Chapter FourSales Force Automation.pptVIP

Chapter FourSales Force Automation Presented by: John Eddington Brooke Kendrick Laura Johnson Jenny Mayer Where It All Began Customer Relationship Marketing grew from a focused application to an enterprise-wide initiative and the growth has everything to do with the very beginnings in sales force automation SFA: Now and Then SFA were originally meant to improve sales force productivity and encourage salespeople to document and communicate their field activities They are becoming increasingly focused on cultivating customer relationships and improving customer satisfaction Scenario One You are on your way to a meeting with one of your best customer. Jim is not only one of your best customers – he’s one of the company’s best. His firm accounts for 2 percent of this year’s revenues. Soon, you hope it will be 3. You arrive early at the customer’s building, show your badge at the desk and take the elevator to Jim’s office. He is in a meeting with a member of his staff, but quickly dismisses them when he realizes you are there. He is always willing to listen to a sales pitch. However, he is not placing an order today, in fact he may never place another order again. His entire firm has been at a standstill for the past 48 hours because of your product. Your product is still on the fritz and Jim and his people have been on the phone to your customer support center for the past day and a half. Your face displays surprise. “No one told me about it, Jim,” you stammer as you strive to recall any voice-mail messages you might have prematurely erased. Jim stands up from behind his desk, a wordless acknowledgement that he’s far too busy to hear about your communication breakdown. After all, he’s got a big one all his own to worry about. You think about how to make up for the 2 percent in revenue you and your company are about to lose. Scenario Two Jim is still the customer being discussed. En route to your customer’s site, you turn on your PDA which begins to beep