlook for e-mail and Calendaring and have that data automatically "show up" in the CRM system.
• Native Wireless Access - the user can view and enter data using any WAP device such as a Blackberry^® Palm™, or PocketPC.
• Full extensibility - you can add not only new Fields, but new Tabs, and Tables as well, with full support for custom scripting thus allowing extensive customization.
• True Contact and Account Management - the data captured on individual Contacts is separated from the data captured on Accounts.
• Built in Marketing Campaign Management - each activity can be linked to the Marketing Campaign that caused it, and Campaign Effectiveness can be evaluated based on costs and responses.
• Built in Customer Care Module & Knowledgebase - Customer/Client Inquiries are handled in the system and the information regarding these inquiries can be viewed by all team members.

And perhaps most importantly...

• The ability to bi-directionally integrate with data in other databases in Real Time - for example, accounting.

We invite you to visit our web site at www.ccc24k.com for more information about Sage CRM. There's also news about GoldMine 6.5 and the launch of CRMworldclass. With CRMworldclass we have created a coalition of dealers around the world in a cooperative effort to bring best of breed CRM solutions and services to our clients. We are excited. It's the dawn of a new era.

Back To Top

Rocky Hill, CT, January 23, 2004 - Sage International, Inc., a subsidiary of Computer Associates International, Inc. (NYSE: CA), announced today that Computer Control Corporation has been authorized to provide Sage CRM end-user training. No other firm or facility has yet been awarded this distinguished credential.

CCC offers a variety of levels of classes for beginners, power users and technical administrators, in both public and private sessions. Classes are held in the company’s Corporate Headquarters in Connecticut, in a number of its regional offices throughout the country, at clients’ locations and with increasing regularity, via the web.

Information about CCC's training is available by contacting Michael DeLisa, Director of CRM Training, at 860-529-6232 or at training@ccc24k.com.

Computer Control Corporation was also recently named Sage’s Partner of the Quarter in New England in recognition of its rapid success in bringing Sage technology to clients throughout the region.

Sage CRM provides businesses with hosted and on-premise customer relationship management functionality that includes bi-directional integration with back office accounting as well as a unique level of integration with Microsoft^® Outlook^® allowing full access to CRM information from within Outlook.

Click here for more information on Sage CRM.

Back To Top

GoldMine 6.5 Is Here -- What's New?
We waited a few weeks, read the "Known Issues" tech bulletins and have made the leap. As of mid-January, we're running GoldMine 6.5 here at CCC. We're confident you can make the move and the upgrade will be smooth. Contact us for next steps to move up to GoldMine 6.5.

Click here for a list of the Top 10 New Features.
Click here for pricing, timeframes, etc.

Back To Top

Included in GoldMine 6.x are some new, very powerful eMarketing capabilities. Coincidentally, there are some important decisions to be made setting up your GoldMine to take full advantage of these eMarketing capabilities.

The purpose of this one-day workshop is to identify the new eMarketing features in Version 6, and give you the skills to take optimal advantage of them. Several very handy pieces of eMarketing development software will be included, along with a good deal of "hands-on" development time.

Topics include:

• Optimizing your GoldMine for eMarketing
• Processing Web form requests
• Creating HTML Templates
• Defining your recipients
• Rules of the Road
• Performing the e-mail merge
• Increasing response rate (best practices)
• Processing the responses
• GoldMine E-mail Rules

Click here for details, dates and to register.

Back To Top

  The Referral Plan

Several years ago we had a client referral plan that worked rather well, but was an administrative problem at times. We are now re-instituting this plan with a little help from our technology.

Any client in good standing can send us a referral. If we close some business with this new client, you are entitled to 5% of the initial order. You can opt for one of several payment methods.

How to send us a referral:

1. there is a referral form on our website that you can fill out and submit (this is the best way)
2. a referral can be e-mailed to us at sales@ccc24k.com
3. a referral can be phoned in or relayed in person to Joel Scott at 860-529-6232

Your options for being paid:
We only pay referral fees once we close the initial business and get paid ourselves. Once that happens you will receive payment in the one of the following ways (at your option):

1. Direct payment to your company
2. Direct payment to you personally
3. A credit applied to your account with us
4. A credit to the company you referred
5. No fee required.

Resolution of Potential Problems:

1. Sometimes more than one client refers us to the same business. When this happens, the first person (company) that sent in the referral gets the fee. Occasionally we split it. We decide.
2. Sometimes we get a referral to a company with whom we are already working. In this case no fee is paid. Sorry.
3. If the initial business is under $100, we do not pay a fee. Send us bigger leads!

The average referral fee is around $400. We would like you to get as many of these as possible. It helps us and presumably works for you as well.

Back To Top

BounceLinker Now Handles DNC Lists

Gaining consent from customers or prospects has become a central tenet of all modern direct marketing and customer communications and is at the heart of the legitimate e-mail marketing versus spam debate. Yet defining consent can be a really tricky business. And documenting consent can be even more difficult.

If your prospect remembers exactly what they gave you permission to do and you were very clear about what was going to "happen or be done," everyone is probably OK. But if at some point they were to claim the company abused or did not even have permission, then it is their word against your company's possibly incomplete database record.

It used to be marketers could simply ask forgiveness if they annoyed people with a call during dinner or unwanted mail. Not any more. Now it not only is considered good form but is increasingly becoming a legal requirement to ask permission before contacting consumers. And, as the old saying goes, it's a lot harder to ask permission than forgiveness.

Email: 26 states have enacted email spam laws. California passed a law effective January 1, 2003 prohibiting anyone from sending unsolicited commercial e-mail advertisements to California e-mail addresses. Senders of unsolicited messages could be held liable for damages of up to $1,000 for each message to an individual and up to $1 million for each e-mail advertisement sent out.

Phone: The Federal Trade Commission will start enforcing the new "Do Not Call" (DNC) legislation on October 1, 2003. Federal legislation requires that you must respect the DNC list and you must maintain your own inner-company DNC List. The federal fines for violating the DNC legislation, whether it be the National DNC List or your own company DNC list is the same: $11,000.

Fax: The DNC Legislation contains provisions for faxing: you must receive express written permission before sending unsolicited advertising by fax. And disregarding opt-outs can result in TRIPLE fines. This legislation is effective January 1, 2005.

You can't afford to be unprotected.

You have the tool for collecting prospect and customer information: GoldMine. You now have the tool for updating GoldMine with your permission marketing requests: BounceLinker. BounceLinker is recommended by FrontRange Solutions as a tool for handling permission marketing updates in GoldMine.

Combined with an easy to use web form, BounceLinker can handle all forms of opt-in's and opt-out's: phone, fax, email and mail.

Features:

• Compete Permission Marketing Management
• Handle Opt-In and Opt-Out for Phone, Fax, Email and Mail
• Customization import tool helps you configure GoldMine - or -
• Completely customize the way you want BounceLinker to work
• Includes sample web forms for collecting Opt-In/Opt-Out responses

Advanced Processing Options:

• Update a field in GoldMine to show whether you are allowed to make contact
• Use "record typing" in GoldMine v6 - make opt out phone numbers RED
• Remove contact merge codes for primary AND additional contacts
• Export phone numbers in a DNC List format for processing with DNC Manager by InaPlex

Click here for more information about BounceLinker.

Back To Top

  Tech-Talk (For GoldMine 6.0 and 6.5)

Adding a Custom Logo to GoldMine's Splash Screen

From our Doug Castell:

A company logo can be added to the GoldMine 6.x splash screen. Here's how:

Place a .bmp* file in the root GoldMine directory. In the GoldMine section of the GM.ini file type
userlogo=<path\filename>

Example:
userlogo = C:\apps\goldmine\logo.bmp

*Note: The bmp must be 250 x 150 pixels.

Using Expressions to Define Field Behavior

Another one from Doug:

GM6 gives us the ability to change fields based on the data in them using expressions. Here is a little sample that a mortgage company might use to have a status field (key1) change color based on a contract date in c2.u1expire.

Field Label: IIF (LEFT(contact1->key1, 1) $ "8" .OR. LEFT(contact1->key1,1) $ "5", IIF (DtoS(contact2->u1expire) < ' ', "###NOT LOCKED###", "Locked til:"), "Not A Loan")

Label Color: IIF (LEFT(contact1->key1, 1) $ "8" .OR. LEFT(contact1->key1,1) $ "5", IIF (DtoS(contact2->u1expire) < ' ', 255, 32768), -2)

Data Color: IIF (LEFT(contact1->key1, 1) $ "8" .OR. LEFT(contact1->key1,1) $ "5", IIF (DtoS(contact2->u1expire) < ' ', 255, 32768), -2)

Back To Top

We Wander the

We wander the Web to identify very helpful (and sometimes, very esoteric) websites.

1. CRM Guru
Touting itself as the "World's Largest CRM Community," this site offers informative articles, research reports, free downloadable white papers, access to forums and news about seminars around the world. Reg is free!
http://www.crmguru.com/

2. Spring Is Right Around The Corner
Could it be the Bosox Year? Will Kevin Brown remain healthy for the Yanks? Will Roger return the Hummer? Pitchers and catchers report February 14 -- and all the baseball news can be found at:
www.mlb.com

Back To Top

Training Center of the Year Upcoming Training Dates

This is the schedule for the Rocky Hill, Connecticut Training Center.

Click here to Register.

Click here for detailed Course Descriptions.

The First Recognized Training Center for Sage CRM Upcoming Training Dates

This is the schedule for the Rocky Hill, Connecticut Training Center.

Click here for more information on Sage CRM Training offerings.

Back To Top

Reminder - Hardware Services

Did you know Computer Control Corporation does hardware and networking?  Keep us in mind when purchasing or servicing computers, printers, or networks for your company.

Corey Constantine, our new hardware tech, is developing an Asset Tracking Program that we'll be offering to our clients very soon. Basically, we'll do a detailed inventory of your network. The program stores detailed info on servers, workstations, printers, other peripherals and software. Our techs will run a report based on the inventory and provide you with a complete system analysis. Could your server use a memory upgrade? Got a printer that has an outdated driver? Running version 3.2 of a software application that's now up to version 6.4? The analysis will help you easily allocate budget resources where they're needed most.

Contact Corey for more information.

Click here to send the hardware guys an e-mail.

Back To Top