There’s an urban legend that during the dotcom melt down in 2001 Siebel experienced several quarters where they shipped more CRM seat licenses than what they actually sold. The first question that should come to mind is, “why?”. The answer, as it turns out, is rather simple. In the late 90s companies were spending huge amounts of cash on all things “dotcom” and throwing money at the “promise of CRM”. They were buying software based on half baked ROIs and then never installing it.* Once the bubble burst these companies then needed to see the ROI and value out of all those software licenses that had been collecting dust.
I’m not suggesting that during this downturn there are hoards of unused software laying around that are about to get shipped, but rather underscoring a simple point: The economy sucks and your customers need maximum benefit from your products or services. And its YOUR job to deliver it.
More to come, but I’ll leave you with this: How are you ensuring that your customers are getting the most out of what you sold them? If your customers are able to realize true cost savings and hard benefits from your product or service, they will buy more of your product or service (even in the current economy).
*In many cases the cost and complexity of deploying CRM applications far outstripped the price of the software or any tangible benefit.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
Additional Sources
