Archive for April, 2009

Here we are at the month end and sales reps in many firms are going to be instructed to do what it takes to close deals. So, there’s this quote that we literally ripped out of Ron Hubsher’s book, Closing Time that might help.

Ron says:

1. Sales is about creating an eager buyer. By creating an artificial timeline to get a discount for the buyer, you have not created any real value to the buyer. If the buyer was convinced you were the best choice and was ready to choose your offering, you have needlessly given away 20% of your revenue.

2. If the buyer is not ready to commit to you, you have dropped your pants. What do you think will happen next? If the buyer eventually decides to choose your solution, will he pay full price? Probably not. What minimum discount will he start with?

Ron goes on to say that you will have trained your buyer to delay his purchase and ask for a larger discount.

So … best of luck from all of us at Navatar Group on creating a winning month!

Allan Siegert

Oh, one more thing.

More about Ron’s book at: http://www.salesog.com/bookpage. By the way, he has a killer list of blurbs that any author would die for; here is just one of them:

“An outstanding system for negotiating and closing sales opportunities on a global basis. I would recommend it to executives looking to drive revenues, command price premiums, and increase shareholder value. It is easy to understand, easy to use, and easy to implement. It is a must read.”
– Jim Steele: Chief Customer Officer, Salesforce.com

It is very exciting to hear that salesforce.com has released Volunteerforce, for a company to manage their volunteering impact.  Navatar’s association with nonprofits has been long and deep – complex salesforce implementations at nonprofits such as AARP, United Way, Girls Inc, Council On Accreditation, Points of Light Foundation, participation in the salesforce.com Foundation Power of Us program, as well as my own role on the Board of United Way in New Delhi and in India overall.  Volunteerforce will be great for companies no doubt – it will also help nonprofits as more companies provide better mechanisms to help engage their employees in Volunteering activities.

Here’s the link to downloading Volunteerforce – it’s free

http://sites.force.com/appexchange/apex/listingDetail?listingId=a0N300000016cifEAA

Alok Misra

Data center issues often prevent firms from creating new financial software products.
We are talking about issues like data center space (if there is any) and the up-front costs of buying servers, switches, firewalls and the like before you can go “wheels up” with your new offering.
What’s nice about the Cloud model is that you can build your product and not have to worry about the ongoing data center cost of running it. Nor do you worry about adding new customers. You pay “by the seat” as you ramp up. So, all of a sudden, bringing a new product to market becomes a whole lot easier.
We know, we have done it. We would like to hear your thoughts on this topic.

Allan Siegert

The phrase “outsourced solution” never really set hearts racing. But, the “Cloud” is different.

That’s why when a top thought leader started pushing the term and said that he is using it in a forthcoming book – the legacy, internal data center defenders knew they faced a real threat.

So, they (and the people who sell to them) created that relatively new, buzz mash-up “Private Cloud.”

Ugh. Kind of reminds you of word constructs like “enhanced interrogation” or “secret UBS account.”

The real “Cloud” suggests a “shared model” (usually called “multi-tenant” but we don’t like that term either). “Shared” is better because it conveys that costs are shared and that there’s a solid TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) story. And, that is what makes the “Cloud” a good thing.

The bottom line, “Private Cloud” is an embarrassing term created by defenders of the old order.

Allan Siegert

I recently read a few articles about what it takes to build your own Private Cloud. It sounds like a good challenge to undertake if you want to prove your credentials as an Enterprise Architect. However, if you are an ISV seriously considering a SaaS strategy to build a recurring revenue stream, lower costs, improve service or open new markets for your business, there may be more important issues to think about before you jump into building Private Clouds.

 
The most critical one, in my view, is of making the SaaS product profitable. You need to understand who will buy your product and why, what they will pay for it, what the costs of building, marketing, selling and servicing will be, etc. I can tell you, from first-hand experience (Navatar Group is a leading provider for Force.com products for the Financial sector), that it is easier to build a SaaS product, than it is to make money on one.

 
Why? Because SaaS customers expect more flexibility, adaptability and constant improvement – all at a lower price. Simply building a Private Cloud (or for that matter using someone else’s Cloud) and migrating your existing On-Premise product will not solve much. Before investing too much into Cloud development, it may worth spending some time to understand the cost of acquiring and servicing customers for your SaaS product.

 
For more on this subject, download a free whitepaper that I recently wrote, at http://navatargroup.com/WhitePaper.html

Alok Misra

NEW YORK, April 21, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Navatar Group, a global salesforce.com partner in financial services, today announced several new customers, including KStone Partners, Kelvingrove Partners and Zebra Capital. The firms are using Navatar’s customized CRM for Hedge Funds, a cloud computing application to manage hedge fund and fund of funds operations. Navatar CRM for Hedge Funds is built and run entirely on the Force.com platform from salesforce.com and is available on the Force.com AppExchange. http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/news.html?d=163434

It was at the same place the G-20 met but there were no protesters.

The attendance was massive and from some of the largest firms in Europe. Some estimates were 4,000 people. Discussions were lively! We’d tell you more but the true spirit of the event is well captured by the force.com blog – so we’ll point you there: http://blog.sforce.com.

Have a great weekend!