Mobile technology is becoming increasingly popular in the business world and companies are making mobility a priority. When iPads first came out, it was mostly popular for at home users. But more companies are now taking advantage of the benefits that tablets have to offer.

Chevron is focusing on three main points for its IT strategy in 2011. A new data center, improved content management and mobility.  Peter Breunig, General Manager of Technology and Architecture at Chevron said, “Our company this year has two or three big bets within our IT function to run IT better. Those around our data center, content management and the third one that is emerging is, what are we going to do about mobility?“

Chevron has begun a new tablet pilot program in which it is experimenting with Apple’s iPad and BlackBerry’s new PlayBook. “New mobility strategies are going to change the average workflow in companies,” said Peter Breunig. “The presentation of information [to decision-makers] is changing. What you can do on an iPad or other tablets gives IT different options for presenting information quicker and connecting the [worker] to the information.”

As the company moves towards new mobility solutions they will also be looking to ensure its data is secure. Breunig said he likes the idea that the coming RIM PlayBook can be tethered to BlackBerry smartphones used by workers. That feature would enable more security through the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. “You worry about security and you worry about policy changes over who owns the devices,” Breunig said.

Gartner says mobility will be a trillion dollar business by 2014. Chevron alone estimates that their capital and exploratory expenditures will be $26 billion.

Companies that are able to offer mobility solutions to Fortune 1000 and Global 500 companies, now is the time. Enterprise organizations want to invest in ways to make IT easier and is always being managed. People able to offer the data security that goes hand-in-hand with mobility could also highly benefit from organizations like Chevron that are looking to spend money in this arena.

Check out our CRUSH Reports to see who’s in the market for mobility solutions and find the best contacts through our org charts. Our Technology Business Drivers section will give you more insight into who else has money to spend besides Chevron.

Trish Ellis
SalesQuest
Email: trisha.ellis @ SalesQuest dot com
978.749.9999 ext. 105

©2012 Sales Intelligence Blog. All Rights Reserved.

In the current economic conditions, companies are looking to emerging markets for revenue growth. It is predicted that within the next 40 years, these emerging markets could surpass the developed countries.

Procter & Gamble, for example, has a big push for the upcoming years in the emerging markets sector. In 2010, they are extending distribution and store coverage in developing markets. They also will be adding 20 new manufacturing facilities between 2010 and 2014. Almost all of these facilities are in developing markets, and the majority will be multi-product-category facilities. If you’re marketing and selling to Procter & Gamble, now is the time to be communicating with them about potential sales opportunities for your company. The SalesQuest Procter & Gamble CRUSH Report details more of the business drivers that are affecting technology buying decisions.

At Procter & Gamble’s annual meeting in October 2010, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer Bob McDonald shared that Market share grew in 14 of the Company’s top 17 countries and the Company is now serving 4.2 billion consumers – well on track to achieve its goal of reaching five billion consumers by 2015.

“Our first quarter was a good start to the fiscal year. We maintained our top-line momentum and delivered profitable market share growth,” said McDonald. “We are confident that our Purpose-inspired growth strategy – to touch and improve the lives of more consumers in more parts of the world, more completely – will continue to drive growth and create value for shareholders. While the macroeconomic environment remains challenging, the solid first quarter results demonstrate that our strategy is working.”

As the emerging markets continue to grow, more and more companies are going to take advantage of emerging markets’ economic growth. Companies around the world can see this shift as an opportunity for growth. There are many sales opportunities to provide equipment, services, IT infrastructure and solutions that are needed to support industry growth in these emerging markets.

For more current industry sales intelligence and technology sales leads in the Fortune 1000 and Global 500, check out our Technology Business Drivers document or feel free to download our sample CRUSH Reports on Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, Starbucks and including the Procter & Gamble, please visit: http://www.salesquest.com/demo/

Ryan Murray
SalesQuest
Email: Ryan @ SalesQuest dot com
978.749.9999 ext. 102

©2012 Sales Intelligence Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Extractable, modifiable, clean, accurate, comprehensive: in an age of customization and automated analysis in mass quantities, these are qualities that we demand of the data we input so that the output is reliable and useful. Whether you’re running through lists of corporate contacts to add to a database for marketing programs or using metrics on consumer buying data to analyze buying trends to optimize your supply chain, we depend on data for so many different aspects of business.

As technology becomes more sophisticated, businesspeople are demanding speed and ease in their data gathering endeavors in order to save as much (precious) time as possible. In marketing and sales especially, there is strength in numbers; blasting a campaign to 80,000 contacts that may not be good prospects is faster and cheaper than handpicking singular people to spend your precious time calling to pitch your product. Dun & Bradstreet understands it’s customers’ need for fast and accurate data; they know that if they can’t provide a platform that is easy to use in order to extract their “commercial data,” which also needs to be kept clean and updated, they will lose market share.

The company expects to spend approximately $110 million to $130 million over the next two years to strengthen its leading position in commercial data and to improve its current technology platform. According to D&B president and CEO, Sara Mathew, “We will create a new data supply chain leveraging outside vendors who have state of the art technology.” The company has migrated its data management responsibilities to Acxiom, who will provide data center operations, technology help desk, and network management functions, which were formerly managed by CSC.

Acxiom was chosen to focus on increasing speed, data processing capacity and matching capabilities. D&B is investing huge amounts of money to provide customers with a seamless integration of higher quality, real time data through a range of “new age” work flows including mobile solutions, social networks, and text alerts. According to CEO Sara Mathew, “Our current infrastructure can be improved. It has impeded our ability to meet emerging customer needs at a time when customers are demanding an increased space of innovation to cope with the softer economy.”

Dun & Bradstreet is clearly tuned into the most recent changes in marketing and technology, and more importantly, how these things affect their customers’ business endeavors. They realize that they must invest in their platform, or their accurate and comprehensive data will be rendered useless. In this economy, people are choosing the easiest and quickest solutions in order to save money, and D&B knows that spending a little extra to optimize their user interface will more than make up for itself with customer renewals and new business.

- Carolyn Sebasky
carolyn . sebasky@salesquest.com
978.749.9999 ext. 107

©2012 Sales Intelligence Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Being prepared for a sales opportunity is a critical component of being a successful sales rep. Now, more than ever, being educated on your target account in preparation for an important meeting, presentation or call can be the deciding factor in whether or not the sale moves forward and the prospect becomes a customer. Account planning helps you to effectively prepare and stay focused on the prospect’s business objectives and goals to ensure that you achieve your planned results, create a consistent experience for the prospect, and ultimately identify how your product or service can make a positive impact on their business.

Strategic Account Planning

This need for preparation and planning is especially important when selling enterprise technology solutions. You need to know the account inside and out, what technology is currently installed, if your competitors in the account, who the decision makers and influencers are, what their business drivers are, and what their budget is. All of these components can be determined through the research required to create a strategic account plan that will guide you through the sales process.

An account plan should be your blueprint to guide you through the account. It should answer the 5 W’s: who, what, where, when and why, and it should assist you throughout the course of the sales cycle. The account plan should be continuously updated with information you uncover throughout the sales cycle and help you connect the dots to win the sale.

Account planning takes a lot of time and research. The first thing you need is a well-designed account plan template, as the template is your roadmap for the sale. Once you have a template, you then need to fill in your roadmap with different routes and eventually connect the routes to your final destination: closing the sale.

The most difficult part of account planning is performing the research to start mapping your route. Sales intelligence tools can help you answer the 5 W’s and create a logical roadmap for your sales process. As discussed previously in this blog, sales intelligence is critical to achieving best-in-class sales results. Companies using sales intelligence have shorter sales cycles and have more sales reps hitting their quota. Using sales intelligence research in conjunction with account planning gives you the map and the routes for the sale. After that, it is up to you to execute the plan and follow you guide.

Unfortunately, like using a GPS to find your way, in selling there is no one telling you where to turn or when you have reached your destination. But, there are great sales intelligence resources out there for you to take advantage of, and coupled with account planning, you can outrun your competitors.

-Mark Kilens
mkilens @ salesquest.com
978.749.9999 ext. 118

©2012 Sales Intelligence Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The issue of how a sales rep’s time is spent is not as simple as eliminating the need to do personal research by investing in sales intelligence; it is clear that the buck does not stop there. It not only takes time to do the hard research; even if the tools are paid for, there is still the issue of aggregating all of the content and making it available, easy to find, and consolidated in one place.

CRM systems solve this issue and even further reduce research and preparation time. In their study, Aberdeen found that 72% of their defined Best-in-Class companies currently have some sort of a CRM solution to “centralize” their information, compared to only 50% of the Laggard companies. Even further, 74% of Best-in-Class companies also integrate their marketing materials in the CRM system so that their sales representatives can “speak intelligently about the right products and services for their prospects.”

Clearly, centralization is important. It is not enough to just purchase contact information and company profile reports; if sales reps are actually going to use them before they make a call, it needs to be easily accessible and attached to the place where they are retrieving account and contact information. The number one priority of the rep is to hit their numbers every month if they want to keep their job. When the choice is between making more calls each day by passing over research and spending time to access information to be fully prepared, the choice is likely to be the former.

Aberdeen also looked at the most common delivery methods of sales intelligence at companies within the sample space. The majority (57%) indicated that e-mail was the method for delivering sales intelligence. While e-mail is not CRM-integrated, it is more easily accessible and convenient than accessing information on the internet, as only 31% indicated that they use a third-party web application where a login is required, and 29% indicated that their sales intelligence is aggregated on the company’s intranet. At the end of the day, a rep’s time is much better spent analyzing the information and preparing for a call than spending time looking for it, and Best-in-Class companies indicate that their reps spend “at least three to five hours a day in the CRM solution,” and therefore, their sales intelligence is best utilized when it is delivered in the CRM.

The key to sales success is not as simple as purchasing a sales intelligence tool and expecting numbers to immediately go up. The disconnect between a sales intelligence tool and a rep must be eliminated by exposing them to the tool, giving proper training, and making accessibility to the information quick, easy, and constantly present. CRM software, while occasionally expensive, is the best solution to this problem, and will increase the usage of your sales intelligence investments.

- Carolyn Sebasky
carolyn . sebasky@salesquest.com
978.749.9999 ext. 107

©2012 Sales Intelligence Blog. All Rights Reserved.