General Consultant Discussion

Has anybody found BRAND NEW customers via their presence on the web? I don't mean new 'orphan' but a new customer buying a new system who you didn't have a prior relationship with? I'm finding web marketing is ok at finding (mostly crappy) existing users, but seems to be coming up dry on people looking to buy new ERP software in general

I have found at least two very good brand new customers in the last year. They found us on the web. I'm not sure if that's because we are CRM and not ERP or if it's because we have a single minded message? It might help that we are typically on the first page for ""Sage CRM"" search but I'm not sure who searches for it ... it's Sage's best kept secret.

What I have been wondering for years is what search terms are used by people looking for a new system who don't already have a product in mind.

Similar experience to yours @MarkChinsky - the people who are searching for new are invariably looking for (a) discount, (b) comparison price to one that they've already gotten, (c) second opinions on functionality or (d) other ideas on products they should be looking at.. However I typically refer new web leads to someone local because in my experience unless they have a great knowledge of Sage 100 they almost always want to buy from someone around the corner from them.....though they are VERY happy to engage you in LENGTHY discussions about their needs and whether Sage 100 fits. I am probably a bad example because I don't chase these. My attitude is that I've built the knowledge and would be happy to help someone research this for a fee. As you know almost nobody is willing to pay anything for an analysis.

And I would immediately disengage with anyone looking who is not ""C"" level. There's a NEVER ENDING stream of IT people (both employees and independent) who seem to be doing a lot of the searching. Some of these IT people are paid to help find an ERP (even though it's clear they know almost nothing). Once I see there's already someone assisting in the search I typically will not go any farther or I become the unpaid resource...

Peter, were they already leaning to SageCRM when they found you or were looking for any CRM solution? My 'dream' is to create a web based 'shootout' site with 4-6 products compared side by side (like my Epartners days) however the time/cost to develop and need for multi-partner cooperation makes it continue to be a dream