Sage CRM

Regarding setting up CRM with 4.5 upgrades, I think it's a great idea. One thing that hasn't seemed to work (from a historic perspective on the Accpac side with the exact same free server / first user deal) is installing it and then discussing it. Your best bet is to have ""The Talk"" before you spend a minute installing it in their environment. ""The Talk"" essentially consists of something like the following with your accounting contact: ""Hey Sage has got this whiz-bang CRM tool that can help give everyone the information they need to do their jobs. For you, the benefit is that the sales guys won't need to be knocking on your door asking about credit limits, outstanding invoices, order status, etc. [tailor that to the customer's particular hot buttons]. And they give you the server and first user free of charge now. Would you mind introducing me to your head of sales [or CEO, or President or VP of Customer Service or ... ] and I can run by some features with them and you?"" If you are already dealing with the right contact, feel free to disregard. The next step is to talk about their pains and figure out what CRM can actually do for them. CRM is like a swiss army knife. If you start throwing features at people, it can shut them down really quickly and they won't be able to relate it to how it will help them get from where they are to where they want to be. Some comnpanies don't even know where they want to be. Finally, I advise this approach before spending time installing because ... not everyone is ready for CRM. Note: I didn't say they didn't need it. I think most companies do need it. But if they aren't far enough along or aren't willing to do what it takes to make CRM successful, you will end up spending time banging your head against the wall and wind up with nothing or - WORSE - you will sell them software that they don't use and they feel that they got sold a bill of goods by you. Your reputation will be dinged. I hope the above helps a bit. (This is somewhat a double-post - I replied to another thread with this but figured it deserved it's own thread.)

;tldr I don't think it's a good strategy to indiscriminately set up the free server and user. You'll end up wasting a bunch of time. Go in with a gameplan before installing and save yourself the headaches.

Set up some coaching webinars on this.

Roger that. More food for thought: if at all possible, avoid sending prospects to the Sage CRM Cloud trial (basically the renamed hosted Sage CRM solution). It's painfully slow and - just like MAS (or Accpac) - CRM is so big that it's easy for them to be overwhelmed and come to the wrong conclusions about functionality or think it's missing (because they didn't know where to look).

I am talking to people about it first and thinking about what useful thing for that customer to show them - so far everyone wants to at least see it. @PeterWolf A couple of years ago Sage released a collections addin for Accpac - has that ever been done for MAS? And was the Accpac one any good?

@PhilMcIntosh - That utility was awesome, brilliant, outstanding and life-changing. My team happened to write it. I had a discussion on these boards about the interest in creating a MAS version of it. If I had 10 paying customers, I think I could have a MAS version up and running within 45 days. The way things are these days, I wouldn't want to build it on spec only. It is a great shoe-in-the-door for CRM via the accounting department as there is immediate value for most businesses.

Getting old. @PeterWolf Please refresh my memory as to what the add ins (would) do for MAS users.

There's a brochure and a simple page laying out some features / benefits at the link below and I am available to answer specific questions. Basically, it replaces the chicken-scratch notes that A/R folks usually make in the margin of Aged Receivables reports wtih a place to put and track A/R calls and notes in a central place (CRM). http://www.technotropic.com/collection-management.html

Post a each price for 10 backers. Give us an idea of the developmental costs.

We are currently selling the product at $99 per month (subscription model only). I'm tempted to bump it to $149 or $129 per month. I'm open to suggestions. Partners receive 30% margins - but I'm still working that out. It's pathetic to cut and cash a check for $30 bucks each month. Again, I'm open to suggestions here. Development time will be roughly 60 - 90 hours to design, develop, test and deploy a MAS version of the product.

Hours??? Hours??? Mr Kless will hear about this... I would think paying commissions quarterly would be acceptable to most VARs.

Timeline not billable time or time sheets.

??? Who's talking hours to the customer? I was talking about internal development time as a rough measure of costs.

OK OK I guess Friday at closing time is not the best time to have a warped sense of humor...

Sign me up for a share. Regarding the # of hours required. Are you using your Indian outsourcing center to do the coding at $20 per hour?