The operation of BizConnector / Lead Follow-Up is based entirely on business rules. This means that one or more business rules have to be defined in order for the tool to function. The business rules in an account are evaluated and run – in real-time around the clock – by a Rule Engine.

What is a business rule?

The BizConnector definition of a business rule is broader than others available on the internet. For example, in Wikipedia we find ‘Business rules provide detailed guidance about how a strategy can be translated to action’.

We go further than this. Instead of a rule ‘providing guidance’, it executes actions if the rule conditions are met. BizConnector rules are actionable.

A BizConnector rule can be expressed as:
‘When this condition is met, execute this action’.

Or more generally:
‘When these conditions are met, execute these actions’.

A typical condition is the arrival of a new, matching record in the leads database.

A typical action is to schedule a sequence of emails to be sent to a prospect or customer (as in ‘drip marketing’).

Notice the use of the word ‘when’, rather than ‘if’. The time element is vital to the operation of the Rule Engine, which is running around the clock, watching for conditions to arise in order to attempt to ‘fire’. It is not invoked manually, and can be considered a ‘live agent’ operating in real time (or near real time).

A business rule can be thought of as an implementation of a strategy – ie. how the strategy can be translated into action. There is a direct alignment between the strategy and the rule.

The purpose of a rule is to cater to a specific scenario, or ‘use case’. For example, a new lead requesting a copy of a white paper on a web form may be a typical use case, and a rule could be written to fire when that new lead record is added. The rule can be considered to have a relationship with that lead for the period of time that, say, emails are being sent. When the last email has been sent, the relationship between the rule and the lead comes to an end.

Rules are autonomous, and have no explicit dependence on other rules. This makes rules easy to manage, because they can be created and deleted independently.

Sometimes there are implied dependencies, which can be used to great effect. For example, a group of rules can cater separately to ‘hot’, ‘warm’, or ‘cool’ prospects, where prospects can ‘switch over’ to another rule if and when their rating changes from one to another.

Well-designed business rules are powerful tools that can automate the tedious, repetitive tasks that would otherwise slip through the cracks. All the while doing this in strict accordance with the organization’s underlying strategies. They are powerful things, not to be underestimated.

One feature that has been available for some time now is Instant Feedback. This is a closed-loop feedback mechanism that works by embedding a question in an email, and updating the recipient’s lead or contact record in real time when he/she responds. It’s a gem that deserves more attention.

Here’s an example:

You would start by creating a custom field in (let’s say) the lead record that will receive the response. In this example the custom field, with name When Expect To Buy, is a picklist created in the Salesforce Setup area under Customize Lead Fields.

With this in place, it’s a simple matter to embed the question in an html email. In the html editor Instant Feedback tab, you would make selections something like this.

You would then set the insertion point by clicking where in the email body you want the questions to go, and then click Insert. The question would then appear in the email, with a look as follows:

Although they look like radio buttons, they are actually links which, when clicked, update the lead record in real-time.

This is a ‘self-service’ feature, the advantages of which should not be missed.

• The effort required to make changes in lead records is eliminated – the prospect does this for you
• It provides an opportunity for interaction, which interested prospects and customers appreciate
• It can take advantage of the ‘Check Before Send’ feature to move a prospect or customer to another rule more relevant to his/her needs
• It can be used to automatically segment your database – without you lifting a finger!

This is automation at its best, and it has been used effectively by many users. Is this something you would be interested in?

At this juncture, with the start of a new year and the relaunch of this website, it may be useful to take a look at the history of BizConnector since its appearance in 2005, to relate it to its offshoot ‘Lead Follow-Up’ on Salesforce.com, and in a future post, to describe its expected evolution and roadmap.

BizConnector started off as ‘a web-based email communication tool that enables ‘contextual interaction’ with recipients, addressing the needs of companies seeking to cultivate their customers and grow their businesses by using the latest web technologies to manage marketing campaigns in an intelligent way’. Essentially, it was a mass-emailer with interactive ability – a trail-blazer in many ways.

The original BizConnector had a place for business rules, but it was the development of Lead Follow-Up – a marketing automation app on Salesforce AppExchange – that featured real-time business rules as its core architectural foundation. As the name implies, Lead Follow-Up was built – with a more restricted vision than the original BizConnector – to address the needs of marketers to nurture leads and prospects. Integrated deeply with Salesforce.com through the API, its basic modus operandi is to use events in Salesforce data to trigger ‘drip marketing’ campaigns and workflows. It was expanded to attach not only to Leads, but to Contacts, Accounts, Opportunities, Tasks, Events, and Cases. And it incorporates features such as landing pages and a closed-loop feedback mechanism that makes it a powerful tool, despite its apparent simplicity.

BizConnector can now be described, at its core, as a (Near) Real-Time Business Rules Engine for small business. With the development of ‘channels’ that can be used for business rule triggers and actions, BizConnector now has the ability to connect with external systems and applications, be triggered by events outside Salesforce, and pull content from multiple sources. Channels are open-ended, and can be developed by third parties. And the forthcoming BizConnector API, to be announced, will provide a platform for new and exciting applications.

Please visit here again for more information about the BizConnector roadmap.

To start off 2012 right, BizConnector is relaunching with a new website. We know that BizConnector is a hidden gem, and we want to let more people know about the amazing value BizConnector offers to small businesses! Our fresh new look symbolizes the fresh wave of small businesses who are just now beginning to realize the potential of lead and customer nurturing and who need a solution that fits their size and budget. Nobody else offers the overall value that BizConnector does.

The new look is just the beginning though, as we plan on making quite a number of changes in 2012 as we grow and improve our services. Here are some of the things you can expect to see from us over the coming weeks and months:

• Website behavior integration – Follow up with leads based on how they interact with your website.
• Document workflows – Do you have complex document workflows? BizConnector can help you automate your workflows and get higher document completion and submission rates.
• Phone integration – Integrate voice calls into your CRM seamlessly.
• Much more…

Contact BizConnector today to learn more about what we’re doing, schedule a product tour, and start converting more leads into customers!

Have a Happy and Healthy New Year!

BizConnector has been around since 2003, when it started out as ‘a communication automation tool that facilitates contextual interaction with customers, and automates business processes’. It has now evolved into a the framework for Lead Follow-Up, a rules-based lead nurturing/drip marketing tool available on Salesforce.com.

With the overall objective – intelligent automation of relevant communication between two parties – still the same, Lead Follow-Up has come a long way since it was first published in June, 2007. It is essentially a real-time rule engine – which gives it tremendous power and flexibility for marketing automation, as well as other workflow applications.

What’s so great about Lead Follow-Up?

• It provides drip marketing capability – automated lead nurturing – ‘out of the box’ at a very affordable price
• It’s deep integration with Salesforce CRM gives you a rich, robust platform ‘par excellence’
• The business rules that implement your marketing, sales, and customer service strategies are easy to create
• The ongoing, automated responses, notifications, alerts and reporting – in real-time – allow you to focus on your business – and not every minor detail in communicating with your customers and prospects

Some features recently added to Lead Follow-Up:

• Rules based on email behavior – opening emails and clicking on links
• Template API

And coming soon – integration with Salesforce Chatter! In addition to Twitter, you will be able to see real-time alerts through Chatter when people open emails, click on links, and respond to your questions.

From its inception, the BizConnector/Lead Follow-Up vision has promoted two-way communication with prospects and customers. This is in stark contrast to the one way communication paradigm manifested in mass emailers, and is exemplified by the ‘Insert a Question’ feature in Lead Follow-Up which makes it easy to get customer feedback.

Let’s assume for a moment that two-way communication is the preferred approach. Well, of course there are risks, but I am not the first to submit that this – interaction – is a cornerstone of the trust between business and customers that is a requirement for sustainability.

But here’s something else to consider – as posed by Gary Lemke, publisher of CRM Advocate:
‘Any strategy which posits a holistic view of the customer and attempts to co-develop value with these same customers must have in place a methodology for unfettered two-way communication…. …too many companies take a transactional, cash-register approach…‘.

In other words, a ‘holistic view of the customer’ is a precursor to (unfettered) two-way communication, and this is antithetical to a ‘transactional’ approach.

It seems that industry trends are well on their way towards ‘one view of the customer’, although there is plenty to be done before this can be considered an established practice.

What do you think? Do you regard this as a no-brainer? What obstacles do you consider are in the way to this ideal?

Here’s to new beginnings!

Colin Goldberg

The title of this blog is indeed appropriate, as it signals the relaunch of the BizConnector site.

BizConnector the ‘product’ has now become BizConnector the ‘technology framework for automated communication’. The product functionality has been moved to our flagship product ‘Lead Follow-Up’ – on Salesforce.com. I look forward to any comments you may have about this move – please visit this site again to see what others have to say and more detail from me about future plans.