Lauren Carlson
Lauren Carlson
Lauren writes about various topics related to CRM software, with particular interest in sales force automation, marketing automation, and customer service. She has a background in the music industry, and when she isn't writing about software, you can find her running at Town Lake and singing at local venues. She is a graduate of the University of Texas with a bachelor's degree in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @crmadvice
Proving the Value of Your Marketing Automation Investment – 3 Metrics That Matter
In the B2B marketing world, we are increasingly more focused on measurement. Leads, click-throughs, likes, etc., are all important data points that marketers are...
Keeping Service Agents Happy with Gamification
Within the enterprise, gamification - the process of adding gaming elements to a non-gaming activity to encourage action and participation - has gone from...
A 6-Point Strategy for Getting Your Boss On Board With Marketing Automation
Here is the reality marketers face today: reduced budgets, fewer resources and hardened C-level execs who are unlikely to invest in any new technology....
Social Strategy For B2B Sales
Check out this infographic from InsideView: http://cdn.insideview.com/images/social-media-infographic.png. It illustrates the growth of social media usage in the B2B space. Though the data is, well,...
CRM Implementation: Which Deployment is Best For You?
One the reasons the world of enterprise software is so interesting is that it is continually evolving. This quote from Box.com CEO Aaron Levie...
Email Marketing vs. Marketing Automation
One of the first steps in purchasing a new software system is buyer education. When it comes to marketing software, there is some confusion...
Bringing Social to CRM – Marshall Lager Interview
When I attended CRM Evolution 2011 in August, it was clear the social media was all anyone could think about. We are at a...
Questions for Potential Buyers of Marketing Automation Software
Many people, if given the chance to do something over again, would take it. It is almost certain that with more insight, you could...
The Makings of a Modern Marketer
The numbers don't lie: B2B organizations are reporting a 10 percent loss in yearly revenue due to lack of marketing and sales alignment. Why...
CRM For the SMB With Google Docs
Many small businesses need a way to manage prospects, especially during periods of growth. Customer relationship management (CRM) software is a great tool for...
Small Business CRM
Traditional CRM systems were relegated to the large enterprise space due to cost, maintenance and overall risk invovled. But times have changed. Today's CRM...
My Favorite Apps for a Mobile Sales Team
In an increasingly mobile business world, professionals operate day-to-day on their mobile devices. Because of this, vendors have worked to develop the best apps...
Developing an Enterprise 2.0 Application Strategy
Ten years ago, the cloud was this mysterious entity that existed in the ether and supposedly held important data. Skepticism abounded. Today, we see...
Roadblocks in Marketing Automation
If you are still under the veiled assumption that launching a marketing automation program is simple, it's time to wake up and get with...
iCloud Ready For iEnterprise?
There has been a lot of buzz about Apple's latest brainchild, the iCloud. The purpose of the iCloud is to bring your information together...
Reliability in the Cloud
I can't help but take notice of the recent string of cloud failures we've been hearing about this year. Blogger went down for about...
The Top 5 Alternatives to Salesforce.com
Salesforce.com is the recognized 800-pound gorilla in cloud CRM software. However, while they may own "CRM" on the stock exchange, they do not own...
VC Funding of Marketing Automation – Is It the Best Strategy?
Marketing automation software is still considered a relative newcomer in the enterprise software space. However, there are new entrants popping up regularly, leading to...
RPM – An Evolutionary Step in Marketing Automation?
In the world of enterprise software, we just love three-letter acronyms. The latest one of note is RPM or Revenue Performance Management. RPM refers...
The End of the Whitepaper
When was the last time you read a whitepaper that added real value to your research process? I'm racking my brain and finding it...