O P T I M I Z I N G S A L E S F O R C E S. Sample Report. March 2004

Transcription

1 O P T I M I Z I N G S A L E S F O R C E S Opportunity Profile Sample Report March 2004 Primary Intelligence, Inc South Business Park Drive Suite 115 Draper, UT Toll free: (800) Local: (801) Fax: (801) Web site:

2 Respondent s Information Name: Respondent Title: Project Manager Interview Responses What was the compelling event that caused your organization to seek a solution? We went through a reorganization. In that reorganization we realized that we would be sharing customers across different strategic business units. We needed a better way to communicate about customer efforts. What vendors were on your short list? We were looking at a couple of large ones: and. Then the smaller ones were and. We evaluated one other very small solution, but it dropped by the wayside. They weren t really on the short list. We also looked at a couple of online solutions, like Salesforce.com, but [those weren t on the short list either]. What vendor did you select?. What solution or service did you select? It s essentially contact management and sales force automation. (See table 1) What were the primary reasons you selected? One of them was cost. We were able to get our seat licensing down to where it needed to be. We felt their technology was a very good fit for us. not select? When it came down to the end, it really came down to flexibility in the licensing model. There were some other factors, one of them being the mobile synchronization technology. I believe was using Exchange synchronization. uses HTTP, or a Web server, for synchronization. That would have been some impact on our Exchange infrastructure. not select? That one was a little bit of concern, again on the ability to quickly integrate that system. The user interface wasn t as easy to use. It was a little less user friendly. not select? Some of it was cost. Some of it was [that we] perceived it as a more difficult implementation. It s a bigger system and a little harder to work with. (See table 2) who was involved in the decision: Recommended solutions: I think that would have to be the IT department. I don t know if it matters, but basically they left it to us with the aid of some information from [Company 4]. Basically, that area is covered by our business as one of our SBUs, or it s covered by a corporate function, in this case IT. So our project sponsor for the whole thing was actually the CIO. It falls under his umbrella. Evaluated solutions: That would be primarily the business users on the project team. Approximately how long did it take your organization to review, evaluate, and decide, from start to finish? From the time we had our short list, it was basically a period of about three months. the most important sales team criteria: I m waffling between demonstration and integrity [for the third most important attribute]. (See chart 1.) [Company 3] s vendor performance: service: If I m comparing apples to apples, working with their sales organization I felt that they were a little more flexible and a little bit more honest. Solution cost: When we did this, we developed a strategy for where we needed to go in our negotiation for the licensing. They Table 1 Type of Purchase Upgrade Add-on Replacement New solution Table 2 Most Involved or Influential Individuals Initial Recommendation Staff Evaluating Solutions Information Business manager Sales Choosing and Approving the Selected Solution service Existing relationship Financial viability Future direction Industry experience Reputation Size Solution cost Director Sales and Information Chart 1 Performance Page Primary Intelligence, Inc.

3 came closest to what our target was for that, through our negotiation. : It most closely matched our infrastructure. It would be the most cost effective for us to implement. [Company 2] s vendor performance: Solution cost: is a little complicated since we re an existing client and they would like to get in. They made some different offerings to us that made it hard to evaluate them strictly on cost. So I have to rate them on cost based on what I perceive the implementation and maintenance of the system would be. Ultimately, the TCO for would end up being less expensive than [Company 1], but probably more expensive than either or. : That s just the fit into our infrastructure. It would cost us more to maintain the CRM solution. We d be talking about HP unit servers and stuff instead of Microsoft servers. (See table 3) s vendor performance: Solution cost: First of all, does not easily package functionality together and price it accordingly. They tend to keep the different components of their solution separate. They are not as flexible in the pricing on that. Basically, they re the Cadillac of the industry. Even though they try to come down quite a bit, they re not as flexible as some of the midtier vendors are. Frankly, their product offering is more than we need. Some of the midtiered ones are more appropriately sized for our type of organization. s vendor performance: service: I cannot [rate that] because we primarily dealt with their sales function. I guess you have to define how you mean customer service. We interfaced, but it was with their sales organization, primarily. I guess I d put them about a seven. Existing relationship: We didn t have one, so I guess a five. (See table 4) the references: I d have to say that everybody was pretty good. I don t think you re going to find much differentiation between people on their references. (See table 5) [] s prior relationship with : For a number of years previously we had touched base with because they were the market leader. We had had different thoughts about doing a CRM solution previously. I think at one point, maybe three years prior to when we did this implementation, we had gotten quotes and talked to [Company 1] about some sales force automation. That was one factor. Another factor was that a fairly well-respected [] employee left [] and went to work for [Company 1], then kept that contact going. We had had fairly regular contact with him on different topics. (See table 6) Which marketing activity had the biggest impact on your selection of vendors to evaluate? Probably the biggest one was the consultant. Why? We consulted with somebody that had a good track record in the CRM industry. We had had prior experience with this firm. That held the most weight. Did you have an established budget for this purchase? Yes. (See tables 7 and 8.) Table 3 Most Important Criteria Criteria set First Second Third Solution Sales team Table 4 References Solution cost ease Understand business needs Financial viability Integration Responsiveness References provided? Customizability or configurability Demonstration Quality of references Yes 8 Yes 8 Yes 8 Yes 8 Table 5 Prior Relationships Table 6 Type of relationship No relationship No relationship Existing relationship with sales agent Marketing Activities That Had an Impact Analyst recommendation Article in publication Consultant recommendation Direct mail Magazine advertising Marketing message Press release Sales agent activity Trade show Unsolicited Web site Page Primary Intelligence, Inc.

4 Table 7 Cost Ratings Purchase cost Overall cost Cost range % to 30% over budget 8 8 Within 10% over budget % to 30% over budget 5 4 More than 30% over budget Table 8 Outlook Statement Client Company 3 Company 2 Company 1 Overall, provides superior-quality products Deserves a strong recommendation to other companies and friends Will get serious consideration for future business opportunities with my company s vendor outlook: Future business opportunities: The reason I laugh is, in order for them to get consideration, we d have to be throwing out the solution we implemented. I don t think that s likely. What could have done differently to make you feel better about your decision? I don t think anything, really. They performed as I expected one of the vendors to perform to get our business. Ultimately, they cut to the chase and said, We ll be flexible; what do you need? They were able to respond to what I wanted. What could have done differently to win your business? A little more flexibility in the licensing model would be one thing. There is something else, as long as I m not going to get a phone call on this. There is one factor that affected their integrity. They should knock it off. They tried an old sales tactic: Somewhere during our negotiation, they determined that our company was special and we qualified for the special offer of the month, only to selected customers. It s like an old aluminum siding thing. It was just cheesy What could have done differently to win your business? I think if their product had a better user interface and better configurability [they could have won our business]. What could have done differently to win your business? I don t think that they could have easily won our business. I don t think they could go as low in the cost structure. To win our business, they could have cut their cost more, but I don t think they could do that. Would you select again? Yes. Why or why not? The product and the implementation went pretty much as expected. Did you experience any significant problems or challenges during the evaluation and selection process for this solution? If so, what were they? Not really. The challenges were more timing, but not related to the vendors responses. Customizability Functionality ease time Integration Scalability Solution flexibility Value knowledge Demonstration Industry experience Integrity Presentation Product knowledge Professionalism Responsiveness Sales relationship Understanding business needs Chart 2 Solution Performance Chart 3 Sales Team Performance Page Primary Intelligence, Inc.

5 Demographics (See tables 10 and 11.) Respondent s comments on his role in the decision-making process: Determined the need: I ve been involved in the CRM effort all the way from developing a business case through the implementation. Primarily my role was as a facilitator in the process of developing the requirements and the procedure we used for the evaluation. Recommending solutions: I recommended potential vendors in the process. I think we evaluated five of them. (see tables 10 and 11.) What industry segment best describes your industry? Engineering and construction might be the closest. What is your company s revenue? $1 billion. How many people are employed in your entire organization, including all branches, divisions, and subsidiaries? Three-thousand. Opportunity Overview [] had reorganized and discovered the need to share information about its customers across different business units in the Company. The factors that were the most important in this evaluation were implementation, integration, and the demonstrations provided by each vendor. and were eliminated because they had complex solutions and implementation and integration would have been more difficult. was second after in matching the Company s needs. On the rating scales for vendor criteria, solution criteria, and sales team criteria, performed better than and on solution cost, technology, and value. The reason did not win this opportunity was because of some concerns with integration and technology, as well as a concern about the viability of the vendor. This concern about vendor viability is very significant and will have to be addressed if wants to acquire new customers. Until this is resolved, s market perception and performance will cycle downward. s sales team were rated lower than the other vendors in industry experience and integrity. [] Project Manager Paul Sedlacek explained that the demonstration given by representatives gave the evaluation team cause to question s integrity. The methods that s sales team used in negotiating the price were less professional than the methods used by either or. was awarded this opportunity because its sales representatives demonstrated their ability to provide for the customer s needs by being flexible and showing that they truly did understand [] s requirements. Table 10 Respondent Information Project manager Information Table 11 in Decision-Making Process Determined the need Defined the specifications Evaluated solutions Recommended a solution Approved expenditure for selected solution User of selected solution Page Primary Intelligence, Inc.