If you could find a way to make yourself instantly famous and more valuable with all of your customers, would you do it? And if I said it would also eliminate clutter on your desk and guarantee that nothing slips past a deadline, would that get your attention? As they say on the infomercials, "Wait, there's more..." Suppose your clients called you up and said, "You have all the neatest marketing tools and I want what you have," what would you say?
Ever since John Jantsch sent us the recommendation for Basecamp, our world has not been the same. Today's blog by John Jantsch about another cool tool coming from the Basecamp folks at 37 Signals just makes it more exciting. We have worked directly with the Project Management Institute and their famous certification program, so we know what we are talking about.
Why are we wild about this? Because our clients love it. What our clients love, we embrace. Why do customers love it? Because it is you, plus their projects and terrific communication. Value added on top of value add and that just screams customer loyalty.
All these years, when you wanted your customers to value you more because you are working your heart out for them but have no energy or time left as the end of each project stage to do a big, fancy summary report for them, what happened? That's right--they never really saw all that you were doing for them so how would they appreciate it all? Now they not only see everything we do, they get to play along. And they are just wild about that. Everyone is on the same sheet, literally, all of the time.
If there was ever a small business poster child for project management, it's my company, The Communicators. In the past 20 years, this firm has tried every kind of project management software out there and nothing was easy to learn or worked for small business.
Working in chaos is unacceptable. Trying to make software, designed for a construction firm that bills $50 million a year, work for a professional services business is just plain nuts. For too long there has been absolutely NOTHING out there for small businesses with 30 to 40 projects going on at the same time. Nothing between chaos and software overkill. Zip. Nada. Not a blinking thing.
Now there is Basecamp, and it works. No software to download and nothing to learn. Intuitive is an understatement. Just follow your nose. Open your account and pay only for the size business you are. In a matter of minutes or two albums of jazz, we set up all of our projects, all of our customers (specific to the project), upload the documents for each project and then we saw results, immediately.
Here's the wow part. As soon as we enter each client's information and give them a Username and Password, an e-mail goes out automatically, letting them know the good news and how to access their project.
Curious, yet always sure to open emails from us, customers click on the link that takes them to the Basecamp log in, where they plop in their new Username and Password. Then,like high-class concierge on the top floor of the hotel, Basecamp escorts them into THEIR project area and shows them everything that is going on with that project. Their comfort level and our value to them just went through the roof. They love what they see and how easy it is to put their "hands on" their project without ever disturbing what we are doing or causing any delays or detours.
Here's the best part. We don't have to write up progress reports any more. The clients see exactly what is happening, where there project is heading, what they need to do next and when to expect more deliverables. Plus, it puts in their hands all of the web-based, extremely easy to use, tools, which they use and love, to participate in their own success.
Sweet. This means more time for our customers and less time "looking for stuff" or scrambling on a deadline. That makes everyone happier and more profitable.
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