The Experiment
A few months ago we switched from GoldMine to a popular hosted solution. We started using GoldMine in 1995.
While we loved the convenience of our new CRM, we began to find more and more features that the new program didn’t have that we had taken for granted from our old friend GoldMine. Many of these were kind of “under the hood” items that have been part of GoldMine for 15-20 years, like the ability to intelligently merge duplicates, automatically rollover uncompleted activities to the next day, built in email client, spell checker, a preview window that eliminates hundreds of needless clicks a week.
At any rate the list got longer and longer and finally we decided to write it down and share it with the world. (Ok anybody who would listen or was thinking about switching either to a new CRM solution or from GoldMine.) If you fit in either category, check out our 80 favorite things about GoldMine, compare it to other CRM systems. If you'd like to discuss any of this, give us a call at 847-382-4500 or visit our website where you can see pictures of many of these cool features. BTW, we switched back to GoldMine as our CRM and are happy as clams!
80 Reasons to Love GoldMine By Tech.Sell Corporation
1. Concurrent licensing – based on number of users logged in at one time. A big savings over “named user” licensing models
2. Microsoft SQL Server licenses included with purchase or upgrade
3. Includes Office integration with Word, Excel and Outlook
4. Includes GoldSync for remote off line users
User Interface
5. Very flexible drag and drop screen arrangement provides more Real Estate on the Top Half of the Contact Record
6. Search, sort, group and filter by double clicking on any field
7. Excel-type “Auto Filters” in most list views to make searching through a contact’s info so much easier!
8. Preview Windows in most list views – eliminates the need to open each history, pending, detail record, linked document, etc., because you can see the details, including Notes in the preview pane.
9. The Contact Search Center – so much more than a search tool. Has the auto filters, described above, in addition to a “Grouping” feature. You can slice and dice to your heart’s content, creating on-the-fly filters. Results of your search/filter can be output to Excel, tagged for an instant filter – the possibilities go on and on.
10. The Activity List – open activities and closed/completed activities, drill down by user, date range, type of activity, export to Excel with a click for an instant activity report.
11. Quick Action Buttons on the Contact Record, Search Center, and Activity list to Schedule, Complete, create email or mail merge
12. Open windows create tabs for easy navigation between them
13. Recently Viewed Lists for quick navigation back to recent screens
14. The Relationship Tree – track related records in a single org tree
15. Rollup of Info for Multiple Contacts in an Organization
16. Secondary contacts reside on the same record as primary contact
17. Referrals – connect related contacts with a quick listing and link
18. Spell checker in Email editor and all notes areas.
19. View delegated activities still open in the activity center
20. Ability to link files or folders to the contact record
21. Automatic linking of email attachments to a contact record
22. Universal Search searches all of database, even info in linked documents
23. Social Media Links for LinkedIn Connections, Facebook, Google
Scheduling
24. Drag and drop activities on the calendar to other days/times
25. Schedule for one or many people
26. Auto schedule for groups of users
27. View the calendar of multiple users at one time
28. Send meeting requests and notifications
29. Click RSVP to delegate activities and receive notifications when the activity is completed or deleted
30. Sync calendar with Outlook
31. Auto Rollover activities – move uncompleted activities to next day
32. Auto update activities – reassign to another user, delete displayed activities, reassign to another user
Sales Stuff
33. Forecasted sales – can be scheduled like appointments. Fast and easy way to track opportunities when all the deal details aren't needed.
34. Opportunity manager allows capture of all details relating to the opportunity including multiple sales, linked documents/quotes, influencers, team members, etc. All linked to the related contacts.
35. Project manager – can continue form a closed opportunity. Track all the details of a project as well as scheduled activities for each user.
36. Dashboards for quick look at forecasts, scheduled and completed activities, forecasted sales, customer service issues
Marketing Stuff
37. Email templates for easy “one-offs” or email blasts
38. Email marketing tools
39. Create Personalized HTML Email templates
40. Store in library of email templates
41. Built in searchable Info Center Library to capture and share literature, web clippings, policies and more. Centrally updated.
42. Integration with Word for mail merges
43. Integration with Excel for importing lists into GoldMine.
44. Create groups from the search center and group schedule or send email blast with less than 5 clicks.
45. Document library for Word, Excel, and Email templates including literature attachments
46. Output lists to Excel, Word, Windows Clipboard
47. Lead Management allows easy update of fields
Data management - Hidden geeky stuff that makes life so much easier
48. Easily create filters, groups or SQL Queries with built in wizards
49. Over 75 built in reports for contacts, analysis, calendar, and labels and envelopes.
50. Automated Processes / Workflow Wizard driven trigger events, emails, updates automatically
51. Global replace of fields, switch data in filtered fields, automatically set proper case in all records or a filtered group
52. Ability to have multiple databases
53. Ability to Archive records
54. Ability to move document attachments and links to an alternate server or dive location
55. Territory Realignment Wizard
56. “Record typing” allow different record views for different user groups or contact types
57. Customizable Tab Names
58. Built in Merge/Purge system to easily manage duplicates
59. Auto Update Fields based on info in other Fields
60. Record Ownership by user or group provides security
61. Record curtaining choices Full/invisible, basic info or read only
62. Easy to Customize screen layout with screen designer
63. Ability to create calculated Fields
64. Relational Lookup Windows
65. Details for “many to one” data items like passwords, card numbers birthdays, family names etc.
66. Many security control options from fields to contact records to databases
67. Import/Export tools
Customer Service And Issue management
69. Included Customer Service module to track, escalate and capture issues. Creates issues and case numbers.
70. All issues automatically become part of history on customer record.
71. Full reporting and dashboards with automated tracking.
Mobility and Mobile Access
73. iGoldMine for full remote access to GoldMine and other server based applications (Like Citrix) Optional
74. GoldMine Mobile product created by GoldMine is app for iPhone and iPad. Optional
75. WMobile – Provides access to 2 distinct interfaces. W Mobile Phone (for all browser equipped SmartPhones) and WMobile Desktop for any desktop browser or tablets. Provides almost all the features of GoldMine to remote users with no installation required. Optional
More recommended GoldMine add-ons. (Optional)
76. QuoteWerks – Great quoting program that stores all quotes, links to GoldMine creates opportunity and forecasted sale, emails to client and creates follow up and linked quote in GoldMine.
77. MasterMine – Amazing reporting and data management tool, creates reports and live data links in Excel. Must see!
78. DialPad – By W-Systems, custom interface let’s telesales team handle calls and data, drawing data from GoldMine and linking to a variety of VOIP phone systems.
79. CompanionLink – The granddaddy of syncing software – Links contacts and calendar to and from most anything including Google, Outlook, IPhone, and more.
80. Riva – Amazing behind the scenes program that works with Exchange server to sync contacts, email and calendar to any exchange-connected device. No hassles and central set up.
81. GoldBook
– Oft requested link between GoldMine and QuickBooks. Can move or link,
contacts, invoices, sales, etc. back and forth.
So there you have it. Take it from 18 years of using and implementing CRM systems, these things really make a big difference in usability and results for any business team. A little professional guidance also goes a long way. Tech.Sell has 18 years of CRM and GoldMIne experience to offer. 847-382-4500
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