Following Up on Leads in the Digital Age

VICTORIA, British Columbia (TheStreet) -- If your business is like mine, you're terrible at following up on sales leads.

The Microsoft (MSFT Quote) Outlook/Apple (AAPL Quote) Entourage hammerlock we relied on to manage our business e-mail, calendars and contacts is now officially broken. The rise of free, Web-based tools and the need to cut costs has forced many of us to cobble together systems using Google(GOOG Quote) Apps, Yahoo!(YHOO Quote) e-mail and our BlackBerrys.

Unfortunately, none of these will get business through the door. Keeping basic contact data up to date is still a challenge, and communications from prospects is far too easy to not follow up on.

The good news is that droves of companies see gold in helping small businesses battle sales overload. So-called customer relationship management, or CRM, tools like SalesForce.com, Microsoft Dynamic, Sage and SugarCRM help organize contacts, tasks and leads.

I've found the services of Victoria, British Columbia-based Oprius particularly intriguing. Canadian entrepreneurs Alan Smith, Owen Mead-Robins and Jason Chu have developed a program for sole proprietors who are trying to manage complex relationships in the digital age. And it costs only $15 a month.

My assistant and I have been testing the system over the past few weeks.

What you get: It takes time to get the hang of it, but Oprius is a powerful small business tool at a great price.

Oprius is all about simplicity. Every page of this Web-based program, from contacts to calendars to phone management, was easy to read, use and modify. Information is organized well with descriptive tags and clear steps to help guide your work flow. You're not facing the avalanche of options other CRM tools force on you. Just log in, open a test account, grab yourself a Starbucks(SBUX Quote) and follow the instructions.