What happens when you make it public that your business is looking for software?

CASE STUDY

I recently came across one of those “I’m looking for…any suggestions?” inquiries from a solopreneur considering CRM software (direct source reference intentionally omitted). Instead, I’ve pasted below selective parts of the originating inquiry and then in my following analysis I’ve included some handpicked comments that were given in response. I believe you’ll agree that the post itself and replies are quite illustrative.

The originating post (partial content):

I also realised that I have customer and contact information coming in from different sources and stored in different ways.

What I’d like to do is to be able to:
1 /use my list for direct marketing activities
2/ Blog and newsletter
3/ Consolidate contacts from general enquiries

I started to specify a database for my IT guy, who I’m sure will do it – but am I recreating the wheel here, and is CRM software a better solution?

Aside from functionality, Low cost and scalability are important.

Any suggestions?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Now, to the question posed at the beginning of this blog post – What happens when you make it public that your business is looking for software?

In this seemingly innocent case, a few responses came in the form of solicitation or general product references. In fact, they were a bit all over the map – i.e. Zoho, Sugar CRM, Salesforce.com, Highrise, etc. All of these have varying degrees of scalability and price levels. I contend that these responses, likely well-meaning, should at the very least be viewed cautiously.

A better option is illustrated by one responder who stated, “To decide which one to use you will need to make an exhaustive list of features and processes you require and then investigate all options to see which one fits the best – and then decide if it is good enough to fit your business.”

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