Top 10 technology trends for 2013. Say that ten times fast. If you tried, I bet you still couldn’t say it as fast as the trends that will be growing in 2013.  To meet the needs of your customers, you need to know what the large enterprises will be looking at for new technologies. What will they focus on that will help them increase their presence in the industry? Let’s take a look at the top 10 IT trends for 2013. Using this list as insight will help you build more sales leads and create better customer relationships.

1. Mobile Devices - Did you know in 2013, mobile devices will pass PCs to be the most useful source of Internet? By 2015, sales of PCs and tablets will be 50-50. By that time, Windows 8 will be what enterprises want, and enterprises will need those smart phones and tablets to use it.

2. Mobile apps with HTML5 - It really is convenient when companies have their own application. In 2013 and beyond, JavaScript will use HTML5 and the company browser to develop better applications for smart phones. Although many previous applications may take awhile to change to HTML5, they will still be a useful source of information.

3. Hybrid Cloud - Enterprises will be looking to use their platform everywhere. It needs to be easily accessible, but very secure. In 2013, enterprises will look beyond the VPNs and transfer themselves to private, public and more importantly, the hybrid cloud, which combines both public and private.

4. One person, One Internet - Right now, there are 15 billion “things” (articles, information, pages, links, etc.) on the Internet and over 50 billion connections. In ten years, both will increase over 50%. That means even more “things” and even more connections. With these changes, the technology within mid-market and enterprise companies will need are things like embedded sensors, image recognition and NFC tools. There are predictions that, after these changes happen, companies will only need one employee to run all of their Internet connections.

5. Data Sources - The days of having one data warehouse are pretty much dead. Companies are continually increasing the amount of data they available at their finger tips like, social data, intent graphs, consumption graphs, interest graphs and mobile graphs. Having all this data available to them helps them to make smarter business decisions.

6. In-Memory Capabilities - Enterprises will be looking to focus in on real-time business intelligence. That means that SAP and other companies will be really focusing on the ‘real-time’ trend. In-memory computing (compared to traditional disk based storage) will allow companies to speed up their implementations and make sure they’re systems and data are real-time.

7. Application Stores - In 2013 and beyond, enterprises will be looking to create private app stores themselves, selling domestic applications to their customers. This will also be used internally for their employees. With and more mobile devices being rolled out to employees, public apps can wreck havoc in regards to security. By having their own app store, they can control which apps employees have access to and that they’re safe for the IT environment. S

8. Virtual Appliances - A new trend for 2013 will be when companies ship their software appliances as hardware. The virtual appliance is basically a prebuilt machine that has already been configured and allows quick deployment of a server or to test a server-based application, without having to worry about compatibility issues or interactions with other applications. Some examples of virtual appliances are Openfiler, Zimbra and WordPress.

9. CyberSecurity - Cybersecurity has been a big issue this year already, especially with the President focusing in on strengthening privacy and cyber attacks. Enterprises will be looking for the best solutions to increase the safety of the company and their information.

10. Gamification - The word “gamification” means a game-thinking technique that companies use to connect with their customers. Enterprises will be using this technique much more with their applications to improve the measurement of real-time and determining their users behaviors.

Staying on top of trends is important to be able to offer mid-market and enterprise companies technology that are efficient, saves them time and increases their presence in their industry. For more information about finding what technology your current prospects and target companies are using, check out our CRUSH M3!

Mary Garon
Market Research Analyst
Mary dot Garon at salesquest.com

We just released our lastest version of CRUSH Mid-Market Manager (M3) that’s available in our web platform, CRUSHPro. The major difference is now we have IT architectures and org charts for mid-market companies. Our customers (and prospects) have been asking for this and we’re excited that we’re able to offer it.

With this new technology user database, it has 6,500 technology products and 1,500 technology vendors available to quickly create a hyper-targeted sales prospecting list. You can go to our website and search all the available products and vendors at: CRUSH Mid-Market Product and Vendor Search. 

Take a look below at the demo to see how it works.

Our customers are using the CRUSH Mid-Market Manager to build sales prospecting lists and email marketing campaigns based on specific technology products and vendors. Reach the right prospects at the right time with the right message.

Within the Mid-Market Manager, you can search through 500,000+ contacts, 12,000+ mid-market and enterprise companies, 8,000 org charts, 6,500 IT products and 1,500 IT vendors. Your search can be further targeted by area code, zip code, industry, annual revenue and number of employees.

We’re excited to be able to offer the upgraded Mid-Market Manager to both our customers and prospects! Here’s a link to check out some available samples on our website! http://www.salesquest.com/mid-market-manager/pricing/

Trish Ellis
Marketing Manager
SalesQuest
trisha dot ellis at Salesquest.com

If you’re a sales person the chance is you make a large number of phone calls every week. The truth is they are very important and you should make them count. Check how many of our Top 10 “Must Have’s” for sales phone calls below you’re already doing.

1. Prepare for the call. A little preparation can go a long way.
2. Know what you want to achieve. Whether it is a sales transaction or a meeting, make sure that you are clear on what the outcome of the call should be.
3. Have proper telephone etiquette. Always start with a polite personalized greeting. Don’t forget to thank the prospects for taking your call. Show them that you respect them and their time. It’s as simple as that.
4. Don’t let your fears turn into the prophecies. Some salespeople go into the call expecting just to get that dreaded ‘No’. They hear that the prospect is in a meeting and automatically translate it that the client doesn’t want to speak to them. Sometimes ‘He is in a meeting’ means that he actually is in a meeting.

5. Listen. It is important to make your pitch and convey your message but don’t forget that the call should be a conversation. It is also an opportunity for you to learn more about the prospect. Try to find out more about any needs you and your product can solve.
6. Qualify the prospect. If you’ve done your homework you will have qualified the prospect before calling. However, only the customer can validate the assumptions you made in the qualifying process. Ask the right questions and probe for the information you need. This makes the previous point even more important.
7. Use references. If the prospect doesn’t know much about you or your brand you can build some credibility by using references. It could be saying how you got their contact or mentioning that you are working with their partner; take the chance to build trust with the prospect.
8. Show the value of your offering. Clearly demonstrate what would be the benefits if they used your product. Tell your prospect what you can do for them not what you can do in general. There is a reason the acronym WIIFM (What’s in it for me) is still around.
9. Seek the outcome proactively. You are the one that wants to close the deal, remember? Ask for what you want. How else are you going to get it?
10. Schedule a meeting. This one applies only if that was your goal which is the case in so many of the sales calls. Offer to meet at a specific time rather than the generic ‘Could we meet to discuss this further?’ Additionally, give an alternative time. Now the choice is between the two times and not between accepting and declining the meeting.

Follow these steps to help you have a great phone call each time and help you close those deals!

Trish Ellis
Marketing Manager
trisha,ellis@salesquest dot com

When selling into Fortune 1000 companies, it can be very difficult navigating the chain of command to reach the key decision makers. Using org charts in sales can be vital in tracking your target accounts and prospect.

Org charts can be a very good tool to quickly see who is in charge, who reports to who and identify key decision makers in the company. When looking at the org chart, it’s a quick bird’s eye view of how the company is structured.

Not only can you identify the decision makers within the company, but it’s also great in knowing your gate keepers, influencers and champions. Org charts will help build more effective strategic account plans, into new accounts, and they will help you navigate the decision-making chain within some of the largest and most complex companies in the world.

CRUSH Report Org Chart

You can obtain org charts through our CRUSH Reports. We help you save time by creating them for you. CRUSH Report org charts also help you to discover new contacts and find the key decision makers to help close the deal. All of the CRUSH reports have organizational charts to help navigate the chain of command including executive level, management, and even the project manager level. The org charts provided give detailed info in both information technology as well as the various other lines of business including operations, human resources, finance, legal, sales, and marketing.

You can also create your own org charts using Word, PowerPoint, Excel or other various tools, if you have the time, patience and know the contacts. Either way, org charts should be a tool in your sales tool belt to help you navigate the chain of command and make sure you’re connecting with the right people in your target accounts!

To find out more about Org Charts and download a sample, visit: http://www.salesquest.com/org-charts/

Trish Ellis
Marketing Manager
trisha.ellis @ salesquest.com

There is no doubt that the modern world creates an enormous amount of data. The volume generated daily is measured in the range of quintillions. And the number is growing each day. We produce so much data that 90% of it has been created in the last two years. Some analysts predict that by 2022 the amount of data available will be 50 times more than today. Big data is the reality that companies face. It comes from everywhere – websites, call centers, POS terminals, internal intelligence warehouses, even soda machines. This situation poses all kinds of questions. But if CIOs have to start somewhere it’s from the three basic ones:

1. How to capture and store it
2. How to organize it
3. How to analyze it

Big data poses many opportunities but also many challenges. How to capture and store it is a big part of the challenges. One of the things that CIOs need to evaluate is what data should be captured. There is no point of storing data just for the reason of storing. The data that is being capture should be providing opportunities that the company didn’t have before. It should be used by the business people and not just take space on servers and hard drives. This challenge is also an opportunity for outside vendors. If they can show the benefits of big data and help the companies decide what data would be useful for them they can start a very lucrative relationship.

When dealing with big data, many CIOs need to reevaluate the company’s IT infrastructure. This is big part of storing and managing the data. The infrastructure is essential for the speediness and reliability of the system. The obvious thing the IT managers need to consider is storage. They need to think about much more however. The company might need improvements in its network, terminals, software for recording and pulling the data, even personnel. It will also need partners to facilitate the improvements.

There are many positives to big data. It gives companies the opportunity for a much rigorous analysis. Using big data, compared to many smaller databases for example, allows for better tabulations and correlations. Companies gain a better understanding of their environment and a deeper insight to their business. Organizing and analyzing the data are not possible with traditional solutions though. CIOs need to implement new tools to take full advantage of these opportunities. As a part of it, they will need to worry about both selecting the new software and implementing it. This is a perfect chance for you to step in. Advise your account to start small. Implement solutions with small batches of data first and then scale the project.

Big data provides many opportunities. And it’s here to stay. It’s on the mind of many CIOs and so should be on yours. Check out our free CRUSH Reports in the CRUSH eStore.

Trish Ellis
Marketing Manager
SalesQuest