Author Archives: Wayland Bruns

About Wayland Bruns

Wayland founded CompanionLink in 1987 as The Jorf Company, a maker of shareware 4gl products. As a leading maker of CRM Add-On products, the company started with Sync Products in 1996 for the PalmPilot. As CEO of CompanionLink, Wayland strives to balance quality customer service, products with good value, low prices, and a positive workplace..

Small Business 2020 –How do you spell Opportunity in a Recession

Posted on by Wayland Bruns

This week we paid the last payroll of the first quarter of the Virus. We have endured Shut Down, Financial Panic, Protests and Riots. We have learned to shop with a face mask on, issue staff policy for social distancing, and made a revised marketing plan for the year. What else could go wrong?

There are three things that still darken the horizon; Banks have insufficient reserves, Global Banking system is unstable, and the Virus is returning with force.

2008 Redux for US banks

The banks are in a position to repeat their 2008 melt down. In 2008 the culprit was CDO’s based on mortgage loans, at a time when a critical mass of people defaulted on their mortgages. Currently the risk is in CLO’s, a similar instrument based on Collateralized Business Loans. These instruments are held by Banks, and are dependent on payments by businesses. Those same businesses that are struggling to maintain sales and market share against a public that is socially distanced. The key time period is August 2020. When 2nd quarter earnings reports come in, CARES Act! funding has run out, mortgage relief, renter relief and unemployment relief will all be past their 90 day limits. If individual payments are not made then bank collateral will melt from the bottom up.

Global Banks under pressure

Globally, banks are dependent on their loan customers making payments. In addition, most global banks have substantial investment arms. As we get to August Earnings Season, we will get our first look at how these assets are performing. Areas of concern involve HSBC with substantial assets in China, Hong Kong, and also the largest bank in the UK. Since we no longer know what country Hong Kong is, putting treaty, import and export status on hold, several banks are highly invested in the HK economy. In addition, nearly every bank worldwide has substantial interest that Oil stay above $30 per barrel. As we saw with Cushing Crude in May, the $30 benchmark is not a given.

Virus Wave Returns

We are now seeing several states reporting substantial increases in Virus cases. The US as a whole was holding steady at 20,000 new cases a day for nearly five weeks. That number is rapidly moving higher now. The curve is rising. There is no question today that the virus is again out of control in half the US states, including our own. If the current rate of increases takes hold, we could see 50k cases per day by August, and discussion of a far more drastic shut down of the economy.

How to Plan for What Comes Next?

Is Congress going to play Santa, or Marie Antoinette? Are protests going to fade out, or strengthen? Will the US Treasury continue to spend taxpayer money to prop bonds and stocks (That’s Capitalism Baby!) Small business remains trapped between the disaster and the goodie bag.

Be careful, be grateful, and be patient. Only time will tell which decisions we make today will turn out to look smart in the future.

Small Business Blog – How to Navigate Crisis using Leadership and Durability

Posted on by Wayland Bruns

The Virus Crisis continues. In March we were told it would be a two-month shutdown. Here we are, two months later and consumers are not consuming. A month ago, they said that 60,000 people in the US would die. More than 108,000 Americans have died. Today there are 20,000 new cases and 1,000 deaths. Whether a city is “Open” or “Closed”, it is clear that people are not flocking to stores or other businesses. If you own a small business like I do, you need to set an expectation. How long does Small Business have to hold out?

The old Normal will never return

If you define normal as the day when parking lots and offices are full, when people are sitting in restaurants, and where face masks are in the past, then we will never get there. The world is changing in permanent ways. In my business, we have dropped our land-line business phones, moved nearly all our mail to online payments, and upgraded our staff home workspaces with business chairs, desks, headsets and related office style equipment. Magnify these changes by thousands of small businesses, and as the crisis moves from months to years, you can see that there is no going back. Now, we must learn to run our businesses for a different sort of “normal”.

This week, protests and social instability got added to the mix. These were always part of the mix, but suddenly they went from background to foreground. Who knew that ensuring the safety of my staff could become a hot political issue with customers? Innocent statements about human relations can have dire business consequences. An entrepreneur must now be a PR manager, a health manager, and a procurer of medical supplies. A simple office purchase of hand sanitizer has become a month-long ordeal.

Leadership

Some people crave leadership roles. However, they may be poor small business owners. The best entrepreneurs are often those with an expertise and a passion in a specific skill set, that they can market to customers. As they become entrepreneurs, they suddenly get a side-line job as leaders. We cannot skip this part of our job. It is neither our passion nor our expertise, but it is an essential part of the package. We must lead our staff and our customers, set expectations, deliver according to those expectations, and take responsibility if expectations are not met. We must carry this in our products, our services and our ethical standards. A company should hire a crisis management team to proactively prepare for and effectively navigate unforeseen challenges, safeguarding its reputation, minimizing financial losses, and ensuring a swift and well-coordinated response to critical situations.

Durability

For small business durability comes from frugal spending combined with generous customer skills. Our customers are the sole source of revenue. We can keep that source active by providing effective service and valuable products. When the customer saves money and gains satisfaction, they will happily recommend us. Frugal spending means monitoring all financial transactions to ensure they are the lowest required. Until there is profit, there is no room for luxury or glamor.

Ethics

When you look at the most hated corporations; Facebook, Comcast, Microsoft, and Wells Fargo, it is easy to see what is in common. Each of these companies use their market position to push individuals, without choice, into transactions with poor value. Facebook sells your private info, losing control of it, then taking no responsibility. Comcast raises their rates to provide dwindling content. Microsoft forces risky updates to give you features you do not want.

Free software and services is not the answer. The world is full of unsupported free software that never really works. Free computer service has value only if you do not value your time.

The ethical road is to travel between these two boundaries. Create value relationships with people willing to pay for that value. Make your service and product clear, with a clear price and generous refund and upgrade policy. Then you will be rewarded by loyal customers who will recommend your business.

Summary

My county will move to Phase 1 in a couple weeks and Phase 2 in about a month. But the Covid crisis will be with us through the Summer and beyond. Over time, virus will be less of a factor as social and economic trends grow in the looming election cycle. A new social and economic order will arise over time, and we cannot predict what it will look like.

Small Businesses who tap on Leadership and Durability will manage to retain customers and staff ready to grow into the next economic cycle.

Stages of Grief for Small Business in Crisis

Posted on by Wayland Bruns

Things are looking up! I’m feeling hopeful about the future.

It’s not the news. There is nothing to make anyone happy in the news. The Virus is grinding on – neither accelerating or decelerating. Politicians posture and push but nothing seems to be getting solved.

In places that are “Opened up” people are still staying at home. It looks like legislation is not having influence on the pace of the economy. The pace of the economy is awful; with 20% of the US Population out of work. Everyone is concerned about their budget and no one is spending freely. This makes business growth nearly impossible!

Stage 1: Denial

Elizabeth Kübler-Ross proposed the 5 Stages of Grief, the first of which is Denial. Most small business owners hit this stage sometime between February and April, as we pondered how this virus would affect us. The first week that sales were not as expected. The first time we felt fear that a loved one would be endangered by this virus. The first time we looked at our IRA and recognized that years just got added to our work-before-retirement plan. Our first reaction is that it cannot be happening!

Stage 2: Anger

Anger converts your internal pain and directs it outward. Surely someone, somewhere is responsible for this problem. Surely it is their fault that I am suffering. The virus is merely a bit of protein, and we do not get angry at a bit of protein as much as we do how other people respond. We are angry at people who endanger others, people who travel and the travel industry that allow the virus to spread. At governments who, even if acting in good faith, make announcements and rules that we do not agree with.

Stage 3 – Bargaining

If I get saved from this, I promise I’ll call my parents every week, be kind to my children, never raise my voice again. Please save me from the pain of not knowing what comes next, or how to navigate the business decisions. Should I apply for a loan or furlough staff? Do we place advertising to increase sales, or decrease costs by putting all expenses on ice?

Stage 4 – Depression

When your energy is spent, a quiet sadness descends. I do not even know how to handle the situation. Each day becomes an endurance race to cope with new phases of the crisis. I envy small business people who can smile through anything, comparing my insides to their outsides.

Stage 5 – Acceptance

Kübler-Ross ends here stages on a hopeful note. Once you have accepted a loss, you can settle it and move on. This week I feel I’m reaching this phase, but then some news comes my way and I’m back to Depression and Anger.

Enduring the Covid Era

Our current problem is not a one-time loss but an ongoing disaster. Think about 9/11 when 3,000 people died in one day. This left a lasting scar on the national psyche, changed the nature of business travel, and changed the balance of federal spending between domestic and military spending.

Covid is taking 1,600 people per day currently, so a 9/11 every two days. And it is not ending. 10,000 people a week, 40,000 people a month. The scope of change in government spending, national priorities and the nature of our community is 100 times what we did in 9/11.

This a hinge moment, a generational shift, an epic event. It is so new we do not even have a name for it. In ten or twenty years, people will ask “what was it like during that time?” What will we say?

Navigating Your Business Forward

How do we move forward, even against the tide of the ongoing epidemic still coming in? Kübler-Ross gives us a blueprint. No need to hurry the stages. Move through them with self-care and understanding. Take time now to look with clear vision on what is happening now. Find your point of acceptance and start building on it.

I am coming to an understanding of what is motivating my customers right now, and how to fulfill small needs for them right now. For now, I can listen to their words and help the best I can. This will be my blueprint forward.

You would not be in Business if…

Small business is a mixed opportunity. You have complete control of your actions and a clear vision of how these actions become sales and solutions for your customers. It is the choice of an entrepreneur is to make less money and have more control.

You control yourself, and to some extent you can control your vendors and staff. Depending on your style you try to convince, force, cajole or entice these forces to align in your chosen direction. You have no control over the world at large, and to try to exert control will only sap your self esteem.

I am finding the tools are at my fingertips. I can make decisions that seem to bring light to those around me. At CompanionLink we have found some minor cost savings. We have purchased a small amount of equipment and furniture to upgraded our staff home workstations which improves our quality of life and quality of work. We are shifting our marketing and product strategy to focus on customers who are buying products right now.

These are small steps, but these are making business meaningful for our team. When the crisis stops spinning, we hope to be on top. It is the best we can do in an unstable economy.

Other articles in this series:

Small Business Success Planning in Spring 2020
Three Online Resources to Apply for Payroll Protection Program Today
3 New Revenue Sources for Small Business in the CARES Act
Small Business in the time of Virus – Turn Anxiety into Survival

Small Business Success Planning in Spring 2020

Posted on by Wayland Bruns

As I write this, we are ending our second month of the full crisis. Everyone has gone grocery shopping with a mask on. Toilet paper is sometimes available in the stores. Many small businesses have received some sort of funding, and in many states the unemployment kicker has relieved the worst of the rental defaults and hunger. The world is coping. But our world is irrevocably changed. We now think every time we “walk through a door”, we don’t touch handles or elevator buttons, and we view all strangers with cautious distance.

How to Cope

The first problem for small business is to cope with what we have. It’s been two months of payrolls and excruciating decisions about cuts, expenditures, debt and payments. Whatever liquidity you had in March is with you for the long run. Your customer base, your weekly sales and your weekly costs are going to be set in stone until the crisis ends. My business tools are not sufficient. There is no way to plan when the picture changes monthly. There is no way to predict whether there will be more gifts from Congress, or more pain from Customers reneging on agreements.

When will it end?

People will not be “normal” until we can mix freely with strangers without danger. That means we must have herd immunity and it must be verified. Immunity might be conveyed by everyone getting the illness, or everyone getting a vaccine. It might also be conveyed by the new cases decreasing to such small numbers that we are confident strangers are virus free.

None of these things are going to happen in 90 days, and probably not in 2020. The logistics of a vaccine are staggering. If there was a vaccine today, it would take a year to create enough doses to vaccinate half the world population. Here in the US, a vaccine would be dedicated to high risk individuals for at least the first six months. With flu vaccine, it takes two weeks to take effect, and does not confer complete immunity. So we could well be into 2021 or 2022 before anything comes close to normal.

The Crisis Shapes our Future

In my view, the future is bright, but with painful changes. Connected Services are going to have a heyday – starting with Zoom but moving to everyone who can deliver business products online. The gig economy will shift as more people move into front-line delivery roles. Brick and Mortar will shrink dramatically as the simple act of walking in the door carries risk. A friend noted that Boeing has recently laid off 1200 engineers, and they will never be rehired. Without herd immunity in a year or two, high paying jobs that are tied to “walking int the door” will be lost forever. The economy will not crash, but will change profoundly as market sectors shift.

Opportunity for Business

The opportunity lies in re-calibrating and focus on new venues for sales. A catering friend says that they delivered 150 food boxes as a drive-by fundraiser for a charity. Both the charity and the caterer are struggling to innovate, and whether they succeed is not important. What is important is they worked together to test a new concept.

At CompanionLink, our loyal customers provide our best inspiration. We can work together to generate innovative ideas. My role is to put away my ledger and help my customers succeed. Their success will feed our success.

My competitors are in the same boat as I am. Suddenly it is time to benefit from years of free service or generous policies. Here at CompanionLink we have always had free tech support even to customers who spent minimal amounts of money many years ago. I am surprised today at how these people are so willing to support us by purchasing a low cost upgrade or suggesting a new avenue of business. (Thanks Guys!)  On the other hand, companies like Microsoft, Comcast and Verizon have spent the past half-decade raising prices and canceling service to past customers. I know people do not have the same level of loyalty to them as they had in the past.

Focus on Enjoying the Now

We are just two months in to what may be a five-year economic transition. The 1972 Stagflation crisis ended with IBM, Wang, and Dec replaced by Microsoft by 1978. The 2002 Dot-Com bust saw Novell, Symantec, Kodak and Blockbuster die, while Facebook, Amazon and PayPal were born. The trend looking forward is connectivity – helping customer achieve their goals without face-to-face meetings. Values, flexibility and efficiency will get you to that customer. Until then, we have today. Dogs and Children will still enjoy this day so take time to play with them. Plan and test new ideas, see what works, and move upward with your life. This is nothing I planned, but it gives me the opportunity to excel in new areas, and for that I am grateful.

Other articles in this series:

Three Online Resources to Apply for Payroll Protection Program Today
3 New Revenue Sources for Small Business in the CARES Act
Small Business in the time of Virus – Turn Anxiety into Survival

Three Online Resources to Apply for Payroll Protection Program Today

Posted on by Wayland Bruns

I am very frustrated by my local bank that they have not even invited me to apply for PPP.  However, a friend shared some online resources where I was able apply. So far I have two of these in “underwriting” but not signed yet.

As far as I understand, you can apply as much as you want.  Just be sure to only sign one.  I am still very confident that CompanionLink will get accepted and get funding for two months of our payroll. 

Today (April 16) funding is out until Congress and the Treasury make a deal. I am confident a deal will be made for this very important program.

Here are some other tips I have learned in my application process:

  1. The loan amount is 2.5 times 2019 Monthly payroll. The best number to use is from your W-3 form, line 5, plus State and Local Taxes line 17 and 19.  Although this is less than “Payroll” this is easy to prove because this is already on your W-3 Form.
  2. Document staff who earned over 100K in 2019, and subtract the Salary over 100k from your total.
  3. Make a PDF of everything, and store them on your Personal computer so you can reply to an email any time of day or night.  So far I have sent out the following documents; Canceled check, Drivers License picture front and back, Register from checking account, 2019 taxes as filed, 2019 Payroll statement, Payroll Statement from Feb 16 2020, W-3 from 2019, All W-2 and 1099 Misc from 2019, Corporate Founding Documents, 2019 941 Reports (4-quarters).

Kabbage

https://www.kabbage.com/ – Apply online

Fundera

https://www.fundera.com/ – Apply online

Ready Capital

https://readycapital.com/ – Apply online

BlueVine

https://app.bluevine.com/signup/ppp – Apply Online

Cross River Bank

https://www.crossriversba.com/ – Apply Online

And More…

Paypal https://www.paypal.com
OnDeck https://www.ondeck.com/resources/what-is-the-paycheck-protection-program
NAV https://app.nav.com/paycheck-protection-program-form/
Funding Circle https://www.fundingcircle.com/us/paycheck-app-start/
Veem https://www.veem.com/sba-ppp/
Biz2credit https://www.biz2credit.com/
Lendio https://www.lendio.com/
Divvy https://getdivvy.com/covid-19/sba-ppp-loans/

Credibly: https://www.credibly.com/small-business-loans/

If you have any more sites I will add them here, email me – wayland@companionlink.com

Other articles in this series:

3 New Revenue Sources for Small Business in the CARES Act

Small Business in the time of Virus – Turn Anxiety into Survival

3 New Revenue Sources for Small Business in the CARES Act

Posted on by Wayland Bruns

We are all hurting now. The normal ebb and flow of business in America has been throttled by stay at home orders. Even if you do not own a restaurant or bar, even if all your workers can work remotely, you are probably highly impacted by frightened customers and small business. This is a huge blow to ego and self esteem.  It becomes hard to concentrate. Everything seems like an emergency.

I have been greatly relieved by the thought that the CARES Act that passed last week will assist us in ways that are worthwhile.  Here are a few things I’ve found that can benefit CompanionLink, our vendors, friends and relatives during this troubled time.

Pandemic Unemployment Insurance

A new category of Unemployment Benefits has been created to help Self-Employed and Gig workers. These new benefits are handled through your state.  If you are Self Employed and have reduced business because of the Stay at Home order, or even if you are too concerned to go to work, you qualify for this benefit.  Apply for Unemployment through the state.  Even if the weekly amount is small, because your income is low, you will be eligible for the $600 additional weekly benefit (roughly $2400 per month) through July 31, 2020.  So for four months, roughly $12,000 will flow to everyone who is unemployed. This benefit is taxable income so be sure to calculate your withholdings. 

I would guess that this benefit will be extended as long as the Lock Downs continue, which may run through the end of the year.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/25/politics/senate-stimulus-unemployment-benefits-coronavirus/index.html

Paycheck Protection Program

The Paycheck Protection Program from the US Small Business Administration will guarantee a loan to your business, and after a time, will forgive up to 100% of the loan amount. 

This program is extended to Nonprofit and other types of business that do not normally qualify for SBA loans. You do not need to be turned down for credit to be eligible for the loan. 

The loan amount is 2.5 times your monthly payroll, benefits and rent.  After 60 days, if you spent this money on payroll, benefits and rent, then the amount is forgiven. Here is the best part; the loan forgivance portion is not considered taxable income to your business.  This program is administered by your local bank provided they are an SBA lender.  Call your bank for details.  Note:  The application forms have not been created yet, and full details are not yet available. Your bank will help you through this process.

https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/paycheck-protection-program

Google and Facebook Advertising Credits

Both Google and Facebook have announced Small Business grants, and/or advertising credit.  For Google, the advertising credit is automatic and will be added to your Google Ads account.  For Facebook you need to apply, and details have not been sent yet.  Keep an eye out for similar credts from Apple, Amazon, and other large vendors.

https://blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/commitment-support-small-businesses-and-crisis-response-covid-19

https://www.facebook.com/business/boost/grants

Small Business in the time of Virus – Turn Anxiety into Survival

Posted on by Wayland Bruns

Every Boomer got spanked today by the stock market. Part of me cries when I see years of good investment ideas wiped out in a day. My sadness turns to worry about what this means for my business market. I need a crystal ball to help my planning.

Little known fact; my college degree is in Fine Art. My specialty in College was 14th Century Italian Art which can be subtitled – frescos from Black Death. The Bubonic Plague hit Italy in 1348. Prior to that time was almost the Renaissance, with frescos showing a worldly and secular culture. Shortly after the plague the frescoes take a dark and mystical turn. This early specialty has turned into a lifelong interest in how regular people lived in medieval times. The plague set the stage for the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Darkness is followed by light.

CompanionLink is 33 years old. We made it through the Dot-Com crash, the 2008 crash, and 7 Presidents. Hare are a few things that I have found help when times get tough.

Keep a High-Level Perspective

For all that happens today, it is still a wonderful day. Dogs and children will play in the sunshine today, so take time to join them. We have been through worse and came out stronger, and this will happen again. There is a difference between worry and strategic planning. Take time to plan. When planning is done give a moment of gratitude for what has gone before, and patience for what will be ahead.

Plan without Panic

The news media thrives on hype and it is difficult not to get caught up in it. Avoid the headline and seek the facts buried in the lede. Business success comes from anticipating how markets change. If meetings and travel raise fear, then re-arrange your business to teleconference. If schools and public events are canceled, work to connect with your customers as their schedules adjust. Flexibility is an enduring trait.

Anticipate Supply Chain Disruptions

We live in a consumer driven culture with goods supplied over great distances by people who are paid very little. If public events are canceled, what danger is felt by the clerk at the cash register? Work on your corporate supply chain and purchase ahead any supplies that are critical for your business. Then work on your customer’s supply chain to see what you can fill in.

Know the difference between Fixed Expense and Variable Expense

Manage your budget items to avoid fixed expenses based on scale; things like Rent, Utilities and Monthly Services. Shift as many costs as you can to an as-needed basis. If business is slow and you furlough staff, are you still paying full price for Cloud Services? Are your service fees budgeted according to your best sales month, or your worst sales month? If you can pull expenses in line with income, as income fluctuates, you will be better able to weather any storm.

Focus on your Friends – Core Business, Core Customers, Core Staff

Years in small business have taught me that our core customers will work hard for us when we work together. I have to give and be generous. I get rewarded by people who work with my team. Delivering solid value to people who know us well is the best way to survive.

Calamity creates Opportunity

Your competitors are facing the same obstacles that you encounter. Not all of them will survive. Keep an eye out for ways to pick up the pieces left when other companies are disrupted. You know your products better than anyone else. If another vendor drops the ball, step right in to pick it up.

Stay Optimistic

Like a parent, we want to wrap our arms around our world, and tell it everything will be OK. Like a director, we want to tell the obstacles that they are wrong. Like a 100 year storm, our society can meet the challenges before us. The 1918 flu was followed by the Roaring 20s. With careful planning and persistence there will be new opportunities for business success.

DejaOffice 2020 Changes to Edit and View Screens

Posted on by Wayland Bruns

This week we are releasing changes to DejaOffice PC CRM. A focus of these changes are to lower the number of keystrokes needed to create Calendar Events and Tasks, and to better utilize space on the Contact View Screen.

This set of changes is dubbed “2020”. For all of these changes you can revert to the 2019 screens by going to Settings, and then selecting Contacts, Calendar or Tasks, and choosing the option to use 2019 screen formats.

Calendar Edit

When creating an event, we have moved location higher, and condensed some of the options for private and complete. Most notably we have added “quick select” buttons for most common appointment times.

If you choose to make an appointment for a future day, for instance choose “T” for Tuesday – the appointment will automatically slot to your next available time on Tuesday. If there is no slot, a message will show for the Conflict. The system is always trying to slot you for the future. If you click “T” on Tuesday, it will be for the following week on Tuesday. If you click on “Today” it will be for later today.

Task Edit

The Task Edit screen largely follows the changes on Calendar Edit

Contact View

Our goal With Contact View is to get more info into the available screens space. For our Palm Desktop customers, this has not been an issue, because the screen can easily display Contact info, Phone Numbers, Custom Fields and Notes. For our CRM Customers, however, the view area is both crowded and also forced you to scroll to see important information. There was no way to view History, Notes, and Custom Fields without scrolling up and down.

Our solution is to reset the field display if you give it enough width:

Normal Contact View
Expanded (two column) Contact View

If you make the View Panel wider, it will automatically reset to a two-column format. This allows notes to show beside the Histories, and allows addresses to appear side-by-side.

For our CRM users, we recommend you keep the screen expanded as much as possible, and this will reduce the need to scroll.

Unique Capability

With the expanded view – DejaOffice offers something unique in the CRM world – the ability to see both your notes and your history at the same time. Nearly all competing products use tabs, so you can see notes or history, but not both.

New Edit Modes for Contact Screen

We have added context sensitive editing. So if you click on an Address, it will go to the Address Edit view. If you click on the Custom Fields, it will go to the custom fields edit. If you click on the Notes Header it will go to the larger note edit screen, while clicking on the Notes Body will let you edit in the existing view frame.

Detail feature guide: Here is a Guide for our new 2020 Edit Screens.

Thank you for using DejaOffice!

DejaOffice PC CRM Pro
Average User Rating:
Average rating: 4.83 out of 5 based on 76 reviews.
Free 14 day trial. Price $199.95

Outlook Customer Manager (OCM) will be Discontinued – Here’s an Alternative!

Posted on by Wayland Bruns

Microsoft has recently announced the end of Outlook Customer Manager, with access to your online data to be ended June 30, 2020.

Outlook Customer Manager was introduced by Microsoft in 2016 as a replacement to Business Contact manager. It sits on top of Outlook and provides key business features. Most notably, it offers Company Records, Shared Contacts, Activity History, Deal tracking, and Integrated Document Management.

Fortunately there is a good alternative with DejaOffice. DejaOffice PC CRM provides the following essential features:

  • Company Records
  • Shared Contacts
  • Activity History
  • Deal Tracking
  • Integrated Document Management
  • Integrated Mobile Apps
  • Telephone Technical Support

DejaOffice PC CRM provides a number of features that Outlook Customer Manager badly needed, but never had:

  • Category Management with Colors
  • Multiple User Scheduling
  • Integrated Tasks and Notes
  • Private Data, Database Encryption and Security

You can subscribe to DejaOffice for Outlook for $7 per month ($19.95 paid once every three months).

You can purchase a perpetual license for $99.95 (one time purchase).

Click here to download: A two-week trial.

Click here to get more info!

CompanionLink provides US based Telephone Technical Support for DejaOffice. There are three levels of support available: Free support, for general information and how-to advice, RunStart service for $49 where CompanionLink will help you set up your database and get you launched with the product, and Premium Support which provides a year of “white-glove” service for you DejaOffice CRM for Outlook site.

DejaOffice PC CRM for Outlook
Average User Rating:
Average rating: 4.83 out of 5 based on 76 reviews.
Free 14 day trial. Price $129.95

Why you need a PC based CRM in 2020

Posted on by Wayland Bruns

For the past Decade, Customer Relations Management has been transformed by SaaS providers so completely, that some people think CRM means Cloud. On-Premise CRMs that you can purchase for a one-time price have almost disappeared. The problem with the Cloud model is that every service provide aims to lock you in to monthly payments, slow loading web pages, and features that hide behind premium fees.

No one can predict what our economy will throw us in 2020. But it seems clear that the last 14 years of growth may soon level out or decline. When business gets tough, then the high monthly payments become a burden.

When CRM was new, back in the 1980s and 90s, the main business model was PC based software, PC based data, with sync services to handheld devices. CompanionLink was born in those years, and we retain that service model. More recently there is a trend to adopt personal CRM that cannot be ignored.

We have introduced DejaOffice PC CRM. This is a Contact Manager, Calendar App that runs on Windows PCs, Android Phones, iPhones and iPads. On each of these platforms, the CRM database is local to the device. This means that you gain speed and productivity compared to the browser based model. It also means that if you are disconnected from the internet, on your PC by a carrier outage, or on your phone by simply being in a parking garage, you can still work effectively.

Standalone: DejaOffice PC CRM Standalone $49.95 – A simple standalone Contact Manager for Personal or Small Business use. Track your Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Notes. This CRM can easily import all your data from Palm Desktop, Outlook, or Google.

You can make mail-merge emails, letters and mailing labels. You can handle tasks and store notes. Automatic backups and privacy features are included.

Outlook: DejaOffice PC CRM for Outlook $99.95 – All the features of Standalone with the additional feature of an Outlook Add-In. You can easily drag and drop an email to create a Contact, Calendar Event, Tasks or Note.

Express: DejaOffice PC CRM Express $129.95 – Customer History and Follow Ups are the main features of the Express version. Easily see everything you’ve done for the customer, and everything planned for the future. The Express version includes the Outlook Add-In, but also adds a feature to automatically move Outlook Emails to Contact history.

Pro: DejaOffice PC CRM Pro $199.95 for 5-Users – Multi-User version with a shared database. No other CRM is as affordable. Every person can have their own schedule, with permission to edit other schedules. Everyone can share a Contact list so that your Company Contacts are always up to date.

Free trial

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DejaOffice PC CRM Pro
Average User Rating:
Average rating: 4.83 out of 5 based on 76 reviews.
Free 14 day trial. Price $199.95