The time saved in the presale process has been enormous and the communication of implementation specifications to the customer has significantly reduced confusion and additional time spent redefining responsibilities. This has contributed to providing time for me to focus on the other critical aspects of selling such as prospecting and allowing our operations organization to move more efficiently through the install and support process. I’ve probably increased my presale productivity by 40% per day. But these tools go beyond just increasing productivity; they also allow me to present quotations and statements of work to customers in a very professional way. Finding more quality hours in a day is a challenge for all of us. In short order, your tools have helped me to create solid customer responses and increased available sales activity work hours.

Greg Reynolds, Regional Account Manager Enterprise

Thanks so much for making my life easier via the sales tools that you’ve created for us. Without these tools, I’d probably have to add several hours to my day to accomplish what I can now do in a few seconds. Configurations are accurate and complete, right down to the labor hours required to implement a selected hardware/software solution. With just a few mouse clicks, I can create pricing quotations for turnkey solutions that are formatted to show precisely what the customer wants to see. And with just a couple more mouse clicks, I can create a Word-based document that precisely describes the solution that they are buying from me.

The customer service that has been provided by your team is outstanding. You are willing to go beyond the “call of duty” to help resolve my needs regardless of the time of day. I really appreciated the time when you worked with us until 2am to create the software solution to generate and consolidate quotations for 102 customer sites for our proposal to Philip Morris USA, Inc. You probably saved us a week for that proposal effort alone, along with increasing the professionalism of the output and reducing the errors that would have inevitably been made if we had done this task manually.

Most organizations do not link their marketing and sales operations very well. I appreciate what you’ve done for us to weave together marketing and sales requirements to create truly effective campaigns. A couple of years ago, we needed to reposition ourselves around a totally new technology. You created an integrated sales and marketing campaign to help us introduce a major new product platform to our current and prospective customers. You created the marketing messages and value propositions that we could use with customers, especially those who were executive decision-makers. You also created the programs, sales tools and communication vehicles (such as seminars) to bring in the early adopters and create the testimonials that would help build our reputation. The result of all of this is that our company is now one of the top market share leaders in the market space that is served by our new product platform.

John Herrold, Global Accounts & Business Development Manager

You have been very successful at navigating the politics within our organization to craft solutions to problems that others were not able to solve. Despite opposition and differing points of view from various constituencies inside and outside of our company, you were able to create a new approach to pricing hardware, software and labor solutions that is based on manufacturer’s suggested retail pricing (MSRP). The new pricing approach not only simplified our approach to pricing with end customers and channel partners – thus increasing the productivity of these groups – but it provided our sales force with a customer-centric means of determining pricing for our turnkey solutions.

You created an integrated suite of tools and automated solutions to reduce paperwork and smooth the workflow between our front-line sales force and our back office. As a result, the needs of our back office have been met while minimizing the administrative burden placed on our sales force, enabling the sales force to focus their efforts on interacting with customers and crafting solutions that meet the needs of those customers. In addition to increasing productivity, your automated sales tools have increased the quality of the output that our sales force presents to their customers. Proposals are accurate, nicely formatted and very comprehensive. And, because the “content” is centrally managed, our sales people don’t have to re-invent the wheel every time they create a price quote or proposal. The benefits of these solutions include a more productive sales force, a more professional image with customers, and increased revenues and profitability.

Tim Meyer, Vice President, National Accounts

As an Account Manager, time management is always a major concern. On occasion, narrow profit margins on individual sales can become compromised due to lack of internal communications, dissimilar databases, or ambiguous customer expectations. At a time when companies are aggressively pursuing profits, any savings are significant.

Relative to the sales productivity tools that we had a few years back, I’d estimate that the sales productivity tools you have created for us have easily saved me 2 hours every day. More than that, these tools allow me to present my quotations to customers in a very polished and professional way. I especially like the fact that within ten seconds I can create a complete, well-written, professional-looking statement of work that is based on my exact system configuration!

Your team has provided so much more than simple automation solutions to make our sales force more productive. You have developed a combination of sales methodologies, sales/marketing collateral materials and automated software solutions to increase our effectiveness and productivity and, in the end, help us sell more to our customers. This combination of sales productivity solutions puts me in the best possible position to sell to my customers effectively and efficiently.

When we implemented a new methodology for approaching and managing accounts, you created the value proposition content to present to the key decision-makers in the accounts, as well as designed the software application that made it easy for us to create and share account plans. So, not only were we more effective with our new sales methodologies, but our efficiency with these new methodologies was maximized because of the automation tools that complemented them. As a direct result of working with you, my selling confidence has increased and my closing percentage with key enterprise-level customers has improved.

Arthur Miller, Major Account Manager

I can honestly say that you are … expert when it comes to crafting technical solutions to our everyday business problems.

I have always been impressed by your responsiveness to the needs of us folks who are out in front of customers every day. When I and others suggest an improvement to our sales productivity tools that would make life easier for us, I often find that exactly such a feature will appear in the next release of the tools. You anticipate our needs!

You understand how to bridge the gap between what the sales folks need on the front line, and what the back office requires. You have found numerous ways to fulfill the increasing needs of our order desk without increasing our paperwork (such as designing our sales opportunity tracking system). At the same time, you have provided us with more flexible and attractive ways to present our pricing and proposals to customers, enhancing my image with customers. I can create a quotation or proposal in seconds and, if accepted by the customer, quickly run it through our opportunity tracking system.

Dan Gammie, Major Account Manager

One of our first projects together was establishing a strategic accounts program at [a business communications solutions company]. The fundamental account management approach, as well as the methodologies for selling to key decision-makers, established the foundation for the approach that we subsequently took with our entire direct sales organization. Within the past few years, we worked to implement these methodologies, along with the complementary content and automation technologies, to create a more productive sales force.

Often times, people can only see one side of a problem. You have the ability to view all of the facets of a problem and, more importantly, the multiple facets required to provide a practical solution. When we implemented the sales methodologies to increase sales effectiveness, you enhanced these methodologies by creating sales and marketing content (such as value proposition material) so that our sales people would have the tools to successfully implement these methodologies. You automated several of the processes associated with these methodologies, including a large account management process (LAMP) software application that our account teams could use to create account strategies, objectives and action plans. By utilizing these methodologies and tools, we were able to gain access to executive-level decision makers in previously impenetrable accounts such as Best Buy and Chicago Public Schools. We also uncovered several new opportunities within many of our existing large accounts including ADP, Prudential, and New York Life. The result was a 15% increase in sales.

[You are able to] gain collaboration from various departments in an organization (even those that might not normally see eye-to-eye) to create customized, effective solutions that work across an entire enterprise.

Pat Whitney, President