OnePageCRM - Not what I was looking for but maybe I want it anyway!

OnePageCRM

The system is cleverly thought out. No doubt about it of all the systems I've looked at this is the most productivity organised. I'm not easily impressed, first looked at this and I was impressed immediately.

I signed up for a free trial and there are a couple of fake contacts in the system to get you started and allow you a feel for the system.

Instead of the traditional CRM dashboard throwing a ton of information at you, when you log in your are presented with the 'Activity Stream' page. I think this concept is based on 'Getting Things Done' productivity system. Basically your Activity Stream shows you nothing other than a list of the next thing that needs to be done to move your sales/business process forwards and nothing more. If you have ever suffered from low motivation or just been overwhelmed with the level of work you have to do you might have discovered this as a technique to just get on with stuff. It works I can testify to that.

The contact summary is very neat and easy to view quickly, including history etc - as a gmail user I am also provided with a neat little button that takes me in to Gmail with a from & to search for the contacts email address already completed for me!

There is basic segmentation built in when you add a contact i.e. you can set status to;

• Lead
• Prospect
• Customer
• Inactive
• General

You can also add/edit them from the settings page.

Contacts can be tagged just as they can in Insightly so custom lookups and need based segmentation are pretty easy.

Similar to Insightly there is not a great deal you can do with a list. But there is an Apps button from here you can create a list for a specific 'app' and send it to the app from OnePageCRM and then go to the app to work with it. I tested mailchimp and it was pretty seamless. Now I know that some of you will be thinking it is no better than Insightly they are just saving you the download and upload of the csv - I concur to a point as you don't need to format the .csv , if you are using a tablet or Chromebook then this is a great help and if you are on mobile internet it is saving you bandwidth so it is certainly a feature worth having.

You can also attach files direct from dropbox and google drive another bandwidth/hassle saver.

They have a reasonable list of Apps already integrated (and a voting system for others to see which customers want prioritised) that will cover most of my personal wants - except a physical mailmerge for posting out.

Now I know this might be a bit old fashioned but as they have built google drive integration already maybe an export of .csv to drive rather than forcing a download would allow you to do so in Drive as in this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMNRs3YIaqw

 - Just a thought!

Managing a client process is simple - no process' to set up you just create a 'deal' for your opportunity add some notes and a value. As one doesn't adds actions manually too for each client it allows for ultimate flexibility through simplicity. This is great if your staff know there jobs inside out and what 'should' happen but if not there are no clues for them other than when one action is completed they are asked to add another - this system works if every contact always has an activity against them even if it is only - "touch base" and set a few months down the line. For someone whose contact numbers are now in the 4 figures like me this might be tough to manage on an individual basis - if you could set actions by tag and clear them by tag that might be more helpful. for working with larger numbers of people in your prospect pipeline.

Having said all the above I have since discovered you can set up pre-defined process' in the settings area if it suits you but you don't have to.

I'm still going to have a look at Capsule and Zoho, but I am very tempted to come back to OnePage despite its two shortcomings (printed mail merges - and group actions) the system has a unique productivity edge that really does appeal.