Now that we have used Intuit*s Customer Manager, ACT! and
salesforce.com within our own business, we have a new favorite,
LegrandCRM. Read how LegrandCRM has changed the mind of a
business owner.


Situation:

I had contacts in AOL, Rolodex, QuickBooks, a PDA, and several
CRM’s that I tried over the years. I had tried Goldmine, ACT!,
Intuit Customer Manager, Outlook, Access, and a few other ‘off
the shelf’ products. The result was always the same: I never
could get the software to seamlessly integrate into my daily
routine. As a result, all became “SHELFware” because they were
“clunky” to get around and they didn’t sync well with QuickBooks
and/or AOL. I found that I spent a lot of time trying to
configure each program to work the way I wanted. They were not
easily customized so I could sync and search easily. I would get
frustrated and by the time I felt like looking at it again, the
contacts and related information was so outdated it did not seem
worth it to try to get the “solution” working again.


Problem solved:

After some pushing from Bonnie at McWilliams & Associates I
decided to give the idea of using a CRM product one more try.
Much to my surprise, LegrandCRM syncs with QuickBooks without a
hitch. Within 10 minutes of installing the program I was able to
import my entire QuickBooks customer list. A couple more clicks
and all of my invoices, sales history, and outstanding balances
due were imported quickly and easily too.

The next challenge was getting all the info from AOL in. This
included the calendar, contacts, notes, etc. It was literally a
few clicks, 5 minutes, and everything was in LegrandCRM! We used
Microsoft Outlook as our ‘bridge.’ Everything in AOL was synced
to Outlook in 2 clicks, from there 2 clicks from LegrandCRM and
all my information was in. I could not believe that the calendar
was complete; contacts, notes, and companies were all there. It
was awesome! What had taken years to gather, took less than 30
minutes to set it up and become organized. By using Outlook as
my ‘bridge’ I can go back and forth with the syncs, and the
Palm software uses Outlook as the ‘bridge’ to LegrandCRM.

Once it was installed and all the data had been imported,
it became even clearer as to why this software program was
different, and why I will be using it for years to come. No
“shelfware” here.

Besides the integration, the program is built to work the way I
work. It is laid out very intuitively and easy to customize to
my specifications. The program feels like a regular Microsoft
Windows program with files, directories, etc. I can set
‘keywords’ to search on my specifications, without any special
training. The number of keywords I can set up is endless. I can
set a key word for my newsletter subscribers, for the kind of
services I provide to a client, for the version of QuickBooks
they are using, for the legal entity or year end of the client,
and much more. The options are endless.

It works perfectly with my set-up, using Outlook as a ‘bridge.’
This is true even though I don’t know Outlook and don’t use
it for anything else. I can also take information that was
previously stored in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and import
it into LegrandCRM.

After years of having contacts in various software products and
trying many CRM programs, this one has finally bridged the gap
and I use it daily. This is a great program for someone who wants
to get organized, not spend a ton of time ‘learning’ the program
(the learning curve is minimal, you can be using it within 30
minutes!), and be able to integrate with your QuickBooks.


How it can work for you:

McWilliams & Associates is proud to announce our relationship
with LegrandCRM. We are anxious for you to try this product
and let us know what you think. To download an evaluation copy,
please enter McWilliams & Associates, Inc. in the dealer section
at http://www.legrandcrm.com/reg.aspx?regionName=USA.

Many small businesses need a CRM product and although most market
that they work with QuickBooks, few really do in a meaningful
way. LegrandCRM is the exception to that rule. We have spent many
hours working directly with their developers to help them truly
understand what the small business QuickBooks user needs and
wants: true integration. This integration is required in a
software program that is quick and easy to learn and use in under
30 minutes. They have heard our plea and provided a solution!
contact us at http://www.4luvofbiz.com/contact-legrand.html to
learn more.

LegrandCRM integrates with QuickBooks Pro and Premier versions
2004 and 2005 plus Enterprise Solution version 4 and 5. It
supports the USA, Canada, UK, and Australia editions of
QuickBooks.


As a resource for this and other questions, submit a question
via *Ask the Expert* or attend our free, monthly discussion
forum tele-class at http://www.4luvofbiz.com.


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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Bonnie J. Nagayama, CPA has been featured by Intuit in their
QuickBooks Advisor Spotlight and frequently teaches and consults
on using QuickBooks to its maximum advantage. For a FREE weekly
newsletter of QuickBooks tips and tricks, plus many free and
low cost QuickBooks resources visit: http://www.4luvofbiz.com