SandHill.com Blogs

Voice of the Customer: Alarming IT Data Points

Vinnie Mirchandan — 2010-09-01T10:00:00-08:00

I am grateful for the plenty of positive coverage my book, The New Polymath, has received. The coverage though, has focused mostly on all the innovators I profile in the book, which isn't surprising because the vast majority of the book focuses on innovations.

Best Practices: Software Marketing: Breaking Barriers

Guy Smith — 2010-09-01T10:00:00-08:00

I opened a box of Cracker Jacks and the toy prize was a cell phone.

Mobile Moves: Competitive Devaluation

Guy Smith — 2010-08-18T10:00:00-08:00

The phrase, "It's just money" makes less sense when you compare the U.S. dollar and the post-Greek Euro.

Best Practices: Software Sales: Make Decisions Easier for Your Prospects

Jill Konrath — 2010-08-18T10:00:00-08:00

Crazy-busy prospects can't handle complexity. They hate it when things are difficult to decode, decide or decipher. It grinds them to a screeching halt—which is the normal human reaction to being overwhelmed and stressed out.

The State of Software Pricing: The Art of Pricing Software, Revisited

Antony Awaida — 2010-08-11T10:00:00-08:00

In a recent vacation, my family and I spent a couple days at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas. As we walked to the wave pool, there was a prominent sign advertising: "Private cabanas starting at $400." A steep price, I thought, for what is essentially a tent. But in Vegas, the city of glam and sin, some bathers will find a little extra privacy — as the commercial goes — priceless.

Megavendor Watch: Oracle and #039;s Mergers and Acquisitions: Who Will Be Next?

Steven Janisse — 2010-08-11T10:00:00-08:00

Beginning in late 2004 with its acquisition of PeopleSoft, Oracle initiated an acquisition campaign that has brought over forty companies into the Oracle fold. During that time, Oracle has made five multi-billion dollar acquisitions — about one per year — all of which have made for big news in the ERP software market.

On-Demand/SaaS Reality: As SaaS Evolves, So Will SaaS Pricing

Lincoln Murphy — 2010-08-03T10:19:32-08:00

From time to time I feel I must remind everyone—buyers, sellers, pundits, commentators, and analysts—that SaaS is not a pricing model or pricing strategy. From the vendor side, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a unique Software Business Architecture where service is the focus over the technology. From the consumer side, SaaS is on-demand functionality that solves business problems, putting—the focus more on the "service" aspect than the "software" SaaS might displace.

Best Practices: Software Marketing: The Importance of Reputation

Guy Smith — 2010-08-02T10:06:37-08:00

Back when I had a regular job—during the Taft administration—my co-workers loved to drop Dilbert cartoons on my desk whenever marketing was the strip's topic. In one installment a customer asked Dilbert if he was lying about a product, to which Dilbert replied, "No, that's marketing's job." This naturally reinforces the very stereotype that Seth Godin outlined in his masterwork, All Marketers Are Liars.

Emerging Market Opportunities: Android Drive

Guy Smith — 2010-07-27T10:34:17-08:00

I love it when people don't get it—it means the market is ready to shift.

Best Practices: Software Sales: The Seven Second Test for B2B Marketers

Jeff Ogden — 2010-07-27T10:00:00-08:00

At the Social Media Camp on Long Island last week, we got into an interesting discussion about how to get attention to drive sales leads. When I shared the "7 Second Test," one of the experts agreed, "That's why every comedian makes sure his first joke is his best. That's what grabs the audience."

New Era, New Thinking: Exchange Equilibrium

Guy Smith — 2010-07-19T10:30:56-08:00

Market advantages are like puppy love. They don't last.

The State of Software Pricing: Market Success Demands Third-Party Solutions

Cris Wendt — 2010-07-19T10:24:42-08:00

Licensing and entitlement management are at the heart of what a software company does to create and maintain an ongoing and profitable relationship with their channel partners and end-users. Companies license their software using different license models to capture revenue and they "operationalize" these processes with entitlement management systems and processes. As companies mature in the market, their capacity to effectively license their products and provide software only to entitled users becomes more critical to their success.

Software in the Cloud: Amazon and IBM Lead the Way in the Cloud

Paul Vatistas — 2010-07-13T10:56:52-08:00

Independent firm, BTC Logic, has named Amazon and IBM the top two positions in its Top Ten Cloud Platform rankings, which will be released tomorrow. The full report also reaffirms that enterprise and technology companies' concerns with security and other trust services in the cloud continue its slow adoption of cloud computing.

Best Practices: Software Sales: Escape the Numbers Trap: 4 Steps to Target Prospecting for Increased Sales

Ed Tittel and Carl Edison, Ph.D., Wilson Learning — 2010-07-06T10:54:27-08:00

If yours is like a lot of sales organizations, you may have intensified prospecting efforts lately as old customers downsized, cut spending, and in some cases went out of business altogether. The problem is that prospecting is often time-consuming, costly, wasteful, and hard on the morale of the sales team. Why? Look at some of the typical tips for successful prospecting: "Schedule a minimum of two hours a day for phone calling." "Spend the first 30 minutes of each day making at least three calls." The idea is that if you make enough calls, sooner or later a certain percentage will result in meetings, and a certain percentage of those will eventually result in sales.

On-Demand/SaaS Reality: Inside the Great Zendesk Price Debacle of 2010

Lincoln Murphy — 2010-06-11T10:46:37-08:00

If there was ever any doubt that the "Pricing is Marketing" mantra of Sixteen Ventures is true, just look at the SaaS and Web App pricing related stories that have come out lately. From the positive, where RightNow used changes in pricing in an attempt to disrupt the status quo in the SaaS CRM world, to the extreme negative press generated by Zendesk - and the accompanying customer backlash - last week when they jacked up their prices. I'll focus on the latter of these two examples in this post.

Megavendor Watch: Ballmer Bye-Bye?

Guy Smith — 2010-06-11T10:19:49-08:00

It is time for Steve Ballmer to bail.

Software Recruiting: Top Ten Tips for Hiring a Senior Executive

Bob Norton — 2010-06-11T10:05:07-08:00

There is no more important decision than choosing the people at the top or your organization. After all, they will hire or approve everyone else in the company, set the tone for values and make virtually all key decisions that will mean success or failure every business day.

Emerging Market Opportunities: The Great MDM Debate: Specialist or Generalist, Depth or Breadth?

Charles Greenberg — 2010-06-11T10:20:57-08:00

ADD AS NEW POST IN 'EMERGING MARKET OPPORTUNITIES'

Best Practices: Software Sales: Selling to Crazy-Busy Prospects

Jill Konrath — 2010-06-10T10:00:00-08:00

When was the last time you made your prospects really stop and think? If you're just spouting self-serving sales talk, the answer is probably never. But if you've developed at least some level of expertise in your field and aren't using it, you're letting opportunities slip by.

New Era, New Thinking: Envisioning a Software Distribution Hub

Jake Sorofman — 2010-06-08T10:54:13-08:00

Modern manufacturing is a direct consequence of a forced transformation — a transformation resulting from changing economics and massive product and supply chain complexity.