Mark Mader

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Top 10 Tips for Effective Team Task Management

Mark Mader - Mar 8 2010 - 1:34pm

Smartsheet is used by teams within large organizations and small businesses to track and manage work ranging from online project management and task tracking to CRM related functions like sales pipeline management and issue tracking.  ... Read more

Stop Losing Your Children in Pipelines and To Do Lists

Mark Mader - Feb 10 2010 - 5:12pm

If you've used hierarchy (a.k.a. 'Indent/Outdent') in Smartsheet, you may have noticed a new 'make life easier' feature that we introduced last Wednesday. It's the CHILDREN function and it enables you to reference rows that are 'direct descendants' (one level removed) of a parent row. ... Read more

Thank You and the Year Ahead

Mark Mader - Dec 23 2009 - 12:24pm

Whether you have been with us since 2006 or signed up earlier today, we value your business and hope that Smartsheet has been a valuable service for you.

Before sharing a few comments about the year ahead, we would like to thank you for contributing to these milestones:... Read more

Top 5 Reasons Teams Choose (are told to use) Sharepoint

Mark Mader - Nov 24 2009 - 3:45pm

Software companies spend an exorbitant amount of time and money trying to convince you that their solution perfectly suits your needs.

Wouldn't it be appropriate if they also took the time to describe the circumstances in which they lost to the competition?

Even in a record year like 2009, there are as many people who trial and don't buy Smartsheet as there are those who subscribe.  The convenience of no-obligation trial periods has made that a reality. ... Read more

5 Fundamentals of Sales Pipeline Management

Mark Mader - Oct 28 2009 - 2:06pm

Jim was frustrated. After two weeks of searching for a better way to manage his team's sales pipeline, he had found more questions than answers.

"Should I start with a full-blown CRM system like Salesforce?"

"How much should I budget for deploying such a solution?"

"Do the online e-mail marketing services enable me to solve part of this problem?"

"Should I focus on sales reporting while figuring out how to manage the opportunities and follow-up?"

"How much training time is required for my reps to get productive? All they know is Excel and e-mail."... Read more

Smartsheet Launches Sign-In Integration With Google

Mark Mader - Oct 9 2009 - 10:05pm

Smartsheet Sign-In integration with Google Apps and Google accounts is now available. It is the first of a few major items we have on deck for October 2009.

The feature helps Google users interacting with Smartsheet, whether they are returning or signing up for a free trial account. The benefits? Easy signup, rapid login, and fewer passwords to remember.... Read more

Simple and Effective Lead Capture and Notification

Mark Mader - Oct 9 2009 - 8:02am

Asking customers to fill out online survey or lead forms provides great value to you. If you stop there however, you miss a great opportunity to influence your customer's experience.

As important to capturing information - I might argue more important - is what happens after the form is completed.

Many business have sophisticated workflow engines that auto-enroll people in e-mail campaigns, ship materials, or route them to a sales representative. Such enterprise systems can cost anywhere from tens to hundreds to thousands of dollars to license and implement.... Read more

August 2009 Release - Calendar View - Surveys - Dashboard

Mark Mader - Aug 13 2009 - 9:37pm

August is turning out to be a big month for introducing new capabilities in Smartsheet.  Three of the four major features being released this month (Calendar View, Dashboard, and Search) are new while the investment in Smartforms is a significant update to an existing feature. The following are now available and Search will be released to all users by late August, 2009.... Read more

Smartsheet Simplifies Collection of Employee Census Data

Mark Mader - Aug 12 2009 - 11:59am

Gathering employee census data is an annual requirement for most companies.  Insurance brokers request census information so insurance carriers can issue rate quotes for health insurance.  It's an administration-heavy process to manage - and one that is vastly simplified using Smartsheet.... Read more

Manage and Print Your Smartsheet in a Calendar View

Mark Mader - Aug 7 2009 - 1:50pm

The 'Smartsheet Grid' has been the cornerstone of the Smartsheet application since the company won its first customer back in August of 2006.  For managing pipelines, projects, marketing lists, customer feedback, goals, meeting deliverables (the list goes on and on...) the grid is fantastic. It's easy to enter data, quick to edit, and is pretty darn unintimidating.  In managing events, projects, and other workflows that involve dates, it became evident that a calendar display of one's information would be a major win for our customers.... Read more