Think Pipeline - PipelineDeals CRM

Use It or Lose It (Your Business That Is)

It is great to be able to help companies be better. As a sales tracking tool we help companies organize around future revenue. Because we create an enabling piece of software we do receive a questions pretty regularly that go beyond the scope of a "software sales tool". Questions about sales processes, employee compensation and the like. One of the most common questions we receive is:

"HOW DO I GET MY PEOPLE TO USE PIPELINEDEALS?"

Almost everyone we talk to sees the value of adding a sales tool to their business. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that sales are critical to the longevity and health of any business.  Achieving adoption among current employees is not easy. When people come to us for help with encouraging adoption, we often respond in a very pragmatic manner with a short list of questions:

- What were you using as a sales management tool before PipelineDeals? (Most frequent response: "Nothing" or "Spreadsheets".)

- What is your alternative to using a sales tool? (Most frequent response: "Go back to the old way which is failing.")

- Who in your company is responsible for generating sales? (Most frequent response: "I am.")

At some level any employee will understand that without sales their isn't any money with which to pay people - including the employee. The people who buy PipelineDeals are the decision makers in their company and are on the hook to deliver revenue. Companies can write process manuals around the sales process or incentivize sales people to use software. In the end it really takes the person accountable for revenue to stand up and say "Use it.".

Our clients use PipelineDeals to track leads and deals are thankfully big fans of the software - we hear it everyday. Common feed back is: "The software is intuitive and easy to grasp" or "Learning how to use PipelineDeals is easy" even for self described "non-computer people". The key to get people to use new software - any software - it so reinforce usage at every opportunity with simple questions like:

- Did you enter that lead in PipelineDeals?
- Is the proposal due date in PipelineDeals?
- Are all your deal size and status correct in PipelineDeals?

Another great idea that a large number of our clients employ is to use PipelineDeals as the "facilitator" to run and organize their weekly sales team meetings.

Just log in and shoot the screen on the wall and voila!  - instant reporting and status.

If you need some help getting over that initial user adoption hump - give us a call. The larger problem here is that most people are hard-wired to be adverse to change and to being held accountable. Future revenue is your company's lifeline and if we can help you be more efficient we are happy to help. You came to us for a reason and you should see your way through any initial resistance for that same reason.

Use the down time to get ahead

This time of year many individuals take the time off to rest and relax. Many of our new customers are capitalizing on this downtime to get ahead of their competition. We are seeing a rash of sales teams getting a jump on the new year by investing in a sales tool - our sales tool. Sales teams of all sorts are really understanding the power of software to empower their sales efforts.

Use the brief hiatus during this time of year to make your professional resolutions a reality. The top tasks people are accomplishing with PipelineDeals.com include:

- Updating Contact Information - keeping leads and prospects contact information current is a never-ending task. Many smart sales teams are updating and validating contact information to minimize low value time during the coming 2007 sales season.

- Preparing a Plan of Attack - There are no two ways about it - sales by definition is intense and competitive. Sales teams with a plan of how to win are miles ahead. Use our sales tool to help you organize and strategize your plan of attack come the new year.

- Evaluating past success and failure - Reflecting on what went right for your team and what went wrong is an important part of improvement. Existing customers are able to review won and lost deals to help adjust selling strategies for 2007. New customers are using the deals notes to make sure successful elements from closed deals last year are incorporated in future selling processes.

- Making the Switch - Many former customers of other CRM packages choose our sales tool to save money, increase productivity and because they subscribe to our philosophy. Many customers are using this time to set up their sales efforts on PipelineDeals.com and import their current sales data. We have minimized the work on your side to switch off of the old platforms and onto ours. You can learn more here.

- Practicing - Like with anything new, it takes a little effort to learn PipelineDeals.com. We have designed our software to be intuitive and easy to use for the one person business to the 30 person sales force. PipelineDeals.com is your weapon and your proficiency will only increase over time. A little time spent now, learning how to best leverage our sales tool for your use, will pay dividends in the months and years to come.

Don't let your competition get too far ahead. Wisely use the brief respite you have now so that you hit the ground running in 2007.

Best of luck to you in the coming year and happy selling.

Thank You Customers

A quick note of thanks to all of our Subscribers and Users collectively our Customers. Please accept our heartfelt thank you for your vote of confidence and your commitment to us this year. We will continue to endeavor to over deliver on our end of the bargain. We will continue to bring you an ever-evolving service application that can grow with you as you grow and bring you new and innovative ways to drive sales for your company. Many of our recent feature improvements were driven by customers (thanks George, thanks Tom C.) and we continue to listen and evaluate each request that comes in. The great news is many of them get acted upon.

We have designed our pricing and business around simplicity. We don't ask our Customers for a long term commitment and are happy to prove our value to your business every month. This keeps us sharp and PipelineDeals.com evolving - call it the "Darwinian Approach" to software. We have all witnessed the wild phenomena of Natural Selection play out in the software world and we realize that the sales tool must evolve or die. (Simply insert the word "software" for "organism" and "functionality" for "traits".) We are betting on the former - evolving. Rest assured we have improvements and refinements on our to do list that we will be releasing regularly over the coming months and beyond. We look at our business through an organic lens - this is not an app that ever gets put on the shelf or is "done". We appreciate you jumping on board for the ride.

We take your business with us very seriously and thank you once again.

Happy Holidays from all of us here at PipelineDeals.com.

Nick Bertolino, JP Werlin

Helping All Kinds of Businesses Succeed

The diversity of companies that use PipelineDeals.com never ceases to amaze us.

In 2007 we will begin to showcase some of our customers, what they do as a business, and how they use PipelineDeals.com everyday to succeed in business. Our customer base runs the spectrum from compost companies to airlines. If you are a customer and want to share your story please drop us a note at customercare@pipelinedeals.com. Don't be surprised if you receive an email from us asking to be featured either. As always, if you would rather stay below the radar, that is fine by us.

When we start to see a trend in an particular industry - whether it be Real Estate Agents or Graphic Designers - a new line of business come on board that we never would have thought of focusing on. We find the diversity of our customer set encouraging and with each new industry comes a new set of challenges. We look forward to making your challenges our challenges and do our part to make 2007 your most prosperous year yet.

Real Estate Real Estate Real Estate

The housing market may be slumping but this is not true for software that helps the real estate industry. At PipelineDeals.com we are seeing a renewed conviction by real estate agents and brokers to run their businesses more efficiently and effectively. Now more than ever real estate agents need to covet each lead and work even more diligently to earn a listing and ultimately a sale.

Many agents from some of the most recognized real estate brands in the nation have chosen PipelineDeals.com to help manage their business. Real Estate is one industry that hinges on an agent's reputation. "Word of Mouth" marketing might have a fancy new acronym ("WOM") but real estate agents have been relying on word of mouth for decades. The best agents know that they are only as good as the last happy clients they sold a house to or sold a house for. Now that inventory is staying on the market longer and median home prices have retreated, real estate agents are challenged to find new tools and methods to tackle the lifeline of their business (and every business) - future revenue.

At PipelineDeals.com we find real estate agents and brokers using the application in a few different ways. One common theme is that the "deal" in PipelineDeals.com is the property itself although some use the people - either the prospective buyer or the prospective seller. Using the property as the deal allows the real estate agent more flexibility. The real estate agent can of course assign the owner (aka seller) as a person in the deal along with any appraisers, inspectors or mortgage lending people involved in the transaction.

Of course the important person to match up to the property is the buyer. We are seeing more usage and coordination within team of agents. One agent will enter a prospective buyer's desires for a property by entering a lead into PipelineDeals.com. In PipelineDeals with the Contact Sharing functionality, fellow agents can then look within the application to make a potential pairing resulting in a showing and hopefully culminating in a sale.

At PipelineDeals.com we would welcome the opportunity to show you this and more ways our application can help you as a real estate agent win. As the old adage goes, "When the going gets tough, the tough get PipelineDeals.com ."

Be Part of the Solution

At PipelineDeals we strive to make software part of the solution for small to medium sized businesses. Specifically, the solution to the age old problem of how to effectively and efficiently run a company by saving time, money and energy. Our team at PipelineDeals gets our motivation from both positive and negative feedback. Our favorite positive feedback centers on comments to the effect of: "I am building my business around PipelineDeals".

The concept of building your business around certain software solutions is not new. What is new, and fun for us is to be a part of, is the degree to which people ingrain PipelineDeals as part of their business process. Technology is only one leg to the three legged stool with the other two legs consisting of People and Process. As current or future customers of PipelineDeals think about how to use our Product (or is it a service?), we encourage them to think about the People and the Process alongside the Technology. Be sure to ask yourself questions along the lines of:

- For new sales prospects how am I going to get the initial deal data into PipelineDeals?
- What people are responsible for keeping PipelineDeals current?
- How can I make sure others in my company are using PipelineDeals?

At PipelineDeals we understand the Technology itself is not the solution but it is the enabler of the solution. We enjoy being the enabler. PipelineDeals can be the slickest on demand app out there but that means nothing without the People and the Processes. If you need help thinking through the best way to make PipelineDeals part of your company, please don't hesitate to drop us a line.

Real Estate Sales Tool - The CRM Agent Tool

Real Estate Agents Leverage Pipeline Sales Tool
For many real estate professionals, the notion of leveraging the power of technology consists of the cell phone and perhaps using the corporate intranet to review MLS listings.   

However, in today's competitive environment, real estate agents can leverage the power of technology to get more organized, focus on the right properties, and ultimately increase their productivity and sales. We developed Pipeline, a sales and crm tool for small businesses, to help achieve these goals.

Today, independent real estate agents, brokers and other firms are leveraging the power of Pipeline to manage their sales and business development activities for their property listings.

How it Works
Property Information all in one central place.  
A real estate agent simply creates a new deal in pipeline.  A deal is just a property that will be represented by the agent (on the buying or selling side). 

The agent then can add prospective buyers or seller to the deal.  In addition, the agent can created milestones and set goals for key steps in the sales process.

Further, the agent can also add notes to document key conversations or key selling features of the property.  Pictures and maps can also be attached to the property. Agents can also upload key documents for the property .

In short, the agent has all of the key information: documents, people, todos, milestones, and notes associated with their properties in one place.  This information is available securely over the Web any time, any place.

Quick and Easy Visibility to Your Properties Status
Just a few clicks provide a quick and simple visual display of where you are on your property deals.   Simple red light green light status reports provide visibility of your sales by property for you the agent but also to your managers and real estate executives in your office.

Take Pipeline for a test drive, you can manage 10 properties for FREE. Sign Up Now.