Sample Data

September 7th, 2008

The best way to see what a software product can do and to tell if it’s a fit for your needs to see it populated with data.  In some applications you get “preview” screenshots which are sample data presented as static images where your real data will eventually show up when entered.  The preview screenshots are better and more helpful than looking at a blank-slate.  But, they don’t let you get your hands on data and see how the app actually functions.

So, instead of static screenshots to fill in the blank-slate, we now provide each new PlaybookIQ account will sample data.  When a new account is created, you will see a sample contact.

That contact will be assigned to a sample playbook, sample tags and a sample task.  Go ahead and click around in the sample contact.  Complete a step in the playbook to see how 1) the contact is automatically moved to the next step, 2) a comment is automatically added to history and 3) the user responsible for the next step will see it due on their dashboard and calendar.

We hope you agree that sample data is a great way to get hands on experience with PlaybookIQ.

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New Help System

September 7th, 2008

PlaybookIQ help is now available the new PlaybookIQ Help Center.

There, product information is organized in what we think is a helpful and informative way. You’ll find a new “Getting Started” section that should help you get up and running in no time.  We hope you agree this is a helpful addition to PlaybookIQ and, as always, we welcome your feedback.

 

You can find the help center at http://help.aboutplaybookiq.com.

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New Feature: Export a Segmented List in PlaybookIQ

August 21st, 2008

Here is how to segment your contacts and export a list the segment as a list. You may want to do this in order to create a mailing list from which to invite VIP contacts to a special event or to create a list to send to your bulk email provider.

1.) Enter criteria on the search page
On the search page, you can enter criteria for your list. Every contact field, including tags and custom fields, can be used for searching and basic segmentation.

2.) Export search results
When you click “Find” on the search page, all contacts matching your criteria are returned. Click the “Export these” link and follow the web browser prompts to save or open the newly created file.

Demonstration

In this 15 second video, we create a list of our contacts from Colorado that are tagged “Gold”.

There’s more:
Tagging, untagging, tasking, and assigning to playbooks.
Besides exporting all contacts matching your criteria, you can select contacts on which to perform bulk operations. The operations currently supported are add a tag, remove a tag, create a task, and assign to a playbook. This feature is a powerful way to manage groups of contacts.

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Enhancement: Live Search

August 15th, 2008

Besides the detailed search options on the search tab, PlaybookIQ also offers a quick search on the contacts tab. As you type in the search box, your contacts are filtered to all contacts with first name, last name, or company name starting with your search phrase.

Type sm … and as you type…

… smi …

This search box is also a quick way to find everyone in a given company.

We’ve made it faster

With recently improved indexing strategies, this search box is the quickest way to find someone when you know their first name, last name, or company. If you receive a phone call while at your desk, you can quickly find their PlaybookIQ CRM record, open it, and be ready to read through their comments and history all within a few seconds.

Give is a try at http://playbookiq.com. We think you’ll enjoy how quickly you can find and open a contact.

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New Feature: Import Contacts from CSV Files

August 14th, 2008

What is CSV?

Comma-separated values (CSV) file format is the most common and easily understood way to manage generic data. A CSV file is simply a straight text file in which each row of text is a contact (in our case). Data in each row is separated by commas and optionally enclosed in quotes. A simple CSV file looks something like this:

“first name”, “last name”, “company”
“John”, “Jackson”, “ABC Inc.”
“Mary”, “Smith”, “Widgets LLC.”

Microsoft Outlook, ACT, Excel and just about every other software application can export its data in CSV format. More detail about CSV can be found “here“.

How does PlaybookIQ support CSV?

Because CSV is so common and flexible, PlaybookIQ supports import of contacts from generic CSV files so you can quickly move contacts from another application to into into PlaybookIQ.

Here is what it looks like:


Step 1: Prepare your data for import.

The import feature leads you through the process step-by-step. The first step is simply to review your data file to ensure it is a valid CSV file. Step 1 describes what a valid file is so that you can visually review your file before proceeding.


Step 2: Select your import file.

PlaybookIQ imports files from your local computer. In Step 2, you simply tell PlaybookIQ which local file you want to use.


Step 3: Upload file for parsing and inspection of field names

In this step, PlaybookIQ reads your file and attempts to match data to PlaybookIQ fields. The process of matching your data to contact fields is called ‘mapping’.


Step 4: Map fields

For fields that PlaybookIQ could not automatically map, you are prompted to determine the mapping. For data that you wish to exclude from the import, you simply leave the mapping field blank.


Done!

From here, you can now perform the standard bulk-tasks to the newly imported contacts:

add a tag, assign to a playbook, add a task

We are excited about this new, flexible import feature.

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Enhancement: Search Results UI

August 9th, 2008

PlaybookIQ has always had a comprehensive search that lets you find and filter contacts by almost all contact fields, including custom fields. Today, we enhanced the search results screen with some new functionality and a new look.

Here is the new screen, that has a more pleasing look and some additional functionality.

The new search results screen:

Shows total number of contacts returned from the search.


Shows number of contacts clicked, in real-time.
As before, you can then take action on each contact checked. The new feedback as you check and uncheck contacts simply makes it more clear what impact you will make when taking an action on the checked items.


Previously, you add a tag, remove a tag, assign to playbook, or add a task to up to one page worth of results at a time. Now, you can click “Show all” to change from page view to complete list view of your results, allowing you to perform tasks on all contacts ‘with city of Denver’, for example.

 

Allows for mass management of all contacts in the search result.

We think these changes make creating lists and segmenting your contacts a little bit easier. Find out more at http://playbookiq.com.

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New Feature: SSL for All

August 9th, 2008

SSL for all! All PlaybookIQ accounts, including free trials, now

get the protection of secure sockets layer (SSL) encryption. SSL is the Internet standard for secure, encrypted transmission of your data.

All major web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Opera automatically recognize and authenticate SSL certificates so, as a PlaybookIQ user you do not need to do anything to be protected. When you log in, you will see a lock in the corner of the web browser that indicates the connection is using SSL.

 

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New Feature: Exports

August 1st, 2008

With PlaybookIQ, small business CRM software, we take care of all the work that goes into hosting, serving, storing, and presenting your data. Yet, we know that it is always your data. So, you can always export your contacts’ information.

There are two ways to do so:
1. The account owner can export all contacts on the Admin screen.
2. You can export all contacts that are the result of a search. Using this feature, you could search for all contacts in Boston, say. Using the export search results feature, PlaybookIQ users can easily create segmented lists for whatever purposes they find useful. You could export a list of all of those contacts to a postcard vendor, for example.

To check it out, create a new account at playbookiq.com or, if you already have an account, sign in here.

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New Feature: Copy Playbooks

July 25th, 2008

In PlaybookIQ, playbooks contain your sales team’s best practices. Each playbook is a series of repeatable and measurable steps that can be easily applied to a contact. Each step is assigned a timeline and responsible user. In this way, PlaybookIQ truly combines small business CRM with sales team collaboration and sales best practices.


Sometimes you might want to duplicate the series of steps in a playbook, but assign tasks to different users. Now, we have made it super easy to do so.

Simply:
1. Open the playbook (Playbooks tab, click on a playbook title).
2. Click on the ‘copy’ link.

PlaybookIQ will automatically create a brand new playbook, with all step definitions copied over. You can then go in and modify the new playbook by changing who is assigned each step, removing steps, adding steps, or whatever you wish.

This is just one of many small enhancements coming up soon that will make it faster and easier than ever to get the most out of PlaybookIQ.

Try it out at playbookiq.com.


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CRM Message Templates

July 21st, 2008

Consistent image and messages to customers and prospects is an important part of your customer relationship and marketing efforts. PlaybookIQ now supports this aspect with Message Templates.

Use message templates to:

  • Be efficient: no need to retype the same email over and over.
  • Be consistent: ensure everyone on your team is putting forth a consistent company image.
  • Be effective: spend your time writing well authored email responses that can be used over and over.
  • Be personal: include the contact’s name in the message template.

Message templates can be applied to any step in a Playbook. When a contact reaches that step, you need only click “Compose email” link and an email with to: subject: and body: will be prepared in your local email client. You can modify it if needed, or simply hit ’send’ to deliver your email.

Find out more at http://playbookiq.com.

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