Dead-Simple Software for Small Business

The things that are nice about the growth of Email Center Pro are somewhat obvious:

• More users
• A tad more recognition
• The chance to impact more businesses

The challenges in the face of all that positivity are things like performance optimization and growth management. And the sign of a product or service that’s coming of age is the opportunity to tackle these challenges and emerge from them stronger for it.

Email Center Pro began its first genuine stint of product maturation a few weeks ago when our capacity to serve butted up against the demands of our users.

Quite frankly, it was terrific. The situation allowed us to learn a couple of things:

• We operate very effectively under a bit of duress
• It’s nice to be a SaaS — Internet-hosted — product, as it allows for big buckets of agility
• Focusing on optimization does wonders for Email Center Pro

Email Center Pro undergoes regular performance tuning, but never before had we drilled down on optimization with such laser-like precision. And it’s the users who win as now the service is faster and more responsive then ever before.

Oh, and the last thing we learned is that Email Center Pro has a rocking, passionate team driving it. And that’s a reason to use it, if nothing else convinces you.

Jason Gallic
Product Marketing Manager

Tags: Email, Email Center Pro, emailcenterpro, optimization, performance
Posted under Email Center Pro on March 17th, 2009 | No Comments »

Jake Weatherly, Vice President of Customer Experience

Jake Weatherly, our Vice President of Customer Experience, has asked his team to share some of their experiences using Email Center Pro to improve customer service at Palo Alto Software. Here’s what they had to say:

Casi Deatherage: It’s about customer service

On a daily basis, Email Center Pro plays a huge role in boosting my level of customer service expertise. Our first duty is to answer each customer professionally and ensure they have a pleasant experience with our company. Read more…

Shawnie Gartman: Accountability and transparency built in

Email Center Pro certainly makes my job a lot easier. I arrive an hour before any of my coworkers. Because I am first in the office, I am the first to jump into ECP. My job is to equally distribute the incoming mail to my fellow team members. ECP makes this a seamless task. Read more…

Desiree Norton: Teamwork with a click of the mouse

The collaboration tools in Email Center Pro are what I appreciate and use the most. My team and I are in Email Center Pro every day answering inbound messages. We are able to easily collaborate with the features of Email Center Pro. Read more…

Steve Weersing: If only we’d had this before!

While Email Center Pro cannot solve all of the institutional challenges in such a textbook case of a company mired in its own indecision and lack of direction, it can help greatly to reduce many of the incremental delays that can accumulate at each step in the cycle of communication. This in itself can make a critical difference in nailing down pending deals that are “on the fence.” Read more…

Jay Snider: So easy to get started

The best thing about learning to use Email Center Pro was how easy it was. Not only was the training time really just a matter of minutes, but once up to speed in ECP, it made training for my job much easier. Our extensive collection of templates allowed me to start responding to customers much more quickly than I might have otherwise. With common questions coming in all the time, quick keyword searches of the templates allowed me to respond with confidence. And when I was ready to start answering the phones as well, I could handle those same questions because I was familiar with the answers from having used the templates. Read more…

Tags: collaborative email, ECP Power Users, ecp update, Email Center Pro
Posted under Email Center Pro on March 12th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

I’m living a frequently-interrupted, very distracted life, in which ideas and todo items come up and, unless I catch them, get lost, and way too quickly.

I’m enjoying my Email Center Pro solution, which gives me some email addresses I can use to load my lists and brainstorm ideas from whatever email address is most convenient. That includes my iPhone’s email, so I can get to it from almost wherever I am.

You can see that best from this screen shot:

So, for example,

• when it occurred to me — I was waiting for an appointment — that this would be a good blog post, I emailed it to my blog@sample.emailcenterpro.com address (and that’s a fake address, doh).
• And when I remembered, at lunch, that I need to get an appointment for getting the car fixed, I emailed a list to my email at todo@sample.emailcenterpro.com.
• And when I’m working at the computer, take a call, and need to remind myself to call somebody else, I send that one to the calls@ emailcenterpro address.

Each of these special emails is very easy to set up. I don’t have to ask our IT person for a new mailbox on the company server. I just do it in about one minute from the mailboxes tab of the account manager.

So when I want to refer back to these lists, they’re right there in the dashboard of my Email Center Pro email account.

Simple and easy.

– Tim

Tags: calls list, ECP Power Users, Email Center Pro, emailcenterpro, ideas list, tasks list, toto list
Posted under Email Center Pro on March 10th, 2009 | No Comments »

Did you know you can customize your plan Outline in just about any way imaginable?

Right-click on any topic in the Outline, and you’ll see options for renaming, deleting, and moving topics. You can also insert new, custom topics, totally defined by you, or insert charts or tables in new locations.

In addition, when you’re printing, you can choose to print only selected items from the plan. The Table of Contents will automatically adjust on the fly to list only the items you’ve selected.

Posted under Marketing Plan Pro on March 3rd, 2009 | 1 Comment »

This post is about integrating Email Center Pro with your pre-existing administration system. You will learn how to create a URL that, when visited, creates a new email in Email Center Pro with a specific recipient, subject, template, and filled-in Input Fields.

I’ll warn you ahead of time, this post was written for programmers. If you’re an Email Center Pro end user, you probably don’t need to look at this. If you’ve never written a line of code in your life, you’re probably better off just skipping this article or handing it off to someone else.

If you’re the brave sort, keep reading.

Read more »

Tags: Email Center Pro, hosted software, shared email, technical, Tips and Tricks, web services
Posted under Email Center Pro on February 25th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

If you liked the idea of templates, but weren’t sure where to start, you’ll enjoy Email Center Pro’s newest feature pack, including a Template Gallery. New drag-and-drop functionality for tags and folders, and special fields to remind users to fill in important data before sending make Email Center Pro more user-friendly than ever.

1. Template Gallery: Templates save you time and create consistency in everything from order confirmations to FAQs. The new Template Gallery includes 10 templates you can use as a starting point for creating your own templates. To check them out, click the “Template Gallery” link on the Templates tab.
2. Template Input Fields: Using templates is a time saver, but you still want to personalize your customer correspondence. The template Input Fields are special codes you can add to a template that will prompt users to enter specific information every time they use that template to create an email. For example, prompt users to enter the customer name in the salutation, or order confirmation numbers.
3. Tag Editor: The updated tag editor lets you Rename and Delete tags. In the left-hand pane of any mailbox, click on the (Edit) button from your Tags list to open the dialog.
4. Drag and Drop: Click and drag a conversation to a tag in your Tags list and it’s automatically tagged. Click and drag a conversation and drop it into your Archive or Trash folders. Quick and easy.

We hope you enjoy using these features as much as we did creating them. You can find even more information in your help file.

Tags: ecp update, ECP Updates
Posted under Email Center Pro on February 24th, 2009 | No Comments »

Need more detail in a Sales Forecast? Want to track a number of different Milestones? No problem. Most tables with data-entry areas allow you to insert new rows, which you can name and format.

1. Click on a data-entry row in the table
2. On the Edit menu, click Insert row
3. Label your new row, and then fill in your projections

Posted under Business Plan Pro, Marketing Plan Pro on February 18th, 2009 | No Comments »

Is your target market growing, shrinking, or just holding steady? Figuring out the answer will help you strategize as to whether you’re trying to gain share by expanding the market, taking share from a competitor, or working hard just to keep the loyal customers you already have.

Market Analysis table
Marketing Plan Pro contains a number of tools to help you forecast your market’s growth (or lack of it) in concrete terms you can translate into action. The Market Analysis table is a great place to start, letting you list the different types of potential customers your marketing efforts are aimed at. Project change in these populations for the next five years for a good medium-range outlook.

Sources for your data
Getting your strategy right depends on getting sound data about your market. Look to industry publications and associations for trends and supporting data. One of the critical parts of the market forecast is not just how many potential customers you have, but their overall purchasing power. U.S. Census data has some great information on industry spending, and if any of your competitors are publicly traded you can compare your numbers with theirs fairly easily.

Reconsider your focus
Sure, the overall market may have one trend, but are you sure that reflects your Ideal Customer? In a shrinking market, you may be able to maximize your outreach efforts by better qualifying your leads, rather than expanding the pool of potential customers. If your Market Analysis table shows far more potential customers than you realistically expect to reach, consider returning to your Ideal Customer description and making sure you have focused in on the best possible opportunities.

Posted under Marketing Plan Pro on February 10th, 2009 | 2 Comments »

Right now, investors are holding things very close to the vest. if you’re writing a business plan seeking investment funding, you must make your case well, with a solid pitch backed by a full understanding of the business’ prospects, financials, and cash projections.

First, all investors want to see right away how much money you need, how it will be used, what return on investment they will receive, and when they will get it.

Professional investors (venture capitalists) will also want to see an exit strategy, when their shares are bought out or the company goes public.

If you are seeking investment from friends and family (which we don’t necessarily recommend), remember that spelling out who owns how much of the business, who has the final say on all business decisions, and what happens if the business fails, are crucial to maintaining good relations with your investors. Investment is always a risk.

Tables
Your Start-up Funding (for start-ups) and Cash Flow tables show where new investment comes into the business. The Cash Flow table has a line for after-tax Dividends that will be paid to investors.

Long Term table can show projected growth and equity for up to 10 years, although forecasts, of course, become less reliable as you get further out.

Topics
Essentials of the investment offering — how much money for how much ownership — should show up in the Executive Summary.  Additional topics should cover the Exit Strategy, Valuation, and Shares of Stock. Many plans will include a section on Risks and Contingencies. Put this in your Financial topics, or click Topic on the Insert menu to add as many new topics to the plan Outline as necessary to spell out the details. Users with the Premier Edition can put this information in the topics surrounding their investment tables.

Remember, however, that investors don’t invest in plans – they invest in people. Make sure you understand the numbers, and can back them up with real research. Your plan should reflect the commitment, energy, and hard work behind your entrepreneurial drive.

Posted under Business Plan Pro on February 6th, 2009 | No Comments »

The best thing about learning to use Email Center Pro was how easy it was. Not only was the training time really just a matter of minutes, but once up to speed in ECP, it made training for my job much easier. Our extensive collection of templates allowed me to start responding to customers much more quickly than I might have otherwise. With common questions coming in all the time, quick keyword searches of the templates allowed me to respond with confidence. And when I was ready to start answering the phones as well, I could handle those same questions because I was familiar with the answers from having used the templates.

When there was an email in our Sales Inbox that I didn’t know how to answer, I had several ways to learn the right responses. I could add a note to the email, asking a co-worker how it should be handled. Or I could check my coworkers’ responses through Saved Searches, Tags, or searching the Archive. Then I could follow the thread to see how the issue was resolved.

I continue to use the Saved Searches in this manner. For instance, sometimes emails come to the Customer Service Inbox that really should be routed to Technical Support. I could just assign those emails to a Tech Support person or move it to the Tech Support Inbox and know it will be taken care of. But often I follow it, to learn the correct answers. This way in the future, I can take care of similar emails myself. The end result is that we can respond to customers much faster.

Being able to quickly search for an email in ECP is invaluable. Customers frequently send an email and then call in right away, or follow up on an email conversation with a call a week or two later. Sometimes they even email several weeks after an initial email, and don’t provide enough information to assist them. By searching for other emails sent from that customer, we can see a whole history of communication with them, which allows us to provide the customer with a higher level of service than they expect.

Finally, I really like the way ECP automatically assigns emails once a conversation has been started. If I answer an email from a customer in the morning and they respond later in the day, that email is assigned to me. This lets the customer know that they are dealing with a real person who is following up on their needs, not an impersonal department where random people are responding to their emails. I like my customers to know that I’m here to help them and will continue to help them until their questions are answered.

Tags: collaborative email, ECP Power Users, Email Center Pro
Posted under Email Center Pro on February 1st, 2009 | No Comments »