Know any programs or web applications to organize/track clients and their orders?

I am looking for a good web application or program to keep my client information organized (Contact information, orders, comments, etc) I have only used spreadsheets in the past, but am hoping for something better. I recently put my pinky toe in the water of a side business. I am a member of a family with a family catering business. I provide homemade cinnamon rolls to youth ministers to sell as fundraisers for ministry opportunities. Thanks for the feedback.

Thanks!
Kate Becker

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Permalink Reply by Ben Eubanks on December 29, 2009 at 3:03pm

I use Google Docs and their forms for that kind of thing. You can create a little survey/form, send people the link, and all of the info is saved in a handy dandy spreadsheet. :-) Let me know if you need any help with that (upstarthr@gmail.com)

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Permalink Reply by Rob Orr on December 29, 2009 at 4:55pm

These are more set up as project managment systems but you may want to take a look at them:

Basecamp may be a little too much but it would be worth looking at. OpenAtrium is another good one and free, but you'd have to either know how to install Drupal web apps, or find someone who does.

One other thing that I use in conjunction with Basecamp is CannyBill. This is an awesome invoicing app that might be able to be configured to do what you want.

You may also want to look at Fresh Books.

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Permalink Reply by Richard on January 13, 2010 at 1:56pm

You are looking for Customer Relationship Management software. I haven't used any of these but I've heard ACT! by sage is popular. Salesforce.com is decent but might be overkill. I think quicken might have some sort of CRM tracking but not sure.

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Permalink Reply by Amber on January 14, 2010 at 9:13am

How about Quickbooks? You can make notes in there.

It's not that expensive if you get the Simple Start.

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Permalink Reply by Leroy Campbell on January 14, 2010 at 11:20am

For customer relationship management, I recommend Highrise. I use it myself, and Cliff Ravenscraft of GSPN.tv did an entire podcast about it.

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy H on January 15, 2010 at 8:37am

Hello Kate,

Do you currently have a web site or a domain? If yes, then I would use open-source solutions for each workflow issue you are trying to automate. For example... if your web site is www.homeycinnamonrolls.com, then have a web person install SugarCRM (http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/) as a subdomain. It could be, contacts.homeycinnamonrolls.com. There would be a login screen and BAM! Contact heaven! As for the orders... personally I would just automate that through the website, or use an open-source eCommerce package.

You could use free services online, but then you will be bouncing around to different websites.

My 2

Jer