Commence CRM Gives Laser-Sharp Focus to Sales Teams With New Lead Scorer

Posted by Commence on May 5, 2011 under Press Release | Be the First to Comment

Latest Addition to Award-Winning Customer Relationship Management Software Helps Companies Increase Sales Effectiveness

TINTON FALLS, NJ–(Marketwire - April 26, 2010) –  Commence Corporation, a leading provider of Customer Relationship Management software for small to mid-size enterprises, today announced the availability of Commence Lead Scorer, the latest addition to its suite of award-winning CRM solutions. Commence’s lead scoring feature moves beyond traditional CRM programs and enables increased sales effectiveness by targeting high potential customers.

Commence Corporation’s CEO, Larry Caretsky, remarked, “Most companies rely on the expertise of their individual sales representatives to qualify opportunities, which can be inefficient and costly due to a lack of consistency. The amount of time sales teams are spending following up on poorly qualified opportunities may be costing more than most businesses might think. With the addition of our Lead Scorer, companies will receive critical sales intelligence that can support measurable results.”

The Lead Scorer is an automated business process that ranks and scores leads based on a set of pre-defined criteria. The criteria consist of a series of customizable questions that are used to automatically provide a score for each lead based on the responses entered into the system. With a standardized set of qualifiers established by sales management, the process is no longer dependent on the varying experience levels of sales representatives resulting in a high level of consistency.

Combined with Commence’s suite of fully integrated applications for sales, marketing and customer support, the Lead Scorer will give sales teams a laser-sharp focus on the most qualified sales opportunities. By including an automated drip-marketing application that is directly tied to the lead qualification system, the solution nurtures each long-term lead with periodic mailings so the sales team can spend the most time on their most qualified opportunities.

“Commence has a long history of consistently providing added value to our customers. We’re the only CRM that delivers this unique lead scoring functionality at no additional charge to users,” added Caretsky. “By relying on Commence Lead Scorer, companies will shrink their sales cycles and improve their bottom-line results.”

The Commence CRM solution, which may be deployed on-premise or on-demand as a software-as-a-service (SaaS CRM), provides a consolidated system for all customer information, as well as powerful reporting and analytics and support for remote and mobile users. More information about Commence Lead Scorer can be accessed at www.commence.com.

About Commence Corporation
Founded in 1988, Commence develops and delivers a diverse suite of award-winning CRM products that integrate people, processes and technology. Delivered via the popular software-as-a-service (SaaS) model or implemented as on premise licensed software, Commence CRM solutions are used by thousands of companies to streamline sales and customer service front-end business processes. As a result, Commence clients increase workforce productivity, generate positive customer interactions, and reduce cost. More information about Commence can be accessed at Commence.com or at 1-877-COMMENCE.

Sales Management Software a Breeze with Commence CRM

Posted by Commence on April 7, 2011 under Customer Success | Read the First Comment

Is your Sales CRM Software Hard to Use?

You’ve heard it all before, sales people fighting tooth and nail with overly complex sales management software that provides little if any value to sales representatives and results in poor utilization, inaccurate reporting and eventually shelf ware.  But don’t lose hope. One CRM sales management software provider seems to have gotten it right with an easy to use solution that sales people really like and really use.

Commence CRM Makes Leads & Sales Tracking Easy

“I would give up my left hand before giving up Commence CRM” says Nigel Park of TPS Consulting.  “The product is very easy to use.  My new leads pop up on a home page sales dashboard where I can immediately schedule a follow-up call, appointment or to do with a single click.  Once I open the lead record I can manage the lead, qualify and rate it based on what I have learned, and manage the lead process adding notes, history items, track e-mail correspondence, even documents I may have sent. ”

“Once qualified, I can convert the lead into a sales deal or sales opportunity and simply repeat the process and manage the new qualified opportunity to closure all from one screen.  The other nice thing about Commence CRM is that it allows us to enter and automate our own sales process versus being forced to follow a standard out-of-the-box program that comes with other CRM solutions.”

Commence Corporation has been providing CRM sales management software to medium size businesses and small enterprises for more than twenty years and has a customer base of several thousand users.  One of the key CRM differentiators of Commence, when comparing other sales management software providers, is the company’s expertise in sales management.  Commence has created a set of best practices for sales execution and sales management that ensure Commence customers realize the maximum value from their sales management software. Commence lists Salesforce.com and Microsoft Dynamics CRM as its main CRM competitors.

Learn more about the features and benefits of CRM software from Commence and how it can help your growing business!

Customers Find Good Value In Commence CRM

Posted by Commence on August 23, 2010 under Customer Success | 6 Comments to Read

Getting an early start in the CRM software industry may have helped Salesforce.com to become a leader in the Hosted CRM space, but another CRM solution provider is making a statement of their own, paving the way for some intense competition in the small to mid-size business sector. 

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.

Commence Lead Scoring Helps Shrink the Sales Cycle

Posted by Commence on April 8, 2010 under CEO Corner | 4 Comments to Read

Is your sales team working on the most qualified opportunities, or chasing tire kickers?  Do you even know?  Most companies rely on the expertise of their sales representatives to qualify opportunities, but this has proven over and over again to be inefficient and costly.  The problem with relying on your sales organization is a lack of consistency.  Most sales organizations have people with different levels of experience.   The senior people may be good at determining a qualified opportunity from an unqualified one, but even they make mistakes.  The people with limited experience are right only 50 percent of the time and the inexperienced ones may place an account on the forecast because the prospect asked for a brochure.  My point is this, the amount of time your sales team may be spending following up on poorly qualified opportunities may be costing your business much more than you think.

Commence Corporation has moved beyond traditional Customer Relationship Management software programs that are primarily focused on managing the sales cycle to delivering a solution that enables you to increase the effectiveness of your sales organization and focus on business with the greatest potential. Commence has introduced an automated business process that ranks and scores leads based a set of pre-defined criteria.  The criteria consist of a series of questions that are used to automatically score each lead based on the responses entered into the system.  The questions are completely customizable and users may create as many as required. (See sample below):

Lead Scoring Questions

The lead qualification questions and rating criteria are determined by sales management and ensure that every new opportunity is ranked according to the criteria.  It’s an efficient process that results in a high level of consistency because every opportunity is scored using a standardized set of qualifiers and is no longer dependent on the experience level of the sales representative.

Each lead is then automatically color coded as highly qualified (red), requires additional follow-up (yellow), or not qualified (blue).  (See diagram below)

Lead Qualification

The value here is two-fold:  First, there is no question with regard to where the sales team should be focusing their attention.  The leads coded red are the most qualified opportunities based on the company’s lead qualification criteria and need immediate attention.  Secondly, sales management can quickly view the most qualified opportunities and assist with the process of moving them toward closure.

Part of the Commence value proposition also comes from an integrated marketing application that is directly tied to the lead qualification system.  Yellow and blue coded leads may be placed in an automated drip-marketing program that nurtures each lead with periodic mailings while your team is focused on the most qualified opportunities.

The Commence lead scoring feature provides critical intelligence and has proven to deliver measurable results.  It will ensure that your sales team has a laser-sharp focus on the most qualified sales opportunities.  With the Commence CRM features, you’ll shrink the sales cycle and improve your bottom line results.   I guarantee it.

About the author: Larry Caretsky is the president of Commence Corporation, a leading provider of CRM software which can be deployed in a web-based, cloud-computing environment or on premise. Caretsky is considered an expert in Customer Relationship Management and has written numerous white papers on the subject, which may be accessed via the company’s web site at www.commence.com.