My $0.02 on SaaS Max Effgen, August 31, 2009 It has been clear for awhile that a major shift has been happening in enterprise computing. It has taken time to gain traction and momentum, but it looks like Software as a Service (SaaS) is nearly there. Companies will look to adopt SaaS solutions for 2 major reasons: Lower costs… Continue Reading
Is This the Cure for the Common CRM? Max Effgen, August 19, 2009 Is This the Cure for the Common CRM? Review of CureCRM from Read Write Web. No mystery that Sales like to use email and email based tools are very popular. The “dead simple” play should attract attention. Continue Reading
Gist as Sales Enablement Max Effgen, August 17, 2009 The Sales Enablement space players are currently focused on the marketing to sales side of the CRM equation. No doubt that these tools have the ability to increase user adoption. I have been a part of enough CRM deployments (over 30 to date) to know. As few weeks ago, I… Continue Reading
Solid read on Sales Enablement Max Effgen, August 14, 2009 Solid blog post at Sales Enablement provider BizSphere. The Need to Understand the Context B2B Sales People Are Operating In makes several good points. First, the way customers buy today has changed. Second, Marketing now owns the early phases of the traditional sales cycle. Third, sales will spend more time… Continue Reading
Is Sales strategic? Max Effgen, August 13, 2009 I have been digging into the Sales Enablement space lately. Initially my focus was on user adoption of CRM systems. Sales Enablement implemented properly will boost user adoption of sales force automation tools under the CRM fold. One concern I have is how sales enablement systems are being sold. “Clone… Continue Reading
The C.R.M Iceberg and Social Software Max Effgen, August 12, 2009 Check out The C.R.M Iceberg and Social Software post. Very solid read on the sCRM space by Ross Mayfield at the Socialtext Blog. He makes some interesting points such as people as a platform. In my experience, organizations that have great customer relationships have always fostered information sharing within. Call… Continue Reading
Thoughts on Sales Enablement Max Effgen, August 6, 2009 CRM solutions fail most of the time. I always wonder what is meant by fail. I have had my hand in many CRM deployments and only a 2-3 did not meet the clients expectations from initial roll-out. Those that I would consider a “fail” never aligned the technology to the… Continue Reading
Tuesday Reads Max Effgen, August 4, 2009 Two worthwhile reads for your Tuesday: How to Network With Busy People because the people you want to be networking with are busy. How marketers build relationships in the CPG (Consumer Packed Goods) space, but it is applicable to just about any CRM relationship. Readers and Leaders. Continue Reading
WSJ: Twitter as trading tool Max Effgen, August 3, 2009 There has been a lot of talk about social CRM (sCRM) and Twitter. The implications for consumer based offerings is clear. In the enterprise, marketing has use cases. The WSJ has an interesting look at how traders are using Twitter. Money quote: “Analysts said the service seems well-suited for a… Continue Reading