Explaining Salesforce.com to the CEO: Top 5 Payoffs

Last week, we discussed the top 5 misconceptions regarding Salesforce.com, keeping in mind that most of the lessons learned apply to any modern SaaS SFA or CRM system. This week, let's talk about how to explain the business payoffs in terms that business executives want.

Like any CRM vendor, Salesforce.com has its share of sales messages that may make for good press, but aren't all that relevant to a CEO. Cloud computing. APIs and infrastructure? Though you need to understand those issues as an IT pro, leave that discussion at the door when you go to see the CEO.

Business Payoff #1: Increased sales productivity, improved profitability A properly implemented SaaS CRM system can mean measurable improvements in deal win rates, number of deals completed per sales rep, and higher average sale prices (ASPs). Salesforce.com and other vendors go out of their way to publicize good numbers for each of these metrics.

While there's nothing wrong with these improvements, productivity per se isn't the important part. It won't help your business if the reps get really good at closing money-losing deals.

The bigger impact of a well implemented CRM system is that the reps will be chasing the right prospects, and working on the most profitable deals. The whole point is to find ways of lowering the cost of customer acquisition and increasing customer lifetime value. Hint: this means more upselling, more repeat business, and more business coming from customer referrals.

Business Payoff #2: Better visibility and control You might hear a lot about CRM systems providing a 360-degree view of the customer relationship. Yeah, right, in a perfect world. But let's keep expectations reasonable, and focus on some practical benefits:

1.You can really tighten up the sales forecast, and can get early warning signals if there are pipeline problems.

2. The system provides much more measurability of marketing, sales, customer support. But watch out: there's a danger that you'll measure some things too closely and spook your employees).

3. You can add controls on forecasts and quotes that make it easier to pass Sarbanes-Oxley audits.

4. You can run forecast updates and account reviews almost on the fly.

5. The system can tell you who where the customer problems are, so nobody should be blind-sided by an irate customer call. With SaaS CRM systems, every authorized user in your company worldwide will have real-time access to relevant data.

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