Sage CRM

This is the Sage CRM group and here I go asking a question, for sales leverage, about a competitor. Why is Sage CRM better than Salesforce (online version)? Besides the tight integration between Sage CRM and Sage 100.

Not to be too ambiguous but ""better"" is very subjective and it depends on what the customer values. I love Sage CRM but there are times where I wouldn't recommend it depending on the customer needs. From a high-level though ... generally speaking ... I hear from many clients that are investigating CRM systems that Salesforce is too expensive for them. If you consider a well-implemented CRM system will be in play for 7+ years, you can run the calculations to look at software costs of the products and you can see the SFDC is pretty darn expensive. 9 times out of 10 that is going to kill SFDC for my average prospect. If they are still looking at SFDC after that, it's likely that they are going to go forward with it no matter what. If you want specific advice, @MoiraGoggin, please feel free to email me. FYI - my main questions before providing competitive leverage would be to better understand the customer / prospect needs.

I fail to understand why clients choose to fight with systems by trying to integrate modules that were not built to integrate with the main system. Why does this make any more sense than finding another sales order module to integrate with Sage 100?

Because a customer can plunk down their credit card and be up and going within 5 minutes. No software. No third party will call. No choices as to which way to run it. And their friends recommend it.

I'm not sure clients fully understand the advantages of designed integration. I realize there are some disagreements as to whether the Sage CRM integration is ideal, but it is standard and being maintained with new releases.

Remember that ""better"" does not always equal winner. I hear that Betamax was better than VHS, and HD-DVD was slightly better than Blu-Ray. But I digress... I have to agree with Peter. Not all customers are better served by Sage CRM. When we bought SFDC (at a prior company), the advantages were clear: No install, no servers, available anywhere you have network connectivity (my guys were working relationships in oil and gas fields, and mines throughout Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, Montana, and North Dakota). Our servers were in Lyman, WY (Population 1,500), and we couldn't get adequate bandwidth to provide the kind of connectivity needed to run our own CRM, nor did we have the expertise in the IT department (IT was the owner's son -- the accounting department could have done it, but I didn't have the time) to maintain our own stuff. All that said, I love Sage CRM, and it's the first thing I'd talk about with my Sage 100 clients. Price is better, functionality is mostly on par with SFDC, integration is baked in, and it includes a lot of the bells and whistles (like workflow) out of the box, where SFDC charges a lot extra for those bells and whistles.

Thank you all for your comments. The prospect's two, yes two, salesreps happened to have reviewed SalesForce in the last couple of months and are just anxious to get something going. They work on large contracts, but low volume, so it's not like there are a great deal of orders/quotes are flowing back and forth during the day. Better is subjective, and better to one client is completely different to another. The only thing, prior to all of you sharing and especially @PeterWolf and @AaronClark I knew about Salesfroce was that it tends to get more and more costly as you add in features or need more space. I do believe the prospect would rather have a tight integration than have to using a connector or export to get data out of Salesforce and into Sage 100 and would be more interested in predictable costs (more or less) from Sage.

Predictable"" costs? The only thing predictable is that the cost WILL increase each year.

I just read this post on Geekologie about a German guy who connected an airplane engine to his motorcycle and it so reminded me of this discussion. tinyurl.com/b8xqqss

Here's the full link to the above: http://geekologie.com/2013/05/yeah-you-did-motorcycle-with-an-airplane.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

I wonder if his integration would have been easier with sData ...

Are you saying Sage CRM or Salesforce is overkill @JohnHoyt?

@MoiraGoggin Not at all. I was only referring to the complex integration of things not originally meant to be integrated.

Ah, that makes more sense.

is there a resolution to this? did they make a decision? They can try SageCRM online for free to get a feel for it. They can then download the database if they go with on-premise.

Client's salesreps are pushing for salesforce since they are familiar with it. Salesforce salesrep put me in touch with their implementor of choice for SF, MK Partners - have a conference call with them tomorrow, so I'll let you know how that goes @alanniergarth.

Moira, dealing with the implementor is interesting. I have some suggestions for you as the consultant for the CFO. 1. Get a clear statement from somebody there about what they want to get out of CRM. It's not too hard to stumble into sfdc functionality that bumps you up well beyond $65 pupm. 2. Get clarity about just what is involved in getting data into sfdc, the process and how much $$ involved. See if there's going to be on going lead imports and how that is handled. 3. Get clarity about the details and cost of moving out of sfdc to something else if the customer decides after a year that it's not right. 4. If you can, see if you can get them to describe what a typical 2-yr progression for a customer like this might be. sfdc is the sort of tool where you think you are starting cheap, and then you find yourself spending way more on it in 2 years. (Attachment storage alone is exorbitant.) Good luck!

Thank you @JerryNorman! - on point one, it's a bear getting that information but I just heard from the CEO and he stated that ""you have to be comfortable with the integration"" so it looks like it might be my call. However, I don't want to be in the position that the salesreps point a finger at me so I'm going to to vet this thoroughly.

I think you can get results of Point 1 in this conference call. If the CRM consultant can't get this from his client, how good are they? (A point to be made with the CEO.) You also want to get details about the integration points they propose to MAS. You will then be able to compare that with Sage CRM. If I were in your shoes, I would be aiming to produce a side-by-side comparison of functionality, cost and risks of sfdc and Sage CRM for the CEO. Selecting a CRM package simply because the sales reps already know how to use it is pretty weak; Sage CRM has good marks in its UI, so retraining isn't a ridiculous option. Turning this into a modestly evidence-based exercise should win you points with your long-term client.

Good points @JerryNorman - and you seem to be reading my emails or possibly have ESP - after a quick reply back to the CEO about the possible pain points of 3rd party integration he asked that I prep a compare of Salesforce features to SageCRM and said he'd rather the sales team learn something new if they had to!

I've been moonlighting for the NSA ... Sounds like a good billable deliverable, and your client is a keeper!

Follow-up - the ""integrator"" of SF wanted the ERP API to tie the data into. Then fumbled around when I asked your list of questions @JerryNorman. Amazing how short the conversation became when I said ""you just want to dump some data once a day to an ERP system that already has an integrated CRM solution - what's the advantage of SF then for the client?"" He didn't have an answer but sent me the field list of the opportunity table...

It sounds like you had a Klessian ""HSD"" (High Satisfaction Day). From what I've seen, most of the sfdc ""integrators"" pretty much count on the client momentum into sfdc to make the sale, while they get to rack up the hours making the promises work. If you need help with the CRM part, be sure to enlist @PeterWolf !

Yes, HSD it was. Absolutely will touch base as need with @PeterWolf, the CRM guru.