A colleague and I are currently assisting a UK VAR in the pursuit of new installations, they have been tasked by Microsoft or at least that is the claim they are making to us that they need to move into new sectors of industries they have no prior experience of in order to gain a foothold in new markets. So we are leading the vanguard.

 

As much I am sure this is right I have noticed a couple of things that I am not sure are that helpful. As some of you will know my background before Dynamics CRM was Siebel and although I feel I have left it behind we are looking at a number of different industries that I have some knowledge of, hence why I have been asked to assist as the “industry expert” however my experience within these industries is with Siebel and is somewhat dated now.

 

We are looking at working with the financial markets and so much has happened in the last 12 months let alone the last 4 years that for parts of the plan of attack we are reliant upon the industry knowledge which resides within Microsoft and so yesterday I had the pleasure of working with the Microsoft Point Man for Financial Services. What became apparent early yesterday was that there is not a single CRM system out there which takes it lead from industry, all the CRM systems are set up to make life easier for the IT department.

 

Which in essence is a good thing for us and something on previous installs that I have been mightily grateful for, however in formulating a “marketing pitch” or even a reason to buy it is obvious that we will be dealing with IT Directors and FD’s who for the most part look at the bigger picture.

 

They are not all that interested in whether or not the integration with Outlook is better with Dynamics CRM, Salesforce or Siebel or if it is possible to access data stored on legacy systems without having to resort to a huge rebuild of either system. What they are interested in finding out if we can track the threat of leveraged debt, or by installing a new CRM system they can maximise profits from their existing products or if it is possible to increase their client retention.

 

The level of detail that we went into with the incredibly knowledgeable Microsoft Industry expert was inspiring and has helped in increasing the potential client base for us to “go after” (I am also learning sales lingo) but it was not until I started to write this last night that I realised at no point had he mentioned in any of his “practise pitches” or “marketing ideas” Dynamics CRM.

 

It is a wonder and a minor miracle that we are now to embark on a campaign to sell Dynamics CRM without it appears needing to mention that Dynamics CRM is amazing or that since Oracle bought out PeopleSoft the once much vaunted PeopleSoft CRM system has not had any R&D and is therefore at least 3 years old and dying on its feet.

 

Wonders will never cease but I am looking forward to the challenge and it’s amazing how simple it appears to sell your product if you don’t mention your product.