A common challenge for B2B businesses is a lack of accuracy and predictability in sales forecasting. To avoid these inaccuracies and "Seat of the Pants"-selling, Doextra President and 28-year sales veteran, Brad Williams, talks about how to define a formal sales process through an on-going, weighted forecast.
Watch the full video here:
Another recommended Doextra resource:
"Business analytics applications, including business intelligence, performance management, and predictive analytics are delivering significant return on investment, with an average benefit of $10.66 for every dollar spent, according to Nucleus Research," wrote Leonard Klie in the CRM Magazine, Feb. 2012 ed.. Nucleus Research's findings were based on a survey of small- to enterprise-size business findings; the research evaluated different types of hard and soft returns, such as cost savings, sales activity, customer service response, etc.
Business analytics platforms, such as TIBCO Spotfire Analytics Platform, routinely collect and disseminate data from various operations-related platforms within an organization. This data is then displayed in graphs and visual representations that show trends and patterns. By leveraging predictive analytics, companies are able to discover new insights into their business' operations and performance, and better understand when and how to implement next steps and strategies.
Business Analytics Platform Basics
- Users. There are two general types of users: power and interactive. Power users have comprehensive access to the analytics features and are passionate about learning and implementing advanced application of the software. Interactive users have more limited access, thereby focusing predominantly on processing information from the analytics visuals.
- Data sources. Data sources are databases that the platform uses as part of its analysis. For example, data can include customer relationship management (e.g., customer service, sales and marketing activities), in addition to enterprise resource planning, accounting and operations system data.
- Analytics. Before the system is deployed, it is important to understand the relationship between different types of data. Better understanding how activities and time impacts revenue and productivity will help with sorting and setting-up analytics components. Platforms can include ad-hoc, real-time and statistically-relevant analyses.
- Versions. Different versions are available, depending on the vendor and the info delivery types that best suit your business. During an initial information-gathering appointment a business partner can recommend the best version options for you; otherwise, check the website and/or available whitepapers for additional information.
"Despite a limited number of deployments, analytics was found to have the greatest return, primarily because these types of applications can lead to changes in decision-making that ultimately result in unexpected improvements in profitability, including higher revenue and gross margins and lower expenses," says Klie.
Image by Esther Simpson.
With over 100,000 users, one of the most buzzed about smartphone applications, Hipster, is now available for Android users. Named one of the "6 New Apps for Uncovering the Best Local Knowledge" by Mashable in March, 2011, Hipster was first released exclusively for iOS.
What is Hipster?
Hipster is a geo-based service - accessible by Andorid, iPhone, iPad or iTouch - that combines pictures with your location. You can then share the picture with other Hipster friends or with specific networks; Hipster integrates with Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, Flickr and Tumblr.
How Hipster Works
- Access the app via the Hipster icon on your phone.
- Tap the camera icon to either take a picture from the app or to select one from your phone's picture gallery.
- Next tap the location icon to pull up a list of nearby places (if you can't find it on the list, try the Search bar).
- After selecting the location, it will be automatically added to your picture.
- With the location now on your picture, you can then select a layout from the bottom. Browse the different layouts by dragging the icons to the left (there are about 13 selections to choose from!).
- Once you have the picture ready for sharing, tap the "OK" button.
- You then have the option of adding a comment and selecting which networks to share with.
Hipster Marketing Advantages
The marketing advantage to Hipster is that users can now capture and share real-time, candid perspectives with their networks. Here are some examples of where Hipster can come in to play for creative marketing and PR:
- Tweet a photo from the golf course at an event you are sponsoring.
- Share an image of workshop speaker on your company's Facebook page.
- Upload new product screenshots to your Flickr account.
- Encourage clients to take pictures when visiting your office. Collect the photos for new perspectives.
Hipster is a free cloud app for Android that can be accessed via the Market app on your phone, or at http://market.android.com.
Featured in this article are a few Hipster samples taken at Doextra HQ!
Smart engine, ProcessComposer, was recently launched on the Salesforce.com AppExchange and offers advanced process-building for companies, especially in the Financial Services industry.
I caught up with Travis Rychnovsky, CEO and President at parent company, Orchestrate, LLC for a quick Q&A about the inspiration behind and future of ProcessComposer.
LB: What was the inspiration behind ProcessComposer?
TR: In 2007, Foster Group (the Registered Investment Advisor I work for) was using an industry-specific CRM solution called, "Junxure." We had been using Junxure for a few years and were very intentional about developing our processes and imbedding them into our CRM. This (integration) is critical; if your processes aren’t imbedded into your real-time workflow, you are not capturing maximum efficiencies.
Anyways, we reached a point where we realized we needed more flexibility, scale, and transparency and really wanted to adopt a scalable platform on which we could run our business. After evaluating several major technology solutions, including Microsoft CRM/Dynamics, NetSuite, etc., we settled on Salesforce.com. [...] We (Foster Group) chose Salesforce.com and realized we were going to need something more comprehensive and scalable than their out-of-the-box workflow mechanism. And that was the birth of ProcessComposer.
We have been using it (ProcessComposer) to standardize most every dimension of our firm: compliance, client on-boarding, client service, employee on-boarding. Anything that needs a reliable, repeatable and transparent process is in ProcessComposer. After using if for 3 years and running over 40,000 processes through it, we put it on the AppExchange in late 2011. Defining our process, selecting the right CRM, and using ProcessComposer to embed those processes in Salesforce has allowed us to reduce our cost of service per client by 31% over the past several years.
LB: Your biggest market is in Financial Services. Why?
TR: Our focus is in Financial Services for now, because this is the market we know and grew up in. Leading the technology, operations and client services aspects at Foster Group has given me the opportunity to meet a lot of great people in our industry. There are several great initiatives going on in our industry and there seems to be a convergence around Salesforce.com. Of course, given my background, I see great opportunities for Wealth Management firms to take advantage of ProcessComposer, but we see great potential in other Financial Service sectors as well such as lending and insurance. Professional services companies that work in a team environment and rely on consistent processes to provide a great client experience—that is a fit for our tool.
LB: What was your first reaction, when you saw ProcessComposer on the AppExchange?
TR: We were certainly excited to see our vision come to reality! We have tried to be very intentional and thoughtful in our work. With each new feature we think about adding, we are purposeful. "How much appeal with this have?" "Will people understand it?"... There are endless tasks that can be done in any startup, but to be successful, we need to concentrate on efforts that will create the highest probability of success for us and our clients.
LB: What’s next for ProcessComposer?
TR: We are still in the awareness-creating process. Making ourselves known and understood in the market is crucial to our success. We continue to align ourselves with practice management professionals, Salesforce.com consulting firms, like Doextra, and influencers in the Financial Services industry. We have a roadmap of great features we plan to add in the future. This is technology—if we stay the same, we are irrelevant.
Image by Alan Berning.
With the tech blogosphere buzzing about the popularity of mobile computing and it's predicted biggest-surge-yet in 2012, Salesforce.com has upped its offerings with the launch of AppExchange Mobile for Salesforce clients. Available mobile applications are designed for a range of business-related activities from collaboration (via Chatter) to accessing and updating Salesforce contact information to taking care of tasks on-the-go (e.g., DocuSign).
Interface Features in AppExchange Mobile
AppExchange mobile serves up a simple and intuitive interface that expedites the process of searching for apps and checking out pricing, release and features information. Screenshots found on the app pages help you better visualize how the app will look and scale on your device. App pages also include links to the full AppExchange listings in case you need more detailed information.
If you need help getting started with some device-specific recommendations, the AppExchange Mobile homescreen has a list of featured apps.
How to Access AppExchange Mobile
AppExchange Mobile is now available for Salesforce clients on Android, iPhone and iPad devices.
From your mobile device... Type in "www.appexchange.com" in your mobile browser. It will automatically connect you to AppExchange Mobile.
From your PC... Browse the new marketplace by going to www.appexchange.com, and clicking over to the Mobile category found in the Business section.
Image by William Ismael.
According to IBISWorld, the Financial Services industry is the largest user of CRM systems (26% of the market), with Healthcare close behind at 21% and Manufacturing at 17%. This percentage is expected to grow as more companies seek to meet complex needs for organizing communications and processes. FinServ entities are able to enhance the customer experience, as well as address efficiency, accuracy and compliance standards over multiple information silos with the introduction of or revision of new technology in CRM.
Real World Example
An example of a successful Financial Services firm leveraging CRM is Holmes Murphy & Associates, an independent risk management and insurance brokerage firm, who uses Salesforce CRM to empower their sales teams to better manage customer relationships and increase sales activity. CRM has also helps Holmes Murphy management gain greater visibility knowing how, when and where to invest in business development. Since initial implementation about a year ago, Holmes Murphy has seen a significant increase in leads activity with plans to further ramp up collaboration between sales and marketing.
Looking Forward to 2012
The key for CRM in 2012 with the Financial Services industry will hinge on the timing and method in which data is introduced and processed. This includes apps for mobile and tablet, to support reps in the field or working from remote locations. In addition, applications that slice and dice data in a way that actually proves and disproves sales and marketing activities to show room for improvement will be important to companies' ongoing strategy.
Image by Doug88888.
Doextra business partner, TIBCO Software, has announced the release of version 4.0 of the TIBCO Spotfire analytics platform. With the latest release, TIBCO has shored up contextual and social collaboration capabilities, as well as adding integration options for Microsoft SharePoint and tibbr (TIBCO's enterprise social computing platform).
Building Organizational Fuel for Thought
The major theme of the new version updates is to help users "investigate, share and discuss a wide range of possible actions" based on contextual information. This means that Spotfire analyses can be embedded in corporate portals, blogs and websites to gather more information about target audiences and new data trends and patterns.
Spotfire users also have more analysis options and can actively follow an analysis subject and/or author; create new discussions or embed a discussion thread into an analysis; and initiate video conferencing or desktop sharing for a live "Spotfire Meeting."
Availability and Pricing
Subscriptions are now available and range from $99 - $4,500 per year depending on the amount of functionality and storage that best suits your company's needs. TIBCO Spotfire is compatible with Salesforce CRM or Sage SalesLogix CRM systems.
For more information about pricing or scheduling a demo, contact Sunnie Richer.
Click here to read the full press release from TIBCO Software.
Image by Brandon Doran.
This native app had Doextra VP, Adam, singing its praises as he showed off a variety of synced-up lists on his Droid. As just one more way the cloud is making life easier, Out of Milk reduces the usage of crumpled post-it notes and meaningless cellphone minutes with helpful task and shopping list features.
Capabilities that add to the cool factor:
- Saves grocery item entries with auto-prompts for the next time you log in (e.g., If you enter the price of milk as $1.99, it will remember it for the next time you add milk to your shopping list).
- Re-order lists by priority by pointing and dragging items.
- Cloud-based options allow you to sync back to a companion website, as well as other mobile devices (including other users - no more excuses to not finish the honey-do-list!).
- Add items to your lists on the go via voice or by scanning a bar code.
The Out of Milk app was developed by Capigami.
Becoming Part of Your Lifestyle
Native apps are essentially applications that are designed for a certain type of platform, such as iOS, Android or Microsoft. These types of apps are evolving the idea of convenience to smart phone users, as well as the way those users think about organizing their day-to-day minutae.
As of 2010, 70% of the world's popultation now has a mobile phone (5 billion subscribers), including 9 in 10 people in the U.S (via digitalbuzzblog.com). And just to give you an idea where the market is headed, Gartner predicts that $29.5 billion will be spent on app development in 2013.
Image by Quinn Dombrowski
In late March of this year, Salesforce.com acquired Radian6 to improve "social media monitoring" options. Today, the highly anticipated release of the new Radian 6 Social Marketing Cloud by Salesforce.com was made available.
What is the Radian6 Social Marketing Cloud?
The Radian6 Social Marketing Cloud extends marketing capabilities within a Salesforce CRM system to provide comprehensive social monitoring, insights and engagements. With this new functionality, sales and marketing teams will be able to connect with customers through new channels and build dynamic profiles. The new Radian6 Social Marketing Cloud is built around data, and evangelizes corporate social media efforts to discover what communities and conversations are truly relevant.
Who is this valuable for?
The Radian6 Social Marketing Cloud will benefit companies who want to build a more advanced presence in social communities and find new ways to reach their clients. The platform will enhance marketing campaign efforts with data and information by providing response rates, trending topics, impact and relevancy. These marketing metrics are important to consider, especially when gaging the effectiveness of interacting with a specific network or figuring out if a social media campaign is really going to help your sales team.
What are my options?
Salesforce Radian6 is now available for $600.00 per month per deployment.
For more information about availability and integration with your system, contact Doextra's Engagement Manager, Julie Brandt.
Image by Mark Hunter.
Recently I received my Inbound Marketing Certification, which represents a proficiency in blogging, social media, SEO, lead generation and nurturing, and closed-loop analysis. At the end of the day, what this really means is that I understand how to best use technology to optimize marketing efforts and the likelihood of "Getting Found."
After 100+ hours of immersion in internet marketing, here are my road-tested, super-easy Top 10 Lessons Learned to Reach High Performance Marketing.
- Make Twitter your friend. PR Newswire and Crowd Factory recently announced that Twitter generated 30% more traffic to press releases than Facebook. By investing 20 minutes each day in participating on Twitter and growing your Follower-reach, you will have a much higher response when you tweet out exciting new corporate announcements.
- Always say "Please" and "Thank You." Just because you aren't dealing with people face-to-face, doesn't mean you can forget your manners. First impressions online are crucial, so remember to be gracious, helpful and kind.
- Never assume that once is enough. Even if you write a blog post full of remarkable content, doesn't mean that everyone will see it, simply because of the audience cycles and peak traffic times. Offer up the same bit of content in several different ways over time, just change your tweet language or the manner in which it's delivered (e.g., company newsletters, personalized notes to colleagues, new tweets, etc.).
- Testing is an endless cycle. Vigilance and testing is imperative to finding what works best and optimizing marketing practices. For example, test which email subject lines get you the best response rate or which landing pages convert the most visitors. Your audience and competitors are evolving all the time, so you should be too.
- Long-tail keywords = saved money + less work for you. Long-tail keywords are keywords that website visitors use to find you on search engines that are niche to your services and audience (for example, "craft beer des moines" or "custom suit tailoring"). These keywords drive more qualified to your website and/or blog. Pick 10-25 to use when optimizing your site and blog posts. You will save money on paid searches each month with a long-tail keyword strategy.
- Check yourself weekly on Klout. Klout is a website that evaluates your impact on the internet (pretty intimidating/motivating, huh?). Your Klout score changes daily; it is a pretty solid reflection of the people and topics you are a major influencer of. Get your Klout score today and check it often as a benchmark and competitive analysis (you can look up how your competitors are doing).
- Email marketing is a gift from the Interweb gods. Email marketing is an excellent way to quickly nurture clients and prospects. Email marketing can be used for newsletters, nuturing campaigns, product roll-outs and outbound marketing efforts with the major benefit serving as a platform for systematic and periodic touchpoints to contacts. Editorial note: take the necessary steps to be CAN-SPAM compliant.
- Liking CRM isn't nearly as tough as you think. CRM is an excellent place to set-up and run campaigns, track Lead and Account progress, and keep all data in one accessible bucket. I used Salesforce CRM to plan Doextra's events and schedule email communications. Without it, I would be a slave to Excel sheets and not nearly as productive in maintaining lead generation and customer relationships.
- Don't try to be fancy, just be consistent. Some people simply try to do too much and in the process become sloppy and inconsistent. Choose several social platforms where you know you are most effective and build conversations and a consistent information output.
- Input, input, input. The learning process is never over. Constantly re-invest in your knowledge of new products, networks and developments in the technology world. Don't wait for the bandwagon and old news. Keep up on websites, such as mashable.com and techcrunch.com.
Do you have a favorite lesson learned? Please share!
Image by Marketing Movil.