Big Contacts

Big Contacts API Released

We're excited to today announce the availability of our first REST API. An API is an alternative  way to access your data without going through our web application. You can write your own interface for your data. Or, you can use your data in Mash Ups. See Teqlo for an exciting example of how mashups can be used to create really neat and useful applications.

See the Big Contacts API Wiki for more details.

Right now, the API works only with contact data. You can authenticate, do searches, pull down data, update data and add contacts. We will be adding  calendar functions to the API in a few days. Over the next month or so, we will include more aspects of our system in the API.

It is available - have at it! And, let us know if we can help you with using the API. To get started, you will need an API ID and password. Contacts us at support@bigcontacts.com or use the 'Send Feedback' box.

Sales Opportunity Tracking added to Big Contacts

It has been a few weeks since I have posed. We've been busy!

This week we have released the newest feature of Big Contacts  - a full featured sales manager. If you are in  sales or manage sales people, this will be a very useful feature for you. You can track all of your sales activity. You can create a sales pipeline process. And, you can project your sales for the upcoming month or quarter.

For more details on tracking sales opportunities, please look at the Big Contacts Wiki

One of the great features that is unique to our sales tracking system is the automatic update of close dates. If you have ever used a sales tracking system before, you know that one of the most frustrating parts is keeping it up to date. The one piece that must be accurate is the close date. Why? If you cannot predict when an opportunity will close, then you will not have an accurate prediction of your upcoming business. In sales, things are always changing and invariably, the close date gets pushed out on many of your opportunities. They don't close when you thought they would. If you predicted a sale would occur on February 15th and it is now March 15th and you did not update the opportunity, your data is now bad. Best case, your sales projection is off. Worst case, the opportunity drops off the radar and is lost. With Big Contacts your close dates are updated for you - automatically. When you create your sales pipeline, you set a sales cycle for each pipeline stage. The sales cycle is the minimum number of days it takes to close form a specific stage. If an opportunity's close date is less than the minimum sales cycle, it is pushed out so that it meets the minimum sales cycle. You never have to update a close date, just update the pipeline stage and Big Contacts takes care of the rest.

If you are a sales manager, you know that salespeople don't like using sales tracking tools because of the amount of work to keep them up to date. With Big Contacts, you can create a sales pipeline with close percentages and sales cycles. You then add your products and services and the commission rates. Then all your salespeople need to do is add the opportunities and update the pipeline stage for each opportunity when they reach the next milestone.

This should be easier than any other system you have used before. Give it a try. And, use the 'Send Feedback' box if you have any questions whatsoever.