Database programmes

[a11rex]

Hi,

I run a company that sells Timber Frame houses to self builders and property developers.

Our website has a standard online enquiry form. When the user hits the send button we recieve a simple email containing the info they have entered.

I have heard of software that can take this data and place it into a database programme which can be manipulted by the sales staff to include info such as when the client was last contacted, when a brochure was sent etc etc.

I have searched Google and cannot find any details, can any of you good Pistonheaders help me out?

Thanks in advance.

Chris

[maddog-uk]

Tons of databases applications that could do this.

Free = Mysql
Paid for = Access (terrible but cheap), MS SQL (you could get this in small business server), and of course the others e.g. oracle etc, I am not an expert and I am sure others on here will have tons of suggestions.

My database drives this site www.tvrtamora.com and its all held in the database.

[gr4eme]

Hi I

If I understand correctly you are looking for an automated CRM package (customer relationship manager)

I think you have two options

1. Somone physically types the data from the emails into a package like Goldmine
2. You pay a for a web developer to write code to do this automatically. Could be a simple import program if your CRM package allows for this.



We use Goldmine - but at the min it basically a glorified contact diary with no rules for contacting

[jamieboy]

I think this is the sort of thing PH'er Don does for a living - might be worth dropping him an email.

[a11rex]

gr4eme has hit the nail on the head, we do not want to manually type all of the information into another programme.

You mention paying a web developer to write code, are there no off the shelf products available? Would mysql be what I am looking for?

Thanks for the replies.

[Don]

jamieboy said:

I think this is the sort of thing PH'er Don does for a living - might be worth dropping him an email.

Thanks for the recommendation! Appreciated.

Yes we do do this sort of thing. Databases and websites is what we do...although for the most part we sell our web-based database application (HR/Timesheets etc).

To do this there are a few options to consider.

Firstly you will need "hosting" that includes the ability to host a database. You could buy this from Register1. It will cost you more than you pay for a "flat" web-site with no dynamic content. Errrm...a few tens of quid per month I expect.

Then you will need to decide how far you want to take things. You could have the details e-mailed to you and simultaeneously written into a small Access database that you can simply download from time to time. This will cost you a day's work by a competent web programmer. A few hundred quid in money terms. If you don't want much the cheaper it will be...you start wanting bells and whistles and you could be into a week's work and you will be paying beaucoup for the privelige...

You might, for example, want to bash the data into MySQL or SQL Server (hosting these will cost you, of course). These databases are a little more grown up and techies can do more with 'em. To be honest...from what you've described they'd be overkill.

Another solution would be to avoid having a database altogether and simply to write the customer entered details into a "flat file" suitable for importing in Excel. Still a day's work but you don't need Access and Access hosting to do it.

If you want some advice feel free to 'mail me. Advice is free. If you want something coded up I'll quote you a reasonable day rate - we aren't as expensive as lawyers but we don't work cheap either, mind!

[Don]

Oh by the way...

...we actually have a Sales system we wrote for ourselves...works with the SQL Server database. I am presuming that you already have a system for this? If you don't it would be a straightforward job to build a server with it on that you keep in your offices - and have the form on your website update it automatically.

...you would need business broadband and go through the business of having a firewall and enabling web-traffic to the server past the firewall...and and and.

Might be a bigger job than this is worth to you. A few grand at least. From what you've described you could simply tell your sales staff to stop complaining and type more cheaply!

Lots of options for you, I'm afraid. From a few hundred to thousands. All depends on how far you want to take it.

[ATG]

Indeed. Many ways to skin a cat. Very much depends on how many people you need to use the system, how many customers you need to track, how many new customers you get every day, what in-house IT skills you have, what services your website host is providing you with already ... and how much you value a smooth solution versus the cash you're willing to spend.

The very simplest (and somewhat flimsy) solution might be something as simple as adding a VB macro to Microsoft Outlook so that it spots the emails you are already receiving and automatically adds their data to a list in an Excel spreadsheet. Assuming you're using Outlook and Excel already, that would mean no outlay for hosting, no firewall security issues, no outlay on 3rd party CRM or database software.

At the other extreme, you could get your web hosting company to host a CRM system for you that is hooked up to your website, so that your staff use a web browser to access the CRM system from wherever they happen to be, and you can tart around in the pub checking the CRM system from your mobile phone to see if the sales people are doing their job, etc, etc.

[a11rex]

Thanks for all the advice guys, much more than I anticipated!
Don, I may give you a call soon to discuss this further.