In this edition of Entrepreneur Software, we examine the free Social CRM tool called Rapportive. Rapportive has smashed onto the scene because of 3 big reasons:

1. It works well. REALLY well
2. It's easy to use
3. It's completely FREE

Straight to the point: What Rapportive does
Rapportive replaces the ads panel of your GMail account with an abundance of info about your contacts. But this isn't just any info. Rapportive displays each contact's biographical info, social media accounts (are they on Twitter, Facebook?), and even their recent Tweets. It's like a miniature Social CRM, and it's free

How Rapportive can Help your Business Immediately
Rapportive answers the following questions about your contacts/leads/prospects:

• Who are they? What do they look like?
• Do they currently have a problem your business could solve?
• Are they in your area? If so, you can arrange a face to face meeting
• What do they do for a living? (As a bonus, it even includes their LinkedIn Profile)

The more you know about your customers/leads, the more effectively you can communicate with them. This is what Rapportive is all about.

To illustrate how useful Rapportive can be, I'll provide an easy example. Let's pretend you own a marketing company. Now, suppose one of the leads in your contact list posts a question on their Twitter account. Thanks to Rapportive, you can see this in the toolbar (through their Recent Tweets). Let's say it's a simple marketing question about how to track a campaign in Google Analytics. Realizing that this is in your domain of expertise, you take the time to explain to them how to accomplish this. By answering their question, you can greatly enhance your rapport with them(it's no coincidence that the software is called Rapportive). This improved Rapport can can end up transforming them from a lead into a customer. Without Rapportive, you probably wouldn't have even known that this particular person was on Twitter, let alone seen their question. This is just one example of how you can leverage Rapportive


What's the catch?
There is none. The only things to remember are that you need a Gmail account, and Firefox (it runs as a free Firefox plugin). If you don't have a gmail account, just sign up for one and import your contacts from whatever mail system you're using. If you're not using Firefox (you should be), just download it (along with the Rapportive plugin) and you'll be off and running


Where To Get the Goods
Unlike a lot of entrepreneur software, everything you need for Rapportive is free. You can download everything from these links:

Get a Gmail Account Here
Download Firefox Here
Get the Rapportive Plugin Here

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