Free – You Can’t Get it Any Cheaper

Like the faithful salespeople at your organization, I was working a few evenings ago, when I integrated the Google Apps into Pardot’s Salesforce.com instance.  These free tools are pretty cool add ons to SFDC.  After I integrated Google Docs, and Gmail, I started thinking…what other cool things are available for my CRM?

For you CRM administrators, take the time to look at the native eco-systems available for your Salesforce Automation Tool. 

Salesforce.com  AppExchange-http://www.salesforce.com/appexchange/

Tons of free tools, dashboards, and interesting widgets such as the Google Apps.  There are a couple of Dashboards that are awesome.  Most of the apps can be tested within your instance of Salesforce, enabling you to Try it before you Buy it.

NOTE – Salesforce enables AppExchange partners to integrate (for free) with their Professional Tier of service, which opens these solutions to many more customers (e.g., API Access is required to integrate third party applications – This is normally included only with their Enterprise tier of service)

NetSuite SuiteFlex-http://www.netsuite.com/portal/partners/applications.shtml

Not as many tools as Salesforce, however NetSuite does a great job of categorizing these applications to fit your organization’s needs / pain points.  Based upon the names I see out there, there are some very widely distributed packages (LivePerson, Epiphany and Five9) which are noted to be quite powerful. 

SugarCRM SugarExchange –http://www.sugarexchange.com/

Tools for the Open Source community.  If you haven’t heard of this powerful Open Source CRM system, check it out.  It’s powerful (full disclosure – I love SugarCRM), and has a growing eco-system of tools that extend the power of this terrific application. 

Friday Rant – Cleanliness is next to Godliness – Keep your CRM Data Clean

I’ve had several conversations this week with Sales Managers who lament that, although their reps are utilizing the CRM, they aren’t mandating that the data be clean,, which really shortchanges themselves in the form of implementing automation.  2 places where cleanliness can show immediate dividends is in your CRM’s E-mail and Assigned Rep fields.

E-mail: Although you may not have the customer name spelling right, and multiple people can have the same name (yes Bill Smith…I’m talking to you), e-mail accounts are always unique.  Even if it is a free account provider, they enforce a 6 month waiting period before another person can get kewl_guy7@hotmail.com (Yes Bill – I’m still talking to you).  Ensuring that you have the e-mail address, and that it is unique allows you to nurture your prospects via e-mails, newsletters, press releases, etc….  Also, many third party marketing systems (Bulk E-mail Marketing, Marketing Automation) will attempt to put information into your CRM, and the most logical key to utilize to synchronize that data is the e-mail address field.

Assigned Rep:  When you are automatically nurturing prospects via e-mail correspondence, the best way to make it APPEAR as being individualized is to have it originate from the assigned sales rep, which is information contained in the CRM system.  Although getting an automated e-mail from your sales rep can appear sincere, getting an e-mail from the guy who hasn’t worked for the company in 6 months looks disengenuious.  And what if the message resonates with the person and they respond to the old rep’s account???  Does that address bounce?  You just lost a prospect.  (AUTHOR’S NOTE:  Most CRM systems allow for the bulk update of Account Rep, so if it isn’t right, it’s easy enough to fix)

De-duping the e-mail address field, and keeping the assigned sales representative field up to date can open a world of 1-to-1 “lights out” e-mail marketing, which is personalized, inexpensive, and can be highly effective as a sales and marketing tool.

Have a Great Weekend Everybody !

A Father’s Wisdom – CRM Talk

Sales Professional – Where do you live? I mean, where do you spend the majority of your time each day? If you answered anything other than “My CRM”, then in the words of Donald Trump – “You’re Fired”.

So why is the CRM so important? Whether you utilize Salesforce, Upshot, Dynamics, or something else, there are a few life lessons that my Daddy told me that ring true, and no, not his classic “Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story”:

1. Use it, or Lose it – Retaining Important Information

Sure this rings true with things like your golf swing, your strength, and that jumpshot that had you 2nd Team All State, but it also rings true for CRM usage. Keep EVERYTHING inside the CRM. Names, Numbers, E-mails, Appointments, To Do’s and Customer Notes. Not using the CRM will directly effect your organization and productivity. You shouldn’t be searching for a scrap of paper that had a note on it, or having to look through Outlook to identify the last e-mail that was sent to this customer. Make the CRM your primary organizational tool, and you’ll be more effective in each communication with a customer.

NOTE – A recent post by Jim Berkowitz, CRM Mastery, indicates that 1/3 of new CRM implementations end in failure because Sales People aren’t using the technology. This is reflective of the attitude that many small companies have related to “My wallet is too full from all these 100’s, and my diamond shoes are a little too tight” – We’re already making money, so why should we care about process improvement or sales time optimization. Sad really………..

2. Shoot for Nothing and You’re Bound to Hit it – Opportunities

Your pipeline is your lifeline, so it is critical that you keep your opportunities entered, and more importantly, up to date. Having the opportunities to direct your activities will allow you to keep your focus while being bombarded by meeting requests, phone calls, e-mails and all the other things that attempt to take you away from the one thing that matters – Closing deals.

3. Focus on the Rim, two dribbles, elbow in, bend knees, shoot – Power of Process

As a washed-up, former basketball player, I often think back to days spent in the driveway learning to shoot free throws. Great free throw shooters, which I never was, shoot free throws the same way every time – it’s a process. Your sales process is defined, so reps can utilize the CRM to automate many of the common functions your sales representatives are expected to do. Most CRM Systems support the development of e-mail templates, many support rudimentary prospect scoring which can be augmented by third party products available onAppExchange (or other such sites), and most have the ability to automate the import of leads from a Marketing Automation System. Management can get into the act too, by implementing alerts when a lead is not acted upon in a specified amount of time, or receiving automated reports on a specific day.

In the end, get a CRM, use that CRM, and extend the power of that CRM by implementing processes and third party applications which provide advanced functionality. You’ll be glad you did.

Friday Rant – Technology as a Silver Bullet

I’ve always heard the term “Silver Bullet” but never took the time to research it to learn the origin of this term. Thanks to Wikipedia for this definition:

“The metaphor of the silver bullet applies to any straightforward solution perceived to have extreme effectiveness. The phrase typically appears with an expectation that some new technology or practice will easily cure a major prevailing problem.”

Let me provide a slightly revised definition from Derek-i-Pedia:

“Holy Cow. We’ve got a HUGE problem and no idea what do do about it. Since we’ve already changed our logo, and reorganization is out of the question, let’s throw technology at the angry looking 7,000 lb. gorilla in the corner.”

Sales organizations are notorious for attempting to cure low productivity or poor win rates with technology. I just read an article in the DemandGen report which indicates that 79% of “Best in Class” organizations were using or planning to use sales analytics technologies.

These organizations will likely spend lots of money, to get a system that will take months to be implemented, which may not be adopted by the sales organization anyway. Doesn’t sound like a Silver Bullet to me.

Here’s a couple of suggestions regarding technology for sales:

1. Think Small – Need a new CRM? Organizations like SalesForce have gotten it right by providing an on-demand solution with an attainable price point for you to use and evaluate for effectiveness. Paying a nominal monthly fee for a new technology makes more sense than breaking the bank for a solution which looks great in demos, but may never work that way because of your organization’s business processes. The new world of Software as a Service (SaaS) allows you to test drive, evaluate and terminate, all for much less than the price of a purchase.

2. Think Process – No technology will magically fix the shortcomings in your sales organizations. Web Marketing Automation and Sales Force Automation tools are useless without implementing processes driven by best practices. Thinking about scoring a prospect’s activities on your website? What interaction is worth more points – visiting the pricing page (shows intent) or the careers page (shows intent to call HR for a new job)?

3. Think Realistic – The best technology isn’t going to cover up a broken system or process. Identify specific goals that you hope technology will help you resolve (e.g., Utilizing Landing Pages for my Pay Per Click advertising will improve my conversion rate by X %, or using Web Marketing Automation will allow my reps to engage X number of new clients per week because they can focus on selling rather than educating customers).

If you’re looking for technology, put the processes in place to help that technology be successful.

If you’re looking for a Silver Bullet, good luck killing that werewolf.