We all want to be recognized

Abraham Lincoln reportedly said “Don't worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.” I am wondering how this applies to the companies we interact with. I would worry if I was not recognizing my customers, and I work to be recognized by them. Recognition is a concept that goes both ways. And as a customer, I worry when I am not recognized, or no longer recognized.

Technology has enabled amazing one-to-one marketing for businesses selling to consumers (B2C). But how effective is this marketing in reality? I am always shocked that I can walk into a car dealership and not be recognized. When I am shopping for a car I always point out what I have leased in the past. I am trying to help the car salesman recognize me. Another example might be Nordstrom. You could expect a shopping experience where you only see clothes in your size or even style. “Hey Rich - we know you - here is what we suggest.” Shoppers want to be recognized but it just hasn’t happened yet.

Companies selling to business customers (B2B) will find these in many different sizes, from small businesses to the Fortune 500. Very large customers are easy to recognize.There is complexity in selling to the company and its many divisions or departments, but you know they are large and important, because the deals tend to be bigger than deals with SMBs. Ford, General Electric, Starbucks - when selling to a big account the seller certainly recognizes the opportunity and treats the account accordingly by offering solutions to their needs.

Selling to small businesses is more like selling to consumers. To succeed sellers must sell in volume. In enterprise software most start here. Selling to a very large company is not always an initial strategy for a software company. We call this B2C2B (business to consumer to business). Start with smaller businesses and work up in account size. Nearly every software as a service company (SaaS) started selling to small and medium size companies.

As SaaS sales teams work into larger and larger accounts, what happens to the small business customers that were their foundation? Are they still recognized?

20 years ago when Salesforce was just starting the large competitors were SAP and Oracle. And 20 years ago a Fortune 500 company was not leaving SAP for Salesforce. Salesforce worked from the bottom and edges to build into the current market leader. Salesforce tries to recognize its smaller customers as it has moved up the market from a base of small business customers. The Salesforce IdeaExchange is where small business customers with a need not currently served post their requests. Salesforce small business customers can vote on these because they match their own. Salesforce product managers can use this website to know what customers are asking for. This is how Salesforce recognizes some of the needs of smaller customers.

Truth is, if you are a smaller customer - not a “logo” and not Fortune 500 - your needs may not be prioritized.

How does this impact your research for business software? You have a list of needed capabilities and are reviewing vendors. As you check off the boxes what is important to know is not just if the current needs are fulfilled. These boxes are checked, but you also need to know if your future needs will be fulfilled. Will you be recognized as important when you learn next quarter that your software needs have evolved? Will the software you chose also evolve with you? Do they offer custom solutions? Will they grow with you? Do they strive to be worthy of your recognition?

I am not a Salesforce developer but the company makes a great example, as it grew so fast. So I just talk about partnering with Salesforce here, especially since I regularly speak with a Salesforce partner, Rich Rosen, CEO of Fastcall. However, the same principles apply elsewhere. And as we can see in the example above Salesforce has become a very large company serving the largest of the Fortune 500 as well as many small businesses down to the single-user realtor or mortgage broker. It is truly remarkable to see a software company service such a wide variety of customers.

As a small company dealing with a very large company, Salesforce, you may want to think about the advantage of partnering with smaller companies as found in the AppExchange. The smaller Salesforce partners offset the largeness of Salesforce. Salesforce itself is not able to recognize and be very high touch with the smallest accounts, but smaller Salesforce partners are equipped to do so. You also have the choice of partners who are more experienced in your vertical or in a more convenient regional office.

Comments

Last Year's Top 5 Popular Posts

SAP CRM and SAP Jam - News from CRM evolution

During CRM Evolution 2017 I had the chance of talking with Volker Hildebrand and Anthony Leaper from SAP. Volker is SAP’s Global Vice President SAP Hybris and Anthony is Senior Vice President and Sales GM - Enterprise Social Software at SAP. Topics that we covered were things CRM and collaboration, how and where SAP’s solutions are moving and, of course, the impact that the recent reshuffling in the executive board has. Starting with the latter, there is common agreement, that if at all it is positive as likely to streamline reporting lines and hence decision processes. First things first – after all I am a CRM guy. Having the distinct impression that the SAP Hybris set of solutions is going a good way I was most interested in learning from Volker about how there is going to be a CRM for S4/HANA. SAP’s new generation ERP system is growing at a good clip, and according to the Q1/2017 earnings call, now has 5,800 customers with 400 new customers in the last quarter alone. Many

SugarCRM explains how the third wave of CRM adds value

The news On October 4 and 5, 2023, SugarCRM held its Connected event followed by an analyst summit in London. The first day – Connected – was targeted mostly at customers while the second day focused on analysts. The event started off with an intense speech by Katherine Grainger, DBE , a British rowing champion. Her core messages were about team bonding, the importance of communication, continuous improvement, and perseverance (well, at least that’s my take). This was followed by information about what is new in the software and, more importantly, a customer panel. The main sponsor, Mobileforce , placed some words about the partnership. In addition, the analysts had 1:1s with customers, partners, and Sugar executives. The second day was filled with information targeted at analysts. CEO Craig Charlton and his executive team shared about financial status, strategy and more in-depth product news. Sugar being a privately held, VC backed company, the financials are of course under NDA, s

How to play the long game Zoho style

The news On February 7 and 8 2024, Zoho held its annual ZohoDay conference, along with a pre-conference get together and an optional visit to SpacX’s not-too-far-away Starbase. Our guide, who went by Chief, and is probably best described as a SpaceX-paparazzi was full of facts and anecdotes, which made the visit very interesting although we couldn’t enter Starbase itself. The event was jam-packed with 125 analysts, 17 customer speakers, and of course Zoho staff for us analysts to talk to. This was a chance we took up eagerly. This time, the event took place in MacAllen, TX, instead of Austin, TX. The reason behind this is once more Zoho’s ruralization strategy, transnational localism. Which gives also one of the main themes of the event. It was more about understanding Zoho than about individual products, although Zoho disclosed some roadmaps. More about understanding Zoho in a second. The second main theme was customer success and testimonials. Instead of bombarding us with presenta

Relevance, reliability, responsibility are key for AI – the SAP way

The News A lot is going on in the SAPverse during October and the early days of November 2023. First, SAP conducted its CXLive event with CX-related announcements, then the company reported good Q3/2023 figures, a new version of its CX software that includes new generative AI capabilities got released and lastly, it executed its SAP TechEd event with a good number of AI-, BTP-, and ERP related announcements. As this is quite a lot, I covered the CX world in a previous post and will cover the TechEd related news in this post. So, what is new at SAP TechEd ? For one, it is enough to fill a 17-page pre-event news guide that SAP sent out. SAP certainly is able to stack up the news for major events. I took the liberty to ask ChatGPT for a summary of the document, which I slightly edited afterwards. Here we are: AI and Development Environments: · SAP introduces SAP Build Code with generative AI, improving application development and testing, while new AI capabilities are integrate

The Generative AI Game of Thrones - Is OpenAI toast?

The News This has been an exciting weekend for the generative AI industry. On Friday November 17, OpenAI announced that the company fired its figurehead CEO Sam Altmann and appointed Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati as interims CEO in a surprise move. The press release states that Altmann “ was not consistently candid in his communications with the board .” Surprised was apparently not only Sam Altmann, but also the till then chairman of the board Greg Brockman who first stepped down from this position and subsequently quit OpenAI. Investors, notably Microsoft, found themselves blindsided, too – or flat footed depending on the individual point of view. Satya Nadella was compelled to state that Microsoft stays committed to the partnership with OpenAI in a blog post that got updated on November 19, 11:55 pm. All hell broke loose. Microsoft shares took a significant hit. A number of additional senior OpenAI personnel quit. Both, Altman and Brockman, voiced the idea of founding anoth

aheadCRM

Search This Blog