Posted by Commence on April 21, 2010 under Commence News | 
I started my career in the Mortgage industry selling re-financing services. The job was quite structured: call fifty people each day, document my discussions then follow-up with those that were interested as well as any I was unable to reach. The company had no automation, but people learned to manage their daily business using a spiral notebook or a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. At the time I had no problem with this because I had a limited perspective on the most efficient ways to capture information, follow-up with potential prospects and keep my product and service in front of prospective buyers. While I was one of the more successful sales people I was beginning to have difficulty organizing customer files, finding information about past telephone conversations, knowing which documents I sent people or didn’t send and following up with those people that asked me to contact them at a later date. I found myself staying in the office later and later each night trying to get myself organized and keeping things from falling through the cracks, but it became an exercise in futility.
This all changed for me a few years later when I joined Commence Corporation, a provider of Customer Relationship Management software. At Commence, I was forced to trade in my spiral notebook for a sales automation tool and while I was a bit dubious that a sales automation system would help me, after a few weeks of use I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I began capturing every customer and prospect interaction from basic telephone calls, quotes and documents I had sent to e-mail correspondence. I learned to enter follow-up activities on my calendar and set alerts that reminded me to contact people on the dates and times I committed to. Each day new leads with contact information were dispatched to me electronically and an automated sales methodology helped me to manage each opportunity through a structures sales cycle. Best of all, with the simple click of a button I had the ability to view a complete 360 degree view of all current and historical information about my customers and prospects. This was truly unbelievable. I even learned that I could integrate a Smart Phone so that I could have contact information at my disposal and have also begun to utilize the systems mass e-mail feature to help generate more business. I had never imagined that I would attain so much value from this tool.
“On a personal level I am more productive than ever.”
The CRM system has impacted me both personally and professionally. On a personal level I am more productive than ever. I have access to customer and prospect information anytime and anywhere and I am confident that things are no longer falling through the cracks. On a professional level I have become almost fanatical about the product, which has helped me to serve potential customers more effectively. I continue to utilize my past experience as a vehicle for delivering a powerful testimonial of how CRM software has helped me better manage the sales cycle and improve sales execution. It’s a well known fact that prospects are more likely to buy from someone who believes whole heartedly in the product or service they are selling and my newly found enthusiasm for CRM software has enabled me to gain credibility with potential buyers.
As I talk with new prospects each day I understand and appreciate the reluctance they may have in implementing a Customer Relationship Management solution. I’ve learned that It’s a lot easier to understand their concerns and provide valuable assistance if you have been in a similar position, so I tell my story. Their interest level grows and often turns into a new sale. If you are considering a CRM system give me a call. I am confident that I can help you consolidate data, and improve sales execution so that your team and sell more and sell more easily.
About the author: Steve Fischkin is an Account Manager at Commence Corporation, a leading provider of CRM software which can be deployed in a web-based, cloud-computing environment or on premise. For more information about Commence visit www.commence.com or e-mail Steve at sales@commence.com
Posted by Commence on February 17, 2010 under CEO Corner |
Tips for selling to the executive level
A lot has changed in the past 24 months. Companies have been forced to reduce expenditures, place purchases on hold or buy from a competitor that came in with a better deal. But despite increased competition, reduced budgets and a more stringent buying process, decisions are still being made to purchase products and services. What’s changed is a shift in buying behavior. Decisions that had been traditionally made by middle management or a committee now require approval by a senior executive. Most sales people perceive this as a negative and if your team is thinking this way, they may need an attitude adjustment. Here’s why.
Every sales person has experienced how difficult it is to get to the economic buyer. He or she is traditionally buffered by administrators, gatekeepers or committees of people that block your path to the decision maker’s office. The fact that executive management is now engaged in the decision process is the best thing that has happened to sales people in years. It opens up an incredible opportunity for sales professionals to state their case directly to the person who will be making the decision. Not only does this shorten the sales cycle, but it gives them the opportunity to layout the key selling points of your product or service in terms of ROI, which is how executives think.
The Key to Winning More Deals
Selling to an executive can be intimidating and they will expect a lot from you which means you must sell value. They will expect you to take the time to understand their challenges and recommend solutions that will significantly impact their business. Executives look for solutions, not features, and they will respond to sales professionals that can solve their problem. Here are 4 tips for selling to the executive level:
- Let the executive do most of the talking – the more you learn about the prospect’s pain points the better you’ll be prepared to recommend a solution.
- Use examples of how your product or service has addressed similar challenges in the industry. This will demonstrate that you understand the problem and have a solid recommendation or solution.
- Show enthusiasm – if an executive senses your excitement about addressing their problem they will be much more receptive to working with and buying from you.
- Be persistent — it will pay off. Executives of small to mid-size businesses are often crisis managers and can be pulled in several directions. Don’t let them off the hook. Once you’re engaged, get to a decision one way or another.
About the author: Larry Caretsky is the CEO of Commence Corporation , a leading provider of Customer Manager and sales process automation software for small to mid-size businesses. Caretsky has authored several white papers on the subject of sales process management, lead scoring and using CRM software to improve sales execution. For more information see www.commence.com or call 1-877-COMMENCE.
Posted by Commence on February 3, 2010 under CEO Corner |
Commence Corporation helps small to midsize businesses tackle the CRM challenge
Picking a CRM software vendor is tough. It’s even tougher when you’re part of the small to midsize market, where technology budgets are limited and horror stories of complex, drawn-out CRM projects abound. While the watchword of midmarket CRM buyers was once something akin to the President’s “irrational exuberance,” today it is “caution,” as companies demand solutions that are affordable, easy to implement and easy to use and that deliver a quick return on investment.
“The CRM industry has been plagued by vendors offering overly complex solutions to solve basic business problems. This has resulted in a low adoption rate and failed customer expectations,” says Larry Caretsky, president and CEO of Commence Corporation. “The concern for most businesses today is not a lack of technology, but rather how they can leverage technology to improve their internal processes and, ultimately, their bottom line.”
Caretsky should know. His company has been in business for 22 years and has witnessed all the trends in customer relationship management. And with that kind of experience, Caretsky figured out long ago that rapidly deployable, cost-effective CRM solutions – even when they weren’t in vogue – were the only way for customers to quickly and affordably reap the benefits of their investment.
Commence Corporation has taken a unique approach to meeting the key objectives of most small to midsize businesses – namely, by streamlining internal business processes, improving sales processes and delighting customers. The company starts with the fundamental knowledge that most mid-market customers must first address the problem of data capture, data consolidation and data sharing.
Typically, vital customer information is spread throughout these organizations in contact management software, back office systems and Excel spreadsheets. “Employees spend a significant amount of time trying to determine where or who in the organization has the information they need to address customer inquiries,” says Caretsky. “Management recognizes this problem and realizes that in order to increase sales and become a more efficient sales and service organization they must get the right information into the hands of the right people, at the right time.”
The Commence CRM software does just that. Customer information, captured from multiple channels, is stored in a unified database where it is immediately available to all authorized personnel through two product features: a digital dashboard and a multiview capability. “This enables them to be constantly aware of account activity and take proactive steps to ensure customer satisfaction,” says Caretsky.
At the same time, Commence helps companies increase sales using a sales process template that is built into the system. Preset sales stages allow the sales team to begin classifying new sales opportunities from the beginning. The product also offers sales teams the ability to utilize a structured sales methodology for lead scoring and evaluating each sales opportunity. And it helps make sales reps more productive by providing a tool to automate routine tasks. “It’s like having an administrative assistant working directly for you,” says Caretsky.
Building brand recognition via the use of direct mail and email marketing campaigns is also incorporated in Commence CRM as a component of the marketing software module. By scheduling repetitive marketing campaigns small to mid-size businesses can be assured that their company, product or service is in front of prospective buyers at all times.
“Today’s basis for business growth is the successful management of long-term relationships with customers on a one-to-one level,” says Caretsky. “When the customer becomes the center of your business, customer-centric strategies, processes and technology solutions can unlock the value of these relationships.”
Image Credit: Free images from acobox.com
Posted by Commence on January 25, 2010 under CEO Corner |
Much of today’s small business for profit and not-for-profit application software was written over a decade ago. The million dollar question is: Are these applications still worth running ? Considering all of the technology innovation that has occurred since then, can we expect an application designed and built with yesterday’s technology for yesterday’s business world to fit today’s?
The answer is no.
“If it aint broke, don’t fix it” does not apply to your small business application programs. Your application is like a good race horse, you run it until it can’t race anymore and then you retire it. You don’t try to patch it up.
The contact management sector is a prime example of this. Thousands of small to mid-size businesses are still operating old versions of desktop programs such as ACT, Goldmine and Maximizer that are no longer meeting changing business requirements, but because they aint broke, they don’t get replaced. As a result of this, these mid-size businesses are not taking advantage of newer web based CRM programs that are helping businesses become more effective marketing, sales and service organizations.
The great applications replace is upon us and we can’t fight it any longer but how do you go about deciding which applications to replace? See my list below.
• If it was built over a decade ago, no matter by whom, it is a prime candidate for replacement.
• If the underlying business requirements have changed significantly since the application was developed, you can be certain that it is not performing optimally.
• If the application was written to run natively on a mainframe, a midrange or even a personal computer, it’s on the list.
• If the application has a pure character interface and all of the reports are in text, it’s a candidate.
• If the application does not grant web-based access to staff or members, it needs immediate attention. Some things to beware of:
If the application does not fit the business requirements then you have to go back to the drawing board. To do this properly, presupposes that you thoroughly understand how your business functions.
The good news about replacing older applications is that there is a large number of providers to choose from. In the CRM sector for example products such as Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce.com and Commence CRM from Commence Corporation are excellent choices for managing customer interaction and improving sales execution and customer service.
About the author: Jim Smith is the CEO of YChange International, a consulting firm that provides marketing and consulting services to small businesses. Smith has more than 30 years of experience in the field and has held executive level positions with several Fortune 100 software firms. He is an accomplished author of numerous white papers on the subject of marketing and business development. Additional information may be found at http://www.ychange.com
Photo Credit: by Barbarossa source Wikimedia license GFDL from acobox.com
Posted by Commence on December 24, 2009 under CEO Corner |
Businesses looking for customer management software solutions better known as CRM, have numerous alternatives to choose from, but for those looking specifically for desktop or on premise CRM software, the options appear to be fewer and fewer. There are still a few low end contact managers such as Sage ACT, Avidian Prophet and Highrise, but they are not CRM solutions and the desktop CRM players that are still in business appear to be giving ground to more popular Web CRM software offerings.
Take the recent article that appeared in Tech Vibes titled Hui Family takes over Maximizer software. The article indicates that Maximizer CRM has experienced a significant decline in revenue due to recession related issues. While it’s clear that most CRM companies are not hitting too many home runs, this revenue decline may have more to do with the migration of small to mid-size businesses to Web CRM software than economic issues. Maximizer does not offer a web based CRM solution.
Commence Corporation had been in a similar space, selling desktop customer management software and sales force automation software to small and mid-market companies. For many years we competed directly with the FrontRange Goldmine product, SalesLogix and later with Microsoft Dynamics after they entered the market, but even at that time it became clear that things were beginning to change in the SMB space. Software as a service (SaaS) solutions from companies like Salesforce.com were beginning to pave the way for a migration from desktop solutions to web CRM software that were easier to implement and easier to use. While several of the companies outlined above stayed the course, Commence migrated its award winning CRM software to the web and introduced Commence On-Demand, a web CRM solution specifically designed for small to mid-size businesses. While we still sell our desktop product, 80% of the inquiries we receive each day for customer management software are for our web CRM product and even through the economic conditions are not much improved, Commence On-Demand has experienced growth in both the number of subscribers and in revenue.
It’s clear that this trend towards web based CRM software vs. on premise CRM software will continue and those companies that do not have a “software as a service” or SaaS offering will continue to experience a decline in their customer base and revenue.
Posted by Commence on November 12, 2009 under CEO Corner |
I read an interesting article that compared the success rate of accounting software implementations to that of CRM solution implementation within a sales organization. The results were intriguing. While accounting software implementations seem to enjoy a high level of success, this is not the case for sales automation systems. The article went on to compare and outline the differences between the two areas and while it did not provide any specific recommendations, if you’re a small to mid-size business the information below may make you think differently about the importance of implementing a sales methodology or structure within your sales organization.
Outlined below is a brief summary of the article.
Accounting departments are traditionally known for having mature well-documented business processes, perhaps because the federal government requires them. Sales organizations are traditionally void of structure and process, which often results in inaccurate forecast and sales with lower profitability then desired.
Accounting departments have mature people. This is not to say that sales people are not mature, but accountants are traditionally degreed and well trained on the principles of accounting while sales people often come from different walks of life with different levels of education and sales experience.
Accounting systems have also been around for decades and have a mature set of features that have been designed to address a specific set of rules and guidelines. Sales systems while mature must be flexible enough to support a variety of unique sales functions within multiple sales channels. This often makes these systems overly complex and hard to use.
This brief analysis would indicate that mature business processes, mature people, and mature solutions drive the operational success of your accounting department. If this is indeed true, shouldn’t we be emulating this within our sales organization?
Small to mid-size businesses that have a CRM initiative should make sure that they add the ability to have a flexible sales methodology to their functional criteria list.
CRM vendors like Commence Corporation offer fully integrated solutions for contact management, lead management, sales management as well as consulting services that help businesses deploy proven sales methodologies or create custom programs to match unique selling requirements. The flexibility of web based solutions like Commence coupled with high level sales expertise can help make your sales organization as efficient as your accounting department.
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Posted by Commence on November 4, 2009 under CEO Corner |
Small to mid-size businesses are looking toward CRM solutions to help them implement a structured process within their sales organization. Many CRM solutions do this rather well and provide the flexibility for businesses to implement a standard sales process from companies such as Sandler Systems or Dale Carnegie or create a completely customized one. This ensures that each new opportunity follows a structured path from the initial introduction to closure, resulting in more timely and accurate revenue forecasting.
But sales opportunities don’t just fall from the sky. They are often nurtured as a lead, qualified, then converted into a sales opportunity. Who determines if an opportunity is qualified and what process is used to make this determination is an area that is often overlooked by small to mid-size businesses and can cost them dearly.
A typical sales organization consist of a few experienced sales representatives that do a pretty good job with lead qualification, a few with 2-3 years of experience that often have difficulty in accurately determining a qualified lead from an unqualified one, and some entry level staff that are honing their skills and place every one that asks for a brochure on the monthly forecast. Your sales team represents one of the largest expense items within your organization and if they are spending valuable time chasing tire-kickers vs. qualified opportunities the cost to your business can be alarming. What’s the answer? Make sure that your CRM system can automate the lead qualification process.
Commence On-Demand, a web based CRM solution from Commence Corporation is helping small to mid-size businesses learn how to automate the lead qualification process via the use of an automated business process. Similar to implementing a structured sales methodology, Commence On-Demand also implements an automated lead qualification process. The process makes each sales representative answer a series of qualification questions that are built right into the lead qualification module. The structure ensures that each sales representative is using the same process to determine a qualified lead from an unqualified one. The leads are then color-coded based on the responses. This enables each representative and their management to immediately identify the top opportunities each representative is working on.
Here is an example screenshot showing a list of qualified leads:
Lead Qualification
Lead management and qualification is as important as managing the sales cycle. For more information about how Commence On- Demand can assist you with these processes see http://www.commence.com or ask for a free trial of our best in class CRM software.
Posted by Commence on October 27, 2009 under CEO Corner |
Any high-growth business strategy must begin with a consistent and disciplined sales process that is easily understood across the sales organization. Salespeople and their managers need to use the same vocabulary, and view selling opportunities as having sequential stages that must be completed before a suspect becomes a prospect, and a prospect becomes a customer. Following a consistent process reduces the anxiety and uncertainty common among both salespeople and sales managers because everyone knows what is expected and needed for every sales pursuit. Having definite requirements and policies on when and how to give a demonstration, prepare a proposal, or send a sample helps the sales force proactively control the sales process versus simply reacting to requests from potentially unqualified prospects. Better preparation, deeper research, and clearer goals for each stage of the selling process will result in a more effective sales team and better business results.
A standard approach to pursuing and tracking opportunities is a smart way to assure that all sales activities are aligned with organizational goals and the overall direction of sales management. Consistency also reduces the amount of non-value added sales activities such as drafting letters, writing reports, and having lengthy phone calls to determine what stage is next in a sales opportunity. Having standard terminology saves time and minimizes confusion.
Sales managers benefit from standardized CRM Sales processes because it is also easier to determine how each salesperson is performing. Opportunities that are stalled in one stage can be identified and resolved. Salespeople benefit from standardization because they waste less time determining what information is missing and what the next step should be in the workflow. Sales appointments become more productive because they are only conducted when qualified as part of a planned sequence of events.
The high level steps to implement a sales process are:
- Document your sales process
- Design your implementation
- Train your sales team
- Support the implementation
Some companies adopt branded systems such as Sandler, Solution Selling, Dale Carnegie or others. Others develop their own systems with distinct terminology; perhaps a hybrid of popular systems or a mix of the techniques used by the company’s most successful sales performers.
A standard sales process allows companies to more easily analyze events and make sense of trends. As a regional sales manager at a mid-sized organization observed, “The only way to discover what’s working and what’s not is to measure the individual steps of the sales process. If you know the percentages of prospects that proceed through each stage of the process, you accurately predict how many sales will close in the future, based upon the current pipeline. You can also compare the performance of team members and take appropriate action, like additional coaching, in order to ensure that the team remains productive.”
Applying Best Practices to Sales
Most organizations are not strangers to processes, systems, and re-engineering. For example, in the manufacturing industry, plants and warehouses couldn’t operate profitably without them and no business manager would let accounting and purchasing departments improvise. The more complex the task, it’s more likely that the effective principles and processeses for successfully completing that task have been defined and codified. In other words, much of the business world is already highly process-driven, systematized, and automated.
Yet, oftentimes, the sales department hasn’t been automated. For example, in a recent study of distributor respondents, eighty-eight percent indicated that they do not have a documented, formal sales process. Given that sales is fundamental and represents a large expense item, it was quite surprising that written sales processes were non-existent for the majority of the study participants. Without such a document to provide a consistent road map, executives have no choice but to depend on the creativity, work ethic and luck of individual sales reps and their managers.
Organizations without a documented sales process often exhibit several common symptoms, such as a disconnected and manual approach to selling and a lengthy cycle time to find prospects, get quotes out the door, and close orders. This may in turn lead to irritated prospects, who expect a rapid response to their inquiries or request for a proposal. . In addition, top sales employees may become annoyed. They want to sell, not figure out the best way to put prospects in the pipeline, create quotes, enter orders and track shipments delivered. Other symptoms of process deficiencies include abundant and costly errors, evidenced by expedited orders and high volumes of returns, and inadequate margin on too many quotes, resulting in deflated profitability. This may lead to stagnant sales from the most important customers and cause engineering and other departments to be pulled into disarray when the sales team gets a request for proposal or learns about a bid opportunity.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Many executives voice issues similar to these, yet the remedy seems to be incredibly difficult. Sales teams are often extremely autonomous, and management struggles to avoid “big brother” accusations and micromanaging. Despite these legitimate concerns, it is not that difficult to successfully implement a standard sales process.
When reviewing the various sales methodologies and processes available, make sure your final selection is repeatable, predictable, and scalable. What you want is a sales process that is simply enough that, over time, it will become second nature to the sales staff. Also, make sure that it isn’t too complicated, or the sales team will not use it.
The elements of a sales process typically include:
When smart organizations are designing a sales process implementation, they focus on change management, not sales training. By implementing a formalized sales process, businesses are fundamentally changing the way people do their jobs on a daily basis. There will be natural resistance. To develop a change management plan, make sure you can answer the following questions:
Follow the Leader
One of the best ways to make sure implementations “stick” is to have the management involved. One recent study found that when sales training is reinforced by management, the sales skills taught during training produced a 15% permanent increase in productivity.
Management needs to be involved in more than a cosmetic fashion. A senior member of the management team needs to attend the training, and this same manager should inspect the sales activities for a period of time to make sure they continuously are consistent with the new sales introduced during the training.
At the end of the day, the challenge with adopting a new sales process is getting everyone to follow it. Sales management must lead by example in sales meetings and on sales calls. An automated workflow reinforced by a CRM system that quickly prompts a salesperson to enter required information before moving to the next sales stage is invaluable. Standard reports and online visibility into the sales pipeline can help monitor the progress of opportunities over time so that both the salesperson and the sales manager can spot when an opportunity is stalled.
As one sales leader summed up his company’s recipe for success: “Our company can’t grow consistently unless the sales process is repeatable, not arbitrary. For us, it is a condition of employment – you have to embrace the standards, follow the processes and use the CRM system.”
About Commence Corporation: Founded in 1988, Commence develops and delivers a diverse suite of award winning CRM software that integrates people, processes and technology. Available on-premise or online, Commence CRM solutions are utilized by several thousand businesses to streamline sales and customer service front office business processes. As a result, Commence clients increase workforce productivity, generate positive customer interactions and reduce operational cost.
Tags: CRM, CRM Best Practices, CRM Sales Process, CRM Sales Software, CRM System, CRM Web Based Software, Information Management, On-Demand, Process Management, Project Management, Reports, SaaS, Sales, Sales Effectiveness, Sales Forecasting, Salesforce Automation, Social Networking, Software, Web-based CRM software
Posted by Commence on October 13, 2009 under CEO Corner |
TR Cutler, a leading business journalist, recently interviewed Larry Caretsky, CEO of Commence Corporation, to learn more about the company’s significant success in the CRM space and plans for competing with the large players in this space.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is growing at a significant pace with other hosted solutions significantly surpassing traditional client server technology offerings. This growth has allowed several smaller companies, like Commence Corporation to quickly capture marketshare in the small to mid-size business sector.
TR CUTLER: The CRM field has big players, like Salesforce.com. Why did Commence choose to enter the space?
CARETSKY: A few years ago industry experts asked Jet Blue executives why they choose to start an airline when the industry was in turmoil and even the giants were struggling to stay alive. Jet Blue succeeded in becoming a significant carrier. Unlike the airline industry, the CRM space and is growing rapidly and no single vendor has more than a 5% market share. The new battlefield is the SMB market, which Commence has been servicing for almost twenty years. This is our core competency and we know how to compete effectively.
TR CUTLER: What was missing in the CRM market that Commence addresses more effectively?
CARETSKY: Hosted solutions such as Salesforce.com addressed the difficulties associated with deploying traditional client server based CRM solutions, but utilization rates have remained low and customer renewals have been problematic. This is the direct result of a business model that does not include the proper planning and coaching required to ensure customer utilization. Regardless of the deployment model (in-house or hosted), there is still a reasonable degree of planning and mentoring necessary for the successful implementation and utilization of CRM.
Commence has addressed this requirement with extraordinarily effectiveness through the use of a proprietary implementation methodology called STEP (Selling Tools Enablement Program). STEP outlines the planning and responsibilities required by the customer and Commence staff to ensure a successful implementation and use of our CRM solution. This critical training functionality has been missing in the industry and has become a significant differentiator for our business.
TR CUTLER: How does a company like Commence compete against the Goliath of Salesforce.com and other CRM giants that are publicly traded and well-financed?
CARETSKY: Well in this “pay to play industry” it is hard to rise above the noise of Microsoft and Salesforce.com. The way Commence succeeds is to simply be better at one or two aspects of the business then the big guys. Commence has been very clear in differentiation and continues to quietly and consistently earn new customers and build solid references.
The single most significant differentiator Commence possessed versus the big CRM giants is our business model. Saleforce.com’s objective, for example, is to sell their solution to as many companies as possible regardless of size or industry. The only way to do this is to develop a generic set of features that supports the general business requirements of companies across all industries. This one size fits all approach does not work in all industry sectors.
Salesforce.com has recognized this short-coming and created an add-on development tool that allows for the customization of their CRM solution. The problem is that the SMB space has no interest in doing custom development, nor has the infrastructure to support it.
Commence CRM, unlike Salesforce.com, is developing specific vertical industry solutions that are already tailored to the unique business requirements of the customers in each particular sector. The result…customers can achieve a rapid return on their investment (ROI) without costly development work. Commence currently has a tailored solution for manufacturers and distributors and a construction vertical CRM is in development.
TR CUTLER: Why should a company with a general database such as ACT, jump up to a more sophisticated CRM solution?
CARETSKY: Many of SMB companies, while small, have simply outgrown their contact managers and are looking for tools to help them improve sales execution and customer service effectiveness. In order to achieve these improvements, SMB companies require an integrated CRM system that supports sales, marketing, and customer support, while providing better collaboration and disparate system integration. In the past, this level of functionality was too expensive for small to mid-size companies and required IT support. Hosted solutions like Commence make this level of functionality affordable, easy to use, and simple to deploy. Additionally, Commence has developed conversion tools that make the transition of contact management databases such as ACT and Goldmine virtually seamless to Commence.
TR CUTLER: What do you see as the drawbacks for those firms that have selected the big CRM solutions, like Saleforce.com?
CARETSKY: The problem with CRM today is that companies often look at CRM as a commodity and it’s really not. Having interviewed many customers that purchased their CRM solution based on brand recognition, they have been extremely disappointed with the end result. All of us at Commence Corporation believe that there is more value in the domain experience a CRM technology vendor can provide to the customer than in the product itself. The big guys specifically SalesForce.com and Microsoft are severely lacking in this aspect… their business model does not provide them with the ability to engage the customer directly.
Instead the CRM Goliaths rely on third party companies which rarely have the industry knowledge or experience to ensure the successful implementation and use of these products. This has resulted in higher cost implementations and a low level of customer satisfaction among many SMB organizations.
TR CUTLER: Other than a price advantage, what do you see as the top reasons people should consider CRM solutions, Commence specifically?
CARETSKY: Commence’s staff recognizes that improving the customer experience is one of the few excellence differentiators. CRM has shown to significantly impact sales execution and customer service by providing the end user with access to the vital customer information needed to perform their jobs more efficiently. Few question the value of CRM anymore, but rather are concerned with the high failure rate and low adoption usage that has plagued the industry.
TR CUTLER: Your literature indicates that your solution is modular and priced in license packs rather then by user. Can you elaborate on this?
CARETSKY: Commence is modular in nature which allows the end user to only select the departmental applications required for their business. Other vendors, such as Salesforce.com, force customers into more expensive solutions in order to add a minimal amount of functionality. This means customers are paying for functionality they don’t need.
The Commence licensing program is designed for the SMB sector…these margin-conscious business owners have made it very clear that they do not want to pay additional fees every time they need to add a new user. They refer to it as “paying by the drink.” Commence has created user packs that are designed for smaller businesses. SMB Customers can purchase a 5, 10 or 20 pack for instance at a discounted rate. This way the customer can add users at no additional cost. The significance here is that the solution actually gets cheaper as they add users and they don’t have to call Commence to change their license.
TR CUTLER: Where do you see Commence in five years?
CARETSKY: I believe that Commence will most likely continue to focus on those industries where our product offering and domain experience make us the logical and best choice among CRM technology solutions available.
TR CUTLER: Where do you see Salesforce.com in five years?
CARETSKY: I think Salesforce.com will continue to be impacted by the increased competition in the general purpose space from players such as Microsoft and Oracle and from industry specific players that are trying to carve out a vertical niche, like Commence Corporation. I suspect that the company would be a good acquisition target during this timeframe.
TR CUTLER: Where do you see the CRM marketplace in five years?
CARETSKY: The continued growth of CRM has attracted some of the largest software companies in the world and I suspect that the industry will go through a high level of consolidation as these companies look for strength in specific vertical sectors. It’s fair to say that many of the companies in existence today won’t be five years from now…after twenty years, we know Commence will still be here.
Tags: CRM, Distribution, Manufacturing, On-Demand, Sales Force Automation, Salesforce Cost, Salesforce CRM, Salesforce Price, Salesforce Pricing, Salesforce Review, Salesforce Software, Salesforce.com, Salesforece, Small Business CRM
Posted by Commence on under Commence News |
Industrial CRM Solutions That Eliminate Company Inefficiencies
When it comes to using Contact Management and Customer Relationship Management software for Industrial Sales, Commence literally wrote the book. Using Six Sigma, lean practices, Commence CRM can help you implement smart business processes that will make your company a more efficient sales and service organization. Manage the selling cycle from introduction to closure though our contact management, lead management, activity management, quoting and sales automation software. Our off-line or disconnected capability is ideal for field sales representatives who need customer information with them at all times.
Our Sales Tools Combined with Smart Business Practices will Help You To Maximize Every Business Interaction and Achieve Your Sales Potential
Industrial Sales Tools
Rapidly deployable, easy to use tools for managing the sales cycle from introduction to closure. Commence takes the guess work out of sales management, contact management, lead management, pipeline management, forecasting and reporting. Commence can even help your company set up it’s own sales force automation services.
Smart Practices for Industry
This compendium of CRM smart practices offers real life examples of how to create a customer centric marketing strategy, efficiently manage the sales process and use CRM technology to achieve industrial selling results.
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