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  • To what extent do code-signing certificates boost sales of your software?

    - by Dan W
    In the experiences of everyone here, have you found a certificate to boost sales of your (downloadable) program? I produce .NET software and upon clicking the installation file, Windows 7 pops up a message saying the software is from an "unknown publisher" and to proceed with caution. For Windows 8, this appears to be even more prominent, and may adversely affect the number of downloads, and therefore the number of sales. A certificate will help soften this 'warning' by (for example) changing the warning's colour from orange to blue, and give the publisher's name instead of 'unknown'. But I'd like more tangible evidence since many people are obviously used to that message, and may not care and download anyway. So has anyone noticed a jump in sales after the switch?

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  • Die individuelle Lizenz zum Erfolg

    - by A&C Redaktion
    Wer will schon mit anderen über einen Kamm geschoren werden? All unsere Partner sind auf sehr unterschiedliche Bereiche spezialisiert und arbeiten mit einem breiten Spektrum an Kunden, die wiederum eine Vielzahl besonderer Bedürfnisse mitbringen. Dieser Vielfalt entsprechend, bietet Oracle ein ausdifferenziertes Lizenzierungsmodell. Speziell für die unabhängigen Softwarepartner (ISVs) erläutert Senior Channel Manager Sven Jürgens im Gespräch mit Holger Pölzl, welche Form der Lizenzierung zu welchem Vorhaben passt. Neben der klassischen Full Use Lizenz gibt es beispielsweise noch deutlich günstigere Arten, von Application Specific Full Use (ASFU) oder Embedded Software Licensing (ESL) bis hin zu SAAS- oder Hosting-Angeboten. Welches Modell das richtige ist, entscheiden die beiden am liebsten im direkten Gespräch mit dem Partner. Kontaktieren Sie uns: Sven Jürgens und Holger Pölzl.

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  • Payments for Android through Checkout/AdSense

    - by David Cesarino
    To those that don't know, Android developers in some countries recently transitioned from AdSense to Checkout for Play Store payments. This is told to existing seller accounts: Q: What happens if I have funds in my AdSense account but am not eligible for a payout yet? A: AdSense accounts have minimum thresholds for payouts. If you’re not eligible for a payout through AdSense for [month of migration], the funds will be automatically transferred back to your Google Checkout account. Once you enter bank account information through your Checkout account and have accrued at least $100 USD, your first wire transfer will be issued during the next monthly payout cycle. However, AdSense is still holding my funds, and since Checkout already paid me directly, following the new directives, I'm afraid the funds will be held in AdSense forever (I used AdSense only for Play Store payments, as required). Obviously, this is no replacement for Google support (a crusade to reach them, but nevermind...), I'm just asking if someone experienced this problem during the transition and how it was fixed.

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  • Hardware from Oracle, Pricing for Education (HOPE) Program: New version now available!

    - by Cinzia Mascanzoni
    With HOPE Version 5, Oracle offers education institutions even more unmatched savings on its award-winning systems products making it more affordable for educational institutions to create scalable, high-performing, and low TCO teaching and learning environments. With special discounts for you, on selected Sun products from Oracle, the net result is that you can assist your Resellers in reducing the impact on their customers' budget in two ways: • Lower the total cost for technology acquisition of systems and hardware, for the end user • Reduce the environmental impact of the educational institutions served by your Resellers, by running and maintaining a lower cost, more efficient infrastructure Start today to take advantage of the new release of this exciting program from Oracle. Check the EMEA VAD Resource Center for a description of the products and discounts offered to you and to find links to more detailed information about these Sun products.

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  • Multi-monitor Usage

    - by logan2
    How many different applications do you use with a 2, 3, 4, 5 or more monitor setup? What's the most sophisticated multi-monitor setup you've seen? To be more specific, I would like to know exactly how you use your multi-monitor setup and how can I make better use of my own. How does someone take full advantage of a multi-monitor setup? And does having more monitors help your productivity?

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  • How do I pitch ASP.NET over PHP to a potential client?

    - by roman m
    I work at a Microsoft shop doing mainly web development. We had a client who asked us to review (improve) the data model for his web app, but said that he wants to develop his app in PHP (he knows "a guy" who can do it). When I asked him why he wants to go with PHP, he gave me the standard set of arguments from the 90's: Microsoft is evil, and PHP is free Writing an ASP.NET app is more expensive (software-wise) Why would Facebook use PHP if it was a bad idea? [classic] He had a few more comments about the costs associated with going .NET. The truth is that "Microsoft is expensive" does not hold water any longer, with their "Express" suite, you can develop an ASP.NET app without paying anything for software. When it comes to hosting, you can save a few bucks with PHP over .NET, but that's a small fraction of the projected development costs (we quoted 10-15k). Going back to my question, what arguments would I give to a client in favor of ASP.NET over PHP? [please provide sources for quantitative claims]

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  • The use of LGPL for Commercial use

    - by Smarty Twiti
    I am trying to make my first app for sale, I would like to ask some questions for those who have already sold their software: Have you used a Framework/Lib whose LGPL License? if yes, what are the impressions of your customers? for example, if your customers/ competitors from the market reveal technology/secrets that you used in your solution (as LGPL requires that you make a Dynamic Link (.DLL) for your libs and you clearly tell the use of a Lib/Framework ...). Full story: For my project, I used a framework LGPL/commercial (Dual License) the second one it was too expensive (about 3000 USD) which pushed me to use LGPL.. however I still concerned.. That is why I ask for advise and especially motivations... Please do not hesitate to participate... Thanks in advance.

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  • Have you used a Framework/Lib whose LGPL License? if yes, what are the impressions of your customers?

    - by Smarty Twiti
    I am trying to make my first app for sale, I would like to ask some questions for those who have already sold their software: Have you used a Framework/Lib whose LGPL License? if yes, what are the impressions of your customers? for example, if your customers/ competitors from the market reveal technology/secrets that you used in your solution (as LGPL requires that you make a Dynamic Link (.DLL) for your libs and you clearly tell the use of a Lib/Framework). Full story: For my project, I used a framework LGPL/commercial (Dual License) the second one it was too expensive (about 3000 USD) which pushed me to use LGPL however I still concerned. That is why I ask for advise and especially motivations.

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  • How to get out of supporting deadend sales pitches?

    - by JoseK
    As part of being a programmer, you often are asked to provide estimates/ make slideware / do technical demos for Sales teams to present to end-clients. Sometimes we go along for the 'technical' discussions or 'strategic capability planning' or some similar mumbo-jumbo. Sometimes, you kind of know which ones are totally going to fail and are not worth pursuing but the Sales guys present fake optimism and extract 'few more slides' out of you or the 'last conference call'. These don't lead to anywhere and are just a waste of time from other tasks for the week. My question is how do you get out of these situations without coming across as non-cooperative. Updated after Kate Gregory's answer: The problem is related to projects we know are doomed (from the technical feedback we've received) But Sales ain't convinced since they've just had a call higher up the management chain - so it's definitely going ahead !

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  • REGISTER NOW! ORACLE HARDWARE SALES TRAINING: HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE - ENGINEERED TO BE SOLD TOGETHER!

    - by mseika
    REGISTER NOW!ORACLE HARDWARE SALES TRAINING: HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE - ENGINEERED TO BE SOLD TOGETHER! Dear partner You can now register for Oracle's EMEA Hardware Sales Training Roadshow: "Hardware and Software - Engineered to be sold together!"The objective of this one-day, face-to-face, free of charge training session is to share with you and your Oracle peers the latest information on Oracle's products and solutions and to ensure that you are fully equipped to position and sell Oracle's integrated stack. Please find the agenda, schedule details and registration information here.The seats are limited and available on a first-come-first-serve basis. We recommend you to register yourself as early as possible and reserve your seat.Register Now We hope you will take the maximum advantage of these great learning and networking opportunities and look forward to welcoming you to your nearest event! Best regards, Giuseppe FacchettiPartner Business Development Manager,Servers, Oracle EMEA Sasan MoaveniStorage Partner Sales ManagerOracle EMEA

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  • REGISTER NOW! ORACLE HARDWARE SALES TRAINING: HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE - ENGINEERED TO BE SOLD TOGETHER!

    - by mseika
    REGISTER NOW!ORACLE HARDWARE SALES TRAINING: HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE - ENGINEERED TO BE SOLD TOGETHER! Dear partner You can now register for Oracle's EMEA Hardware Sales Training Roadshow: "Hardware and Software - Engineered to be sold together!"The objective of this one-day, face-to-face, free of charge training session is to share with you and your Oracle peers the latest information on Oracle's products and solutions and to ensure that you are fully equipped to position and sell Oracle's integrated stack. Please find the agenda, schedule details and registration information here.The seats are limited and available on a first-come-first-serve basis. We recommend you to register yourself as early as possible and reserve your seat.Register Now We hope you will take the maximum advantage of these great learning and networking opportunities and look forward to welcoming you to your nearest event! Best regards, Giuseppe FacchettiPartner Business Development Manager,Servers, Oracle EMEA Sasan MoaveniStorage Partner Sales ManagerOracle EMEA

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  • Oracle Cloud Services Referral Program Now Available

    - by Cinzia Mascanzoni
    Partners can now take advantage of the five different Cloud Services programs: The Cloud Referral Partner program allows partners to get rewarded for referring Oracle Cloud opportunities to Oracle. The Cloud Services Partner Referral program is an extension of Oracle’s existing referral program but offers a standard 10% referral rate paid on guaranteed revenue with $50K cap. For a limited time, Oracle is offering a 20% referral rate for [offering still being finalized]. Contact your partner manager for more details and click here for more information.

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  • Exadata, Exalogic and Exalytics Partner Demo Equipment Purchase Initiative

    - by Cinzia Mascanzoni
    Oracle is pleased to announce that as part of the Demo Equipment Purchase Program, until December 31, 2012, Oracle VADs may purchase Exadata, Exalogic and Exalytics configurations, for their own demonstration purposes or to distribute to a partner for the partner's demonstration use, at 25% off the list price. In addition, purchasing partners will be eligible to receive 10% of list price (excluding support) in MDF funds to support the partner's Exadata/Exalogic/Exalytics demand generation activities. New units must be used for demo purposes for a minimum of 6 months before they may be resold to an end user. For more info, visit the VAD Resource center here.

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  • Deal Registration is Moving to the Oracle Partner Store!

    - by Cinzia Mascanzoni
    In November 2012, Oracle will unveil a new partner deal registration system within Oracle Partner Store (OPS). At that time, OPS will become the single source for partners to register deals, obtain deal status, and place orders. The new deal registration system will offer several enhancements, including: Simplified Registration Form Easier Product Selection Expanded Browser Support Shared Registration Visibility Between VAD and VAR Pre-set Customer Selection from Partner Ordering Base Read more here.

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  • new to lists on python

    - by user1762229
    This is my current code: while True: try: mylist = [0] * 7 for x in range(7): sales = float(input("Sales for day:")) mylist[x] = sales if sales < 0: print ("Sorry,invalid. Try again.") except: print ("Sorry, invalid. Try again.") else: break print (mylist) best = max(sales) worst = min(sales) print ("Your best day had", best, "in sales.") print ("Your worst day had", worst, "in sales.") When I run it I get this: Sales for day:-5 Sorry,invalid. Try again. Sales for day:-6 Sorry,invalid. Try again. Sales for day:-7 Sorry,invalid. Try again. Sales for day:-8 Sorry,invalid. Try again. Sales for day:-9 Sorry,invalid. Try again. Sales for day:-2 Sorry,invalid. Try again. Sales for day:-5 Sorry,invalid. Try again. [-5.0, -6.0, -7.0, -8.0, -9.0, -2.0, -5.0] Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:/Users/Si Hong/Desktop/HuangSiHong_assign9_part.py", line 45, in <module> best = max(sales) TypeError: 'float' object is not iterable I am not quite sure how to code it so that, the lists do NOT take in negative values, because I only want values 0 or greater. I am not sure how to solve the TypeError issue so that the min and max values will print as in my code My last issue is, if I want to find the average value of the seven inputs that an user puts in, how should I go about this in pulling the values out of the lists Thank you so much

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  • Should I consider Erlang for web mvc?

    - by gotts
    Can I do that? I'm afraid that this can be an overkill and eventually I'll end up with much less productivity than with traditional stack like Ruby/Python/you name it. I understand that you will start with much lower productivity if you start to work with new technology but .. is it potentially worth trying and finally switch to Erlang as the only tool for web development and all the backend stuff. Or is Erlang more suitable for only some high performance backend tasks?

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  • Using MySQL to generate daily sales reports with filled gaps, grouped by currency

    - by Shane O'Grady
    I'm trying to create what I think is a relatively basic report for an online store, using MySQL 5.1.45 The store can receive payment in multiple currencies. I have created some sample tables with data and am trying to generate a straightforward tabular result set grouped by date and currency so that I can graph these figures. I want to see each currency that is available per date, with a 0 in the result if there were no sales in that currency for that day. If I can get that to work I want to do the same but also grouped by product id. In the sample data I have provided there are only 3 currencies and 2 product ids, but in practice there can be any number of each. I can correctly group by date, but then when I add a grouping by currency my query does not return what I want. I based my work off this article. My reporting query, grouped only by date: SELECT calendar.datefield AS date, IFNULL(SUM(orders.order_value),0) AS total_value FROM orders RIGHT JOIN calendar ON (DATE(orders.order_date) = calendar.datefield) WHERE (calendar.datefield BETWEEN (SELECT MIN(DATE(order_date)) FROM orders) AND (SELECT MAX(DATE(order_date)) FROM orders)) GROUP BY date Now grouped by date and currency: SELECT calendar.datefield AS date, orders.currency_id, IFNULL(SUM(orders.order_value),0) AS total_value FROM orders RIGHT JOIN calendar ON (DATE(orders.order_date) = calendar.datefield) WHERE (calendar.datefield BETWEEN (SELECT MIN(DATE(order_date)) FROM orders) AND (SELECT MAX(DATE(order_date)) FROM orders)) GROUP BY date, orders.currency_id The results I am getting (grouped by date and currency): +------------+-------------+-------------+ | date | currency_id | total_value | +------------+-------------+-------------+ | 2009-08-15 | 3 | 81.94 | | 2009-08-15 | 45 | 25.00 | | 2009-08-15 | 49 | 122.60 | | 2009-08-16 | NULL | 0.00 | | 2009-08-17 | 45 | 25.00 | | 2009-08-17 | 49 | 122.60 | | 2009-08-18 | 3 | 81.94 | | 2009-08-18 | 49 | 245.20 | +------------+-------------+-------------+ The results I want: +------------+-------------+-------------+ | date | currency_id | total_value | +------------+-------------+-------------+ | 2009-08-15 | 3 | 81.94 | | 2009-08-15 | 45 | 25.00 | | 2009-08-15 | 49 | 122.60 | | 2009-08-16 | 3 | 0.00 | | 2009-08-16 | 45 | 0.00 | | 2009-08-16 | 49 | 0.00 | | 2009-08-17 | 3 | 0.00 | | 2009-08-17 | 45 | 25.00 | | 2009-08-17 | 49 | 122.60 | | 2009-08-18 | 3 | 81.94 | | 2009-08-18 | 45 | 0.00 | | 2009-08-18 | 49 | 245.20 | +------------+-------------+-------------+ The schema and data I am using in my tests: CREATE TABLE orders ( id INT PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT, order_date DATETIME, order_id INT, product_id INT, currency_id INT, order_value DECIMAL(9,2), customer_id INT ); INSERT INTO orders (order_date, order_id, product_id, currency_id, order_value, customer_id) VALUES ('2009-08-15 10:20:20', '123', '1', '45', '12.50', '322'), ('2009-08-15 12:30:20', '124', '1', '49', '122.60', '400'), ('2009-08-15 13:41:20', '125', '1', '3', '40.97', '324'), ('2009-08-15 10:20:20', '126', '2', '45', '12.50', '345'), ('2009-08-15 13:41:20', '131', '2', '3', '40.97', '756'), ('2009-08-17 10:20:20', '3234', '1', '45', '12.50', '1322'), ('2009-08-17 10:20:20', '4642', '2', '45', '12.50', '1345'), ('2009-08-17 12:30:20', '23', '2', '49', '122.60', '3142'), ('2009-08-18 12:30:20', '2131', '1', '49', '122.60', '4700'), ('2009-08-18 13:41:20', '4568', '1', '3', '40.97', '3274'), ('2009-08-18 12:30:20', '956', '2', '49', '122.60', '3542'), ('2009-08-18 13:41:20', '443', '2', '3', '40.97', '7556'); CREATE TABLE currency ( id INT PRIMARY KEY, name VARCHAR(255) ); INSERT INTO currency (id, name) VALUES (3, 'Euro'), (45, 'US Dollar'), (49, 'CA Dollar'); CREATE TABLE calendar (datefield DATE); DELIMITER | CREATE PROCEDURE fill_calendar(start_date DATE, end_date DATE) BEGIN DECLARE crt_date DATE; SET crt_date=start_date; WHILE crt_date < end_date DO INSERT INTO calendar VALUES(crt_date); SET crt_date = ADDDATE(crt_date, INTERVAL 1 DAY); END WHILE; END | DELIMITER ; CALL fill_calendar('2008-01-01', '2011-12-31');

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  • Oracle Buys BigMachines - Adds Leading Configure, Price and Quote (CPQ) Cloud to the Oracle Cloud to Enable Smarter Selling

    - by Richard Lefebvre
    News Facts Oracle today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire BigMachines, a leading cloud-based Configure, Price and Quote (CPQ) solution provider. BigMachines’ CPQ Cloud accelerates the conversion of sales opportunities into revenue by automating the sales order process with guided selling, dynamic pricing, and an easy-to-use workflow approval process, accessible anywhere, on any device. Companies that use sales automation technology often rely on manual, cumbersome and disconnected processes to convert opportunities into orders. This creates errors, adds costs, delays revenue, and degrades the customer experience. BigMachines’ CPQ cloud extends sales automation to include the creation of an optimal quote, which enables sales personnel to easily configure and price complex products, select the best options, promotions and deal terms, and include up sell and renewals, all using automated workflows. In combination with Oracle’s enterprise-grade cloud solutions, including Marketing, Sales, Social, Commerce and Service Clouds, Oracle and BigMachines will create an end-to-end smarter selling cloud solution so sales personnel are more productive, customers are more satisfied, and companies grow revenue faster. More information on this announcement can be found at http://www.oracle.com/bigmachines Supporting Quotes “The fundamental goals of smarter selling are to provide sales teams with the information, access, and insights they need to maximize revenue opportunities and execute on all phases of the sales cycle,” said Thomas Kurian, Executive Vice President, Oracle Development. “By adding BigMachines’ CPQ Cloud to the Oracle Cloud, companies will be able to drive more revenue and increase customer satisfaction with a seamlessly integrated process across marketing and sales, pricing and quoting, and fulfillment and service.” “BigMachines has developed leading CPQ solutions that serve companies of all sizes across multiple industries,” said David Bonnette, BigMachines’ CEO. “Together with Oracle, we expect to provide a complete cloud solution to manage sales processes and deliver exceptional customer experiences.” Supporting Resources About Oracle and BigMachines General Presentation Customer and Partner Letter FAQ

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  • Should developers *really* have private offices?

    - by Aron Rotteveel
    We will probably be moving within a year, so we have to make some decisions regarding office layout. At the moment, our company is basically one big office. When our developers can't bother to be disturbed at all, we all have our own headphones to mute the outside world. Still, it seems a lot of people feel that private offices are no doubt the way to go. From Joel's article Private Offices Redux: Not every programmer in the world wants to work in a private office. In fact quite a few would tell you unequivocally that they prefer the camaradarie and easy information sharing of an open space. Don't fall for it. They also want M&Ms for breakfast and a pony. Open space is fun but not productive. Even though I can understand the benefit on productivity, does having a private office really result in more net productivity? There seem to be plenty of companies that create wide open spaces and still maintain good productivity. Or so it seems. (I should mention many of them use cubicles, though) What is your opinion on this? What does your company do? Is there some middle ground in this? Some more related information on this matter: Private Offices Redux The new Fog Creek office A Field Guide to Developers Gmail recruitment page. Found this last one somewhat remarkable since the Gmail recruitment page promotes the "wide open space" idea.

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  • How to block a website completely?

    - by user37076
    I want to block some sites(e.g. youtube,news sites ), because I have a problem with procrastination and I find these websites affect my productivity very much. I used to block them by adding them to HOSTS file. However, gradually every time I want to take a break, I open the hosts file and comment my block again. Is there any way I can block the websites and cannot (at least a little bit hard, e.g. I have to reboot my pc) unblock them. I have no access to the router or any firewall, besides the ones on my computer. I just want to FORCE myself to work without any chance to procrastinate.

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  • Beyond Chatting: What ‘Social’ Means for CRM

    - by Divya Malik
    A guest post by Steve Diamond, Senior Director, Outbound Product Management, Oracle In a recent post on the Oracle Applications blog, my colleague Steve Boese asked three questions related to the widespread popularity and incredibly rapid growth of Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Steve then addressed the many applications for collaborative solutions in the area of Human Capital Management. So, in turning to a conversation about Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Sales Force Automation (SFA), let me ask you one simple question. How many sales people, particularly at business-to-business companies, consistently meet or beat their quotas in their roles by working alone, with no collaboration among fellow sales people, sales executives, employees in product groups, in service, in Legal, third-party partners, etc.? Hello? Is anybody out there? What’s that cricket noise I hear? That’s correct. Nobody! When it comes to Sales, introverts arguably have a distinct disadvantage. While it’s certainly a truism that “success” in most professional endeavors requires working with people, it’s a mandatory success factor in Sales. This fact became abundantly clear to me one early morning in the late 1990s when I joined the former Hyperion Solutions (now part of Oracle) and attended a Sales Award Ceremony. The Head of Sales at that time gave out dozens of awards – none of them to individuals and all of them to TEAMS of individuals. That’s how it works in Sales. Your colleagues help provide you with product intelligence and competitive intelligence. They help you build the best presentations, pitches, and proposals. They help you develop the most killer RFPs. They align you with the best product people to ensure you’re matching the best products for the opportunity and join you in critical meetings. They help knock the socks of your prospects in “bake off” demo’s. They bring in the best partners to either add complementary products to your opportunity or help you implement a solution. They work with you as a collective team. And so how is all this collaboration STILL typically done today? Through email. And yet we all silently or not so silently grimace about email. It’s relatively siloed. It’s painful to search. It’s difficult to align by topic. And it’s nearly impossible to re-trace meaningful and helpful conversations that occurred among a group or a team at some point in history. This is where social networking for Sales comes into play. It’s about PURPOSEFUL social networking versus chattering. What is purposeful social networking? It’s collaboration that’s built around opportunities, accounts, and contacts. It’s collaboration that delivers valuable context – on the target company, and on key competitors – just to name two examples. It’s collaboration that can scale to provide coaching for larger numbers of sales representatives, both for general purposes, and as we’ve largely discussed here, for specific ‘deals.’ And it’s collaboration that allows a team of people to collectively edit and iterate on a document like an RFP or a soon-to-be killer presentation that is maintained in a central repository, with no time wasted searching for it or worrying about version control. But lest we get carried away, let’s remember that collaboration “happens” among sales people whether there is specialized software to support it or not. The human practice of sales has not changed much in the last 80 to 90 years. Collaboration has been a mainstay during this entire time. But what social networking in general, and Oracle Social Networking in particular delivers, is the opportunity for sales teams to dramatically increase their effectiveness and efficiency – to identify and close more high quality and lucrative opportunities more quickly. For most sales organizations, this is how the game is won. To learn more please visit Oracle Social Network and Oracle Fusion Customer Relationship Management on oracle.com

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  • Beyond Chatting: What ‘Social’ Means for CRM

    - by Divya Malik
    A guest post by Steve Diamond, Senior Director, Outbound Product Management, Oracle In a recent post on the Oracle Applications blog, my colleague Steve Boese asked three questions related to the widespread popularity and incredibly rapid growth of Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Steve then addressed the many applications for collaborative solutions in the area of Human Capital Management. So, in turning to a conversation about Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Sales Force Automation (SFA), let me ask you one simple question. How many sales people, particularly at business-to-business companies, consistently meet or beat their quotas in their roles by working alone, with no collaboration among fellow sales people, sales executives, employees in product groups, in service, in Legal, third-party partners, etc.? Hello? Is anybody out there? What’s that cricket noise I hear? That’s correct. Nobody! When it comes to Sales, introverts arguably have a distinct disadvantage. While it’s certainly a truism that “success” in most professional endeavors requires working with people, it’s a mandatory success factor in Sales. This fact became abundantly clear to me one early morning in the late 1990s when I joined the former Hyperion Solutions (now part of Oracle) and attended a Sales Award Ceremony. The Head of Sales at that time gave out dozens of awards – none of them to individuals and all of them to TEAMS of individuals. That’s how it works in Sales. Your colleagues help provide you with product intelligence and competitive intelligence. They help you build the best presentations, pitches, and proposals. They help you develop the most killer RFPs. They align you with the best product people to ensure you’re matching the best products for the opportunity and join you in critical meetings. They help knock the socks of your prospects in “bake off” demo’s. They bring in the best partners to either add complementary products to your opportunity or help you implement a solution. They work with you as a collective team. And so how is all this collaboration STILL typically done today? Through email. And yet we all silently or not so silently grimace about email. It’s relatively siloed. It’s painful to search. It’s difficult to align by topic. And it’s nearly impossible to re-trace meaningful and helpful conversations that occurred among a group or a team at some point in history. This is where social networking for Sales comes into play. It’s about PURPOSEFUL social networking versus chattering. What is purposeful social networking? It’s collaboration that’s built around opportunities, accounts, and contacts. It’s collaboration that delivers valuable context – on the target company, and on key competitors – just to name two examples. It’s collaboration that can scale to provide coaching for larger numbers of sales representatives, both for general purposes, and as we’ve largely discussed here, for specific ‘deals.’ And it’s collaboration that allows a team of people to collectively edit and iterate on a document like an RFP or a soon-to-be killer presentation that is maintained in a central repository, with no time wasted searching for it or worrying about version control. But lest we get carried away, let’s remember that collaboration “happens” among sales people whether there is specialized software to support it or not. The human practice of sales has not changed much in the last 80 to 90 years. Collaboration has been a mainstay during this entire time. But what social networking in general, and Oracle Social Networking in particular delivers, is the opportunity for sales teams to dramatically increase their effectiveness and efficiency – to identify and close more high quality and lucrative opportunities more quickly. For most sales organizations, this is how the game is won. To learn more please visit Oracle Social Network and Oracle Fusion Customer Relationship Management on oracle.com

    Read the article

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