Contact Management – Product Development
The Past – The Need for Accountability
Contact Tracking evolved directly from the need for accountability in the fields of sales and marketing. In the late 1980’s the developer was working in ‘field marketing’ and developed an outbound calling database that generated quality leads. He was very disappointed to discover that the leads were not being followed up on by the sales staff. They were quite content to just fulfill their quotas. He was determined to figure out a way to make the sales staff accountable and ensure follow up of all leads. He developed an initial PC based product that would track opportunities in the field. This was at the point when the Internet was starting to come to life. By 1995/6 he decided that a web based customer relationship product would be the ideal way to move forward with the software.
Track all Leads
In 1998 the earliest version of the product was released as a lead management tool that would handle customer relations. And it was profitable from the 1 st quarter. The company continued to grow and presently has over 1000 logins with over 100 customers. These are loyal clients and many sales presently come directly through referrals and word of mouth.
Affordable and Easy To Use
Throughout the products evolution the main focus has always been on two key strategies.
- To make the software affordable
- To make the software easy to use
Great effort has gone into deciding what features ‘add to’ and what features ‘take away’ from the focus of ‘ease of use.’
The True Alternative
The true test of any customer complaint system or other type of software is that people use it and they use it to truly get the job done. Often organizations invest a great deal of money for software that is never used or never used to its full potential. We offer a product that is aimed at being alternative to the major players in the field whose products are often very expensive and very complicated to use.
The Future – Continuing Natural Development
It is important to emphasize that this products development came about naturally through the requirements of sales and marketing. The product’s development is not based purely on technology but rather takes into account that the human element is so important. This is our continuing philosophy and is the basis of what we think makes our software special.