Companies that engage in the evaluation and selection of CRM software are traditionally looking to achieve three business objectives:

1)       Data Consolidation – information is streaming into your business every day from the telephone, fax, e-mail and the web. What happens to this information is the problem. The objective of CRM software is to ensure that all of this information is consolidated into a single unified database where it is immediately accessible to those employees that need to it efficiently do their jobs.

2)      Improve Sales Execution – this starts with implementing a structured process for lead qualification and the efficient management of the sales cycle from introduction to closure.  Proper lead qualification ensures that your most valuable asset, i.e. your sales team, is focused on the most qualified business opportunities.   Proper management of the sales cycle using CRM software has helped management keep their eye on the most promising opportunities and has  been shown to improve close ratios and generate higher returns.

3)      Provide World-Class Customer Service – In today’s world where customer loyalty is only skin deep the difference between winning and retaining customers may have more to do with the quality of service you provide than it does your product.  CRM can ensure that all members of the organization have access to customer records and can respond quickly and professionally to customer inquiries.

The challenging economy coupled with a highly competitive market place has encouraged businesses of all sizes to seek a way to get a leg up on their competition.  CRM software has proven to be an effective tool for helping companies market, sell and provide service to their customers.

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By Dave Kahle

In my first professional sales position, I spent six full weeks in sales training before I was released to go out into my territory.  Sales training was defined as memorizing two five-page, single-spaced sales presentations, presenting them to the sales training class, critiquing the video-taped playback of the presentation, and then doing it all again – for six weeks! At the end of those six weeks, every one of us could give those two presentations masterfully.

While the use of prewritten, memorized sales presentations still continues today, it’s only rarely used in the business-to-business selling environment.  It may be that today’s frantic pace of new product development makes the time it takes to memorize a sales presentation seem less valuable.  Or it may be that today’s salesperson is more sophisticated and able to adjust the sales presentation to the needs of each individual customer.

While memorized presentations may be a vestige of years gone by, that in no way reduces the need to make a well designed, practiced sales presentation. The ability to routinely make powerful, persuasive sales presentations, regardless of the customer or product, is one of the practices of the best.

The world is full of salespeople who take a casual attitude toward a sales presentation.  Some think that they know the product so well that their superior product knowledge will ooze out during the presentation, impressing the customer into buying.  Others do not put in the necessary preparation and practice time, and, in an attempt to cover their lack of confidence, focus on those parts of the presentation with which they feel most comfortable.  Still others feel that their ability to improvise will eventually lead them to a persuasive presentation.

The truth is that there is no shortcut to a persuasive presentation.  It begins with studying the customer as well as the product or service.  It takes preparation to decide which of the customer’s issues to address, and which specific features of your offer to emphasize.  It takes time to organize the facts and features into a cohesive presentation.  It takes time to build in interactive elements, and to gather the right samples and documents.  And it takes time to practice (yes, practice) the presentation before you actually make it.  A persuasive presentation begins with methodical preparation.

Maybe that’s why so few salespeople give this aspect of their job the attention that it deserves.  And maybe that’s why routinely making powerful and persuasive presentations is a practice of the very best.

To learn more about this practice, review these resources: The CD, How to Make Powerful and Persuasive Presentations, or the Video version: Persuasive Presentations, Part 1 & 2.

If you are a member of The Sales Resource Center™, consider The One Month ‘Persuasive Presentations’ Course, or The Six Month ‘Consultative Selling’ Course.

About the Author:

Dave Kahle is one of the world’s leading sales educators. He’s written nine books, presented in 47 states and seven countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of sales people and transform hundreds of sales organizations.  Sign up for his free weekly Ezine, and visit his blog.  For a limited time, receive $547 of free bonuses with the purchase of his latest book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime.

Copyright MMXI by Dave Kahle
All Rights Reserved.

[Image "Day 32: Yahoo BT sales exercise" by Kerry Vaughan on Flickr under Creative Commons license]

By Dave Kahle

Q. What do I do when my goals don’t match the company’s goals for me?

A.  I can look at this is in two ways – expressing two different situations.  In the first, there is a legitimate difference in the expectations for a sales person, but a basic agreement on the issues on which to be focused, as well as the values of the organization.  In the second, there is a deeper and more significant difference of opinion.

A little reality check

Let’s consider each separately.  In the first scenario, the sales person and the company differ on the degree of what is possible.  The sales person expects a 10% increase, while the company thinks 15% is reasonable.  Both agree that sales growth is reasonable, but the amount of growth is the issue.  What do you, the sales person, do in this case?

Persuade and negotiate.  Try to convince your boss that your perspective is more accurate than his/hers.  Don’t just assert that, be convincing.  Back up your beliefs with substance.  Describe specific situations and accounts, and explain why you think about them the way you do.  Prove your point.

At some point in this process, there is going to be a resolution.  There will be a quota or a goal.  Whether it is your idea of what it should be, or your manager’s version, or some compromise, it doesn’t matter.  At that point, when the issue is resolved and the number is set, your job is to give all of your best efforts to doing what your company wants you to do.

You are, after all, an employee of the company.  Your job is to do what your company wants you to do.  That’s what they pay you for.

Sometimes sales people can get a little too convinced of their own importance.  I succumbed to that temptation more than once when I was selling full time.  We think that we really are in business for ourselves, that we own our customers, and that we know what is best for the company and the customer.  So, therefore, we become agitated and upset when the company asks for a 15% increase and we think 5% is reasonable.  We are tempted to go off mumbling under our breath about the screwy management, and we decide we are going to do what we want to do instead.

A little reality check is in order under these circumstances.  If you worked in the warehouse, would you be able to decide what you wanted to do today?  If you were a customer service rep, would you get to determine how best to spend your day, and which parts of your job you’d really do?  If you were in the purchasing department, if you didn’t like the company’s direction, would you have the freedom to ignore it?

So what makes you think you are so special?  Answer — nothing.  Let’s put the freedom that we enjoy and the money that we make in perspective.  We are, when all is said and done, employees of the company.  And, I believe, we have a moral obligation to give our best efforts to that company for as long as we accept a paycheck.

Sometimes the price is high

Which brings us to the second situation.  You have some major difference of opinion in not only the degree of what is expected, but a deep-seated difference of opinion in the basic issues themselves.  I’m not talking about issues like you think you need to focus on your current customers and your company wants you to sell new customers.  Those are relatively superficial issues that fit into the previous discussion.

Instead, I’m talking about differences in fundamental values and ethics.  Here’s an example from my own experience.  I once worked for a company that introduced a new product, and developed a quota for each of us to sell that product.  The problem was, the product never worked.  It didn’t do what the company said it was going to do.  We, the sales people, knew it, and the company knew it.  Yet, they still wanted us to sell it.  We were given quotas and strongly directed to go out and get orders at all costs.  They directed us to, in effect, lie to our customers.

I left the company shortly thereafter.

The issue wasn’t “Do I sell 100 or 130 of these?”  That’s an issue of degree.  Instead, the issue was, “Do I lie to my customers?”  That’s an ethical issue.

If it’s an ethical issue, then I think you have only one choice.  Find another job.  Life is too short to spend it violating your ethics and compromising your integrity.

That sounds simple, and it rarely is that black and white.  It almost never happens that your manager sends you an email that says, “From this day forward you will lie to your customers.”  Instead, it is more likely that a pattern emerges over a period of time.  One incident is generally not representative of a character flaw.  But, when you see a pattern of cutting ethical corners, of disdain for integrity, of fuzzy moral boundaries, then you can conclude that those are expressions of a corporate character flaw.

In my situation, the “lie to your customers” direction was not the first indication of a lack of moral compatibility between me and the company.  It was, however, the final one for me – the most recent and blatant of a string of incidents that made me feel uncomfortable with myself for being a part of it.

Also, sometimes the price is high.  The position I left was the most fun, most challenging, best paying job I ever had.  It was 15 years before I made the kind of money again that I made in that job.  Believe me, leaving that job for ethical reasons was a difficult decision.

Money is just money.  It comes and it goes.  People, and sales people particularly, who will do anything for money, who evidence no compulsion and no moral boundaries, are sad characters.  They have succumbed to the most superficial of temptations and displayed themselves to all those around them as people with little integrity.  They are unfortunate examples to their families, friends, and all who know them.

You only have to read the newspapers over the last year or so to see multiple examples of the damage that greed, un-tempered by morality, can do.  The real damage, though, is not the highly visible corporate crooks that we read about every day.  The real tragedy is all the less visible managers and sales people who we don’t read about – those business people who share the same “money at all costs” attitude – whose legacy is not as public, but none-the-less still damaging.

I would hope that you would not be one of those.  That you would have the strength of character to disassociate yourself from a situation that comprised your integrity.

So, when it becomes an issue of morality, I think it’s time to leave.

Good luck.  Sell well.

P.S. I expect that my comments may generate some responses.  Feel free to email a comment to me.

********************************************************************************************

You may want to dig deeper into the issues uncovered in this article.  I’d recommend the book, “Take Your Performance Up-a-Notch.”

If you are a member of The Sales Resource Center ™  consider reviewing these lessons:  Pod-21: “Goal-Setting,” or  Pod-34: “Ethics for the Professional Sales Person.”

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About the Author:

Dave Kahle is one of the world’s leadng sales educators. He’s written nine books, presented in 47 states and seven countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of sales people and transform hundreds of sales organizations.  Sign up for his free weekly Ezine, and visit his blog.  For a limited time, receive $547 of free bonuses with the purchase of his latest book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime.

Copyright MMXI by Dave Kahle

All Rights Reserved.

By Dave Kahle

Q. How do I ensure that I get the last look in a competitive bid situation?

A.  This is a question that I’m often asked.  In a lot of industries, particularly those involved in construction, government purchases and large-volume manufacturing, most of the customers require an official bid.  It’s not unusual for these to be highly formal and structured.

Here’s a typical scenario.  The customer sends a bid to five suppliers, and each responds with a written document by a certain specified date.  The customer reviews the bids, and awards the business.

The writer of the question wants the ability to go in after the bids have been submitted, to look at the competitive bids or at least the lowest bid prices, and to change his/her prices in order to be awarded the business.

First, it should be noted that in some instances, the “last look” is illegal.  In many cases, it’s viewed as unethical.  In other industries and situations, it’s viewed as business-as-usual.  This question and answer is only relevant to the latter situation.

I have responses for this on several different levels.

1.  Avoiding a bid situation to begin with.

2.  Making a last look unnecessary.

3.  When all else fails, insuring that you get a last look.

Let’s think about each one separately.

1.  Avoiding a bid situation to begin with.

OK, I know that bids are standard operating procedures in your business.  But, I also know that a lot of business is “negotiated.”  In other words, the customer selects the vendor he/she wants to work with, and then negotiates the best deal with that customer.

I’d much rather you get yourself into a negotiating rather than a bid situation.  That way,  you’d avoid the bid scenario altogether.

And, while it is true that you’ll never convince 100% of your customers to negotiate with you rather than send out bids, if you are successful over the next few years in moving 20 – 30% of your customers to negotiating status, you’ll see a tremendous improvement in your sales.

How do you earn that position?  Two ways:  First, build powerful business relationships, be a reliable supplier, and offer a special relationship – “negotiating” – with all your good customers.

In other words, bring the subject up regularly, plant the seed in your customer’s brain, tell stories about how you were able to work effectively with others – how they cut costs, paperwork and time out of the cycle by working with you.

If you are good, and persistent, you’ll eventually convert a significant chunk of your customers.

The second way to operate effectively in this situation is to become more deeply involved in the customer’s buying process and influence the creation of the specifications in such a way so as you are the only one who can meet those specifications.  The bid then, becomes superfluous.

Some of you who have been in my programs have heard me tell the story of how I did the most profitable transaction of my life in an account whose policy it was to bid everything to five vendors.

2.  Making a last look unnecessary.

“…if you have some aspect of your product, service or offer that sets you apart from the competitors… then the customer should be happy to do business with you even if you are not the absolute lowest price.”

The whole concept of a “last look” implies that the reason the customer would do business with you is that you are the lowest price of the group of bidders.  While there is a time and place to be the low price, I’d like for you to question whether or not this is how you’d like the customer to think of you.  If you have done a good job in the past for the supplier, if you have become the low-risk supplier, if you have understood the customer’s situation at a deeper level than your competitors, if you have some aspect of your product, service or offer that sets you apart from the competitors, if you have communicated those things in a persuasive way, then the customer should be happy to do business with you even if you are not the absolute lowest price.

In other words, if you have done a good job of selling, then a couple percentage points in the price should have no impact on the deal.

So, rather than try to be the low price, I’d prefer that you do a deeper, better job of selling this account so that you don’t have to be the lowest price. And that means that you have created powerful, trusting relationships with the key people, that you have understood the dynamics of their situation at a deeper and more detailed level than any of your competitors, and that you have fashioned a unique proposal that meets their deeper needs.

When you do that, you don’t need to worry about the last look.

3.  Insuring that you get a last look.

While everything I said above is fine, the reality is that there will still be some situations where you won’t be able to implement those strategies, and are reduced to one option – be the low bidder.

Some of your customers negotiate the business with you, and the last look is, of course, not an issue with them.  Some of them will buy from you because of the good job of selling you did, and the last look, with them, is not an issue.

But you will still probably be left with those who are going to bid and award the business primarily on the basis of price.  It’s that group for which you’d like to have the last look.

How do you do that?  By achieving excellence in the basics:  building powerful, positive business relationships with those key contacts, by understanding their needs in deeper and more detailed ways than any of your competitors, by doing everything you can to assure that your company is highly respected by the customer, and finally, by asking for the opportunity.

What you are really asking for is the preference of the customer.  In other words, where the customer sees no difference between you and the other guy in your offer, he still prefers doing business with you.  This scenario assumes that there is no difference between you and your competitor, and there is no reason for the customer to pay a little more to do business with you.  Your only hope is that the customer will prefer to do business with you, providing you are the lowest price.

Ask yourself why the customer would prefer you.  Create a detailed answer. Then set about becoming the supplier with which your customer would want to do business.  And, continually ask for the opportunity to have a last look.

Remember that getting the last look is the last, least desirable strategy to pursue. While there will always be times and situations where it is your last resort, those times and situations should be minimal.

If these ideas resonate with you, you may want to dig deeper into the concepts expressed above.  Consider the CD’s, “Conquering the Number One Buying Obstacle: Reducing the Risk.” or “Sales Practices to Increase Margins.”

If you are a member of The Sales Resource Center ™, review Cluster CL-1: “Preventing the Price Objection,” and CL-11: “Price Pressures”.  Take the lessons in Pod-16: “Successfully Selling in a Price Sensitive Market,” and Pod-18: “How to Sell Value, Not Price.”

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About the Author:

Dave Kahle is one of the world’s leadng sales educators. He’s written nine books, presented in 47 states and seven countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of sales people and transform hundreds of sales organizations.  Sign up for his free weekly Ezine, and visit his blog.  For a limited time, receive $547 of free bonuses with the purchase of his latest book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime.

Copyright MMXI by Dave Kahle

All Rights Reserved.

By Dave Kahle

Having spent most of my adult life in Michigan, I have naturally grown to be a fan of the Detroit professional sports teams.  Basketball is my favorite sport, and I’ve been a Pistons fan since before the Bad Boys.

As you know, the Bad Boys were world champions for a couple of years in the 80’s.  Isaiah Thomas was the leader of the team.  He was at the top of his game — most valuable player on the world championship team.  It doesn’t get any better than that.

During that time, he built a house in Detroit, and added an indoor basketball court.  When asked about it by a local newspaper reporter, he replied that he often woke up in the middle of the night and used the basketball court to practice his free throws.

Imagine that.  The most valuable player of the world championship team practicing the most basic shot in the game in the middle of the night.  Why would he do that?  Probably because he was not a 100 percent free-throw shooter.  No matter how good he was, he knew there was room for improvement, and that he could become better yet.

“Imagine how competent you could become, relative to your competitors, if you regularly spent time, money and effort improving your sales skills!  What an opportunity!”

Dave Kahle

That belief, that you are not as good as you could be, that there is always room for improvement, is one of the marks of the best sales people.

The world is full of mediocre sales people who don’t care enough about their own performance to spend any time or money improving themselves.  My own experience is that only one out of twenty sales people has spent $25 of their own money on their own improvement in the last 12 months.

While that certainly is an indictment of their lack of professionalism, it also represents an incredible opportunity for those who want to excel.  Imagine how competent you could become, relative to your competitors, if you regularly spent time, money and effort improving your sales skills!  What an opportunity!

That’s one reason why the best sales people are the best.  They regularly spend time and money on the pursuit of perfection.  They are the ones who buy the books, listen to the CDs, attend the seminars, and eagerly participate in sales meetings.

Vince Lombardi once said, “We will pursue perfection, knowing that we will never attain it.  But in the striving for perfection, we will catch excellence.”

The best sales people continually pursue perfection, knowing that in the striving for it, they will catch excellence.  And excellence is rewarded by greater competence, greater confidence, and a more robust standard of living.

That’s why it is one of the best practices of the best.

If you’d like to pursue this practice, check out The Sales Resource Center™ where we have over 435 lessons for sales people, all delivered 24/7 over the internet.

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About the Author:

Dave Kahle is one of the world’s leading sales educators. He’s written nine books, presented in 47 states and seven countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of sales people and transform hundreds of sales organizations.  Sign up for his free weekly Ezine, and visit his blog.  For a limited time, receive $547 of free bonuses with the purchase of his latest book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime.

By Dave Kahle

Upselling

Q. How do you make in-roads with a prospect who is happy with another supplier, who is providing a similar product at a lower price?  Product is lower quality, but perceived as the same.

A.  Sounds like a tough nut to crack.  Let’s think about this together.  The first question I have is this:  Is the potential of the account worth the large expenditure of time and effort that it will probably take to make progress in it?

Some accounts just aren’t worth it.  It’s OK to make a cold-blooded business decision not to pursue some accounts and some business.  (Assuming, of course, that your manager agrees.)  The situation you described will take a lot of your time, and your success is certainly not assured.  So, first decide if your time is best invested in this account or some place else.

Let’s assume that you have decided that the potential is worth the time, or that your manager has directed you to hang in there on this account.  Now what?

“Happy with their current supplier,” is the most common thing prospects will say to you.  It doesn’t necessarily mean that.  It could mean that they are too busy to spend time with you, that they don’t know you or your company and have no motivation to get to know you. It’s the catch-all comment that means a thousand different things.

Your job is to find some point of “unhappiness”– what I call “discontent” –  and then leverage that to create some interest in your solution.

Let’s start out with a little review of our own thinking and attitudes.  Your competitor is supplying a product that you think is not as good as yours.  But your customer is happy with it.

In this case, your superior quality is a non-factor.  Who cares?  Evidently, not the customer.  The lower quality product is OK with him.

When we are selling expensive products, this is difficult for us to accept, but when we are in any other aspects of our lives, we understand this position totally. For example, I drive a Mercury, not a Mercedes.  Now I understand that a Mercedes is a higher quality product than a Mercury.  But I don’t care.  I’m not a big car person and I just want something that is comfortable and reliable.  The Mercury fits my needs perfectly.  So, while you can make a case that a Mercedes is a better quality product, the point is that I don’t want it.  So, it’s not a better quality product for me.

This is not difficult to understand.  I suspect that you, too, have not spent the additional money to purchase a better quality automobile than that which you drive.

This customer is like that.  You may have a better and more expensive product, but they are happy with their Chevy.

If you want them to throw out their Chevy and buy your Mercedes, you must find a way to make them unhappy with the Chevy.

So now we are back at the basics once again.  There really is no short cut, 25 words or less magic solution.  You have to do the hard work of sales.  Find the key decision makers and influencers.  Build a relationship such that they trust and respect you.  Dig deep into the account and find some discontent – some gap between what they would like to have and what the Chevy is providing them.

If your product really is better, those portions of your product that are different that what they are using should some how save them money, or reduce their labor, or increase their profits, or make them feel more secure, or …. something.  Your product should bring them some measurable advantage that they are not now receiving.

Your job is to find that gap, and then show how your product fills that gap, and how this customer is going to receive more value than the increase in price of the product is going to cost them.

This is a laborious and time consuming project that might take you the better part of a year.  That’s why you have to make the key decision up front – is this account worth the time and effort?

If you don’t think you can do that, than don’t bother with this account.  Leave your business card, let them know you’d be happy to talk with them if they ever want to do so, and find someplace else to sell your stuff.

Good luck!

We can help you learn to do this better.  Visit The Sales Resource Center ™ and consider Pod-2: Building Positive Business Relationships, Pod-4: Preparing Better Sales Questions, and Pod-6: Persuasive Presentations.

About the Author:

Dave Kahle is one of the world’s leading sales educators. He’s written nine books, presented in 47 states and seven countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of sales people and transform hundreds of sales organizations.  Sign up for his free weekly Ezine, and visit his blog.  For a limited time, receive $547 of free bonuses with the purchase of his latest book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime.

Copyright MMXI by Dave Kahle

All Rights Reserved.

By Dave Kahle

All too often, sales people are directed by the urgencies of the moment:  A lead pops up, a customer calls with a problem, or some paperwork to which you need to attend.  They find themselves busily pursuing an agenda created by other people.  They are busy, but too often with the wrong things.

The best sales people, however, understand that sales happen as a result of methodically managing people through certain well-defined steps in a sales process.  They have refined that process to the specifics of their selling situation, reflecting the uniqueness of their customers and their offerings, while at the same time building it on the infrastructure of the fundamental sales process.  Here is an excerpt from my book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime, which describes that sales process.

Step One:  Engage with the right people

“Engage” means to interact in some kind of communication.  It can be face-to-face, over the phone, via email, or via a website.  “Right people” means those people who have a need or interest in your product, and for whom the timing is right.

If you don’t engage with the right people, you spend all of your time in the wrong place.  Sort of like trying to plant carrot seeds on a cement sidewalk.  You can do everything else right, but it won’t matter.

Step Two:  Make them comfortable with you

If they are going to believe what you say, you have to be somewhat credible, and they have to feel at least a bit comfortable with you.  If they aren’t comfortable with you, they won’t spend much time with you, and the time  they do spend will be guarded and tentative.  They may be convinced to do business with you because of the fundamental attractiveness of your offer, but if they are not comfortable with you, it will be action taken against the grain.  They will be forever uncomfortable and eager to find a replacement.

On the other hand, if they are comfortable with you, they won’t mind spending time with you.  They’ll be much more open to sharing the information that is necessary for you to do a good job of crafting a solution.  They’ll believe what you have to say.  You’ll get the benefit of the doubt and they’ll be eager to share future opportunities with you.

Step Three:  Find out what they want

Selling is not manipulating people so that they take something they don’t want.  It is, instead, finding out what they already want, and appealing to that interest.  The best sales people excel at this step in the process.

I believe this step is the heart of selling – the essence of what sales is all about.  I know that flies in the face of the routine practices of multitudes of sales people, who believe that the end-all of their focus is to push their product.

You can proclaim the merits of your product to willing and unwilling listeners and web page visitors far and wide, attempting to sway them with the powerful features and advantages which your product offers over the competition.  Or, you can focus on the customer, finding out what motivates him, what issues are important to him, what problems he has, what objectives he is trying to solve, what he looks for in a vendor, etc.  That’s a better way.

Everything that comes before is designed to get to this understanding.  And everything that you do after is based on this step.  It is the fulcrum upon which the entire sales process pivots.

Step Four:  Show them how what you have gives them what they want

Proclaiming your product’s features is the preferred routine of the mediocre sales person.  Personally and individually crafting your presentation to show the customer how what you have gives him what he wants is the mindset that, in part, defines the master sales people.

If what you have doesn’t help them get what they want, you either have the wrong thing, or you are talking to the wrong person.

Step Five:  Gain an agreement on the next step

Closing the sale is by far the most over-hyped phase of selling.  If you have the right person, and you have uncovered something they want, and you have shown them how what you have gives them what they want, why wouldn’t they take the next positive step?  It’s natural.  You just need to help them define what that is, and commit to it.

In more complex sales, there can be a series of appropriate next steps.  They may need to test it, to evaluate it, to submit it to a committee, etc.

Every sales interaction has an assumed next step.  If you call someone for an appointment, the next step is the appointment.  If you present your solution to a decision-maker, the next step is the order.  In between, there are thousands of potentially different sales calls, and thousands of potential action steps that follow the sales call.

The agreement is the ultimate rationale for the sales call and the aspect that makes it a “sales” call.  A sales call is set apart from the rest of the interactions in this world by the fact that it anticipates an agreement.

Without an agreement, the process has been a waste of time.  It is the ultimate goal of every sales person, and of every sales process, and of every sales call.

Step Six:  Follow up and leverage the transaction to other opportunities

After they buy, you then make sure they were satisfied, and you assume that, because they are satisfied, they will want to do other business with you and will want to let their friends know about you as well.  Sounds simple, and it is.

This is the step of the sales process that is most commonly neglected.  Most sales people are so focused on making the sale they neglect to consider that their real purpose is to satisfy the customer.  And that extends beyond just the sale itself.

The sales follow up call on the customer, made after the sale is complete, delivered and implemented by the customer, is one of the most powerful sales calls available.  In it, the sales person seeks assurance that the customer is satisfied, and then leverages that affirmation to uncover additional opportunities within the customer and/or referrals to people in other organizations.

The best sales people build all of their actions on this module, effectively moving people from one step to the other.  That’s why they are the best.

To learn more about this best practice, consider my book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime. If you are subscriber to The Sales Resource Center, consider course C-2, The Kahle Way® B2B Selling System.

]]> http://www.commence.com/blog/index.php/2011/08/10/best-practice-47-understands-and-is-guided-by-an-effective-sales-process/feed/ 0 http://www.commence.com/blog/index.php/2011/05/24/commence-crm-and-sugar-crm/ http://www.commence.com/blog/index.php/2011/05/24/commence-crm-and-sugar-crm/#comments Tue, 24 May 2011 13:28:01 +0000 Commence http://www.commence.com/blog/?p=1091 A Brief Comparison of Two Middle Market CRM Providers

Mid-size businesses and small enterprises looking for a CRM solution typically focus their energy on a few specific CRM software providers.  Two of the companies battling for a slice of this middle market are Commence CRM and Sugar CRM.  Both are considered high quality alternatives to the more expensive and complex Salesforce.com program, but there are several differences between the two.  This brief report highlights some of the differences that consumers may be interested in.

Functionality: Both Commence CRM and Sugar are comprehensive offerings that rival enterprise level solutions such as Oracle and SAP.  In addition to contact and account management, calendaring and activity management, both solutions support sales force automation, lead management, marketing campaign management, customer support, e-mail integration, document management, mobile integration, reporting and analytics.  Integration with third party accounting solutions is also offered by both providers. Both products offer robust functionality and it is unlikely you will require features that are not offered by either CRM vendor.  Commence also offers an integrated project management solution which is attractive for companies that require this functionality.

Advantage:  Commence CRM if project management is required.

Customization: Both CRM solutions are customizable. Sugar CRM was originally released as a free open source CRM program, but is now sold under an annual subscription license.  The product is written using the PHP language which is not highly regarded as an enterprise level language and while the product can be highly customized it does require PHP knowledge for most customizations. Commence CRM is designed using Java, an industry standard for scalability and high speed performance.  Commence has incorporated a lot of flexibility within the user interface which enables the system administrator to tailor the applications without programming knowledge.  More sophisticated customization however would require Java expertise.

Advantage:  Commence CRM due to industry standard Java programming language.

Deployment: Both Commence CRM and Sugar CRM are online web based CRM solutions that may be deployed on premise or via a cloud computing environment.  Both offer a tremendous advantage over Salesforce.com who does not offer on-premise deployment.

Advantage:  Sugar CRM. Commence limits on-premise deployment to larger organizations.

Hosting & Data Security: Commence CRM has a strategic partnership with Rackspace, the industry’s number one rated hosting facility which has datacenters in the United States, Europe and Asia.   Rackspace provides the highest level cloud computing environment in the industry.  Sugar CRM can be hosted by the client or any third party hosting provider.  This may be of concern to customers looking for continuity with regard to new product releases and high quality support services.

Advantage:  Commence CRM. Rackspace is a recognized cloud computing leader.

Customer Support: Sugar CRM offers several customer service plans. They are separately priced from the product’s annual service fees.  Commence bundles in telephone support into the annual service fee.  Support is provided directly from the company’s headquarters in the United States.

Advantage:  Commence CRM. Telephone support included in annual service fees.

Price: Both products are attractively priced as compared to rival Salesforce.com and offer good value.   Sugar offers two editions: Sugar professional at $360 annually per user and Sugar Enterprise for $600 per user per year.  Commence CRM offers a bit more flexibility with regard to the selection of functionality and price, and lets you build your own CRM system by selecting the functionality you require at a price that meets your budget. Prices start at $220 per user annually and go up to $780 annually per user.

Advantage:  Commence CRM, due to flexible applications selection and pricing.

Image Credit: Sugar cubes by Original uploader was Creet at en.wikipedia – originally by Uwe Hermann source Wikimedia license CC Free photos from acobox.com

Customers Offered Big Discounts on Top Rated CRM Software

TINTON FALLS, N.J. (March 01, 2011) – Commence Corporation, a leading provider of Customer Relationship Management software (CRM), is offering new customers big discounts on their world class online CRM software during the month of March.  “March is the company’s fiscal year end and we are looking to sign up as many new customers as possible” says Larry Caretsky, president of Commence Corporation.  “In order to achieve this we are offering substantial incentives to earn their business. We appreciate that customers have a lot of options to choose from, but Commence is a top rated CRM solution from a company with a twenty-three year track record of performance.  The incentives we are offering should make the selection of Commence an easy decision over competitive offerings.”

“We are taking a page out of the college basketball March Madness program says Tom Gibson, a senior account manager with Commence.  In week one, the first (64) companies to sign up will get the first incentive, in week two, (32) companies will receive a different offer, in week three, (16) and so on until the final week.  Each week the offers will be posted on the company’s web site in the CRM pricing section.  This is an exciting program that will provide exceptional value to new customers continued Gibson.  I am confident a large number of them will take advantage of it.  It’s a “win-win”; great for the customers and good for Commence Corporation”.

About Commence Corporation:

Founded in 1988, Commence develops and delivers a diverse suite of award winning CRM software that integrates people, processes and technology.  Commence CRM is used by several thousand businesses to streamline the front office business processes that directly impact sales execution and customer service.  As a result, Commence clients increase workforce productivity, generate positive customer interactions and reduce operational cost.  For additional information visit www.commence.com or call 1-877- 266-6362.

Media Contact:

Nicole Reed
info@commence.com

Commence Corporation is one of these companies.  Commence has a rich history and has been providing on-premise CRM software to small enterprises and mid-size companies for more than two decades. In fact, Commence was the original developer of IBM Current, a desktop contact manager, and SuperSELL, IBM’s sales force automation offering. As such, Commence is no stranger to the CRM sector.  A few years ago the company expanded its product line by migrating its award winning desktop CRM software to the cloud.  Commence is one of the only companies that offers its customers the “freedom of choice” to deploy the software via the cloud or on premise.

Why Commence Makes Sense

One of the key CRM selection criteria that are driving customers to Commence CRM is that the company does not force you into a “pre-defined” box. Salesforce.com forces customers like you to select a specific product edition that locks you into a set of pre-defined features or limits the number of users you may have based on the price you paid. In fact, Commence does not have any restrictions of any kind.  The product is modular in design which means you can select the functionality you require today and add additional modules or users at any time without incurring a substantial price increase, just because you switched to a different “pre-defined” box or edition, or added additional people.

If you took a survey of companies that have selected CRM software, you will discover that many of them fell into the feature trap, where they ended up paying for more functionality than they end up using. This is because the vendor has forced them into buying a product edition with pre-set functionality as mentioned above.  This just doesn’t make sense.  To make matters worse, the majority of these companies are utilizing functionality that is standard in most quality CRM solutions like Commence, such as account and contact management, activity management, sales management, lead management, and Outlook and email integration.  Add those that also use it for marketing campaigns or mobile access and you have covered the lion share of the market.  Commence offers all of the above along with a help desk or customer support module, a document library, a project management application and integration with accounting systems like QuickBooks.

The point is this:  Trusted CRM providers like Commence have leveled the playing field and can provide similar functionality to products like Salesforce.com at a fraction of the cost.  If you’re an organization that requires a lot of users, the cost savings with Commence can be substantial.  If you are considering a CRM solution, take a few moments to evaluate Commence CRM. To learn more about Commence visit the company’s web site at www.commence.com or ask for a free CRM trial and experience Commence CRM for yourself.

I think people have grown tired of the term CRM and often look at CRM software packages as nothing more than a commodity.  Perhaps this is why price has become such an important decision criteria.  Heck, if they are all the same, why not buy the least expensive offering.  This makes perfect sense.  But making decisions based solely on price is significantly impacting the CRM sector.

Industry analysts continue to document that more than 70% of CRM systems fail to get properly implemented or utilized.  This concern was once blamed on systems that were simply too hard to implement and too hard to use. The Internet and the introduction of web based CRM software was supposed to change all of that, but it hasn’t.  The rate of failed implementations continues to be one of the highest in the software industry.  So why does this continue to be such a problem with CRM software?  Let’s dig a little deeper and find out why.

Customer Relationship Management software is designed to help you organize customer data, build brand recognition, impact sales execution and improve the customers’ buying experience, but CRM software is not a toy or something you purchase over the Internet with your credit card.  Yet many small to mid-size companies believe it is and accept the promise of more leads, increased sales and improved customer service for just a few dollars a month.  There is no implementation fee because the program is web based and no need for training because the product is so easy to use.  And don’t worry about your data we even manage and maintain it for the same low price.

The whole story can be quite convincing, but it’s just not true and has led to frustration and failed expectations.

The successful implementation and utilization of CRM software requires a level of expertise that small to mid-size businesses often do not have.  Those that recognize this engage the services of the CRM vendor or an experienced third party for assistance and the results are encouraging. But not all CRM providers offer this level of service.  The low cost providers do not have experienced sales, marketing or customer service people on their staff to assist you with the implementation or the proper utilization of their software. Customer service consists of nothing more than sending in an e-mail with your inquiry and hoping for a quality and timely response.  Is this the partnership you’re looking for?  This however is exactly what separates a quality CRM provider from the others and may very well determine the level of success or failure your business will realize with Customer Relationship Management software.

So when I say is price killing the CRM industry, this is what I mean.  The CRM sector is one of the most competitive in the software industry with hundreds of offerings and vendors that will do anything to earn your business, but it an industry chock full of promises and short on deliverables. While I stated earlier that more than 70% percent of CRM solutions fail to get properly implemented or utilized, industry reports also point out that more than 20% of companies that selected CRM software did not renew their annual contract.  I suspect this is because they failed to realize a return on their investment.

Don’t fall into the trap of selecting a CRM solution based solely on price. If you fully expect to improve how you market, sell and provide service to your customers you need to invest in a quality solution and a quality business partner.  If you don’t, chances are you’ll become part of the statistic for failed implementations.  For more information about selecting the right CRM solution see my white paper, “Don’t Make a CRM Buying Mistake”  at www.commence.com.

About the author: Larry Caretsky is the president of Commence Corporation, a leading provider of CRM software for small and mid-size businesses. Caretsky is considered an expert in Customer Relationship Management and has written numerous white papers on the subject. They may be accessed via the company’s web site at www.commence.com.

Better known for its on premise desktop CRM software, Commence Corporation has been providing contact management, sales force automation and marketing campaign management solutions to small and mid-size companies for more than two decades.  The company introduced a web-based hosted version of their popular CRM software and is gaining notoriety.   With an outstanding track record for performance, reliability and world-class customer service Commence is a strong competitor and becoming a favorite among smaller businesses looking for a flexible hosted CRM solution with productivity tools that are easy to use.

“Commence web CRM has an impressive and unique user interface that makes the product very easy to use and navigate” says Gary Sanders of OK! Magazine.  “The product’s Home Page or Dashboard is completely customizable by individual or job function.  This allows each user to create a dashboard to the way they work.  The value here is that you can place the functions you use most right on the home page, such as today’s calendar and activities, e-mail, sales opportunities, leads, reminders and even an interactive sales funnel.  We hadn’t seen this in any other CRM solution.  This flexibility enables people to conduct 90% of their daily activities without ever leaving the Home Page and has really improved productivity.” 

Commence Home Page

Karen Deneau, Director of Marketing with Center for Film Studies, needed CRM software that her staff would feel comfortable with.   “When selecting a CRM solution, you worry about utilization, but we were confident that our staff would adapt well to Commence CRM and they have.   We also liked that Commence is modular in design, which allowed us to select only the functionality we required. We weren’t forced to purchase a package with a dozen features we would never use.  Commence’s strength clearly lies in its ease of use.  Within two weeks we had marketing campaigns out the door and leads captured from our web site were integrated directly into the Commence CRM system.  The staff at Commence was also extremely helpful in ensuring that we quickly realized value from their solution.”

Key Differentiators

Commence’s modular design provides the flexibility to start with basic CRM functionality such as Account and Contact Management, E-Mail integration and Sales Pipeline Management, then add additional features such as Quoting, Marketing Campaign Management and Project Management when you’re ready.  Integration to disparate systems can be achieved via an Application Programming Interface or API, and Commence CRM supports the majority of popular Mobile devices.

Another key differentiator of Commence CRM is the product’s lead qualification and sales reporting capability. The leads module includes an automated business process that scores leads based on pre-defined criteria, then color codes them based on how well defined they are.  This capability is unique to Commence CRM, and ensures that your sales team is working on the most qualified opportunities and not chasing tire kickers. 

Lead Scoring Screen

Reporting

The reporting engine offers three levels of data analysis.  A set of pre-defined reports for sales management, marketing and customer support can be viewed with a single click and modified just as easily.  A built in report writer allows you to create customer reports against any field in the database, including custom fields.  Lastly, Commence CRM includes a pre-built set of graphical and analytical reports for all sales activity, marketing, lead generation and customer support.

Reports

Commence offers the freedom of choice to deploy CRM software on premise or as a hosted web based solution and offers a level of functionality traditionally only provided by enterprise level solutions. Commence products are distributed around the world in more than 22 countries and 35 different industries.  The company’s track record for providing high quality reliable products and outstanding customer service make it a solid choice for growing businesses.

About the Author:  Jim Smith is the founder and managing partner of YCHANGE INTERNATIONAL,  a management consultancy specializing in helping small to mid-size businesses expand or execute a turnaround strategy.  Jim is a commissioner for the Housing Authority of Portland, Oregon and serves as a member of the newly formed economic cabinet of Portland. Jim is a motivational speaker and trainer and lectures on Customer Relationship Management in the areas of sales, marketing, business and leadership.  He is an avid blogger on www.ychange.com/ychangeblog.

As an executive of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software firm I understand competition.  There are literally hundreds of CRM vendors from contact management software and sales force automation software providers to vertically based CRM providers all pitching their solution as the best, the easiest and the cheapest.  Some make claims that their product is better than ours, others are offering lower prices and some will do almost anything to win business. Yet despite all of this, our sales team is winning more business based on a few simple tips that may help you.

Lets assume for a moment that you have a new qualified opportunity:

• The prospect has a need for your company’s product or service,
• They have a short decision timeframe,
• There is a budget in place,
• You are dealing with a decision maker.

Life is good! Now let’s go and win this business:

Tip 1. Preparation: Schedule a pre-approach appointment for the sole purpose of finding out the critical business issues in advance of your next call or appointment. This is the time to learn about their challenges and show them you are committed to understanding their business requirements and helping to address them. Too many sales people make the mistake of asking questions during their presentation or demonstration, which often frustrates the prospect and reduces the effectiveness of the call.

Tip 2. Research: The prospect has told you their needs, but before you make that next call to schedule your presentation or demonstrate your product, do some research about the company to learn about their specific industry and any critical business issues that affect companies just like theirs.  This will help you to develop a flow for how you wish to present or demonstrate your product or service as an effective solution for their business. It’s also important to remember that any intelligent prospect will know if you have really taken the time to understand their business challenges or not.

Tip 3. The Presentation/Demonstration: Focus on their critical business issues right away with specific examples of how your product or service will address them. That’s what the prospect is interested in and if you wait too long, you run the risk of losing their attention and the potential for their business.

Tip 4. Sell Value but Know When to Stop: You probably have a lot of things about your product or service that will provide additional value to your prospect, but if you have successfully addressed their core business requirements then it’s time to stop selling.  Sales representatives all too often frustrate or irritate prospects by over selling. Your product or service does not have to do twenty different things. It just has to solve one or two critical needs.

Tip 5. Know Your Competition: You know the prospect is shopping around and there is nothing you can do about it — or is there?  Very often there will be a bottleneck in a competitive product that your solution addresses very well, but if you are unaware of this you will lose the opportunity to gain a competitive edge. In the famous book The Art of War, written by Sun Tzu, he states, “know they enemy and you shall not fear the outcome of any battle”.