"...peace of mind that all this data is safe and secure."

We are a training design and delivery firm.  Our key client base is medium sized businesses with 50-500 employees who are in a growth trajectory.  We find most of our clients in group networking situations.

Prior to BigContacts we used a variety of piecemeal solutions.  We switched back and forth between Entourage and Apple (iCal and Address Book) probably 4 times. We also used constant contact for our mass email system. All of these solutions piled one on top of another made data integrity very challenging. 

I think the biggest pain point was that we had a system and it worked, but it was disjointed.  All of the systems worked, but none of them worked together. We kept all of the data in so many different places that it was difficult to build a cohesive strategy of what to do with those pieces of data.  I think the straw that broke the camels back was missing a few calls/appointments because I was not organized.   

This solution has been awesome.  It allows me to have all of the information in one place and it does a great job of integration with my business workflows.  I have been very happy with this solution as a tool and I recommend it to all of my business partners.

Although I would not say that I use these to their fullest potential the automation features are very useful.  I would like to use them more, but I have not.  One of the biggest benefits for me is peace of mind that all this data is safe and secure.  Just this week, I loaded some new software on my office computer for one of my employees and it wiped all my contacts.  While I was able to remedy, I know that this will not happen with the data in my BigContacts account and I appreciate that security. 

I also like how organized it makes me for each contact.  When a customer called me I like the fact that I can from one screen see that customers history.  The emails they sent me, past to-do’s and files that have been uploaded. Having all of this information in one spot that is secure and safe is nice.  It is also good that I am able to access this information while I am onsite with clients or overseas with just an Internet connection.  I like this flexibility to access the secure data.

BigContacts was cost effective, power rich and I was able to see it in action through the demos without having to feel like I am being sold on a webinar.  Many of your competitors only allow you to demo the software after a long drawn out sales demo.  While this can be effective, it is usually more pressure and turns me off of a product more times than not.  I was also happy with the support I received in the beginning of the process.  It allowed me to set up the data in a meaningful way.  The videos and demos were very cool to see as I started to play with the system.  Having access to all this training was awesome.

Russ F.

"BigContacts is without a doubt the most valuable tool that we use."

I have my own photography business.  In the past I have relied on pen, paper and my brain to keep up to date with clients.  I was quite old fashioned in the sense that I would have a client file and would then put all info in the file including correspondence.  Looking back now I laugh at how time consuming this was as with so many clients it is impossible to keep everything in order and a large part of my day would be spent looking for a letter/email.    I then dallied with salesforce for a bit but found that the support offered was below par.

BigContacts is without a doubt the most valuable tool that we use.   We are able to keep up to date with every single client despite not working in a central office.  We are able to monitor/log every single phone call or email and consequently this means we are always 100% sure of any business decisions.  The fact that we can personalise BigContacts to suit our specific needs is the USP as far as I am concerned, I can then use this for marketing, leads etc and our business is safe in the knowledge that we aren’t missing out on clients and ultimately revenue.

BigContacts helps me to make money!  How, because it means we are super organised and have more time to concentrate on getting sales in or looking at our marketing strategy.  I am 100% certain that our data is safe and protected and I think that the support BigContacts offer is second to none.

Sophie M

"I can honestly say this application has been a tremendous tool for our business."

Your Company deserves to hear how your application has had a positive contribution to our Company...so often, as small business owners, we spend a lot of time managing problems and disgruntled customers so it is always refreshing for your team to get an “Attaboy”. So here is a big “Attaboy” to BigContacts!

I, along with my wife and another partner, purchased PSS LLC on 3/1/10 and specialize in providing safety training and safety consulting services to customers throughout the United States. We have up to 20 employees and service hundreds of industrial companies, contractors, governmental agencies, and non-profit organizations from three Tennessee offices. We also have a heavy emphasis in telemarketing by strategically targeting Companies of a certain profile in a certain geographical region. Consequently, as Chief Operating Officer, I knew we needed a streamlined way to strategically manage our customer base, track prospects, and just as important, manage our employees’ calendars in order to promote connectivity, cohesiveness, accountability, and productivity among the staff. So our search began...

We began by looking at stand alone programs and applications but quickly realized the way to go was through a web-based application. I began to search for Web Based Contact Management Applications. As I recall, I landed on your site relatively quickly and myself, and another tech savvy associate, began to run thru your demos and review your site quite extensively. So after significant research, we committed to your product and launched your product with a few users including one champion. As the champion and the couple of users began to finesse their skills associated with the use of the product, we continued to add users and are currently up to 11 fully integrated users!

I can honestly say this application has been a tremendous tool for our business. The web based nature creates a real time data environment that allows all users to update from a mobile phone to a laptop in the airport...no syncing of remote databases, no installation of software on multiple machines, no data import headaches...the system just works!

We currently utilize BigContacts in the following areas:

• Employees calendars are maintained on the system
• Client contacts are maintained on the system
• Prospects are maintained on the system
• Quotes and proposals are managed on the system thru the Sales Pipeline
• Key strategic documents are maintained to provide easy access
• Mailing lists are maintained
• Client/Prospect history (emails, calls, notes, meetings) enhancing client management quality control
• Meetings are scheduled so all users can see
• Marketing reports are produced for management meetings
• Group Calendar is used to schedule client training classes
• The employees utilize the TO DO function for task assignments

Our productivity has improved with better scheduling information (the left hand now knows what the right hand, right foot, left foot etc are doing). Training classes (a large source of our revenues) can be better scheduled to maximize use of trainers, prevent “overbooking” and other productivity practices.

Accountability among associates has been enhanced because centralized records promote transparency and removes the ability to “hide” your omissions. Improved accountability promotes productivity and good client service practices.

Tracking quotes and proposals with follows up allows us to stay proactive with prospects and to better manage our future resources needs.

Group calendars promote employees staying busy and productive thru peer pressure and all “eyes can see”. In addition, the use of “TO DO’s” help manage our employees effectiveness and ability to get tasks done in a timely manner.

History of client communications (emails, notes, calls, etc) all provides a way to “defend” our associates when a client accuses a consultant of non performance enhancing quality service control.

Time savings in document look ups...with all key documents centrally located, time savings can be significant.

If I were to try and put a dollar on the impact, here are my estimates:

Full-time employees / revenue producers	8
Hours per year at work (less vacation/holiday)	1,912
Total billable/productive hours	15,296
Rate of increase in productivity	5%
Total increase in productivity (hours)	765
Average Billable Rate/ hour	$110
Total increase in productivity/added capacity (annual)	$84,150

 

In addition, there are savings and gains associated with increase in productivity of administrative employees as well as dollars associated with improved quality control and better management of our clients and prospects.

We look forward to looking for additional ways to utilize the product to enhance our business management systems.

Mike S.

"BigContacts saves time, is predictable, and is cost effective…"

We are a Legal Professional Services company (company size around 50 people). Our target client is IP attorneys in companies and in law firms.

We were using ACT prior to BigContacts.  The new updates to ACT removed some of the data fields we used in older versions. ACT continued to flood us with annual updates to their product which was junk.

 BigContacts allows for remote access via the web and is not tied to a laptop computer that a hard drive could be corrupted on. BigContacts subtly makes changes to it's fields, but does not disrupt the user like ACT did.

BigContacts saves time, is predictable, and is a cost effective way of keeping our contacts in line.

We had looked at salesforce but it was too expensive. Having a 30 day free trial allowed me to test drive some of my data fields, especially when importing them from another program. When everything worked without a glitch, I was set!

Christine S.

"BigContacts has solved my problems…."

My target clients are private and public schools in the Western United States with an enrollment of 200 plus students.

When I took on this territory it was completely undeveloped. There was no database, client listing, prospect listing or any sort of tracking method of previous orders, inquiries etc.  Basically, my territory was managed using a Franklin Covey daily planner.

The issues that I faced when taking on my territory were numerous. The challenges ranged from not having a database of contacts to managing correspondence with contacts and everything between. One major hurdle was being able to communicate with my inside office and support team. Without one common space to log client specific information and the ability to assign tasks etc, I would have undoubtedly failed.

BigContacts has solved my problems by supplying me with a tool to manage my tasks, clients, prospects and sales. BigContacts has allowed me to spend far more time selling as opposed to “managing” my business.

Ever since I starting using big contacts, my time spent working my territory has actually decreased due to having a much less labor intensive solution. I used to work into the night logging notes and strategizing how to approach the next day. With big contacts, I no longer have to spend the extra hours working, I can spend that time with my family, which I am grateful for!

Two major reasons I chose BigContacts:

1. Customer support. It is second to none.

2. The system is user friendly. Let’s face it; I’m not the most computer savvy guy... but, with a little bit of help using the online chat tool and watching a few videos... I was off and running. Again, this was another time saver.

I would recommend BigContacts to any and all business in need of a managing system.

Ian G.

"Salesforce.com was so complicated that we would've had to hire a CRM specialist"

I am in the professional services industry, but the people we serve are those in the financial services industry.  As a business coaching service, it is critically important that we are able to showcase good business practices to our clients (like calling back when we say we will, reminding them of upcoming events, and keeping up-to-date contact info). 

The typical client that we work with is an independent financial professional of sorts (advisors, agents, representatives, financial planners, etc).  For the most part, these are not big companies or corporations with hierarchies so it was important to us that we find a CRM that allowed us to capture business information without the hefty, and time-consuming platform like SalesForce.com.

Prior to using BigContacts, we were using one of two drastic extremes: salesforce.com or trying to keep track of paper contact sheets.  Each have their distinct disadvantages!   We needed a better solution that was easy to implement and use.

Salesforce.com was complicated to use--so complicated that we would have needed to hire a CRM specialist to make it do what we wanted it to do.  When we got frustrated with Salesforce's overkill, we simply stopped using it.  Of course, we all know what happens after that........we start losing track of opportunities and our minds!  In order to try to keep some log of contacts, I switched to paper where I would jot down notes from conversations and reminders of future opportunities.  The problem?.......try finding time to sift through a stack of "leads" when you're trying to run a business!   It's like a sales person who doesn't want to pick up the phone---you avoid doing the most important thing in your business because of how painful the task seems.

BigContacts has helped give me the peace of mind that I have logged all pertinent info into a client's record, and can find them quickly when I need to.  No more trying recall what I said and when I said it--it's all right there in a client record! 

Shortly after starting BigContacts, I was able to fill an on-site event which netted over $10,000.  I had on-site events like this before, but I felt so disorganized trying to fill them and keep track of everyone I had spoken with regarding the event.  BigContacts allowed me to leverage my time properly so I could make my event a success with relative ease. 

In simple terms, BigContacts allowed me to stay focused on the important parts of my business instead of trying to figure out my CRM!  Coming from Salesforce, I knew I wanted to find a CRM that was easy to use, but beefy enough to get the job done.  I found that in BigContacts! 

Christina L.

"BigContacts has made it easy to expand..."

I run a lecture agency.  Our target customer is the person coordinating a lecture series - usually at a college, high school, or town hall.  I started my business about four years ago and BigContacts was the very first contact management solution I tried.  I've stuck with it.  

At my previous company we were using a very clunky proprietary program to manage contacts.  I wanted something web based so I could use it easily on the road when I attended sales conferences.  

So far I've been very pleased, since that has made it easy to expand my sales force without buying new software packages, upgrading when I replace computers, etc.  During the evaluation process it was the free trial that made me choose BigContacts.  

You guys were easy to try out, so I did, and it worked, so I kept on using it.

Beth M.

"BigContacts now has become integral in our daily operation and client management"

We have an international group of speakers and clients. We mentor successful clients into higher realms of success in their business through branding, media and internet.

We were not using a system, but would sometimes share a spreadsheet between partners on client steps and processes.  We knew we needed a more complete record of client profile info, tasks, events and notes that could be accessed from anywhere in the world.

BigContacts has provided this platform giving us universal access to client profiles, notes, schedules and calendar.

BigContacts now has become integral in our daily operation and client management. Without BigContacts we would not be able to effectively manage and track our current client to give them the results our program promises nor would we be able to expand our business without the software.

We really like the features of client profile, user defined fields, events, notes and tasks as well as the ability to access that data from anywhere in the world.

Finally, it was very important to the partners to be easy to use and get around in. It is.

Dave R.