"Great tool, great service. Business is booming... we made the right decision with GoldMine and First Direct."

Chris Onan
Sales Manager
RCS Enterprises

GoldMine Software

1. Continually update your database. This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how inaccurate most database information is. Companies move, change their names and their employees constantly. Have you purchased a list recently? If so, you know that there can often be a lot of effort required to gather and append information. The best solution to this problem is to have a telemarketer who continually collects and verifies contact information or have each rep spend a few hours every week updating their own contact information.
   
   
2. Take the time to create templates for common letters and faxes. If you’re typing an entire letter every time you follow-up on a lead or do a literature fulfillment, don’t! You’re probably taking the time to type out information that you already typed for another contact. You can always modify a template for each contact, but if the basic information is already there, you’re saving yourself a lot of time. This also helps you to avoid grammatical mistakes, and you’ll be sure all the information you meant to include is in there.
   
   
3. Training is the key to unlocking the power of GoldMine. Not only will training make your staff more proficient at using GoldMine, but you’re sure that everyone is using the product correctly. Professional training is a great way to accelerate the learning process and help you avoid people doing things the wrong way. Invest in the training – you’ll be glad you did! Furthermore, GoldMine has many powerful advanced features that can increase productivity, such as Automated Processes and custom tool bar macros. You can really increase the return on your SFA investment through these if you learn how to use them!
   
   
4. Don’t expect your sales force to learn how to use GoldMine overnight. Introduce your staff to GoldMine in stages – they will remain productive while learning your new process. This will help them to appreciate the efficiency of the new software without becoming overly frustrated or spending the majority of each day fumbling through your database. E.g. use the first month for data conversion, use the next month to get them used to the calendar functions, and maybe introduce them to filters and groups the following month… well, you get the idea.
   
   
5. Lead by example. Unfortunately, sales and marketing managers are often the people that are most resistant to change because they’ve been with the company and working in the industry the longest. The management needs to be completely dedicated to the new sales force automation project. If the sales and marketing managers are using GoldMine and excited about the product, this will start to rub off on the staff and they’ll become excited, too. It may seem like a burden at first, but your increased volume and efficiency will soon generate genuine excitement.
   
   
6. Begin with the end in mind. Here’s an example: a good comedian always has a punch-line before he thinks of the rest of the joke – a joke has no direction (and isn’t very funny) without the punch line. Actually, this is the case with most things in life. Know what you want from your sales force automation program. Organize your contact information in a way that makes sense – it should be intuitive for report writing as well as for building groups and filters. Be willing to invest the time to plan your configuration to fit your marketing, sales, and customer service objectives.
   
   
7. Document all standard procedures. Everyone should do everything from entering an incoming lead to completing a sale the exact same way. There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to build a filter or group based upon contact information and finding out that your staff has been entering contacts several different ways. Now, instead of investing a day or two documenting standard procedures, you have to spend a month fixing your database. Documented procedures also help to keep training classes more focused.
   
   
8. Make sure your hardware can support your software. You’ve invested a lot of time and money into your sales force automation project, now don’t try to cut corners when it comes to your hardware. Make sure you have enough RAM, processing speed, and disk space to support GoldMine – don’t try to squeak by with the minimum requirements. If you owned a Porsche, would you put Ford Fiesta tires on it just to save money? Of course not! It’s the same way with computer software. Enjoy increased speed and accuracy, while getting fewer crashes, file corruptions, and headaches – you’ll require less technical support and save a bundle in the long run.
   
   
9. Consider investing in GoldMine third party products. There are countless products that link to GoldMine and enhance your sales force automation process. For instance, if you do a lot of faxing in your office, look into linking GoldMine with a fax server. This will help save paper and time spent sitting around the fax machine waiting to send faxes – you can even send out personalized broadcast faxes to a group of contacts. In addition to fax servers, you can consider business card scanners, label printers, e-mail proxies, links to other business programs such as quoting packages, accounting software, palm computing links, and a whole slew of other products.
   
   
10. Practice, explore, and ask questions. GoldMine is one of the most powerful sales force automation tools on the market. If you’re only using GoldMine as a basic contact manager, you’re not getting your money’s worth. Look through the GoldMine manual to familiarize yourself with some of the capabilities of GoldMine and ask your system administrator or local reseller about any functions you don’t understand. If you’re a novice, make sure to ask what kind of functions you should avoid, too (such as globally replacing fields). Sometimes it even helps to keep a practice file so you can try out some of the more advanced functions that you’re unsure of without causing too much damage. Once you understand the basics, you’ll find other ways to exploit the power of GoldMine and reap the rewards of your sales force automation investment.