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5 Reasons Why Any Successful Shopify Dropshipping Business Needs The Right CRM

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Published

4 years ago

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Here at SaleSource we often get questions like: “Is dropshipping legal?”, “Is dropshipping dead?”, etc. It’s important to get it out of the way first – the short answer is no, dropshipping is not dead and yes, dropshipping is absolutely legal.

Next off, what is a CRM? Well, CRM stands for customer relationship management. Essentially what that means is your CRM is your customer database and your leads database,  and also your business management software. So it’s really important.  If you want to effectively manage your business  and scale your business, you’re going to need a great tool to do so and that’s a CRM. And that’s why it’s so important to have the right CRM. So if you’re not using a CRM, if you’re using yellow pads or spreadsheets, it’s a no-brainer, you need a CRM. And if you’re using a CRM that you don’t love, maybe this article will help you identify the right CRM to use to truly grow your business. 

So there’s really six points that I want to touch on  to help you determine if you’re using the right CRM  for your business or which CRM you might use that would be the right CRM for your small business,  so let’s go through those one by one. 

1. Lead management

So the first thing to look for within a CRM  is the appropriate lead management tools  you have for your sales team.  For any small business, such as shopify stores, to grow –  they really need a good convertible process  with regards to taking a lead  and turning it into an account, that’s your sales process.  And all of the leads that you have are your lead pipeline.  And so you need a sales team to be most effective to grow your business in terms of taking those leads  and turning them into accounts.  Well, your CRM really helps for that  because CRM will allow you to do things  like when somebody fills out the lead form on your website  or on social media, let’s say, like on an ad,  it will automatically build that contact within your CRM,  automatically assign it to your sales rep,  and also give them the process that they should follow  in order to close that deal.  Whether it’s an initial call and then seven days later  an email follow-up, and then another call;  you can predetermine what that needs to be  and you can build that template right into your CRM  so that your sales team can just follow that  and close more deals.  So a CRM is really, really valuable because it allows you to optimize that process  so that all of your sales people are following  the same process with the same piece of software system  so that you can have consistent performance over time. 

2. Account management or customer management

Customer management is really important  because you don’t want to have a bad customer experience  and you want those customers to keep coming back.  So a CRM allows you to do that  because it does such things  as when a lead becomes a customer,  it unlocks additional fields of information  that can be populated by your account managers  and your customer service reps, et cetera,  so that you have all the information you need  for all of your customers.  It can also do things  like send email communications automatically.  So as that customer moves through their life cycle,  at key points when they need  certain information sent to them,  instead of counting on somebody  to do this manually all the time,  your CRM can serve as an automated worker for you,  basically, and send this messaging out  in an automated way to your customer base,  which is really, really powerful  if you create these journeys in the right way.  The CRM also has all the notes and history logs  that you might have had on a client,  and it pulls in all of the data and all the pieces  so that you can see the full story of each customer  within a CRM.  So if you don’t have that right now,  definitely take a look out there  and see if there’s a CRM software that fits what you’re looking for  with regards to customer management. 

3. Task management tools 

So task management, really important.  Basically everybody in your company has tasks  that they’re trying to accomplish every single day.  And so a CRM is a great way  to have that basically streamlined in a more automated way  to where as certain tasks are completed,  other tasks are unlocked.  So it really helps you  to identify the things that need to get done.  I found over the years  that if somebody doesn’t really have their day planned out,  they’re not very efficient  because they’re always spending a lot of time  thinking about what to do next,  instead of just having tasks organized for them  so they can come in  and just start knocking them out one after the next.  So a CRM allows you to think proactively  because you can create these tasks  for different leads you’re talking to,  for different customers you’re working with,  you can schedule them out  so that you’re always building out your future plans  of what needs to get done proactively  so that when that day comes into today,  I have the things that I need to do right in front of me  and it keeps a log of all of this for me automatically  within the CRM so that I always have a history  of what’s been done. 

4. Project management tools

The fourth thing to look for within a CRM is the appropriate project management tools that you might need. So you always have  these little side projects going on, right? Whether it’s something you’re personally doing, or something for a customer, it could be a project you’re doing for a customer,  it could just be something you’re doing yourself  because you just want to do some self-development or something like that. Within a CRM, you should be able to create a project  with different stages within it  and tasks that need to be accomplished  within each of those stages. And then you can use those templates moving forward if you wanted to, maybe it’s a project that you typically do for customers over and over again, right. Maybe it’s like a kitchen remodel, you need to do these things whenever there’s a kitchen remodel,  it’s like a checklist, it’s a no-brainer. So if that’s a service that you provide, every time you have a new customer that needs a kitchen remodel, you just add that project to it  and then your team can start working on it. This is really effective because it allows you to streamline and make sure that you have all of the checklists or processes built out ahead of time for all of your projects. And then if you ever need to add a stage or add a step, when you do that, it immediately is added to all the other projects because it’s a template. And so it really helps your whole team make sure that nothing gets missed along the way. 

5. Company calendar

Company calendars are really nice because it helps you just see what’s going on at the company level  with regards to all the events,  things coming up, different customers  that you’re interacting with for the day,  that kind of a thing. So we all have our personal calendar usually in our email whether it’s in Gmail or those things,  and that’s really good.  What I’m talking about here though is a company calendar.  As a team, you want to be able to see  what the rest of the team is doing,  and so a CRM is nice because the calendar there  shows you from a business perspective  what’s going on for the day for not just you  but you can toggle and you can say,  hey, show me everything that,  all the events happening today for my whole team.  And that helps you identify what’s going on as an organization, especially if you’re a manager,  so you can make sure  that you’re effectively managing your team appropriately. 

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Business

Interview with Jason Ho, CEO of Teklium: A Vision for the Future of Technology

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Published

15 hours ago

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October 16, 2024

By

Photo courtesy of Teklium 

By Mj Toledo

There is a wealth of experience behind Teklium, and it is embodied in its chief executive officer (CEO), Jason Ho. His educational foundation was laid at National Chiao Tung University and Pennsylvania State University, where he developed his skills in electrical engineering. With over 400 patents to his name, he has played a key role in advancing semiconductor technologies and artificial intelligence (AI).

From leading custom chip design for the F35 Fighter Jet to innovating at Teklium, Ho’s work has been adopted by major corporations worldwide. In this interview, he shares his vision for the future of technology and how Teklium’s developments fit into this broader landscape.

Q: Hi, Jason. For those who may not be familiar with Teklium, could you tell us more about your company?

Jason Ho: Certainly. Teklium is a technology company focused on improving AI and semiconductor technologies. Our mission is to create self improving AI systems and hardware that can tackle various technological challenges and shape the future of multiple industries.

Q: You hold over 400 international patents, with one of your most notable innovations being hydrogen battery technology. What inspired you to promote this sustainable transportation solution?

Jason Ho: I’ve always been deeply interested in finding sustainable energy solutions, especially in transportation. Traditional lithiumion batteries have clear limitations, both in terms of performance and their environmental impact due to resource mining. Hydrogen batteries present a promising alternative, offering both environmental benefits and faster refueling times, which could make electric vehicles more practical and appealing.

Q: What drove you to focus on hydrogen battery technology specifically?

Jason Ho: My collaboration with Mark Bayliss, President of Visual Link, played a significant role. Mark introduced the concept of a closed loop hydrogen system, and our joint efforts resulted in the development of a hydrogen battery technology that we believe can provide a clean and safer alternative to lithiumion batteries. This inspired me to continue refining the technology, working with Visual Link to bring it to market.

Q: How do you see your company’s hydrogen battery technology impacting the electric vehicle industry in the next decade?

Jason Ho: I’ve thought about this a lot. Our hydrogen battery technology has the potential to revolutionize the electric vehicle industry by offering a more efficient and sustainable energy source. The ability to refuel quickly, combined with the technology’s adaptability to a wide range of temperatures, could make electric vehicles far more practical and attractive to consumers in the long term.

Q: Can you explain the significance and potential impact of Teklium’s closed loop hydrogen energy system on global energy consumption?

Jason Ho: The closed loop hydrogen energy system is groundbreaking because it enables onsite hydrogen generation through water electrolysis, eliminating the need for external supply chains. This drastically lowers energy consumption and minimizes environmental impact by recycling water in a continuous loop. The system offers an environmentally friendly solution for industries beyond transportation, including energy storage and telecommunications.

Q: What challenges do you foresee in scaling up hydrogen battery production, and how does Teklium plan to address them?

Jason Ho: Scaling up hydrogen battery production comes with significant challenges, including the development of necessary infrastructure, reducing production costs, and ensuring safety standards. At Teklium, we plan to address these obstacles by partnering with industry leaders to build the required infrastructure and by investing in research to lower costs. We’re also committed to implementing rigorous safety protocols to ensure the technology performs reliably.

Q: How does Teklium’s strategy for AI infrastructure differ from traditional approaches?

Jason Ho: At Teklium, we’re taking a different approach by exploring ways to develop advanced materials and technologies that could improve the performance and efficiency of AI infrastructure. We’re focused on moving beyond traditional silicon based systems and envision a future where we can create three dimensional chip structures that significantly reduce data movement and energy consumption. By integrating memory and processing capabilities, we believe we can revolutionize AI workloads.

Q: Teklium has ambitious plans for extending Moore’s Law. Can you elaborate on how these plans could transform the semiconductor industry?

Jason Ho: Siliconbased chips are nearing their physical limits, so we’re exploring technologies that could allow us to scale transistor density both vertically and horizontally. By adopting these new approaches, we aim to significantly increase chip performance and, in doing so, challenge the traditional expectations of Moore’s Law. We also envision a future where chips are reusable and can be reprogrammed over decades, which could reshape the semiconductor industry’s business model in terms of sustainability and efficiency.

Q: What environmental benefits could Teklium’s technologies bring, particularly in reducing carbon emissions and resource consumption?

Jason Ho: Our innovations could have a profound impact on the environment. We’re committed to developing technologies that reduce resource consumption and minimize waste. By creating more efficient manufacturing processes and extending the lifespan of chips, we hope to significantly reduce electronic waste. Our work on AI infrastructure could also cut energy consumption in data centers by as much as 60%, which would translate into substantial reductions in carbon emissions. And, of course, our hydrogen battery technology offers a clean energy storage solution that could accelerate the adoption of renewable energy sources.

Q: Aside from electric vehicles, what are some other exciting applications of Teklium’s hydrogen battery technology?

Jason Ho: While electric vehicles are an obvious application, there are so many more exciting possibilities. Our hydrogen batteries could serve as large scale energy storage solutions, balancing grid loads and supporting renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. They could also power remote cell towers and data centers in areas where traditional power sources are unreliable. In aerospace, these batteries could enable long range drones and even electric aircraft. The potential applications in disaster relief and military operations, where portable and reliable energy is critical, are also very exciting.

Q: How does your collaboration with companies like Nantero and Visual Link advance Teklium’s technological developments?

Jason Ho: Our collaboration with Nantero is allowing us to explore advanced memory architectures, while our partnership with Visual Link offers crucial insights into practical applications and market needs. Visual Link also helps us navigate regulatory challenges, ensuring our innovations are commercially viable and compliant with industry standards.

Q: Teklium is involved in the concept of AI City in partnership with West Virginia Data Center Group. Can you tell us more about the vision for this project?

Jason Ho: AI City is an ambitious concept that we’re working on with the West Virginia Data Center Group to turn into reality. The idea is to create an intelligent infrastructure that incorporates cutting edge technologies in AI and data centers, optimizing everything from energy usage to communication networks. We envision a city that can learn and adapt to the needs of its residents, reducing inefficiencies and improving quality of life. It’s still in the planning stages, but we’re confident it can become a reality in the near future.

Q: What are your long term goals for Teklium, and how do you see your inventions influencing future generations?

Jason Ho: My long term vision for Teklium is to become a leader in sustainable technology solutions. We aim to continue pushing the boundaries of AI, semiconductor technology, and energy solutions. I want our innovations to inspire future generations to tackle global challenges like climate change and resource scarcity. Ultimately, I hope Teklium’s work contributes to a more connected and sustainable world.

While Teklium’s advancements may take time to fully realize, they open up exciting possibilities for addressing critical challenges like energy consumption and sustainability. Under Jason Ho’s leadership, Teklium is poised to make a significant impact on the future of technology and the environment.

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