PhaseWare CEO, Hoyt Mann, Discusses His Full-Serve/Self-Serve Approach to CRM
An interview by The Business Software Advisor

There’s a lot going on at PhaseWare these days.  In addition to the release of the newest version of their popular CRM product, Tracker 3.1, PhaseWare recently hosted a webinar called “Organic Knowledgebase Creation”.  Between the event and the new product, PhaseWare is showing businesses how to integrate exceptional “hand holding” customer service with the element of self-service.  I interviewed Hoyt Mann, President and CEO of PhaseWare, about both the traditional customer service and the shape of the new self-service model.  Here’s what he had to say:

Advisor: You’ve got a new product!  What features of your new Tracker 3.1 set it apart where customer service/helpdesk solutions are concerned?

HM: Two of the most exciting features in Tracker 3.1 are assisted knowledgebase search and self service subscriptions.

With assisted knowledgebase search, incident deflections can happen with the Self Service Center and automated email responses.  When a customer uses Self Service Center to submit an incident the assisted knowledgebase search offers links to possible knowledge base solutions prior to incident submission.   For each incident submission initiated through email, the Event Engine automatically responds with links to potential knowledge base solutions.  

Subscriptions help customers stay on top of the latest information by receiving automatic notifications.  These customers are notified via email or RSS feed of new content posted to Self Service Center related to their interests.

Read more »

Maximizer Executive Explains Why “Laptops are Old School”

Earlier this month, Maximizer CRM submitted a video on YouTube, called “Laptops are Old School”, to promote their mobile CRM product.  I found this video to be clever, hilarious, and a “must-see” – and apparently, thousands of other viewers had the same response.  I interviewed Angie Hirata, Worldwide Director of Marketing and Business Development for Maximizer, about the popular video and Maximizer’s mobile CRM product.  Read more »

An Interview with Entellium CEO, Paul “PJ” Johnston
By: Mandy Kemp

Q: How does Entellium endeavor to better meet the needs of salespersons with the new Rave CRM solutions suite?

  Our goal with Rave CRM is to provide smaller businesses a suite of products that help their sales teams spend more time and be more successful doing what they love – selling!

With Rave, we’ve built in a variety of features – such as pre-built activity sets and sales processes, and ‘leader board’ dashboards that give salespeople instant insight into the activities that will help them close the most business. We’ve also taken an innovative approach to the user interface by giving salespeople the ability to radically personalize Rave so that information is presented in a style that works best for them. Read more »

Jason Kort is the Director of Marketing for SoftVu, a marketing automation leader that delivers personalized, relevant, and timely communications to help businesses close more sales.  He leads the Interactive Services division which provides marketing strategy and creative content for SoftVu clients. In addition to guiding the company’s marketing direction, Jason is responsible for all lead generation, lead nurturing, and customer retention programs.

Jason brings over 13 years of marketing and advertising experience working with clients like Sprint, Blockbuster, and Wal-Mart. Prior to joining SoftVu, Jason was Marketing Director for Sunlight Saunas where he helped grow the online start-up to over $15 million in sales in less than 3 years.

Jason is an advocate for marketing automation and his writings can be seen in a variety of business publications and blogs.  Read more about Jason on his blog.

Lee B. Salz, President of Sales Architects, is a sales management guru who specializes in helping companies hire the right sales people, on-board them, and focus their sales behaviors. For 20 years, Lee has built high-performance, sales organizations that sold to consumers, corporations and the government sector; for companies ranging from the Fortune 1000 to small firms.

Experienced in both start-up ventures and turnaround situations, Lee works with clients to build high-performance sales organizations, using his sales architecture® methodology to ensure companies thrive! He has been successful in differentiating seemingly commoditized products and services – in both complex and transactional sales – resulting in record revenues and profits.

Lee is a dynamic keynote speaker and a results-driven, business consultant specializing in: formulating sales talent screening programs; on-boarding sales people through the Revenue Accelerator Program (RAP); using the Sales Behavior Objective (SBO) methodology for developing compensation programs; and helping companies to construct a “sales architecture” framework. 

In Lee’s widely-acclaimed book “Soar Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager” (WBusiness Books, 2007), he presents his sales architecture® methodology to the world. Inspired by a disturbing trend in business, the chasm between sales people and their sales managers, he saw the power in bridging the gap. Salz consults with companies to bridge the gap by implementing the sales architecture® methodology opening the door to explosive growth.

“The Sales Marriage” (Sales Gravy Press), Lee’s second book, due to be released in February 2009, teaches companies how to hire the right sales people. Salz presents the concept of a sales marriage, which is the relationship between a sales person and an employer based on a synergistic match of needs, wants, and desires. Lee works with companies to help them implement the sales marriage philosophy resulting in skyrocketing revenue and reduced turnover in their sales organization.

In addition to Lee’s two books, he is spreading his message as a print columnist with SalesforceXP Magazine, an online columnist for Sales and Marketing Management Magazine, and as the Internet radio host of “Secrets of Business Gurus”. His articles have been published on hundreds of websites and print magazines around the world. He’s also been quoted in many articles and books including the New York Times, Dallas Morning News, and MSNBC. 

Lee’s latest venture, Business Expert Webinars, was inspired by his recognition of the most critical factor affecting a business person’s success – their commitment to continuous learning. He launched Business Expert Webinars (BEW) as a means for business professionals to learn from industry experts without leaving their office. 

Lee Salz lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife and three children. He can be reached at lsalz@SalesArchitecture.com, by phone at 763.416.4321, and via his website at SalesArchitecture.com. 

Katherine Jones is the Director of Marketing for NetSuite, Inc., a Bay Area company that provides integrated CRM/ERP solutions as a hosted service to middle market enterprises. Her work includes the Services vertical at NetSuite, providing on-demand solutions for service-providing companies.   She was a research director at Aberdeen Group in Boston for eight years, focusing on research on ERP and mid-market companies.  Her focus there was on the fundamental processes of business operations and strategy, and the effects of technological change and innovation on these processes within the global organization. She has written widely on many areas of technology and business practices.

A veteran in enterprise applications, Jones has been responsible for technical product marketing and strategic alliance management in several computer companies since 1984. She founded Independent Consulting Services in 1994 to provide marketing services to high tech companies. Prior to a high technology career, Jones was a university dean, involved in academic administration, research, and teaching.

Jones is a frequent speaker and is widely published in the U.S. and abroad.

When Jim Ward founded BrainSell in 1994, his goal was to give businesses the insights and tools needed to thrive, even in challenging economies.  A prominent turnaround specialist, Ward had spent more than 23 years helping small-to-medium businesses apply innovative sales and marketing techniques in order to improve performance.   Having helped a variety of U.S. and Canadian companies transform into growing, profitable organizations, Ward determined that strategic CRM (customer relationship management) was key to each company’s success. 

Since then, Ward has built BrainSell into a dynamic CRM reseller organization that is dedicated to helping customers achieve victories.  His focus on hiring CRM professionals with real-world experience, and making them an integral part of their customers’ teams, has enabled BrainSell to develop a strong base of satisfied customers who rave about the company’s ability to deliver bottom-line results.  Having experienced year-over-year growth since its founding, BrainSell became a Top 10 Business Partner for Sage Software in North America under Ward’s leadership. 

Ward is a recognized expert in CRM.  He has addressed many organizations and published a variety of articles on how to use CRM to enhance sales and business prosperity.  

Ward has served on Sage Software’s CRM division Business Partner Advisory Council sub-committees. 

An honors graduate from Bentley College, Ward is committed to giving back to the community.  Driven by the belief that hard work and integrity pay dividends, Ward devotes time to a variety of civic projects.  

BrainSell’s website can be found at http://www.brainsell.net.

Chuck Schaeffer is the CEO of Aplicor, a global software publisher of subscription-based and hosted CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software solutions for high growth, middle-market and enterprise organizations.

Chuck is also a member of the FBI Infragard, Malcome Baldrige Board of Examiners and several not for profit organizations. Chuck’s profile may be viewed at his blog or LinkedIn.

Patty Azzarello was the youngest person to become a general manager at Hewlett Packard at the age of 33.

She ran a $1B global software business at the age of 35, and became a CEO for the first time at the age of 38. A few of her roles were as VP and General Manager of HP OpenView, CEO of Euclid Software, and Chief Marketing Officer for Siebel Systems.

Patty is currently the CEO of Azzarello Group, a unique services organization focused on helping business leaders actually get done what they want to do, and get a bigger payoff from their hard work.

Azzarello Group delivers practical, experience-based tools to business leaders, through products and services including articles, e-books, mentoring programs, executive coaching, public speaking, small business retreats, and business execution workshops.

More Azzarello Group resources for Small Business can be found at: www.BigHelpForSmallBusiness.com.

John I. Todor, Ph.D. is the managing partner of The Whetstone Edge, LLC, a customer-centric consulting firm that helps clients build customer equity by delivering compelling customer experiences.

John’s newest book, Addicted Customers: How to Get Them Hooked on Your Company, spells out the psychological principles that get customers engaged and business strategies that put these principles into action. His speaking and consulting clients range from small independent businesses to multi-national enterprises, and exist around the globe.