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 and 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.
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 s.fischkin@commence.com
Posted by Commence on March 8, 2010 under CEO Corner |
As small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) struggle to survive in this economic climate, they are placing a major emphasis on increasing sales. Whether through finding new customers or attempting to increase the volume of purchases by the existing customer base, the attention is on getting the sales organization to be more productive. SMBs, in spite of tough economic times, are investing in technology to enhance the productivity of the sales force and for the most part are implementing Customer Relationship Management tools to make this happen. While this is decidedly a step in the right direction, there may be additional ways to increase sales productivity. This article examines a more effective way of utilizing CRM software to increase customer acquisition and revenue growth.
The Role of Technology
The last several years have brought a radical change in the relationship between the customer and business as a whole. More and more customers are collaborating with businesses and technology is playing a key role in this new collaboration. An increasing percentage of interaction with customers is coming by way of social networks and online communities. These interactions include suggestions for product improvement, requests for help, information requests and even customers assisting their counterparts directly. These customer conversations are driving the need for the business to respond in a timely fashion and to also convince potential customers of their ability to adequately address their needs.
This is driving executives to focus more attention on discovering the “favorite” customer or target market and crafting a marketing message that resonates with that target market. To do this effectively, the business needs to gather and analyze all of the relevant customer data points, In addition to demographic and geographic data, the business needs to understand why customers are buying their products or services and more importantly, what specific language the “favorite” customer is using to describe the buying experience.
The Changing Customer Role
This calls for the establishment of a close collaborative effort between the business and the customer base. Sales and any other part of the organization that is in direct contact with the customer needs to listen closely to the conversation in order to hear what the customer is saying. The data gathered needs to be analyzed so that not only does the business then understand which customers comprise the target market, but also how those customers think and how they communicate.
This effectively achieves two goals. First, it allows the sales force to be immensely more productive by getting them to concentrate on that part of the general marketplace that has these pre-qualified prospects that have the same profile as the “favorite” customer. Secondly, it gives the marketing side of the business the ability to script a marketing message that resonates with the customer since it uses the information gleaned from the customer and can be written in a language that the customer understands.
Even more importantly, with more customers using online communities and social networks, it is essential that the key phrases that the business uses are the same as the key phrases that the customer uses in their posts on Facebook and LinkedIn or in their tweets on Twitter. It also allows the business to search engine optimize its web site because the language and the keywords used are the ones the favorite customers are accustomed to.
So now, the business has a marketing message that resonates with the customer. The sales force has a sales pitch that is geared towards solving the customer pain and is in a language the customer understands. The customer feels that the business is listening and hearing them and prospects not only find the business, but when engaged by the sales force are easier to bring to a close.
Can current CRM systems play in this arena?
Most current CRM systems are very effective at helping the sales force automate the sales process and manage the sales cycle. The way they do this is by collecting customer and prospect data that the sales force uses to manage sales campaigns, schedule sales calls and keep the sales cycle moving along. To meet the new paradigm of target marketing that requires collaboration with our customers, these CRM systems need new functionality.
Commence Corporation is taking a leadership position in this area and understands that the future of customer relationship management will be centered on the collaboration and partnership with customers. Commence is busy restructuring the data points that their system collects to include the needed demographic and psychographics data that CRM system do not capture today. Commence is also looking closely at interfacing the product with social media applications so that it can collect and analyze all of the different streams of customer conversations that are currently on the web, then use this information to targeting effective marketing campaigns.
As a result of the economic downturn, many SMBs are struggling to justify the capital outlay to upgrade or implement a new CRM system because of cost and business uncertainty. To survive in today’s economy, you need to implement a CRM software solution, but you need to do it for the right reasons. Don’t implement a CRM solution to simply automate the sales process. Growing your business will require the ability to capture, manage and share vital customer information from several data sources and then use the information to gain a competitive edge. Select a CRM software provider that offers a platform that can support the customer collaboration that will need to take place in the future.
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.
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
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” does not apply to your customer relationship management application programs
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.
