You may appreciate this GOOD news from Forrester, delivered by Reuters!
Mark
NEW YORK (Reuters) - After a tough 2009, the global technology industry will see an 8.1 percent increase in spending this year with software and computer hardware leading the charge, according to a report from Forrester Research.
Technology
The estimated market growth this year, to $1.6 trillion, compares with an 8.9 percent decline in global spending in 2009.
While the strongest growth is expected in Europe when measured in dollars, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based research firm said information technology spending will be one of the brightest spots in the United States.
Measured by local currency, the United States will be the strongest tech growth region, according to Forrester, with an expected increase of 6.6 percent to $568 billion after a decline of 8.2 percent in 2009.
The researcher sees European technology spending rising by 11.2 percent when measured in U.S. dollars, as countries in western and central Europe get a boost from the U.S. dollar's decline against the euro.
Forrester sees global spending on software up 9.7 percent this year and said purchases of computer equipment would rise 8.2 percent, while communications equipment will see a spending increase of about 7.6 percent.
"The technology downturn of 2008 and 2009 is unofficially over," Forrester analyst Andrew Bartels said. "All the pieces are in place for a 2010 tech spending rebound."
Bartels said the tech recovery is expected to be "much stronger than the overall economic recovery" in the United States this year, with technology spending growing at more than twice the rate of gross domestic product (GDP).
Investors will likely be hoping that upcoming quarterly earnings reports show some signs that back up these predictions. One of the first closely watched reports will come from chip giant Intel Corp later this week.
Other anxiously awaited technology company reports will come from firms including Cisco Systems Inc in the communications gear market and Microsoft Corp in the software segment.
Bartels said he sees 2010 as the start of a longer growth cycle especially for technologies involving server and storage virtualization, cloud computing and unified communications.
"We are entering a new 6- to 7-year cycle of IT growth and innovation that Forrester calls Smart Computing," said Bartels.
(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Richard Chang)
Technology
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Brian Geery's suggestions for 2010 Sales Planning
Brian Geery of Quota Inc. shared with me his suggestions for 2010 sales planning.
They are excellent.
See below.
Mark
_____________________________________
SALES PLAN ELEMENTS
Top Tier Prospect Definition
What are the defining characteristics of prospects that are mostly likely to buy?
What are the decision maker's profiles (buyer personas)?
How are non-prospects defined (those we should not pursue)?
Buy Cycle and Sales Cycle
What are the key elements of the Buy Cycle (physical actions a prospect must take in order to buy)?
How will we lead prospects through the Buy Cycle?
What are the key elements of the Sales Cycle (physical actions a sales professional must take in order to sell)?
What quantity of each of these actions are required to achieve sales goals (lead to close ratio)?
Go To Market Strategy
How will we reach our target audience of prospects?
How will we engage our target prospect in conversation?
What are the reasons (catalysts) a prospect will have interest/motivation to buy?
Barriers to be Overcome
What are the barriers to success (competition from other companies, decision to do nothing, internal solution, no time, etc.)?
What are common objections?
How will we remove objections in the marketing and sales process?
CRM and Forecasting
What will be tracked in CRM?
How will we forecast bookings?
How can we use CRM to assist the sales effort on a daily basis (sales enablement)?
How are the sales stages defined and what are the related forecast percentages?
Marketing
What is the marketing message?
What are the key touchpoints at which the sales team will deliver this message (email signatures, inbound and outbound voicemail messages, automated attendant scripts, website visitor experience, key phone talking points, written correspondence, recruitment ads, font selection, and logo design)?
What shared metrics can be established to ensure alignment between sales and marketing?
What initiatives do we pursue in: Public relations? Business Development? Marketing? Advertising?
Meetings
What is the agenda and frequency of sales team meetings?
What is the agenda and frequency for Sales Manager / Sales Team Member individual meetings?
Sales Position Profile
What sales skills, behavioral characteristics, and qualifications / track record are required to succeed?
How can we make the corporate culture into one that optimizes sales success?
What are the primary responsibilities? All responsibilities?
Candidate qualifications?
First 90 day goals?
Position specifics: what is the quota, base salary, total comp at goal, benefits, territory, reporting relationship, and travel requirements?
Recruitment
What is the marketing message to attract top candidates?
What is the candidate sourcing strategy?
What is the candidate interview and selection plan?
Training
What is the new hire training plan? Key learning objectives?
How will we know participants have learned what they have been taught? What are our knowledge checkpoints?
Compensation Strategy
What is the compensation strategy of similar positions?
What is the base salary?
What is the variable compensation strategy?
Incentives? Non-monetary rewards?
Commission payment eligibility?
Sales Presentation
How do we present our value proposition?
What is unique?
What is compelling? Why should a prospect buy now?
What is the ROI? Reduce expense, increase revenue, or both?
What endorsement can be used?
Do we need to educate before we can sell?
They are excellent.
See below.
Mark
_____________________________________
SALES PLAN ELEMENTS
Top Tier Prospect Definition
What are the defining characteristics of prospects that are mostly likely to buy?
What are the decision maker's profiles (buyer personas)?
How are non-prospects defined (those we should not pursue)?
Buy Cycle and Sales Cycle
What are the key elements of the Buy Cycle (physical actions a prospect must take in order to buy)?
How will we lead prospects through the Buy Cycle?
What are the key elements of the Sales Cycle (physical actions a sales professional must take in order to sell)?
What quantity of each of these actions are required to achieve sales goals (lead to close ratio)?
Go To Market Strategy
How will we reach our target audience of prospects?
How will we engage our target prospect in conversation?
What are the reasons (catalysts) a prospect will have interest/motivation to buy?
Barriers to be Overcome
What are the barriers to success (competition from other companies, decision to do nothing, internal solution, no time, etc.)?
What are common objections?
How will we remove objections in the marketing and sales process?
CRM and Forecasting
What will be tracked in CRM?
How will we forecast bookings?
How can we use CRM to assist the sales effort on a daily basis (sales enablement)?
How are the sales stages defined and what are the related forecast percentages?
Marketing
What is the marketing message?
What are the key touchpoints at which the sales team will deliver this message (email signatures, inbound and outbound voicemail messages, automated attendant scripts, website visitor experience, key phone talking points, written correspondence, recruitment ads, font selection, and logo design)?
What shared metrics can be established to ensure alignment between sales and marketing?
What initiatives do we pursue in: Public relations? Business Development? Marketing? Advertising?
Meetings
What is the agenda and frequency of sales team meetings?
What is the agenda and frequency for Sales Manager / Sales Team Member individual meetings?
Sales Position Profile
What sales skills, behavioral characteristics, and qualifications / track record are required to succeed?
How can we make the corporate culture into one that optimizes sales success?
What are the primary responsibilities? All responsibilities?
Candidate qualifications?
First 90 day goals?
Position specifics: what is the quota, base salary, total comp at goal, benefits, territory, reporting relationship, and travel requirements?
Recruitment
What is the marketing message to attract top candidates?
What is the candidate sourcing strategy?
What is the candidate interview and selection plan?
Training
What is the new hire training plan? Key learning objectives?
How will we know participants have learned what they have been taught? What are our knowledge checkpoints?
Compensation Strategy
What is the compensation strategy of similar positions?
What is the base salary?
What is the variable compensation strategy?
Incentives? Non-monetary rewards?
Commission payment eligibility?
Sales Presentation
How do we present our value proposition?
What is unique?
What is compelling? Why should a prospect buy now?
What is the ROI? Reduce expense, increase revenue, or both?
What endorsement can be used?
Do we need to educate before we can sell?
Goals
What is the team revenue or booking goal?
What are the individual revenue or booking goals?
What is the new customer acquisition goal?
What is the existing customer sales goal?
What other goals should be established? (Examples: multi-year deals, market share, opportunities unseated from competitors, strategic accounts)
Brian Geery
Executive Vice President
617.513.1923 Quota, Inc.Sales Success Simplified
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
2010 Sales & PS planning for small Tech. Co.s
Would your planning be more productive if you had access to several other small technology centric companies's 2010 expectations?
Specifically, how SaaS, Cloud Computing, Web 2.0, outsourcing, and other new factors influence:
1) Required Sales to Sales Engineering ratios?
2) Inside sales to field sales?
3) The necessity of Proof-of-Concepts? Are they paid or not paid?
4) How much face to face communication will be required during the implementation process?
5) What role will channel partners play in sourcing and delivering new clients?
6) Will third party demand generation/appointment services be engaged?
7) What % of your hiring will be expansion versus topgrading?
8) What % of your sales and marketing budget will be dedicated to Social Networking marketing activities?
9) Will you be dedicating a whole, half, or quarter of an FTE to support Social networking marketing technologies?
If you could have the answers to these nine questions, would it be helpful in creating or rationalizing your 2010 plans?
If "Yes" please reply with your own answers to markrodman@xtraeffort.com . When sufficient feedback (ideally 50+ responses) is gathered, we will collect the data and send you meaningful information for improved 2010 planning.
All data will remain confidential and will only be shared in a summary fashion.
Your collective (as a group of 1400 CEO's and VP's) speed in answering the above questions will impact how fast you receive the results.
Thank you.
Mark
978-589-9700
Specifically, how SaaS, Cloud Computing, Web 2.0, outsourcing, and other new factors influence:
1) Required Sales to Sales Engineering ratios?
2) Inside sales to field sales?
3) The necessity of Proof-of-Concepts? Are they paid or not paid?
4) How much face to face communication will be required during the implementation process?
5) What role will channel partners play in sourcing and delivering new clients?
6) Will third party demand generation/appointment services be engaged?
7) What % of your hiring will be expansion versus topgrading?
8) What % of your sales and marketing budget will be dedicated to Social Networking marketing activities?
9) Will you be dedicating a whole, half, or quarter of an FTE to support Social networking marketing technologies?
If you could have the answers to these nine questions, would it be helpful in creating or rationalizing your 2010 plans?
If "Yes" please reply with your own answers to markrodman@xtraeffort.com . When sufficient feedback (ideally 50+ responses) is gathered, we will collect the data and send you meaningful information for improved 2010 planning.
All data will remain confidential and will only be shared in a summary fashion.
Your collective (as a group of 1400 CEO's and VP's) speed in answering the above questions will impact how fast you receive the results.
Thank you.
Mark
978-589-9700
Monday, November 30, 2009
Xtra Effort client hiring activity; Barometer?
If Xtra Effort's world of helping small technology centric companies hire Sales, Sales Engineers, and Professional Service people (nationally) is a barometer to economic health - things are improving.
We have seen a considerable uptick in hiring demand, including expansion slots.
Recent hires and new job requirements have included:
Companies that provide software or Software-as-a-Service solutions related to fraud prevention (insurance and elsewhere), risk management-compliance, data integration, data storage, marketing campaign management, web analytics, research, and GIS.
Locations have been the Northeast, Dallas, Upper Midwest, and West Coast (75% of recent hires have been West Coast; not as present in current hiring requirements).
Clients are still insisting on candidates meeting the majority of their exact criteria, including tenure, markets, technologies, and location. There remains intolerance to considerable job change or lack of a track record of sustained performance (quota, income, implementations, POC's) success for the majority of the last four years, with the exception of forgiveness for a recent "mulligan" during the recession. A candidate's core skills, experiences, and aptitude receive marginal consideration, but are often simply the ante into the game.
The trend is exciting, lets hope it continues! {Click here for viewing of actual job openings}
Xtra Effort's challenge is to inform as many suitable candidates as possible, while politely suggesting to those not suitable to trust our knowledge of client priorities.
Mark
We have seen a considerable uptick in hiring demand, including expansion slots.
Recent hires and new job requirements have included:
Companies that provide software or Software-as-a-Service solutions related to fraud prevention (insurance and elsewhere), risk management-compliance, data integration, data storage, marketing campaign management, web analytics, research, and GIS.
Locations have been the Northeast, Dallas, Upper Midwest, and West Coast (75% of recent hires have been West Coast; not as present in current hiring requirements).
Clients are still insisting on candidates meeting the majority of their exact criteria, including tenure, markets, technologies, and location. There remains intolerance to considerable job change or lack of a track record of sustained performance (quota, income, implementations, POC's) success for the majority of the last four years, with the exception of forgiveness for a recent "mulligan" during the recession. A candidate's core skills, experiences, and aptitude receive marginal consideration, but are often simply the ante into the game.
The trend is exciting, lets hope it continues! {Click here for viewing of actual job openings}
Xtra Effort's challenge is to inform as many suitable candidates as possible, while politely suggesting to those not suitable to trust our knowledge of client priorities.
Mark
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Changes in Enterprise Sales: Interpretation, Ideas and Actions
Have you noticed the recent impact of the internet and market consolidation on Enterprise Sales -particularly on small technology centric companies?
We have, and wanted to summarize and interpret the impact with simple observations and examples.
Brian Geery, EVP of Quota Inc., a sales consulting firm, and I collaborated to produce an 11 minute, 10 second presentation.
How you may react:
"I know 90% of the content, but it stimulated worthwhile dialog with my team"
"I know 90% of the content, but it provides excellent context for team members who directly or indirectly support sales"
The result: you and your team give more attention to actions and ideas that you may consider to be critical.
Please click: http://www.brainshark.com/brainshark/vu/view.asp?pi=800696627
{do you need to "temporarily enable pop-ups" to see it?}
Thank you.
Mark
We have, and wanted to summarize and interpret the impact with simple observations and examples.
Brian Geery, EVP of Quota Inc., a sales consulting firm, and I collaborated to produce an 11 minute, 10 second presentation.
How you may react:
"I know 90% of the content, but it stimulated worthwhile dialog with my team"
"I know 90% of the content, but it provides excellent context for team members who directly or indirectly support sales"
The result: you and your team give more attention to actions and ideas that you may consider to be critical.
Please click: http://www.brainshark.com/brainshark/vu/view.asp?pi=800696627
{do you need to "temporarily enable pop-ups" to see it?}
Thank you.
Mark
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Hunters versus Farmers
Hunters need the stimulation of a transaction, and appreciate the associated visibility and recognition.
Farmers/account managers find prospecting to be laborious or are unfulfilled with a transaction unto itself. They prefer the potential of a quality longer term relationship (including a series of transactions, fulfillment of business needs, etc.)
Both profiles are motivated by compensation. In fact, some hunters can also farm, given the appropriate compensation structure. However, a strong hunter profile cannot tolerate the lack of peaks and valleys, and visibility.
Hunting has two components: 1) Prospecting 2) Qualifying/Closing. Many farmers could be good hunters if prospecting is not required (because of strong marketing or telesales support to create “leads”).
In summary, farmers are invaluable if your client base and solution portfolio are big enough to justify the role. Do the math, if you generate X% more business from our existing clients, does it justify the dedicated role? If not, tweak your compensation structure (and training) to motivate the hunters to “see the light” and give existing clients a little lov’n in return for a recognition and $.
Farmers/account managers find prospecting to be laborious or are unfulfilled with a transaction unto itself. They prefer the potential of a quality longer term relationship (including a series of transactions, fulfillment of business needs, etc.)
Both profiles are motivated by compensation. In fact, some hunters can also farm, given the appropriate compensation structure. However, a strong hunter profile cannot tolerate the lack of peaks and valleys, and visibility.
Hunting has two components: 1) Prospecting 2) Qualifying/Closing. Many farmers could be good hunters if prospecting is not required (because of strong marketing or telesales support to create “leads”).
In summary, farmers are invaluable if your client base and solution portfolio are big enough to justify the role. Do the math, if you generate X% more business from our existing clients, does it justify the dedicated role? If not, tweak your compensation structure (and training) to motivate the hunters to “see the light” and give existing clients a little lov’n in return for a recognition and $.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
