CRM - June 2008 - (Page S6)

6 June 2008 Sponsored Content SELL THEM; SERVE THEM; SUPPORT THEM. Connecting the Dots in B2B Sales and Marketing Consider AcmePro, Inc. AcmePro (a fictitious company) is a manufacturing company with consumer and industrial products, highly-regarded brands, and multi-channel distribution. Over the past four years, the company deployed multiple applications to support sales, marketing, customer service, and the company’s distributors and dealers. These applications include a CRM system (an expensive, multi-year implementation); an eCommerce application (developed as a front-end to the ERP system); a Sales Intranet (built in-house); a Dealer extranet (a password-protected portion of the public web site); and a campaign management system for emarketing. The company also has a product image repository on the Intranet; a technical publications library for customer service; and is considering a content management system for its web sites. With all those systems, things are going really well at AcmePro, right? Wrong. AcmePro’s CRM system doesn’t connect to the eCommerce system, so the salespeople have to piece together customer activity reports. The product image repository doesn’t connect to the eCommerce system, so dealers and distributors don’t know what new products look like. The Dealer extranet doesn’t connect to the eCommerce system, or to the technical publications library, or to the image repository. Dealers complain it’s too hard to get the information they need. The Sales Intranet is cumbersome and limited. The campaign management system is not connected to the eCommerce system, so there is no visibility to program results. What’s more, the CRM system cost so much to implement that there is little money available to address the weaknesses. Sound familiar? Unfortunately, it’s all-too familiar for many B2B marketing and sales pros. AcmePro’s spending on systems neglected five critical factors for success. Now the company will have to work hard – swimming upstream – to address these factors. On the other hand, companies that address the five factors before system implementation can create a virtuous circle of sales results driving marketing and service effectiveness, which in turn increases sales results again. The five critical success factors are: 1) Create a comprehensive, readilyaccessible Marketing Asset repository of product specifications, product marketing materials, sales tools, and brand assets – to leverage across all sales channels and customer-facing systems. Simply stated, no one sells anything, or buys anything, or supports anything without the basic facts about the thing, including a picture and a piece of collateral or a Marketing-approved message. • ACMEPRO MUST DRAW TOGETHER ITS SCATTERED PRODUCT MARKETING INFORMATION, BRAND MATERIALS, SALESSUPPORT TOOLS, AND RELATED COLLATERAL, IMAGES, AND DOCUMENTS INTO ONE provide sales support, capture orders, and create a collaborative exchange. Most likely, the CRM and eCommerce applications are not relevant for all sales channels and customer groups. So AcmePro needs a flexible alternative to sell, serve and support these audiences. • A CONSUMER HEALTHCARE COMPANY USED TAGTEAM® TO CREATE CUSTOMERTARGETED PORTALS THAT PROVIDE ECOMMERCE AND SALES SUPPORT. NOW THESE CUSTOMERS HAVE NEW PRODUCTS. “ONE PLACE TO GO” TO ORDER PRODUCT AND TO LEARN ABOUT 4) Introduce online request forms, topic discussions, and feedback mechanisms to systematically collect input from sales channels and internal customer champions. AcmePro’s systems are “all mouth, no ears” – to the detriment of its sales and marketing programs. • GOING FORWARD, CUSTOMER SUPPORT AND ECOMMERCE SYSTEMS ARE TWO WAY STREETS THAT ENCOURAGE DIALOGUE AND FEEDBACK. MARKETING-OWNED “SYSTEM OF RECORD.” • A ROBUST ON-DEMAND SYSTEM SUCH AS TAGTEAM® FROM LONGWOOD SOFTWARE MAKES IT EASY TO CREATE AND MAINTAIN SUCH A SECURE, ACCESSCONTROLLED REPOSITORY. CUSTOMERS AND SELLING PARTNERS SHOULD BE ABLE TO SUBMIT QUESTIONS, REQUEST PERSONAL ATTENTION, EXPLORE ORDER HISTORY, AND MAINTAIN LISTS OF FREQUENTLY-ORDERED ITEMS AND FREQUENTLY-USED ASSETS. 2) Connect the Marketing Asset system to the CRM system; to the eCommerce system; and to the internal and external web sites. The CRM and eCommerce applications are pillars that must be leveraged and complimented with the rich product information managed within the Marketing Asset system. • CONNECTING THESE DOTS INCREASES USER SATISFACTION AND ENSURES CONSISTENT ACMEPRO’S GOODS AND MARKETING ASSET SYSTEM AND THE SALES INTRANET, DEALER EXTRANET, AND PUBLIC WEB SITES PRESENTATION OF SERVICES. INTEGRATING THE ALSO STREAMLINES INFORMATION DELIVERY AND ENSURES CONSISTENT MESSAGING. 5) Analyze order trends, sales channel usage, product support patterns, and promotion programs to identify gaps. Unified reporting across all sales channels and customer groups is essential. Ideally, marketing and sales managers can correlate customer order history with sales channel activity and portal usage. With these five critical success factors handled, AcmePro’s sales and marketing team has a platform for CRM and eCommerce success. ABOUT LONGWOOD SOFTWARE Scott Richardson is the President/CEO of Longwood Software (Maynard, MA), the developers and marketers of TagTeam®. For more information, visit www.tagteam.com. 3) Create Partner and/or Customer Portals for specific segments, to http://www.tagteam.com http://www.tagteam.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - June 2008

CRM - June 2008 Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Making Mashup Masterpieces Trouble in the Air CRM on Twitter Is SaaS Ready for Its Contact Center Close-up? CRM: In the Public Interest Required Reading Lollipop Loyalty Best Practices Series: CRM & eCommerce eGain NetSuite Infor Longwood Software Vovici The Second Coming of 2.0 Believe the Hype About Hosted Contact Centers All Talk So Hot It’s Cool Linksys Gets Shaken, a Community Is Stirred The Risky Risk Business Awana Hears a SaaS Sermon Secret of My Success Re:Tooling Scouting Report Pint of View

CRM - June 2008

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