New Years Solutions for 2010

Forget resolutions, they are too broad – “lose weight” or “make more money”.

I make New Years SOLUTIONS that are empowering and allow me to plan for success.

Here’s one of mine:

I am going to increase my marketing reach by writing more content for social media, article sites, blogs, and print.

Here’s one for you:

I am going to improve my business relationships by managing the information about my contacts in a CRM system. Then I can run reports that categorize and group contacts by industry and interests in order to make better referrals and offer more targeted information.

See how this works? It is not just a statement, it is a plan, and that is the key. It is almost impossible to take any meaningful action without a plan. And, it is also important to include the right tools so that you can more easily execute the plan.

In my case it is writing content that can be re-purposed, and re-posted in multiple locations. My plan includes a list of topics that address my target audience, and a list of locations where I can find them. The software I use is also important, to make things easy.

To copy and paste from a Word document into a form on a website has caused LOTS of ugly results, including rouge HTML code in the text. So, any content I write that will be posted directly onto a website, such as a blog, I write in either an HTML editing software or in WordPress, which adds appropriate HTML code. I only use Word if the final document is going to be a .pdf file or if I am going to print it for distribution.

For my CRM example, you want the right software to capture the information you are obtaining from your contacts. In most cases, this will require the need for custom fields and the ability to at least modify the reports and report filters. All true CRM software offer both of those things, and much more such as flexibility in managing your calendar, attaching emails to contact records, creating sales opportunities, and monitoring customer service.

Planning for success in 2010 is the only way you are going to have a chance of achieving it.

Please let me know what New Years Solutions you have, and what software you need to support it!

Happy New Year!

Ellen DePasquale – The Software Revitalist™