Making people and ideas findable
Kudos to High Rise CRM, another brilliantly simple, but extremely usable application from 37 Signals
I have never been a huge fan of CRMs. I know they are necessary and without them effective sales, business development, and client support would not be possible, but they are still painful to manage. My primary beef with most CRMs is the fact that they all try to provide every piece of functionality that any user ever might want and the end result is a cluttered, unusable dashboard of feature sets of which only a small percentage are ever used. As a result, the load and wait times become unbearable and it seems as though there are 6 steps to be followed every time you pick up the phone, send an email, or meet with a prospect or client. God forbid you get really busy for a few days. It might take you a full day just to try and get everything loaded into the system properly.
Two months ago, I was looking for a simple contact management system to keep up with my intensified focus on Business Development and decided to see what 37 Signals had to offer. Within minutes, I was up and running, happily loading contacts into my new High Rise Account and I never even had to call in the techies. For the first time in my life, I actually enjoyed using the CRM. It is so easy and intuitive that anyone can use it and it is actually designed to make the user’s life easier. While most systems are built first around the kind of trend data and reporting metrics that can be pulled with the user a distant afterthought, HighRise is built to help the user keep organized.
Oh, by the way, did I mention it is free? That’s right, you can use it for up to 250 contacts absolutely free and the paid versions are extremely affordable as well. I am not sure if the back end functionality will support everything that a large organization might want, but for anyone who is looking to get organized and looking to build an easy, usable contact database, I highly recommend it.
Two months ago, I was looking for a simple contact management system to keep up with my intensified focus on Business Development and decided to see what 37 Signals had to offer. Within minutes, I was up and running, happily loading contacts into my new High Rise Account and I never even had to call in the techies. For the first time in my life, I actually enjoyed using the CRM. It is so easy and intuitive that anyone can use it and it is actually designed to make the user’s life easier. While most systems are built first around the kind of trend data and reporting metrics that can be pulled with the user a distant afterthought, HighRise is built to help the user keep organized.
Oh, by the way, did I mention it is free? That’s right, you can use it for up to 250 contacts absolutely free and the paid versions are extremely affordable as well. I am not sure if the back end functionality will support everything that a large organization might want, but for anyone who is looking to get organized and looking to build an easy, usable contact database, I highly recommend it.
Views: 90
Comment
-
Comment by Nick Carter on March 9, 2009 at 11:30am -
CRM and Simple rarely go in the same sentence together. High Rise looks to have accomplished it. Also, I wouldn't mind if you checked out addresstwo.com.
-
Comment by Brian Rowe on January 20, 2009 at 10:58am -
The great thing for them is that these apps are so EASY to write the code, but the simplicity in the design and usability make them work.
-
Comment by Scott Abel on September 19, 2008 at 11:48am -
Here here to 37signals. Basecamp is a great tool (I think I'm up to $99 a month, but I use it daily and it saves me that much in time easily).
-
Comment by Ben McCann on February 15, 2008 at 4:13pm -
Thanks Mark for that review, I agree ... we just implemented a customized agency managment system that has a CRM component to it, Zywave. 6 steps to complete one function, 29 different personality types and growing, unless you are a protocol junkie... l agree with Jon Arnold...we looked at salesforce, and decided not to have our soul eaten :o)
-
Comment by Jonathan Arnold on February 15, 2008 at 10:47am -
Thanks for the review on that Mark. I've used SalesForce for the last year for CRM. It is a powerful, feature-rich program that I hate it with a passion. I'll give HighRise a look before SalesForce eats my soul.
-
Comment by Erik Deckers on February 14, 2008 at 10:28pm -
Ten years ago, I got a copy of FileMaker Pro for Macintosh, a very powerful database, and created my very own CRM program for the insulation I was selling. Not only did it track all of my customers, but I used it to calculate amounts my customers needed, got it to interact with my email program (Netscape 4.7!), and even created a To Call log with it.
For kicks, I once went to a CRM conference to see if I could find anything that beat it. I found one or two good ideas that I incorporated into my database, but could not find anything that even came close to doing everything I wanted it to do.
I am by no means a database guru, and I probably know less than most power DB users. But I've been especially proud these last several months that my old FileMaker program (which I still use) kicks the crap out of the ACT! CRM program I've been using since September '07.
-
Comment by Michelle Morris on February 14, 2008 at 7:51pm -
For real estate, I suggest RealFutureCRM.com, it includes fields to track listings, pending sales, and to connect people with properties.
-
Comment by Nicki Laycoax on February 14, 2008 at 5:41pm -
If you need a project management system, I recommend 37 Signals Basecamp. It too, is very easy to use. We pay $50/month for it, but it is definitely worth it...
Groups
-
Sigma Chi Alumni
4 members
-
Business Owners
775 members
-
Social Media Marketing
479 members
-
Smaller Food Indiana
373 members
-
Freebies
57 members
Forum
Healing, Homes and Jobs.
Started by Andrea Lollar in Non Profit: events, news, ideas 7 hours ago.
Fun Customer Service Job
Started by Jamar Cobb-Dennard in Classifieds - Help Wanted 9 hours ago.
AAH wants to Promote Indiana, Indiana Small Business, and Indiana Economic Growth
Started by Michael E Conner in Business on Friday.
AAH wants to Promote Indiana, Indiana Small Business, and Indiana Economic Growth
Started by Michael E Conner in Non Profit: events, news, ideas on Friday.
Stream Three Creative is offering Corporate Videos at Rock Bottom Prices !
Started by John Farinacci in Marketing, advertising and branding May 10.
Grant Writer Needed
Started by Marita Topmiller in Non Profit: events, news, ideas May 1.
Home Based Business-showing others how to create another stream of income with the monthly reoccuring bills 2 Replies
Started by Andrea Bills in Business. Last reply by Andrea Bills Apr 28.
Sales Account Representative 3 Replies
Started by Jamar Cobb-Dennard in Classifieds - Help Wanted. Last reply by Ryan E. McCormick Apr 24.
Marketing Internship
Started by Jamar Cobb-Dennard in Classifieds - Help Wanted Apr 20.
LM Designs is seeking a skilled graphic design intern for Summer 2012
Started by Leanne Miller in Classifieds - Intern Exchange Apr 19.
Help
A few things to consider before joining Smaller Indiana:
1. Please use your real name (first and last) when you sign up, or we cannot open your account
2. Please do not use logos or commercial images for your profile photo
3. Events should be posted in the events calendar
4. You can post pretty much anything you want on your own personal page (self promotion, etc), and you can change the style of your personal profile page to reflect your corporate identification if you so choose.
5. Please keep all comments civil and polite. It's OK to feel strongly about a subject, and it's OK to be critical of ideas, but please refrain from personal attacks of any kind.
If you witness or experience any issues, please contact admin@smallerindiana.com and we will look into the matter.
6. "Blatant self-promotion" is discouraged on SI, and "spam" is not welcome. Please be considerate of your fellow members.
7. Display ads (graphic banners designed to promote your business) can only live on your own profile page, unless you are an approved sponsor of Sponsor of Smaller Indiana.
Smaller Indiana is supported by its members, and by corporate sponsors. If you're interested in learning more about sponsorship, please call Pat Coyle at 317 332 7878.
1. Please use your real name (first and last) when you sign up, or we cannot open your account
2. Please do not use logos or commercial images for your profile photo
3. Events should be posted in the events calendar
4. You can post pretty much anything you want on your own personal page (self promotion, etc), and you can change the style of your personal profile page to reflect your corporate identification if you so choose.
5. Please keep all comments civil and polite. It's OK to feel strongly about a subject, and it's OK to be critical of ideas, but please refrain from personal attacks of any kind.
If you witness or experience any issues, please contact admin@smallerindiana.com and we will look into the matter.
6. "Blatant self-promotion" is discouraged on SI, and "spam" is not welcome. Please be considerate of your fellow members.
7. Display ads (graphic banners designed to promote your business) can only live on your own profile page, unless you are an approved sponsor of Sponsor of Smaller Indiana.
Smaller Indiana is supported by its members, and by corporate sponsors. If you're interested in learning more about sponsorship, please call Pat Coyle at 317 332 7878.
© 2012 Created by Pat Coyle.
You need to be a member of Smaller Indiana to add comments!
Join Smaller Indiana