CRM News Feed

Aperio CI, a provider of customer acquisition and retention solutions for consumer-facing enterprises, earlier this month released FlashTrac, a near real-time software solution designed to convert historical usage data into business intelligence quickly and efficiently. Through FlashTrac, service providers can identify, evaluate and respond to aggregate customer behavioral patterns within hours of a specified event, the company said.

Neocase Software, a collaborative customer operations specialist, earlier this month announced the availability of the newest version of its CRM offerings, Neocase 10, for the U.S. mid-market. An established European provider of CRM, Neocase delivers applications designed to take customer service to a new level by transforming a company and its external partners into a customer service team. Neocase provides all relevant business units with direct, customized access for solving each customer issue.

The Dow hotel index is doing well

People are traveling again, and this bodes well for hospitality chains. And, because Mideast turmoil has not resulted in concern over climbing gas prices, hotels are being booked. Now, when travel is on the rise, is a good time to invest in hotel stocks.

Dow hotel index

There is actually a Dow hotel index. And right now it is doing pretty well. The overall travel index is down from last year, but that just means you can get in at a lower price. But hurry! The hotel index is gaining, and that means that the relatively low prices will not remain forever.

And remember, all stock investments carry risk. You could lose money in a market trend reversal.

See Also

• Stock Investing Advice
  Learn how to make money in the stock market

Pointing people to your Web site

When it comes to smart marketing on the Internet, it is important to make sure that your Web address is everywhere. You want to make it easy for potential customers to find you. Therefore, your marketing campaign should include the simple and low-cost practice of including your business Web site address on all of your literature and communications.

Email signature files

Make your Web address a part of your email signature file. That way, it is easy for potential customers to check you out. You can also add it to your signature files for blogs and forum postings. Make sure that email newsletters include a link to your Web site. When you incorporate your Web address into your marketing plan, you can boost Web traffic to your e-commerce Web site. And boost sales.

See Also

• Smart Marketing
  Marketing tools and tips

A valuable source of real estate investment income

One way you can maximize your real estate investment is to rent to college students. A rental property in a college town can be a boon to the real estate investor. This is because college students are often willing to pay for certain conveniences, like a private room and housing close to campus. As long as you realize that sometimes dealing with them can be difficult at times (damage, late rent, etc.), but if you approach it properly, renting to college students can be of great benefit.

Figuring the rent

Whether you rent apartments or a house, you can magnify the amount you get in rent simply by housing more students. If you have a four-bedroom house, you might only be able to rent it to a family for $800 a month. However, if you rent to single college students, charging $250 apiece for a private room, you get $1,000 per month. If you rent out the rooms as a combination (2 private and 2 shared), you can get $1,100 if you charge $150 for shared rooms. And, if you rent out  all the rooms as shared, you can rake in $1,200 per month.

See Also

• Making Money Off College Students
  Student rental properties and other ways to build wealth from real estate investing

A professional image for your e-commerce business

Your e-commerce business will do much better if you look like a professional. And, part of projecting a professional image is to create an e-commerce newsletter that looks professional. When you do this, you are more likely to garner visits to your e-commerce Web site, and increase the number of sales that you make.

Here are some things to include in a professional-looking e-commerce newsletter:

• Make the newsletter friendly for scanning
• Make sure the e-commerce newsletter title is in the subject line
• Use a table of contents
• Make links usable
• Avoid using the word "unsubscribe"
• Offer an opt-out option
• Check your e-commerce newletter for spelling and grammar

See Also

• E-commerce Tips
  Building a better e-commerce business

Assemble Connect may be a small company — but because it is a distributor of custom-manufactured products, its operations are complex enough to rival the largest of manufacturers. That means just about every aspect of its business must be customized — down to the software that manages the operations, says company president Eric Wendt. Finding such software, though, has not been easy. Standardized, off-the-shelf accounting packages, for example, do not work well for his company because hardly any of the fields correspond to its business categories.