Business Plan Pro remains the industry’s top-selling off-the-shelf application for planning and analysis. Accountants will want to focus on the Premier Edition for its additional capabilities – particularly the information on critical insights into payback periods and exit strategies and its integration with Microsoft Excel.
“Take the time to do some planning for your business this year. Time invested in planning your strategy will pay out in profitability, more satisfied customers, and longevity for your business.”
EmailCenterPro.com is the easiest way to manage customer e-mail. Using the site, anyone can centralize e-mail operations and assign individual missives quickly to the correct person or department, speeding up response time and improving company image with customers.
Business Planning Software, Tools and Coaching
by Ivana Taylor at Strategy Stew
You already know all the cliches about failing to plan is planning to fail, if you don’t know where you’re going any road will take you there. Do the plan.
One lesson I’ve learned is when something is THAT important to you – make the investment and get help. But you have to be ready, committed and willing to do what it takes, otherwise your money and time are wasted.
I have to say I came into this biased. I do, after all, have my own approach to marketing planning for the small business owner — and who, after all, doesn’t think their own way is best .
After working through the Duct Tape Marketing approach within the Marketing Plan Pro structure, I have to admit it’s a better system than mine.
I believe they have figured out how to better help the average small businessperson more easily grasp basic strategic marketing principals, better understand how to use them in a plan, and how to make ongoing marketing adjustments. (That was not easy for me to say!)
Marketing Plan Pro is the most comprehensive, easy to understand marketing plan method / software combination I have come across. Topic-specific help is always one click away through audio or written help and specific examples. I found it similar in operation to TaxCut. Like the tax return software, this software makes the process painless, allowing you to focus on specifics of the tasks at hand:
* User Friendliness: A+ (Very intuitive to use.)
* Usefulness: A+ (The flexibility to plan at three levels of detail, one-click help at each step, and numerous resources make this an easy-to-use software for those at all levels.)
* Timeliness: A (The software is up-to-date as of September, 2008 on social media and other Web marketing methods, which change often. Other resources within the program will help users stay current as marketing methods evolve.)
* Value: A (This software will return the $180 investment many times.)
* Overall Score: A
If you are looking for guidance through the marketing plan process ― including directions, explanations, specific examples, and a collection of powerful resources ― you will find Marketing Plan Pro 11.0 Powered by Duct Tape Marketing invaluable.
Read the full review by Bobette Kyle, Websitemarketingplan.com
By Laura Lake
This week I had the opportunity to review a new software developed by Palo Alto Software. This software package is called Marketing Plan Pro and it’s powered by Duct Tape Marketing superstar John Jantsch. I must admit this is the most extensive software that I’ve reviewed when it comes to creating a marketing plan. Review the pros and cons of this software and find out if it’s a good selection for you.
What I love about the Marketing Plan Pro software is it helped me by integrating my marketing activities and goals with a roadmap that I could follow. You can even use the software to measure your success and milestones. It creates a simple process that helps you to build supporting documentation for your marketing intiatives not to mention that fact that I absolutely love the charts, tables and the plans format. It’s easy to create, easy to read and most of all easy to follow. I even used the basic version and had my marketing plan created in 30 minutes.
You can read the full review about Marketing Plan Pro powered by Duct Tape Marketing on About.com
A Review of Marketing Plan Pro by Ivana Taylor
October 2, 2008
I’m not generally a fan of marketing and business planning software. But when you have Palo Alto Software (still my favorite) and Duct Tape Marketing’s John Jantsch collaborating on marketing plan software, how can any small business owner say “no”?
Marketing Plan Pro also offers many helpful resources to help you actually implement the plan you’re writing at Mplans.com. There are links to free market research sources such as Harvard Business Online, Values and Lifestyles Psychographics Segmentation. You can also find marketing calculators. Palo Alto has also formed partnerships with Logoworks.com for your logo and design work, Intuit’s Homestead web site development resource, and PresentationPro for PowerPoint templates. So you will have no excuse for not getting started.
Best Points
* Practical and easy to use — This is not your corporate marketing plan. It is intuitive and uses your natural entrepreneurial thinking. This makes it very easy and quick to fill out.
* Has audio guides and examples — I love that John Jantsch does these little introductions as audios – it feels like he’s coaching you through the process. There are also several examples for each section – you can read, get inspired or just copy and edit to change later.
* Resources reduce the risk of procrastination – Love the resources section! This will get you started on creating the business of your dreams.
You can read the full review at the Small Business Trends website.
August 12, 2008 – Review of Business Plan Pro UK in PC Advisor
by Rosemary Haworth
It might be coincidental, but no sooner has the new series of entrepreneur-baiting show Dragons Den started than comes word of a new business planning program designed to help budding businesses get off the ground.
Palo Alto is a British company that’s been going for 14 years. With this latest version of its Business Plan Pro 11 software, the company aims to make it quicker and easier for would-be business managers to create accurate plans and financial projections. To this end, the £79 Palo AltoBusiness Plan Pro 11 has a more colourful and streamlined user interface with customisable colour charts.
It is certified for use with Windows Vista and it will enable startups to “create a business plan that is complete and financially accurate”.
As well as being able to make use of the desktop-bound planning software, users can access a dedicated website, SecurePlan.com, where they can share business planning data.
A £129.99 Premier version of Palo Alto Business Plan Pro 11 extends the software’s capabilities with a management tool. This includes month-to-month and year-to-year financial planning and analysis.
Entrepreneurs can also impress would-be financial backers in German, French, Italian and Spanish with the addition of bolt-on language packs.
For more details of the software, which will be sold via the Amazon website and Borders bookshop, see www.paloalto.co.uk.
“Marketing Plan Pro is absolutely the best software for creating an effective marketing plan.”
— Laura Ries
Q: Can you describe the product and its target audience?
A: We launched a new product called Email Center Pro, which is a Web-based service application. It’s a different product for us — we’re known primarily for our business plan software requiring installation.
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