Any chance we will see this for android?

At this time, I'm afraid not. I realized I could be either be halfway good at iOS and Android programming or very good at just ios. I chose the latter.

That said, if I do find someone who is a decent and trusted android coder, I will likely hire that out once there is enough demand to not lose money on the android side of it. I will keep you posted.

Thanks for the request! That helps move the needle!
Scott

Update on Giggio: they've just added some new features, including a US setting that automatically changes "surname" to "last name," "county" to "state," and so on. They've also added an import feature, so you can import all your contacts from Salesforce or a spreadsheet.

When my Showbiz CRM time is up, I will try Giggio. Not because Showbiz CRM is tough to understand. It is because Michael is not a man of his word when he replies similar to "I will contact you tomorrow to support you with your questions." But does not contact you back. It seems like he is not natural at supporting his clients when asking for help with Showbiz CRM.

I'm sorry you feel that way Mike. I assure you, it was a mutual misunderstanding.

You emailed me at 7:25PM on January 26th with a simple question.

I answered at 7:26PM.

You emailed a support request at 7:39PM

I took action and handled your request, sending notification that it was done at 7:40PM

You requested a lengthier conversation that I did not have time to have that evening. at 7:55

I responded two minutes later (7:57) with these exact words



Here's where the confusion comes in.

Obviously you read this as "I will contact you tomorrow to support you with your questions." hence the (mis)quote in your post above.

In my mind it was a question, e.g. will tomorrow work?

So, again, I apologize for the miscommunication. You expected a call, I expected confirmation that the 27th would work. I never heard back, you never heard back, and here we are in a public forum having it out.

I'm sorry it came to this, I wish you all the best with whatever tools you use.

What a great response. For that alone, I would consider ShowBizCRM.

There are no perfect CRM packages, there are no perfect CRM customer support departments, and heaven knows there are no perfect entertainers. We each run our business is different ways and have our own preferences. With that said, I think that it is the responsibility of each performer to use one system, any system, long enough to very clearly understand what you like and need in a system.

Once that set of requirements is clear then it is a matter of trial and error to find out the best fit. I've used 3 different products and hand to spend a lot of time with each one to milk them for all that I could get them to do for me. I currently use ShowBizCRM.com and have since about Feb of 2013. It is not perfect. But it does meet most of my needs.

I needed something that would...

scale as my customer base grew
integrate with my contact page
allow me to send out quotes and contracts
automated follow-up emails on quotes
allow me to send out a newsletter to my clients
a mature product that was free of productivity hindering bugs (not a product that may vanish next month)
hosted so that I don't have to worry about hackers, viruses, backups, hardware and software upgrades
reasonably priced
responsive customer support
ongoing development and enhancements

I'll stop here. Michael Carducci has been reliable. He has a life and a performing career. Even so, he continues to develop the product and provide a reasonable response time to problems (usually user error). The word is that there is a new version coming out soon that is even more user friendly.

Again, each person must filter through these various recommendations and use the free trials that they each offer. Test and see what works for you.

I am confused as to need. I just think an Exell sheet is about all that is really needed.

Mind you I do not do kids parties so maybe it is different. But all of this seems to be ways to avoid talking to prospective customers. I don't understand that at all.

Hi Danny, A CRM is a powerful tool regardless of who you perform for. It automates initial responses before you can answer in person. But the real power is the way it manages contacts before the booking, before the show and after the show. What I like is it controls ME as well as the client. It makes sure I do everything at the right time too. It's a powerful way to document you conversations and create anniversary emails and the like.

If you want to achieve more in less time, investing some time into learning about CRMs can be very valuable.

By the way, I hear ShowBiz CRM is getting a revamp and rebranding. It sounds like the old ShowBiz will shut down and www.mago.net will be the new replacement. It's supposed to be simpler to setup. You might want to have a look at it when it starts in 2 and bit months. Either way, if you don't get CRMs have a look into them. They are a great tool - if you use them right.

No. I do not want to have a look at it.

Seems to me it does a lot. Fantastic. I am sure many can benefit from it. But for me sending an automated response is just out of the question. NOTHING makes me more angry than getting one, I certainly would never send one.

I do not need a program written by someone else to manage ME. Absolutely not. I do not need to be controlled and I think you have hit on the exact problem I have with this idea.

Yeah, cause that's just what the client wants and is the way to start a relationship. Perhaps if your using it to control you, you have a discipline, organizational and executional problem (not you specifically, but anyone relying on it for such a purpose.)

I've tried two or three of these before that were offered to me and fail to see the appeal and prefer to be much more hands-on and proactive myself in the process.

Nah it's not a discipline problem as much as a time management opportunity. Maybe control me was the wrong phrase. A well set up (and it must be well setup or its useless) CRM is like having a PA who puts the right things under your nose at the right time. I'm sure some people love having big excel lists or a paper based list and manually going through them and manually keeping track of everyone. Not me. A tool to make my time more efficient is something I love.

If you love doing it all yourself and all manually that's great, it works for you. I'm sure some people would never want to have a live PA helping them as they may feel out of touch or controlled by the PA doing things - and that's okay. For me a live PA is too expensive at this time. A CRM does many of the same functions (if well setup) at a fraction of the cost. You just have to set it up the way you want your processes to go and it works. Or do it the old way if you prefer, both will get you there.

I think my misunderstanding was when Danny was saying "I am confused" and 'I don't understand that at all.' that he was asking for clarification. Seems he was not and that's fine.

It seems STILL to be as if talking with customers is what "takes up time" and if not talking with customers and sending automated responses is what passes for "time management" yes I do NOT understand it at all.

I still fail to see the time it ends up saving.

Okay I agree you do not understand CRMs and that's totally okay with me.

Funny to take quotes out of context and think it is witty.

I don't understand why they are so desperately needed. Sending out automated responses and controlling you. Great if toy need that then a program is the thing to use.

A mans got to know his limitations. Good on you for knowing them.

What is a CRM? I thought I would write a piece about CRMs as I know I lot of lurkers will see this thread and might get clarification as to what a CRM is and is not. There a lot of assumptions that get posted that seem to focus on just 1 or two elements and miss the big picture.
Let me start by saying what it is not:
A CRM is NOT a way to avoid calling customers. It’s a Client Relationship Management tool. If you are using a CRM effectively you may end up spending more time talking to your customers. It is not about sending automatic emails – that is an autoresponder. Modern CRMs usually have that facility BUT you don’t have to use it.
I have this wonderful tool in my business – it’s called a diary. Over the years I have had ones made of paper and some electronic ones. I use the diary to organise my events. My diary helps me. It ‘controls’ what I do each day and makes sure I am in the right place at the right time. I don’t use a diary because I have a discipline, organizational or executional problem. In fact BECAUSE I use a diary I don’t have those problems.
A CRM is not based on autoresponders – and if you see one that is – RUN!. A CRM is like a turbo charged diary. From your calendar, you can click on the client’s and see the history of every call, letter, email and even fax (if you still use those) that you have made with the client. Heck some will even dial the call and record it too! It will automate with reminders or automatic emails. Such as, it might remind you to check with the client if the venue has been booked yet. You can set emails to a time frame that are personal such as:
“Hi Mary, just a quick email about Zac’s birthday party. We are 4 days away from the party so you should have all your RSVPs in and you have the right amount of food sorted for that many people.” – okay it’s just an odd example but although it is system generated it is personal.
A good CRM will have an activity series so you can set an end point such as the event day and you can set emails, letters, faxes or schedules for you to call. You might send a letter a month prior, a specific emails at 2 weeks and 1 week out and schedule a call 3 days prior just to confirm all is set for the day.
Another key element to a correctly setup crm is for prospecting. It records conversation details, when to call back, when to send info and how to send that info. And it puts those tasks in your calendar so you can miss it when you get busy. It means when you are about to call a client you have instant access to ALL previous communication.
So it’s really a multifunctional diary that has details of all notes, letters, calls and emails.
BUT and here is the kicker. You MUST have it set up to the way you operate. You set IF and when it sends emails, gives you reminders and the like. So you need to almost be an expert at what a CRM can do in order to begin to select the right one. Like mindpro says he has used 3 or 4 and none matched him. Since the late 1990’s I have used well over a dozen and evaluated probably 50-60 and I only really liked 2-3 of them. And the best one I ever used did not autoreply or auto send emails – because that’s not what a CRM is all about – it’s about storing client information that you might normally have in many different places and having it all in one places that is linked. Again it’s more like a diary than an autoresponder. So it’s a bit like finding a spouse – chose carefully as it will bring 90% of all you happiness or bring 90% of you misery in the office.
A CRM takes a lot of time and effort to 1) Find the right program for you 2) Get it set up right. 3) Train those on your team who will use it and 4) Tweak it periodically.
And for many a performer this time and level of knowledge required will simply not be justifiable. If you are not a ‘computer wiz’ it most likely is not worth your time and effort. I have endured the pain of a simple CRM that was not set up well and did not do what I wanted and just irritated but it’s what my boss at the time said we ‘had to use’. I have used ones that you must be a programming genius to get your head around (the best when set up right, a nightmare if not) and the few that have fit the sweet spot have been great. The odd thing – there is no one program that suits all. What suit me in one role, does not suit me in another.
I used to be an IT manager for several decent sized companies so I have a higher than average IT skillset and I hit my head against the wall with my CRMs from time to time. That is why there are CRM consultancies, but most magician won’t have the budget or justification for that.
I needed wrist surgery last year. I did not try to learn about wrist surgery and do it myself. I did not go to buddy who can butcher animals because he is good with a knife. I went to a specialist who has that freakish mind that happens to great at wrist surgery. I did not get on forums and post my opinions if I thought wrist surgery was good or bad – because I don’t know enough about it. I had a need I could not fix so I went to a specialist. Problem solved.
If you think CRMs are for those who cannot organise themselves – well you are plain wrong – in fact the opposite of right. You must have a level of extreme organisational awareness to undertake a CRM. If you are the kind of person who makes your own website with something like Wordpress or Joomla, maybe even made the template. You setup and manage your own email addresses on your server. You understand how a relational database works. And you have a clear image of how you want to organise your client and calendar data together, then a CRM is worth looking into. If you don’t even run your own website, or worse don’t even think you need a website, then ignore any post that has the acronym CRM in it and spend your time more effectively elsewhere because it simply will never be your cup of tea and that’s fine - horses for courses.
Magicians come in all shapes and sizes, all genres and styles. C RMS come in wide variety of shapes and sizes. One CRM will suit some people and businesses, no one CRM suits all. They must be a customised match for you. For many people a CRM will never suit – not in a million years.
So there is a brief overview of CRMs. It’s not perfect or complete but I hope it helps some people get a better idea of why a CRM can be awesome to one person and useless to another. So now you can go investigate more on CRMs or leave the topic alone. Your choice.

I read somewhere a successful person makes there mind up quickly and changes it slowly. You must be VERY successful. I'm happy for you.

It is best to have a secretary.

Oh I completely agree.

Yes a living breathing person.