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What's New at CB Software Systems - June

We are pleased to announce the completion and launch of The Client Leadership Forum, an online benchmarking survey developed for consultant Andrew Sobel. The online survey contains over 100 questions presented in 8 logical groups. The results can either be viewed directly online through an administrative interface or downloaded to Excel. Site development, from start to finish, took less than a month and so far, top executives from Citigroup, Ernst & Young, Booz Allen Hamilton and others have participated. http://www.clientleadership.com

Quick Client Interview

Andrew Sobel
Andrew is author of two acclaimed, best-selling books on building long-term client relationships, “Clients for Life: How Great Professionals Develop Breakthrough Relationships” (Simon & Schuster) and “Making Rain: The Secrets of Building Lifelong Client Loyalty” (John Wiley & Sons).

- Andrew Sobel
- Author & Consultant

CB Software Systems
What is the single key factor to your success?

Andrew Sobel
Super-high quality work. I aim to have every client feel that I gave them great advice, with both attention to detail and good big picture insights and I have an incessant relationship focus. This means I get to know my clients as people, I tune into their interests and needs, and I’m constantly on the lookout for ideas or connections that might be valuable to them.

CB Software Systems
What are you most proud of in your business accomplishments?

Andrew Sobel
I get letters and emails, regularly, thanking me for the ideas in my books and articles. Some of them are very touching. This makes me feel like I’m doing something worthwhile in my career. I’m not just earning a living feel like I am helping people lead better lives.

CB Software Systems
What would you do differently if you did it over?

Andrew Sobel
I started writing books in my 40s. I should have written more, earlier—probably articles, since I don’t think I had enough to say to write a good book in my 20s or 30s. I also should have been more focused on developing my “relationship capital” –building and maintaining key relationships.

CB Software Systems
What is the major achievement you have yet to accomplish?

Andrew Sobel
A truly balanced professional and personal life. I want to take every summer off to write, spend time with my family, and recharge my batteries. This summer I am taking most of July and all of August off to do this. So I’m halfway there… It’s not easy when you have three children!

CB Software Systems
What key advice would you give to other business owners?

Andrew Sobel
Cultivate what I call your “relationship hubs.” These are a handful of important relationships that can really help drive your business and your career. For most people, there are only 10-15 of these. They include customers (current and prospective), catalysts (key “connectors’ who can introduce you to others and make deals happen), collaborators (other firms, suppliers, etc. who are critical partners to you), counselors (mentors), colleagues, and companions (family and friends who nurture our spiritual and emotional side). Ask: What’s my sustaining program to really get to know these key people, identify what their needs and interests are, and so on?

CB Software Systems
What is the most important impact of our software to your business?

Andrew Sobel
We just completed a major client relationship management best practices benchmarking survey - over 130 top executives participated. CB software got a beautifully designed web site for this group up and running in just weeks, and then implemented the survey instrument, with over 100 questions, online. CB was really fundamental in supporting and enabling, in a thoroughly professional manner, the launch of this very exciting venture.

Learn More
Andrew Sobel

Feature: From Chad's Desk

Basic steps to protect your identity

It is with alarming frequency that the breach of security pertaining to our personal information is reported in the daily news. During the month of June 2005, MasterCard International reported that about 40 million Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards have been exposed to a possible security breach. CitiFinancial reported losing a computer tape sent by UPS that contained confidential information for approximately 4 million of their customers. ChoicePoint reported that criminals obtained personal information on about 145,000 people. Interestingly enough and reported in the Journal on 6/21/05, Visa estimates that of security breaches only 2% of the cards exposed end up with fraudulent charges on them.

Read the Full Article

Feature: Technology Tip

Corporate Training

What do you do when you get a new computer product for your business?

Hope someone figures it out.
Think that you know enough that you can teach everyone.
Just let it sit there and ignore it.
Get proper training from the vendor.

Read the Full Article

Ask the Experts

Each day we field scores of calls on all sorts of business and technology related topics. Each month we select an interesting question and post our response online.

Question
What's the difference between a blog and a forum?

Answer
The key difference is that a forum is focused around the building of a community where members are able to interact with each other. The success of a forum is dependant upon the interaction between its members. Blogs on the other hand, are typically one directional - from the owner’s perspective, and to be successful do not require member interaction.

Forums allow members to start their own topics where blogs do not and forums offer a wide range of opinions where the majority of blogs typically represent a one-sided approach.

The majority of blogs are open to the public, allowing search engine spiders to easily find the content, thus making the content available and searchable on the Web. While some forums are open to the public many forums require a password to logon and therefore the content is unavailable to search engine indexing.

Anybody can start and maintain a successful blog. Only few have successful forums, which typically require a large critical mass of users to remain successful. For most, forum technology is not a viable option and is difficult to “make” successful. Blogs however, are technologically a great and easy option to implement and are usually easy to “make” successful.

Ask the Experts

Featured Product or Service

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

The key to business automation is the control of your day-to-day business activities by running your distribution organization and planning your activities. While developing our solutions we focus on providing our customers with the ability to access information at their fingertips and provide answers to their questions within one or two keystrokes. Our software enables our customers to immediately react to business trends, increase their revenues, profits and efficiency while focus on the reduction of cost and expense.

Learn More

Diversions

Interactive Flash Microscope

The online tutorial that Nikon has built gives you a realistic experience using a stereoscopic microscope. This interactive application was built using a new technology called Macromedia Flash. Explore zoom magnification, focus, and illumination intensity in stereoscopic microscopes with this interactive and realistic tutorial.

http://www.microscopyu.com

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CB Software Systems, Inc. · 20600 Chagrin Blvd. Suite #1110 · Shaker Heights, OH 44122 · 1-866-791-CBSS (2277)