37signals Product Blog

BlueHead switches to Highrise in order to avoid "procedure"

BlueHead switches to Highrise explains why BlueHead Publishing switched to Highrise from another, more complex CRM tool:

Frankly, we never used any of the functionality. In point of fact we found ourselves constantly going back and forth about how to enter a contact... "Are they a target...or a lead...oh wait!...do we enter them here...or here...what's our procedure again?...oh crap! where did I put that note about my phone call yesterday?...wait, what's the contact's name again?"...

So it came down to one word: simplicity. As an independent, constantly-morphing publishing house living in a wonderfully evolving market, keeping it simple matters and we avoid the word "procedure" like the plague. If you need to wrap a procedure around complicated administrivia, it is just too complicated. At least, we try to keep that in mind.

Read the full piece.

Use Highrise data to fuel personalization

"Data: Your Water Wings for the Next Ocean" [The Web and Print] is an article that advises becoming a data centric organization. "The data is the fuel that drives personalization." The article's suggested solution: Highrise.

Look at the data you have about your current customers, see what data is missing, and figure out how to structure the next job or next customer to collect more complete data. I’m a huge fan of MIS systems but they are collecting data about your business, I’m talking about collecting data about your customer (CRM systems), don’t be scared off by the expensive sounding acronym – try Highrise by 37signals, its easy to use and the price is right. Customers aren’t going to trust you with their personalized campaigns if you have shown no abilities in promoting your company by utilizing the tools. The best advertisement of personalization and new cross media products and services is to use the tools to promote your business.

Read the full piece.

Startup toolbox includes Basecamp and Highrise

In "One Startup’s Toolbox," Eric Gonzalez writes:

I’ve spent a bunch of time trying to put together the right “toolbox” for our start up, and have shared it below in the hopes this will help all you would be starter uppers out there.

Basecamp and Highrise make the list:

Basecamp - We like basecamp for managing product development sprints and document templates for the same reason we hope our customers like us : powerful and simple.

Highrise – The second of 37 signals’ products on our list, mostly since their design philosophy is pretty similar to our own. Deal management on Highrise is way simpler than other systems (even free ones), and the iPhone app is indispensable for quick look ups while traveling to conferences, client meetings, etc.

View the complete list.

Heat up your cold calls with Highrise's "latest tweets" feature

This tweet from Refe Tuma raves about the way you can integrate Twitter with Highrise:

Here's a video showing how to set it up:

Btw, you can follow 37signals on Twitter at twitter.com/37signals.

SEO pro recommends software for your small business

Kristoffer Sandven, a professional Search Engine Optimizer (SEO), wrote a piece recommending software for your small business. Three 37signals tools make the list:

Basecamp:

After using it for a while I can’t believe I managed without it. Keeping everything in one place is invaluable. The software keeps track of emails, to-dos, milestones and writeboards (notes), as well as files (documents, pictures, screen shots etc) and makes it available for all participants. I find the messages function especially useful. You can enter a message and notify participants by email. They can then comment on the message directly by email by replying to the notification. Very neat.

Highrise:

Highrise does exactly what I need in a very nice interface. Keep track of contacts and leads, deals and todos in one place. Love the email to Highrise functions. I can forward emails to a special dropbox email address to add new contacts or add emails to the history of a contact. I can do the same to add tasks, even assign them to be done today, tomorrow, later etc.

Campfire:

Campfire is a web-based group chat tool that lets you set up password-protected chat rooms in just seconds. Using the software you can Invite a client, colleague, or vendor to chat, collaborate, and make decisions. You can also link to a room on your intranet for internal communications. Campfire is elegant, easy, and web-based. You don’t need to download, install, or configure anything. Just like the other 37signals applications it is iPhone compatible too.

Read the full piece for more of Sandven's suggestions.

Marketing consultant: Highrise is "more user friendly and productive" than large CRMs

David Chism: "A Less Complicated CRM Program: Highrise."

Highrise is a less complicated CRM, contact manager program. Most CRMs (Customer Relationship Management) have a lot of gadgets and functionality. I’ve discovered that in the small business world, most folks end up only using a small portion of the functions: emails, to-dos, calendar, and opportunities. Highrise developers cut some of the fat from large CRMs and simplified the functions of their web-based Highrise to offer a more user friendly program and productive software. Highrise is quite simple to use and affordable...

One of my favorite things I like about Highrise is the to-do list/task function. I always have a pile full of small projects going on. Highrise makes it simple for me to write down the action items and be sent an email when those items are due: even down to the minute!

Read the full piece.

Trendcentral: 37signals creates "a tracking process for the entrepreneur's world that you never learned in business school"

Trendcentral discusses the fast rise in entrepreneurship and calls 37signals "a cutting edge online business software service that helps nascent enterprises keep up with the pressure cooker climate of running a start-up."

37signals: As technology pushes Gen Y's demands for more efficient communication tools, software developers like 37signals are in a virtual shoving match to captivate small businesses in need of affordable administrative systems. With programs like Highrise and Basecamp, they've created a tracking process for aspects of the entrepreneur's world that you never learned in business school, like how to track a new business lead, centralize contacts, and create shared documents with downloads and images, all with a seamless drag-and-drop interface. Essentially it's a simple, secure way to collaborate on group projects and keep communication flowing yet streamlined - all while you're waiting to receive your Google Wave invite.

Read the full piece.

Save $42k a year by using Highrise instead of Salesforce to manage contacts

"How to Save $75,000 for Your Small Business This Year" points out "cutting-edge software alternatives that dramatically cut your costs."

While you resolve to get your collaborative groove on in 2010, we did the legwork to find cutting-edge software alternatives that dramatically cut your costs...

Consider the SAAS-impressive Highrise instead of Salesforce.com. A good information management program is mandatory. Where Salesforce.com is expensive, particularly with multiple user accounts (starting at $3,900 per quarter) Highrise has much of the same functionality for managing contacts but at a fraction of the price. Consider prices starting at $49 per month for 15 user accounts and up to 20,000 contacts in the database. Plus you can try it free first to see if it meets your needs.

Savings: up to $3,500 per quarter.

Read the full piece.

Using tags in Highrise to organize your customer lists

At the 1000 Small Businesses Project, Steve Gordon wrote a piece called "Get Your Customer List Organized Now!" The piece offers interesting insight into how you can use Highrise to manage customer lists.

The challenge with all of these [CRM] systems is that they are expensive and really cumbersome for users. The cost might be justified, if the software delivered on it’s promises of centralized contact information and access to the chain of communication.

The over complication of all of those systems kept us from seeing any of the benefits. Then we found Highrise. (Note: I have no relationship with 37signals—the makers of Highrise—beyond being a happy customer).

Highrise almost perfectly tackles the two critical functions you need as a business owner:

1. Centralized contact storage
2. A view of the chain of communication

And it’s so simple and fast to use that getting your staff to actually put the information in is really a non-issue.

Gordon gives a detailed look at how his business uses Highrise tags to segment customers.

We spend a lot of time segmenting our customer and prospect lists so that we can pull different groups out for specific marketing campaigns. We created five priority tags—keywords you attach to contacts to categorize them.

• @Dream 100 - for our list of 100 or so ideal prospects
• @E-Zine - for anyone on our email list (you can signup in the form on the right)
• @Print Newsletter - for contacts who get our print newsletter
• @Clients - for clients
• @Prospects - for consulting prospects who we’ve qualified and put in the sales funnel
• @Unsubscribed - for people who’ve unsubscribed from our email list

We prefix them with ‘@’ to keep these heavily used tags together and sorted at the top of the list. We also create tags to track how prospects and customers have interacted with us—ie. did they download a free resource, attend a teleseminar, buy a particular product or service.

Tracking all of these “events” is hugely valuable, but makes for a long list—that’s why we use the ‘@’ tags to get a high level view.

Read the full piece.

37signals tools top the list at "100 Apps for Tech–Savvy Teachers"

Rasmussen College published an article called 100 Apps for Tech–Savvy Teachers. 37signals tools are #1 on the list.

Teachers have one of the most difficult jobs out there. As an educator, you have to manage a classroom of boisterous students, organize heaps of data, stay up–to–date with current events and plan lessons day in and day out. In today’s technologically linked world, the ability to use web applications is at your advantage as an educator, and we are here to tell you the best tools to use. Here is a collection of 100 web and iPhone applications that make the grade for tech–savvy teachers:

1) 37signals: More than three million people use this application for a reason — it’s extremely effective for businesses and educators. 37 Signals makes it easier to collaborate, share, discuss and get work done through its programs — Basecamp (a project management system), Highrise (where you can track your contact with parents and students), Backpack (where you can organize your life) and Campfire (an instant messaging system).

Read the full list.