Best Lead Management

[Josh]

I downloaded Sugar and was not able to install. I tried the install guide and it is way too technical for me. There doesnt seem to be a simple install wizard to click on and go. And of course tech support will not help you with their free version.

I have it installed on a site and you can e-mail or PM me and I can hook you up with a login so you can see if you like it. If you do my web guy can set it up for you for about $200 with unlimited users. You would have to either find your own webhosting or if you wanted it on my servers I could hook it up for $150/year.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

Contact "al3" for help!

I heard he keeps track of his clients on there. Both of them.

 

[sman]

I heard he keeps track of his clients on there. Both of them.

I don't care who you are, that's funny right there.

 

[arnguy]

I heard he keeps track of his clients on there. Both of them.

 

[Guest]

I heard he keeps track of his clients on there. Both of them.

Now you know why I stopped giving tech advice on this forum. It is not appreciated and all I get is grief for it.

If I'm going to get grief it should be for something substantive and something that I care about with respect to this business... and I give all of you plenty of opportunity to take your shots... and you do. That's fair game.

But when it comes to giving tech advice, that's just not an area I want to (again) get into a pissing contest with the idiots on this board about.

Can I explain to you how to install SugarCRM so that you can use the install wizard? Of course I can. Must you have a database that it will talk to? Of course you must. Do I want to take my valuable time to explain it all here and just get crapped on by idiots like Moonlight and Rick? Yeah right.

Look guys. Just go get the [in my opinion] crappy YIO [again in my opinion] piece of s--t system and be happy... and be done with it. Rick and everyone else here loves it so it MUST be the most terrific piece of software for the industry because we all know that this board has Rick and Moonlight along with a very deep bench of tech CRM talent.

Otherwise, hire someone like me for around $100 to install something web-based on your server.... or use the excellent and no-cost or low-cost FreeCRM.

And no, I'm not looking for that business from anyone here. I still do a little bit of tech work, but only for local agents or prospects whom I know will send me referrals. Besides my two clients take up just about all the time I have.

Al (the forum ***)
Preserve your memories

 

[GreenSky]

You're right Al. Thanks for mentioning me in your post. I love it when you love me.

Rick

 

[Guest]

Now you know why I stopped giving tech advice on this forum. It is not appreciated and all I get is grief for it.

We may seriously differ in many other areas, but I for one have always very much appreciated your tech advice and extensive computer knowledge and experience. Also, you have instilled in me the desire to own an Apple Mac laptop (maybe with MSWindows in a window - maybe not), and toy with Linux and open source apps. I've worked with MSWindows and it's "predecessors" since 1980 and am looking forward to the freedom; or at least an alternative. That is, after I have garnered enough financial freedom and time to do so.

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

We may seriously differ in many other areas, but I for one have always very much appreciated your tech advice and extensive computer knowledge and experience. Also, you have instilled in me the desire to own an Apple Mac laptop (maybe with MSWindows in a window - maybe not), and toy with Linux and open source apps. I've worked with MSWindows and it's "predecessors" since 1980 and am looking forward to the freedom; or at least an alternative. That is, after I have garnered enough financial freedom and time to do so.

Thanks!

Well, THANK YOU! I can't remember anyone ever caring about my tech postings before. So maybe I will continue? How about this:

When it comes to technology and the running of a health, life, DI, annuity, and LTC insurance office there are two main concerns, vs. running another service business.

1. The insurance industry is still loosely joined to the Microsoft platform. It used to be much tighter when each company sent out proprietary software to run quotes Now most of that is on the web (even WinFlex.)

2. There are still some websites that simply do not work with Firefox and require Windows Internet Explorer.

People ask me why, in light of the above, I don't just run Windows and be done with it.

All decisions like this are (or should be) based on personal preference. For me it is based upon my technical knowledge and my past (and current) experience with the Windows platform.

I am a security and up-time freak. I just hate if when my computer won't boot, or the printer won't print or the scanner takes a hit or the browser gets corrupted, or a hard drive crashes... the list goes on and on.

I'm busy. I run 3 different businesses: Insurance, publishing, software and I don't have time for hardware or software failure.

My absolute first choice of a operating system is Linux (I like the Sidux distribution, but Ubuntu and SuSE are very nice along with MEPIS.) Linux looks just like Windows and is a hundred times (make that a thousand times) more secure.

I don't use Linux for my insurance business because I am married to my iPhone and the ability to easily use MobileMe (Apples answer to Exchange Server). There is no way to synch my iPhone in Linux unless I run Windows in a virtual window all day long... which means I'd have to buy a high-end laptop or desktop machine with at least 2 GB of RAM (3 or 4 would be better.)

But RAM is cheap. However I can't easily sync my contacts list from Windows (Outlook) to the equivalent in Linux. So if I'm going to need Windows for so many mission critical things, it makes no sense to run Linux!

I don't run Windows because I know what's under the hood and I don't trust its security. There are too many points of failure in that operating system which is why there are so many thousands of viruses out there targeted to XP and Vista. Without an up-to-date anti-virus package, you are going to have an infected machine in no time at all. I would simply not sleep at night with Windows running my business (or a heart-lung machine!)

It is also harder to get a good PC these days for a good price. Many of the desktop cloners (build to suit with quality components) went out of business leaving you to buy crap HPs or Dells at Best Buy (or (perish the thought) Sony.) The old IBM Thinkpads were great but now they are made by a Chinese company (Lenovo)... and the quality has suffered (big surprise!)

So that leaves the Mac OS X system. The Mac operating system is actually based on the same platform as Linux... Unix. I call OS X (OH ESS Ten (not EX)) "the better Linux."

You pay out the a$$ for Apple hardware but I find their QC to be much higher than Dell and HP stuff. And since Apple "owns the stack" you can and should their hardware to work with their software. That's not the case with Windows or Linux, which are not designed for any one piece of hardware.

True, I still have to run Windows every day or so to run the Ohio National quoting software, and occasionally I need to use Internet Explorer with the Aetna website (parts work with Firefox, parts don't... Aetna's agent system called Producer World should be called Produce Hell!) Fortunately, visualization on the Mac is easy to do (I've not tried it in Linux but I hear it is not too difficult to set up.) On the Mac I use Parallels which cost about $80 (I already have a copy of WindowsXP as do most people.)

Bottom line, the Apple platform hits all of my buttons. The hardware doesn't fail and the software hardly ever freezes. It's built on Unix so it is highly secure, and when hardware says it will run on OS X, (most printers and scanners do, but some still don't) they are plug and play

Here is the breakdown:

Windows
Pros: ubiquitous, a de facto standard (but getting less so), runs on most hardware.
Cons: insecure, and un-reliable (but better now than before), expensive.

Linux: Runs on most hardware, free, lots of variations (about 400 of them at last count), totally secure, highly reliable.
Cons: Lack of support for many peripherals (scanners and printers, phones, etc.) Hardly much support.

Mac: Solid hardware and software. Totally secure, highly reliable. Easy to learn and work with.
Cons: Limited to somewhat expensive Apple-only hardware.

I use a tiny Mac Mini...

my desk looks almost exactly like this... my monitor is older:

I leave it on 24/7... and have for most of the past two years (off when I travel.) And I've not had any problems. But if I did, there is an Apple store about 20 minutes who will fix it and Apple's phone support is terrific (yes, you have to buy it.. $150 for 3 years... cheap insurance... nothing good is free!)

I don't (dare) advocate (especially with this group!) that you get a Mac or Linux or stay with or quit Windows. My only purpose is to provide a bit of education on choices that are available from a platform perspective.

Since most agents are finding it very convenient to run their business databases from a web server the desktop platform is not as important as it used to be.

You can run almost any business via a web-based CRM system along with utilities you find at Zoho or Google (gmail, spreadsheets, word processor, etc.) You would never have to install software (like YIO or Word or Excel, etc.)

How do I know that this is the wave of the future? I am the major owner of the Jaya123 web-based order-entry system. Each year we get more and more people who are happy to pay us $14.95 a month so they DON'T HAVE to install and maintain order-entry and bookkeeping software on their desktops.

In a couple of years I would not be surprised to see more people running a free operating system (Ubuntu or some other Linux) on cheap hardware (like the new net-book machines,) using low-cost subscription or free (adv. supported) utilities... for just about every business task!

I hope this was interesting for a at least a few of you.

Al

 

[Mark]

Great Post Al ! I also like your websites.

 

[johntomp]

zoho.com offers a free CRM system, its worth looking at to see if it will meet your needs