Jose A. Briones, Ph.D.
SpyroTek Performance Solutions
@Brioneja
Softletter's SaaS and
Cloud
Applications University
2014
Austin, TX
May 13, 2014

2
• Key topics that will be covered include:
• The ongoing migration of CRM systems to the cloud and the most
popular choices available.
• How some products are popular simply because they have been in
the market longer, but no longer reflect state of the art in usability, UI
and UX.
• How some products have developed a strong position catering to
large enterprises but are not the best solution for a small business.
• Recommendations on which features and capabilities to explore
and evaluate depending on your company‟s needs and
requirements.

• CRM software automates such tasks as contact
management, communication tracking and
scheduling, and sales forecasting.
• The size of the CRM industry is now over $10 billion with
hundreds of competing offerings.
Twitter: @Brioneja
www.Brioneja.com

• Choosing a CRM is unfortunately not a simple task. The
most fundamental issue is the balance of
features/capabilities with ease of use which will
determine success or failure for the implementation.
In this presentation we will discuss the most important
aspects to consider when choosing a new
Sales/Marketing management system for your company.
Twitter: @Brioneja
www.Brioneja.com

• Some products are popular simply because they have
been in the market longer, but no longer reflect state of
the art in usability, UI and UX.
• Some products have developed a strong position
catering to large enterprises but are not the best solution
for a small business.
Twitter: @Brioneja
www.Brioneja.com

• You use multiple methods to communicate with your
customers (e-mail, phone, face-to-face, direct mail, etc.)
• You want to be able to target specific customers and prospects
and personalize communications
• Your customers‟ demographics vary
• You want greater visibility into your sales pipeline
• You‟re duplicating efforts within the company (i.e. two
salespeople call the same prospect)
• It‟s time-consuming and difficult to generate reports
• You want to be able to track marketing and sales trends and
identify opportunities
• Source: Brad Hoffmann, Socius
Twitter: @Brioneja
www.Brioneja.com

• 1. Generate More Leads: Pretty simple. You can turn information into
leads by understanding conversations and uncovering needs that you
can fill.
• 2. Qualify Prospects Faster: It‟s what you and your salespeople are
struggling with, right? To quickly evaluate contacts and leads and
uncover needs or issues you can sell into. Stop wasting time where you
have no chance of success.
• 3. Close More Deals: A key to growth – more deals more
often! Because you actively manage the sales process and have unique
insight into customer needs, your sales team will increase its success at
closing more deals.
• 4. Higher Average Invoice/Deal Size: Getting more dollars every time
you sell. Through customer and product/service insight your business
will be in the unique position of being able to more effectively cross and
upsell your products/services.
• 5. Margin Preservation: Virtually eliminate discounting or leaving
dollars on the table. Each sales engagement and customer can be
evaluated to discover nuances and needs that allow you to solidly
position and defend your value and price.
Twitter: @Brioneja
www.Brioneja.com

• 6. Improved Customer Service: Having the right
relationships, processes, and capabilities ensure that you can capture and
resolve small issues before they become big ones.
• 7. Tighter Customer Loyalty: Through closer relationships, better
customer service, and anticipating needs, your customers will choose to do
more business with you, more often.
• 8. Business Customer Continuity: An historical customer relationship
„memory‟ is always retained in the business, should salespeople leave or be
replaced within the company. And new salespeople get up to speed more
quickly, minimizing customer relationship or service interruptions.
• 9. Increased Marketing ROI: Quit throwing good money after bad. You‟ll
know how each marketing piece, campaign, or promotional item – from
placement to revenue – contributes to the business.
• 10. Profitability: This is what really counts – more profit to your
business. The business becomes more „intelligent‟ when it comes to the
most important and expensive drivers – sales, marketing, and customer
management.
• Source: NextCorp, Ltd. Twitter: @Brioneja
www.Brioneja.com

Twitter: @Brioneja
www.Brioneja.com

• More accessible database-
Tapping into a cloud network
makes your data more
accessible to your employees
across large distances.
• Third party service provider-
Having an outside vendor can
ease the stress involved in
routine maintenance. They can
oversee instillation and
testing, as well as manage your
application data.
• Environmental impact- Using a
cloud CRM system is a much
more energy-efficient method of
storing information. Storing
data on an internet sever uses
less energy than on a private
one.
• Cost-effectiveness
• More control over your
database- On-premise CRM
systems gives your company
the highest level of control over
its client information.
• Higher security- If the
company's information is
private or highly regulated
through Service Level
Agreements, an on-premise
CRM system may be required.
Healthcare providers, for
example, deal with sensitive
customer data that shouldn't be
trusted with an outside server.
• Directly involved with business
decisions-
• Might not actually be cost
effective- Less susceptible to
outside issues
Twitter: @Brioneja
www.Brioneja.com

Twitter: @Brioneja
www.Brioneja.com

Twitter: @Brioneja
www.Brioneja.com

Twitter: @Brioneja
www.Brioneja.com

Twitter: @Brioneja
www.Brioneja.com
Lead management
integrates business
process and
technology to close the
loop between
marketing and direct or
indirect sales
channels, and to drive
higher-value
opportunities through
improved demand
creation, execution and
opportunity
management

Twitter: @Brioneja
www.Brioneja.com
The CRM customer
engagement center
(CEC) refers to a
logical set of
technologies and
business applications
that are engineered to
provide customer
service and
support, regardless of
the interaction (or
engagement) channel.

• I strongly recommend to use a 100% cloud-based
product. 40% of the CRM products sold in 2012 were
cloud based. These systems have no cost of installation
and can be used by your sales staff from any location via
the web.
• 2. Main user screen should be welcoming, simple and
intuitive. If it is not, your salespersons will not use it and
the project will die.
• 3. Test search capabilities extensively.
• 4. Is the product capable of doing mass e-mail or direct
mail marketing campaigns? Today‟s modern CRMs are
far more than simple contact management.Twitter: @Brioneja
www.Brioneja.com

• 5. CRITICAL REQUIREMENT FOR B-B MARKETING: Does the
product have a simple way to segment your contact database.
• Consumer marketing does not worry too much about this since they can‟t
quite segment customers by needs and requirements, only demographics.
• In B-B segmenting is a must, and a CRM that cannot segment your contacts
into, for example, drilling companies vs. refineries it is useless for marketing.
• Infusionsoft uses Tags for this which can be used to generate
reports, segment different emails, etc.
• 6. Does the product offer a way to edit the steps in your opportunity
pipeline? Many products do not.
• 7. Must have a way to connect with your email system, either
Outlook or Gmail to easily record outgoing and incoming email
communications.
• 8. The newest CRM trend is to facilitate integration with social media
networks like Facebook or LinkedIn. Zoho CRM has a great feature
that connects the Facebook and LinkedIn profiles of your contacts
based on email address. Features like this will continue to increaseTwitter: @Brioneja
www.Brioneja.com

• Salesforce is in my opinion too overloaded with features
and not very easy to use.
• Highrise is the other extreme, easy to use but you will
quickly outgrow it and need something more powerful.
• Infusionsoft has developed a great position as the system
of choice for small businesses. It is in my opinion a good
balance of features and ease of use but it is not
inexpensive.
• GetBase has a cleaner and even simpler user interface
and should also be a good candidate.
• Many Zoho CRM users have very good things to say
about it. Furthermore they have a free starting package
for 3 users that is not as limited in capabilities as other
CRM free packages. Twitter: @Brioneja
www.Brioneja.com

• Users of Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
systems face an adoption and usage challenge.
• 50% of all CRM implementations fail.
• Badgeville implemented a “Big Game Hunter” program
for Salesforce.com to increase usage and engagement
with the system.
• Sales people started out at “Chicken Hunters” and
worked their way up to bigger and bigger game
statuses, as they utilized more and more of the CRM
system‟s features.
• For one customer, compliance increased over 40%.www.Brioneja.com
Twitter: @Brioneja

• Selecting a CRM system that
best fits the way your
company does business is not
a decision that should be
taken lightly
• You should devote the
necessary time and effort to
ensure a successful transition.Twitter: @Brioneja
www.Brioneja.com

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• Jose A. Briones, Ph.D. (Brioneja)
• Twitter: @Brioneja
• Brioneja@spyrotek.com
• www.Brioneja.com