We're looking for a cost-effective (or free) hosting sales management tracking and database solution.

Basicially we should be able to add customers to the system and update their progress as we try to "sell them"

Any host out there using or developing something like this?

Im also interested in something like this

There's gotta be something simple like this out there.. I remember I received a sales e-mail from somebody who had built something like this a few months ago.

It was basically a GUI built on an access db.

I use Gold Mine Business Contact Manager. It is the coporate edition. Very usefull. Tracks things you wouldn't even think of. And fully customoizable.

Not free but well worth what we spent on it. You can find a ten user license for about $1,500. To this add installation and training.

If you're talking about sales force automation software, CRM.

Take a look at $$ solutions:
- www.salesforce.com
- www.upshot.com
- www.salesnet.com

Opensource:
- www.relata.org
- www.anteil.com

Which one do you recommend out of those five?

Originally posted by llarson
Which one do you recommend out of those five?

How many users (including you) will you have? How technically savvy are they?

Also check out:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1072867,00.asp

It reviews the commercial CRM products.

Thanks.. very cool.

Most-likely 2 sales guys...

They're sales guys, I wouldn't guess very techy : )

You should install relata and test it out. You have nothing to loose except time ;)

Also, I'm sure the paid solutions have a trial period too.

Originally posted by mindgasm
If you're talking about sales force automation software, CRM.

Take a look at $$ solutions:
- www.salesforce.com
- www.upshot.com
- www.salesnet.com

Opensource:
- www.relata.org
- www.anteil.com

Not sure of the rest but one negative with Salesforce is that they control all of your database. It's a hosted solution and somebody else has all of your critical customer information. It doesn't tightly integrate with your software, such as accounting. Plus you lease it so there is re-curring expenses which can add up fast.

If you are a one man show check out ACT. it is great for the small business.

www.anteil.com looks very nice and simple so far..

http://www.everywon.com/php/index.php

I also use GoldMine.. You can get single user versions quite cheap.. Around $150 or so.. Go to their website..

Also, ther is ACT! 6.0.. VERY NICE and customizable, as if GoldMine.

And the best thing is that these two programs integrate with QuickBooks Pro 2002 / 2003.. Have to get the add-in for about $90 but it is THE BEST

I actually have GoldMine, GoldMine-Quickbooks Plugin, QuickBooks Pro 2003 and a merchant acct through quickbooks.. I LOVE IT MORE THAN ANYTHING!!! UNREAL and the merchant acct is not bad priced.. Everything integrates together and no double entries.. The merchant account even does recurring payments and to lsit these in QuickBooks, I setup the clients acct and set a memorized transaction for the term agreed upon and QuickBooks does the rest..

I would highly recomend ALL of these products..

Can you tell I am a happy camper? :-)

oooops!! :D

double post.. I'm sorry!!!

I thought GoldMine only integrated with Quickbooks 2000/2002?

They told me over the phone that 2003 support would be in the next release...did it work for you out of the box?

check out http://www.netledger.com
This is what we use.

Greetings:

We have been using Act 2000, but are now in the process of moving towards Lotus Notes.

Take care.

Good lord, not Notes...ahhhhhhhhhh

The good news:

Relata 1.0 has been under development for nearly a year and has numerous improvements over previous releases including an updated GUI, many new sections, resource sharing, and the elimination of third party session (and template) management.


Relata 1.0 has many more features -- including file and document management, with full sharing support. Furthermore, Relata 1.0 functions much like a regular Windows / X11 application, allowing users to complete tasks with ease.

(Relata 1.0) supports sharing of contacts, activities, etc. among users.

The bad news:

management has indicated that future versions of Relata will NOT be released under the GNU GPL.

Any idea if there's something on the "simple/easy" level? A CRM solution needs to be customized a lot and usually requires the user to adapt to it, no the other way round

Regards,

Eric