CRM News

customerthink.com
October 22, 2007

::: Embrace Sales 2.0, or Be Left in the Dust :::

With most products and services, companies are faced with the prospect of dealing with a buyer’s market. The internet has expanded the seller’s reach but at the same time it has also tremendously improved the customer’s knowledge about what he is purchasing.

This is not to suggest that sellers have no meaningful part to play. Rather, I would argue that the most successful sellers are, and will be, those that embrace this shift. And that begins with communicating with buyers the way they prefer to be reached. And there may not be a single way for a specific buyer in a single instance.

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tmcnet.com
October 17, 2007

::: Satuit aims to improve end-user experience through training program :::

Satuit Technologies has launched what it calls “Train the Trainer” program through which it hopes to increase end-user expertise and product use. Satuit hopes to impart training to representatives of their customers who can then go and take on the role of in-house experts. The first two-day program was held in September and Satuit plans to make it a quarterly program.

Last month Satuit Technologies, a sales force automation client relationship management (CRM) vendor for the professional investment market, was named to the inaugural Inc. 5,000 list, which ranks the fastest-growing private companies in the country.

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dynamicbusiness.com

::: CRM applications that deliver for SMEs :::

CRM software is useful for managing the three areas of sales, marketing, and customer service. SFA helps with tools like opportunity management and providing a wholesome view of current and future business opportunities. Marketing benefits from CRM by getting a better understanding about its campaigns and being better able to track leads from inception to closure.

One of the most commonly heard phrases in the CRM field these days is that with CRM you get a big business tool at a small business price. In the past, cheaper CRM applications lacked functionality and expensive ones offered functionality at a price SMEs simply couldn’t afford.

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dmnews.com
October 19, 2007

::: Your queries on email, CRM, and direct mail answered :::

The Toolbox, a new section at dmnews is a great place to get your ideas on direct marketing answered. Want to learn how to get more click-throughs with your email marketing campaign? Find out the best practices in lead nurturing and whether direct marketing works from business to government.

“Yes,” says Mark Amtower, a specialist in b-to-g marketing. “B-to-g includes federal, state, local, education and much of health care. In Washington, DC, there is still a delivery issue for federal mail, but outside DC, and in the state and local market, direct mail works very well, if targeted properly.”

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tmcnet.com
October 19, 2007

::: Commence Corporation takes a different path :::

Commence CRM has chosen to target verticals and tailor its CRM offerings to their unique requirements. The company believes this will help its customers achieve an ROI faster by eschewing developmental work and at the same time it offers Commence a platform to compete with Salesforce and Microsoft. The company hopes that this differentiating feature of its business will get it more discerning customers who are looking for customized solutions and not generic features that they may have to later customize.

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.

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star-techcentral.com
October 18, 2007

::: Putting CRM within the reach of SMBs :::

SMBs too want CRM but find the cost prohibitive, this is what Ganes Kumar Narayanan, chief executive officer of Software Village (M) Sdn Bhd feels. As a result, SMBs are unable to take full advantage of advances in IT technology. Having felt the pinch of expensive CRM solutions himself, Ganes decided to develop inexpensive software himself. The software focuses on managing end-to-end sales activities in a company.

According to Ganes, a CRM system typically costs about RM200,000 to RM300,000. “Even the cheapest is about RM60,000 per 10 users – still too expensive for many SMBs,” he said.

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searchcio.techtarget.com
October 18, 2007

::: CRM projects fail because users say “No Thanks” :::

While not really breaking news, it is food for thought for companies that are looking to deploy CRM. Research by AMR Research shows that sales representatives and marketing professionals are chief culprits when it comes to non-adoption of CRM technology.

Last June Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research Inc. reported that less than 50% of the 94 business and IT executives it surveyed were fully satisfied with their CRM deployments. When Forrester asked those executives to list their best practices for improving their CRM implementation, 66% said promoting user adoption was a top priority.

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campustechnology.com
October 19, 2007

::: Where CRM and student coaching meet :::

The education sector is apparently the latest market to have caught the attention of CRM vendors. IntelliWorks and InsideTrack have come together to offer a solution for student recruitment and retention. InsideTrack offers guidance coaching services to students so that they can manage their careers better. InsideTrack will make use of Orion, a constituent relationship management system, developed by IntelliWorks to manage its recruitment and enrollment coaching services. Orion offers contact management, event management, marketing and other functions that are designed for colleges and universities.

Read more about this here and here

callcenterinfo.tmcnet.com
October 19, 2007

::: Hobsons helps education institutions get more business :::

Student retention for education institutions is apparently a serious enough problem for it to merit a software dedicated to tackling it. The software has been developed by Hobsons, the company helps colleges “elevate their enrollment strategies”

Hobsons Student Retention Solutions provides a customizable suite of services for institutional use, “regardless of the phase the institution’s retention efforts are in,” company officials say: “The product includes retention assessments, predictive modeling, personality testing and change management, technology, and achievement coaching.”

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vnunet.com
October 19, 2007

::: CRM 4.0 from Microsoft set to compete with Salesforce.com :::

Microsoft is taking keen interest in the hosted CRM domain and will next week announce more details regarding CRM 4.0; which is a hosting friendly CRM offering meant to take on Salesforce.com. Additions to the CRM offering include a platform for plugging in complementary functionalities. A workflow engine is also included.

Denis Pombriant of analyst firm Beagle Research said Microsoft CRM products “have approached parity” with rivals, but warned that its focus on partners could block progress. “Microsoft’s model is to sell through an indirect channel to a large portion of the market,” he said. “It is leaving itself open to too much variability in products and service levels, and that could prove to be its Achilles heel.”

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