Regardless of geographical location, industry, company size, or products manufactured: inevitably, one functional department will believe that it understands the customer better than another. These convictions inevitably cause problems. For example, the sales staff think they understand the customer better than marketing, which leads to an uncoordinated approach to the customer relationship, resulting in higher attrition rates, lower customer satisfaction and lower profitability.
At one financial services organization, the vice president of commercial marketing—let's call him John Smith—decided to do something about it. He recognized that marketing and sales were not always delivering the consistent customer experience needed to ensure healthy and profitable relationships..
Successful selling relies on effective integration between the sales and marketing departments within businesses. In the past, the two functions have often been at odds. Sales has typically been sceptical about the quality of leads provided by marketing. For its part, marketing has frequently been unimpressed by sales’ commitment to following up leads.
In today’s fiercely competitive business world, this traditional disconnect between the two departments is no longer acceptable. Estimates suggest that worldwide just over a trillion dollars is spent on marketing every year and that the typical firm spends a significant proportion (around 10-30 per cent) of its overall budget on marketing.
Naturally, key decision makers within companies want to ensure they..
A virtual assistant provides administrative services to organizations and businesses outside of the premises of the office of the organization. Because of the availability of phone lines and of the internet, a huge number of virtual assistants now are serv..
In March, executives from Eastman Software (www.eastmansoftware.com) and Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) jointly announced two new work management products based on Microsoft Exchange that promise to make serious document management and workflow capabilities simply part of the enterprise messaging infrastructure. We spoke with Michael Loria, Eastman Software's VP of Worldwide Marketing, to understand how putting work management into the Microsoft platform will change the market, and why Eastman is pursuing this business strategy.Q. Eastman Software has always been known for high-end production imaging and workflow. Why the new emphasis on Microsoft Exchange?We're trying to drive work management technology into the mainstream in order to grow the market. Let's face it, all the vendors have built good stuff, and it works ... but the industry needs to be bigger than it is. Our success depends on growing work management into a mainstream market...
Earlier this year Acxiom and the dealer services group of Automatic Data Processing (ADP) unveiled their database management service to help retail automotive dealers maintain more accurate customer contact information and to assist with privacy compliance of state and federal do-not-call lists. "Retail automotive dealers have invested significant time and money into CRM strategies, but those strategies just don't work without accurate, current data that can be integrated across multiple dealer sites," according to Kevin Henahan, senior vice president of marketing, ADP Dealer Services. "Now ADP and Acxiom have joined forces to help dealers maintain comprehensive, current customer records that help continuously grow and preserve the customer relationship."The service enhances ADP's DataFresh product by making use of three data integration and data hygiene offerings from Acxiom: AbiliTec, Acxiom BestAddress, and Acxiom ChangePlus..
Andrew Davies of Portcullis Computer Security Ltd reports that an older version of FatWire's Web CMS product,
Content Server 6.3.0, exposes cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities "in
multiple locations" in the Web UI, "mainly with the search and advanced
search functions." FatWire told Davies that it had already fixed the vulnerability
in a patch release.
The vulnerability is of a type where a specially-crafted URL (containing JavaScript)
can cause mischief if an unsuspecting user clicks a link containing that URL.
Also, just typing something like <script>alert('Hacked!')</script>
in a search box will cause a script to execute, reportedly.
Just for kicks, I tried searching for word of the vulnerability on http://developernet.fatwire.com. But
the Search box was disabled. Probably wise...
Find out how our customers are taking advantage of EMC Documentum solutions and products to resolve their challenges ranging from corporate administration, planning, and operations to design, marketing, and sales...
Kurt Dahlstrand, the Application Management Consultant at Empirix Inc. says that automated monitoring solutions are rapidly becoming standard elements in contact center design and management...
In the 1980s, financial institutions started rolling out their new automated teller machines, banking on the idea that customers would pay for this convenience. At first, the ATMs were not warmly accepted by consumers: The idea of using a plastic card in a machine outside of a bank to access your account was new, and it was strange for many people. However, as soon as customers determined the advantages of having ready access to their funds in the middle of the night, the installation and use of ATMs quickly skyrocketed. Today, anyone with a desire to start a financial institution without a network of ATMs would fail miserably. In less than two decades, the service became a commodity.
Things aren't all that different in today's technology market. In fact, innovations in technology have a profound impact on a company's ability to win..
In last month"s column, I introduced six issues that sales managers face every day. Among these were an increased span of control, managing reps from afar and the need for forecast accuracy. This month, in part two of this three-part series, I will take a closer look at these issues and certain questions that naturally follow, such as: (1) Does this apply to you and/or your sales managers? and (2) Can automation systems provide answers to any of these pressing issues? I hope to help you find an answer to the first question. As for the second, the quick answer is yes, systems and tools can now provide unprecedented levels of sales manager support. Here"s how. Span of Control Managing people provides new opportunities for sharing and learning. Unfortunately, these opportunities are often lost because everybody is "doing their own thing." Many SFA systems try to overcome this by enforcing lock-step regimentation-first this step, then that step and so on..
