Blogs

Visit management: spoofing your location in CRM

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Using location data in visit management for convenience and productivity

Visit management on our mobile app depends on the GPS coordinates reported by the phone hardware. The location is used to query Google maps and it makes your life simple. We wrote a fairly detailed post on the technology some time back.

Using location data in visit management in CRM

Let’s say, you are meeting a client for the first time- let’s say a retailer who you are visiting. Since he is not in your database, you would have to go through a lot of hassle to first add the retailer in the database, and then log the activity.

This wastes time.

So, on our Android app, we allow you to add an account (a customer/ dealer etc) from the mobile app – straight from logging a visit. If the account exists already, well and good- the app will simply log a visit. If the account does not exist, then Saleswah automatically fetches the street address (where you are standing) from Google and goes through with logging a visit.

In the process, it creates a new account record,complete with street address.

Saves time. And, that was all we wanted to do.

Control, convenience and spoofing

We recently got a call from a client and then we had to relook at the visit log method. Because, some folks, who did not want their whereabouts known, or worse, wanted to pretend to be on tour or in the field – had found a way to fool the app.

So, what we thought was for convenience, was being used by management for control. And the users were finding ways around it.

Apparently there are tens of such apps in the Playstore- all can spoof your location and help you pretend you are in Georgia where you might be in Georgetown.

We stopped it of course!

Many of our functionality depends on careful logging of GPS data and accurately querying Google maps. Finding distances, directions. We could not afford uncertainty over actual location data.

The CRM walled gardens in the enterprise space

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The enterprise CRM and office software space just got exciting

Microsoft bought LinkedIn (old news!) . That was the first of the CRM walled gardens created in the office enterprise space. What is hot off the press, comparatively speaking, is the alliance announced between between Google and Salesforce. After months of rumor about SFDC joining the Microsoft camp, this announcement pretty much completes Google’s arsenal against Microsoft in the enterprise segment.

The key, as both Google and SFDC execs said separately- is that these companies are “cloud natives”. So, they see natural synergies. Some of it may well be spin, but a lot of it is true. I do find it interesting though the price points of the 2 offerings are far apart. An SFDC license could cost anything between 10 to 30 times more than a Google G-Suite license. So Google can run a scheme like take a G-Suite license free for every SFDC license, but it will be highly unlikely for SFDC to run a similar scheme (take a SFDC license for every G-Suite license you own!).

It leaves the rest of the CRM vendors a little left out to say the least.

The enterprise CRM walled gardens

There are now two CRM walled gardens- MS and LI are a camp and now SFDC and Google. It leaves SAP looking for a partner of similar heft in a parallel space to ensure the world of CRM is not bipolar.

What will Facebook do? It is moving to the enterprise space- there is the Facebook for business initiative- right now, little more than an ad and page manager. Whatsapp is beta testing its api or enterprise customers. Either it announces a CRM or partners with a CRM or buys one. Perhaps buys into one of the inbound marketing companies like Marketo or Eloqua or more likely, Hubspot.

Zoho and Sugar CRM will be rethinking their game as well. Zoho has built a office suite with the breadth of Google and will feel vindicated that their strategy to broadbase their offering seems to being followed.

What about us?

The SFDC Google alliance does not solve what we see as the problem with the way SFDC works. It is a software which managers love, but the users are less enamored of. Adoption is not easy, requires very strong consulting support and constant engagement with business IT.

We are in a quest to build a CRM software that SFDC perhaps set out to build when they started- something that requires very little training or customization and users liked using. And, then we have the benefit of wisdom acquired through the efforts of the current players and the changed technology landscape.

The changed technology landscape

Today it is all about connectivity and being present on multiple platforms and stores. Even SFDC hasn’t severed its links with Office 365 and it still calls AWS as a preferred partner.

It is also about mobility. As a customer told me the other day- they don’t even use our product on the web- they only use the Saleswah Android App. No reflection on our web app- it is just that his team is constantly on the road and it is not convenient (and it is expensive) to use laptops on the move.

So as we straddle both MS and Google and keep an eye out for Facebook and sharpen our play in mobile, we are aware that we simply have to continue doing the same thing- but do them a lot better than we have so far.

 

Guarding against exuberance: Deal scoring in CRM

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The role of deal scoring in CRM

All salesmen are optimistic- it’s their nature; that is why they are in sales.

They honestly believe till the last hour that their deal will close. Even when the evidence piles up against them. This creates problems for the manager and of course the company.

Okay, so what deals are valuable?

Having talked with hundreds of customers across industries – my only answer is that it depends. It varies from industry to industry and even within the same industry, it varies from company to company. And, I am talking of companies who have actually invested the time to define the threshold of information and interest and how they measure both before passing it on to a sales guy.

All deals are not the same. All customers are not the same. Purchase procedures differ. Even different salesmen have different judgments about the same deal.

Deal scoring in CRM helps everyone evaluate deals using the same parameters.

How do you evaluate your win chances in a deal? How optimistic are you about your funnel?Guarding against exuberance: Deal scoring in CRM 1

How do you know the person committing to close a deal this month, is right about his optimism? Or the other salesperson, who equally vehemently argues against including his deal in the monthly forecast, is right?

Multiply the problem with 10- the number of your reportees. And another 10, for your reportees have reportees too. It’s a huge problem. Sales forecasting is a big problem.

Interest in the next step

Interest shown by the contact in being contacted it seems is a big factor behind the deal being taken seriosuly. Also, the nature of interest matters too. Some would simply want more information to be mailed, while the others might want a visit from a sales person. I know at least one company where professed interest in meeting a sales person is ruthlessly scrutinized because the sales people are so senior and their time, expensive.

Where telecallers inevitably falter

Almost all companies have a script for the their telecallers. But I have seen most falter in sifting through the tyre-kickers and the door-keepers. Sales does not like information gatherers- though in some B2B enterprise sales processes, information sharing is mandatory as part of a long sales process. Sales also wants to talk to decision makers- and most leads tend to be from folks who are merely gathering data for their bosses. You do not want to be at the mercy of people who are not able to represent your case in from of decision makers- though sometimes you may not have a choice.

Action, level and logical fit

Sales love leads where there is clear action plan and it is obviously set up at an appropriate decision making level at the customer place. If the lead is from a customer or industry segment which is a logical fit- that obviously helps. If it is not, the telecaller should try and establish the need or the pain-point of the lead.

To summarize, valuable sales leads are where meeting is set up at a decision making level where a logical product fit can be established. After this is done, the lead can transition to the sales person and who will have a lot more confidence in accepting it.

We can now legitinately call it a sales deal.

Qualifying a sales deal through the sales funnel

Sales deals have been subjected to “qualification” for a long time. The most popular and long tested method is BANT. 

B- Budget, A-Authority, N-Need, T-Timeframe: are key parameters that are used to quickly sum up the chances of the deal progressing in the right way.

Now, every organization probably looks at BANT a little differently and that is okay. With Deal scoring in CRM, what they get is a method for standardization of the parameters. So, all deals get a standard score. That makes forecasting easier because that takes individual subjectivity out of the equation.

This totally makes sense especially when the team size is large. And the experience levels are vastly different. And that brings us to the next point.

Focus on key opportunities

Another key area where deal scoring in CRM helps is helping the salesman focus.

When you are new to sales, it can be hard to know what to focus on. The bigger one or the one down the road or the customer who always picks your phone or agrees to a meeting?

A CRM deal score helps achieve the objective- your rookie team member has his priorities set for him.

What do you think?

Do you think it makes sense to demand that your CRM gives you some feedback on the funnel which you can look at objectively.

What makes a sales lead valuable?

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A case for valuable sales leads

Sales folks are rarely enthusiastic about sales leads- which is surprising, or not- depending on how you look at it. There is obviously pressure to get to an opportunity before your competition. But, the worst thing for a sales guy is to have to chase dud leads. What are valuable sales leads?

Leads come in all shapes and from all sorts of sources. Most of them have little information other than a name and a number. Some have an email. And most of them result in nothing. Reasons are too numerous to go into, here.

Lead generation to qualification

Leads to deals to winMarketing generates the most leads for sales. And those are the leads that sales people are the most sceptical about. So, over time, most marketing leads tend to go through at least a level of “qualification”- typically a telecaller who would call the lead and gauge the seriousness or interest in purchase.

The filtering tends to be quite severe. I have seen as much as 80% leads fall by the wayside and only the 20% or less make their way to sales people to follow up. These bunch have a much better chance of closure.

The goals of the telecaller and the sales guys are – even if slightly, misaligned. The Telecaller is the “man in the middle”- he filters the marketing leads. They differ in their understanding of what valuable sales leads are.

Valuable sales leads

The telecaller – typically- is looking to get the lead to commit to a meeting or follow up call – from the sales person. He counts his success as a number of leads who have managed to say yes. This, needless to say is what the marketing guy wants too. More marketing leads result into a follow up call, better his metrics look.

Now, if poor quality leads make into the sales funnel, the sales metrics of conversion will look bad. Which is why I say, the goals of telesales and sales are often misaligned.

On balance, I still prefer the marketing to fund the tele-qualification function. There is of course scope in sales and marketing teams sitting down together and drawing up pre-agreed crieteria for deals qualification.

Okay, so what are valuable sales leads?

Having talked with hundreds of customers in scores of industries – my only answer is that it depends. It varies from industry to industry and even within the same industry, it varies from company to company. And, I am talking of companies who have actually invested the time to define the threshold of information and interest and how they measure both before passing it on to a sales guy.

Interest in the next step

Interest shown by the lead in being contacted it seems is a big factor. Also, the nature of interest matters too. Some would simply want more information to be mailed, while the others might want a visit from a sales person. I know at least one company where professed interest in meeting a sales person is ruthlessly scrutinized because the sales people are so senior and their time, expensive.

Where telecallers inevitably falter

Almost all companies have a script for the their telecallers. But I have seen most falter in sifting through the tyre-kickers and the door-keepers. Sales does not like information gatherers- though in some B2B enterprise sales processes, information sharing is mandatory as part of a long sales process. Sales also wants to talk to decision makers- and most leads tend to be from folks who are merely gathering data for their bosses. You do not want to be at the mercy of people who are not able to represent your case in from of decision makers- though sometimes you may not have a choice.

Action, level and logical fit

Sales love leads where there is clear action plan and it is obviously set up at an appropriate decision making level at the customer place. If the lead is from a customer or industry segment which is a logical fit- that obviously helps. If it is not, the telecaller should try and establish the need or the pain-point of the lead.

To summarize, valuable sales leads are where meeting is set up at a decision making level where a logical product fit can be established.

Lastly, when you work on a common platform for lead capture, qualification, conversion to deal and deal nurture and close, it definitely makes it easier for all. The lead qualification is a learning process- over a period of time and by capturing data of hundreds of leads qualified – your own criteria for evaluating leads will get better.

Linking Office 365 to Saleswah CRM

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It’s a connected world

Connected world

It is a measure of how fast technology shifts in today’s world that Office 365 was needed to stop the rapid march of G-Suite (Google’s online suite of office product) into enterprises.

No one got under the skin of Microsoft Office products like Google did. Before Google came in, OpenOffice, StarOffice, LibreOffice- they all came, had a tiny share of the market (why not? they were free!). But, Microsoft charged premium dollars and the enterprises paid.

No one in the enterprises looked seriously beyond Microsoft Office- Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint and Word.

Google hit Microsoft from a totally unexpected quarter- riding on the success of Gmail, Google put serious oomph in their online office suite. And from a curiosity for home users, they started getting adopted by offices- first the small ones and then the enterprises.

One thing Google never managed to shake off though, and that is the perception that Microsoft understands enterprise security (and others don’t). So, the penetration of G-Suite tapers off in larger enterprises- where Microsoft really rules.

The case for link and synch

Customer information everywhere

As CRM vendors, we need to make the customers productive by allowing them access to customer data where it exists. So, whether in the Contacts list in Gmail or in the Outlook or in your smartphone, or the calendar data, we can save you huge time and effort by reducing de-duplication of efforts.

A digression: we are Microsoft fanboys- even when it was really unfashionable to be one. We linked our CRM to G-Suite (Google for Work those days) many years back. For all our devotion to Microsoft, we could not find a way to link to Microsoft- but for a small add-in we developed for Microsoft Outlook– which exchanged contact and calendar data between Outlook and Saleswah.

The empire strikes back

Microsoft changed – and how!

From being a desktop software vendor selling licenses software, it pushed aggressively into the cloud. Without, and this is significant, abandoning their desktop software platform.

So, you can work on MS-Word online as well as on your desktop and the beauty is that it is so long as your license is valid, you can continue to get upgrades to your desktop software as well- so, your Outlook 2016 will become Outlook 2018 or 2019 whatever the new version is. Sure, it is a game of Opex vs Capex and Microsoft makes more money in the end; but the value that you get is tremendous.

Announcing: Link Saleswah CRM with Outlook Office 365

So, for all those years spent waiting – we can now link to the Office suite and of course our first target was the Outlook. Playing no favourites here – we linked Saleswah CRM with Outlook (online) the same way we linked with G-Suite. To enable connected users exchange contact and calendar data- Tasks and appointments- between the CRM and Outlook.

There is a difference though. We connect to G Suite from the CRM platform on the web. We connect to Outlook from the Saleswah Lite CRM app on the Windows desktop store.

Saleswah CRM link Outlook

 

We dare say the integration works well. Check it out – go to the store on your Windows desktop and download. Create an account or use your exisiting Saleswah account. For the initial set-ups, go to the app on the web- same user ID and password work here as well.

Enjoy! Feel free to contact us on email at accountservices@saleswah.com if you have a feedback or suggestion.

Just how vulnerable Indian startups?

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Ever since the arrest of the CEO of startup Stayzilla, the startup eco-system (or echo-chamber) has been abuzz with speculation, innuendo and flooded with advice on what you as a startup should or should not do.

For an example of “advice” see this in YourStory. My key takeaway from this article is: “Be compliant, keep your nose clean, ensure you get sane and good legal and financial advice and be compliant” if you are a startup.

All this is sane and even sage advice. But the threat is largely seen from a corrupt and nitpicking bureaucracy. Not from other companies, individuals.

What the article should have stated upfront was the real issue- the core issue – is our lack of transparent and responsive and fair legal framework. So, laws only work for the powerful, rich and connected. And since a startup is anything but rich, powerful or connected- at least to start with, it is very very vulnerable.

Did Yogi or Stayzilla fall foul of the government? No. He had a commercial dispute with a supplier. Now he is behind bars, in the silicon valley of India and the online campaign being run by all the startups put together is only circulating among their own. Here’s the story of Yogi and Stayzilla.

All those tweeting or FB-sharing with hashtag #ReleaseYogiNow ask yourself, is this the first time you have witnessed law enforcement over-reach? Or, mis-carriage or justice? Or cases dragging on for decades?

If you are a small guy and you bill your client and he does not pay- do you have a protection? If he claims non-delivery or deficient delivery, can you fight him legally?

If your case comes up for hearing in some far away state capital or worse, in some mofussil court, can you afford the cost of the battle- the time and the money?

While my sympathies are with Yogi and his family, his story is that of any of us- those who are neither rich nor powerful and who need to focus on work- but can’t because they are distracted by all sorts of things.

Compliance is laughable- compliance to what? It is a jungle out there. And, exactly how vulnerable are Indian startups? Just as vulnerable as any average Indian trying to run a business.

Enterprise software sales to enterprises

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Enterprise software sales in India is enterprise sales. This has major implications for all of us who are trying to evangelize SAAS as a means of delivery as well as recurring revenue collection.

Enterprise software salesWhat do I mean by “enterprise sales”? It means a sales process which is definitely non-transactional. It means that no matter how you choose to deploy your software, the customer will not buy on the phone or on the web. It means that you can’t win in enterprise software sales by demo over the internet. It means that you need a direct sales team who will need to make face to face calls.

The direct consequences are not limited to the need for a direct sales force. You need to be prepared to customize every time- no matter if the number of users is 5 or 500. The only “Off the shelf” software customers in India buy is MS-Office! For every thing else, there is customization.

Most customization is trivial- but, the catch is that it makes sense only to one customer and none else. There are of course, those customization requests that have significantly enriched our product. That is, they have become part of the mainstream product. Many reports are examples of requests that came from customers. Location tracking of traveling salesmen, service executives etc were customer requests.

The benefit of face to face selling is that you understand the customer business process really well. So, you know if your product is a good fit or will fit only at a stretch. But, I am not convinced face to face selling works for the enterprise software sales on SAAS platform. The upfront cost of acquisition is very high; so, the customer needs to stay with you for 3-4 years for you to break even – for a moderate ticket sale (20 or less licenses).

SAAS is meant to be a friction-less delivery model- but, this assumes that from the time of initial evaluation to adoption to use and re-use, though repeated payment and renewal cycle, it is “low-touch”. But, low touch can lead to low adoption as well- which leads to disengaged customers. Disengaged customers switch and while the switching cost is moderately high for an enterprise software product, the vendor makes a loss if the customer switches early in the adoption cycle.

So, what is the solution? Someday, the realization will dawn on everyone that by being a little flexible and bending your own business process to how the software works – and as it does for many others- you will have a faster and more successful adoption and also cheaper software. Till such time, we vendors and customers will continue to chase the mirage of custom built software paid for with the flexibility of per user per month.

How our taxation system kills risk taking

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It is not taxes but tax compliance that we fear

If you are doing business in India, then you would know this. The taxation system sucks big time.

The moment you raise a bill, you become liable to pay service tax. If the client on whom you have raised the bill, did not pay- even never- that service tax paid on a deemed income is paid to government. It will not come back.

Not just that, you are liable for income tax as well. So, let us say you raised a bill for Rs 100/-. The total invoice amount is Rs 115 (counting Rs 14 as ST and 0.5% each of SBC and KKC.)

If your client paid up and promptly, he would deduct, 10% as Tax Deducted at source (TDS) and send you Rs 103.5 (90% of Rs 115)

Of which, you would deposit Rs 15 with the service tax department. So, you would have with you Rs 88.5.

You would file returns for service tax, every 6 months. For TDS (yes, you deduct as well, from your vendors and employees), every quarter. And, by the way, you would deposit the tax every month.

For a small company, that’s an awful lot of paperwork. If Mr Jaitley is looking to help the entrepreneurs, this is where he should start. Our taxation system needs reform.

invoice-and-service-tax

What if the client does not pay?

Let’s take the extreme case of a client who simply does not pay. Ever.

You are liable to deposit the service tax on the above bill. So, instead of having Rs 88.5 in your pocket, you have a hole of Rs 15. Not just that. The government has recongnised that you had an income on which you are supposed to have paid income tax. Since no tax was deposited by your client on your behalf, you make good.

This really, really hurts.

Mr Jaitley, why make us pay service tax or income tax when we earned nothing?

The biggest weapon in the hands of the customer

When a client sits on a bill and worse, refuses to pay, he knows you are very very vulnerable. What can you do? Sue him? In India? With so many court cases dragging on for years?

The client knows he has you precisely where he wants you. By raising a bill, you are in his debt rather than the other way round!

The suggestion

My suggestion is simple. Make me pay service tax on payment realisation rather than immediately on raising the bill. So, if the client does not pay, I can write off the bad debt and move on.

 

 

The 5 Sales deal stages that you need to track

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What are the sales deal stages?

The sales cycle and the buying cycle

A sales cycle mirrors the purchase cycle- or it should.

The customer moves from initial awareness to interested and gets more involved in the decision making. He evaluates the solution and compares features, price and so on. Finally, he is ready with a decision.

Similarly, a sales cycle proceeds from initial sketchy understanding to deeper understanding- we learn more about the customer and his objectives, needs, how much he is prepared to spend and by when. The customer learns more about our solution as well. While this is a continuum, it is useful to create milestones to really understand how much work is still left to convert the opportunity/ deal into a purchase order. These milestones are the sales deal stages.

What makes it interesting is that, in almost all cases, you will have lesser quantity of deals in advanced stages of sales progression than at the beginning. What you lose in quantity, you make up for in quality- in being able to convert a far higher percentage of the advanced deals into orders.

Lots of names are used for the sales deal stages. Here’s what we use:

sales deal stages

You will see many, different names being used- depending on industries, even companies- they all use their own. Here’s how Hubspot describes the lead progression stages. Let us at least tell you what ours stand for.

Saleswah Lite CRM Deals Status Screen
Deal qualification components

The 5 sales deal stages

Lead:

You have just enough information about a potential sale. Some approximate idea of the budget and initial idea of the product/ solution fit to his needs.

Budget known, At least one Decision maker identified, Budget not identified, Budget Stage not identified.

Prospect:

Now you are sizing out the opportunity. Enough to schedule a visit/ call- some task to progress the deal with the decision makers. To early to forecast the time-frame or indeed the chance of closure.

At least one decision maker identified, Budget value OR stage identified, not yet met with or discussed the solution with the decision makers, some task scheduled.

Warm Deal:

A lot more information and interaction under your belt. You have met with the decision maker (s), discussed the solution enough to report their reaction to it, have a better grip on the budget size and approval cycle. And, you can commit yourself to a forecast date (howsoever tentative) or even a chance of win (howsoever low!).

Hot Deal:

The final stage before you reach the stage of closure. At this stage, you are in possession of all the information related to the deal. You have also submitted a firm priced proposal.

This stage is also called Presentation because it is here that you are making the final solution presentation to the clients to swing the deal your way.

Closure:

Closure is often mistaken as a Win. While that may be the desirable outcome 🙂 , we take a deal closure as the stage where the deal is awarded to one of the competitors, including you!

It is close enough after the Presentation stage; so, think of this as the Presentation stage done and waiting for the result- handling last minute objections, ensuring your messages have sunk in and definitely a sales deal stage which can be forecasted to close in the next month or so.

Four steps to selling in B2B

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1. Acquire, profile, manage and engage your contacts

You are connected- to your customers in all platforms. So should your CRM be. In the first of the 4 steps to selling, set up your Saleswah CRM in no time by one click import of your contact lists. Stay synced across Google Apps, Saleswah and Outlook. No pain contact management.

Four steps to selling in B2B 2

2. Log interactions and track activities at account and contact level

Businesses buy, but we interact with Contacts. Saleswah lets you track both- and, relate them as well.

Contact interactions are logged and their business impact shows up in the Account level dashboard. We even show you which of the activities that you are performing are related to a sales opportunity, and those that are not. Wicked!

 

Four steps to selling in B2B 3

3. Recognise the opportunity, nurture it and progress to win

From the time you sniff a whiff of an opportunity to the time it comes to pick up the order, Saleswah lets you track the sale, the stages of the opportunity- how ‘qualified’ is your judgement and your forecast?
Know the BANT score or the Deal Stage: anything that helps you with better forecasting of your opportunities.

Four steps to selling in B2B 4
Sales Deal Management in the Saleswah CRM

4. Reports and Dashboards to get constant feedback

 

Sales target vs achievement
Four steps to selling in B2B 5
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