Reuters is reporting that Sage’s earnings missed forecasts and that as a result share price is  down.

Total revenue growth rates in North America appear to be flat with organic subscriptions growing 2%  vs 4% in H1 2011. Notably Sage is ramping up for an North America imminent launch of SageOne, their pure SaaS entry level accounting offering.

Some interesting takeaways from the report (which you can download here). Where bolding is added that is my emphasis to what I consider the key takeaways as they relate to Sage performance in North America:

the cross-sell of integrated payment solutions into our accounting software customer base continued as an area of focus.

Cross-sell revenues represent a quarter of our payments division’s revenues yet we have still sold integrated payments solutions to a very small proportion of our accounting software customer base – a great future opportunity.

We have also renewed our focus on accelerating growth. This involves changing the way we will run our business, including a more disciplined approach to resource allocation, portfolio management and execution.

A feature of the period has been the combination of three main factors which have acted as a near- term constraint on growth. The continued switch to subscription revenues has been a primary factor, which reflects the way we are driving the business strategically and which has served to reduce reported revenue by approximately 1%. The macroeconomic environment has also been a constraint, holding back our European growth in particular. Comparisons to the prior period are, as previously highlighted, impacted by one-off benefits enjoyed in H1 2011, which will be less of a factor in the second half.

Our payments businesses continued to perform well, with an organic revenue growth rate of 10% overall. Payments remains a great example of how we can expand our offerings to support our customers and the integration and cross- selling opportunities this creates are compelling.

Sage ERP X3, our global mid-market ERP solution, delivered organic revenue growth of 3%* in the period, with continued double digit growth outside of France, offset by difficult economic conditions in France, its largest market.

..every business in the Group has a consistent focus on the high growth products in their portfolios. Aligned to this is greater discipline in ensuring resources and investment are re-allocated to support these growth opportunities; and strengthened execution, embedding the best group-wide disciplines and practices across all businesses.

Total revenues for SSRS were £221.7m (H1 2011: £232.2m*), which contracted organically by 4%*. SSRS revenues include stand-alone software licence sales (including new licences, upgrades and migrations) and professional services, hardware and business forms. Our strategy of migration of software revenues to subscription revenue clearly impacted this growth.

From a strategic perspective, there are some significant developments being driven through North America which means the business is currently going through a period of transformation. Importantly, as previously announced, we are in the process of rebranding all products to maximise the leverage of the Sage brand. So, for instance, Sage Peachtree in the US and Sage Simply Accounting in Canada will become Sage 50 U.S. Edition and Sage 50 Canadian Edition respectively, and Sage ERP MAS 90 will become Sage 100. We consider this consistent use of the Sage brand to be a vital underpinning to cross-sell initiatives.

Sage 2012 6 Month (Presentation PDF)

Sage 6 Month March 2012 Unaudited Results

Sage is starting to make notifications to at least one owner of a LinkedIn group with the brand name Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 that starting May 15, 2012 the name must be changed to reflect the new Sage 100 ERP branding.

This is the first time that we’ve noticed a timetable for the Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 products. Previously the timetable had loosely been defined as starting with the next major product release. For Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 that would have been late 2012 when Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 version 5.0 is due to be released Q4 2012.

As we were the first to report on April 17, 2012 – Sage’s former VP and GM of Worldwide CRM Solutions has indeed left Sage and according to his LinkedIn page joins former Sage colleague Joe Bergera at Roper Industries where he will work as VP “ across software business segments and product lines to enhance and develop overall strategic direction. Create synergistic platforms, business transformation and collaboration across mulitple businesses. Actively lead expansion into adjacent and international markets”.

With the exception of Sage’s Dan Wilzoch, it would appear that most of the executive team within Sage’s CRM division has departed within the last year. In October 2011 Sage and four of their top CRM managers parted ways after Joe Bergera had left in March 2011.

Sage’s executive web site has not yet been updated and still is showing Larry Ritter as of early this morning.

Larry Ritter LinkedIn

There was a time back right after the invention of electricity but before the widespread use of motorized vehicles that vendors with crappy salespeople didn’t have to worry about customers talking to each other and sharing their poor service experiences.

Heads up – the world’s changed.

Provide a bad experience — and you may not catch the comments that are made between your target customer.

The image above is from a message I posted to my private 100+ person 90 Minds Consulting network. It’s a non-profit associaton we’ve established using the closed Socialcast system for consultant to consultant communication.

No vendors. No outsiders. Totally private.

I regularly advise customers to buy products and services  based solely on comments from my trusted contacts within this closed network

These deals can often approach 6 figures — and if one of my trusted colleagues in the group have given a recommendation then in my mind it’s the only solution that I recommend

Certainly you’re smart and you’ve setup Google Alerts so you (or your PR department) catch negative mentions your company’s name and you then instantly (reactively) try to solve the issue.

But what happens when the year is 2012 and your customers are smart enough to communicate like 90 Minds does — using social tools like Yammer, Socialcast or Podio —  that aren’t open to indexing by Google?

These conversations never generate a Google Alert of a problem so you can hustle off and try to solve the issue (reactively).

This morning I had a conversation with someone asking why some of the social sites such as LinkedIn seemed to go through periods where they  lack in mew conversation.

My feedback is that there’s plenty of conversation – some of it has just moved to private social enterprise tools.

Companies who have grown complacent and satisfied with putting out customer problems simply by listening to Google Alerts would be well advised to step up their game and become proactive at delivering exceptional service –  instead of reactive and only responding to signals provided by public complaints online – because in some cases the most important signals are growing weaker or disappearing altogether.

This year’s session is a panel where each person has been hand picked to discuss ways consultants (just like you and me) are using social media to make money.

No theory.

No untested concepts.

No 1,500 Powerpoint slide decks that have your eyes rolling back in your head midway through the talk

No assuming you’re a novice and have not figured out how to turn on a computer or use a keyboard.

Each person on the panel is a full time independent Sage consultant engaged in either ERP or CRM consulting. No marketing or social media experts. Just good old fashioned experience.

We will share with you what has worked for our companies – and what has not. Those tips alone could save your hours of time.

What I like best about this panel is that NONE of us have a thing to sell you.

We don’t offer SEO, web hosting, social media consulting.

We are not going to waste your time droning on about how to send a tweet, log into Facebook or create a YouTube video.

This session is for people who are sick and tired of  buying leads online, shaking hands, making cold calls, replying to RFPs, waiting in conference rooms and answering free “quick questions”.

So Just What Will You Learn?

- How to brand yourself so business comes to you
- How to eliminate the competition in deals
- How to come up with ideas for social media content
- The one (and only)  thing that matters in social media
-  How to become more active without hiring
-  The one tactic to use above all others
- What absolutely doesn’t work
- Fixed price risk reversed proposals
- Shortcuts to making fixed pricing work
- Resources (sample access agreements, menu pricing, etc)

Sage Summit Is A Busy Place – Here’s Your Opportunity To Get Together With A Room Full Of Experts

Our panel is scheduled for Tuesday 8/14 2pm – 3:15pm. We’ll stick around until all the questions are answered.

Panelists :

Sam Biardo – http://techadv.com/
Apryl Hanson – http://www.blytheco
Peter Wolf – http://www.azamba.com
Robert Wood – http://www.ddfcgi.com

I Recommend Attending This Session…

But Only If you are interested in a proven process for attracting customers where the NEW NORMAL ‘sales’ process goes like this:

“Hello I would like more information on becoming a customer”

>> Great – where did you hear about us?

“I have been reading and following your posts for some time now. As a matter of fact I’ve printed out your access agreement – and our philosophies are the same. When can we get started?”

Here’s what you can look forward to after this session.

It won’t happen overnight but …

…if a grossly incompetent sales moron like ME can design a process to make the following happen – so can you…

Social Media / Marketing / Branding is all about having a system.  You must think of ways your system can work — not reasons that it never /can’t work.

- No bids
- No hourly billing
- No free demo
- No free “getting to know you” support call
- No free initial discovery meeting (you’ll be paid in full before leaving your office)
- No discounts
- No free “quick questions”
- No “we’ll pay you a couple hours for a trial consulting engagement”
- No prepaid blocks of time
- No sitting in a waiting room to be next up to “pitch” your company
- No comparison quotes
- No followup “so have you decided whether to purchase yet?”
The information some people learn in this session will pay for the entire conference.

Some people will skip this session altogether because they don’t see how social media could possibly put any extra money into their pockets.

Let’s  hope those who skip this session are your competitor(s).

Images via

Larry  joined Sage in 2004 and most recently was senior vice president and general manager with responsibility for Sage’s Contact Management Solutions, most notably Sage ACT!. Previously he led product strategy, product management, product marketing and user experience for the Sage CRM Solutions product family comprised of Sage ACT!, SageCRM, and Sage SalesLogix.

Here’s the email that’s making the rounds:

Larry Ritter, General Manager & Vice President for Sage ACT! and cc’d on this email, has resigned to pursue an opportunity outside of Sage. Larry’s last day will be Monday, April 23rd and Sage will begin a search for a Sage ACT! General Manager immediately.

Larry has been a key leader, champion & visionary for Sage in the CRM business since joining the company in 2004 – first leading product management & product marketing and most recently as the General Manager for Sage ACT! Please join me in thanking Larry for his many contributions and in wishing him success in his new role.

Effective today, I & my team will be reporting directly to Nicole Merrett VP, Marketing.

In addition, Joe Greenspan Director of Product Marketing will also report to Nicole. And finally, Allen Duet Director of Product Management and Dona Duncan Executive Assistant will report to Julie Petersen, VP R&D.

Despite these changes, we are confident Sage will continue to maintain and grow the unique business relationships we have between the ACC’s and Sage.

Lots of speculation over what has happened — and is happening — at ERP VAR Hightower Inc of Skokie IL.

It’s been almost a week since reports surfaced that employees were sent home with their belongings in a box and told to await further word. Everyone involved in the company – and what I presume are negotiations over what to do with customers and intellectual property – have been silent.

Unlike seasonal businesses such as landscapers and house painters – consulting is not usually one where you can lay off crews of employees for large gaps of time.

In the consulting world appearing to disband your business prior to having a deal for someone to take over servicing the customers doesn’t exactly put you in a power position for negotiating any potential sale or transfer.

I don’t expect the sounds of silence to continue much longer. Either Hightower is going to need to announce something or Sage likely will do it for them.

This report from Bob Scott last night indicates New York based Net@Work may have a deal for the customer base although nothing officially has been announced as of yet,

SWK handling HighTower client and reseller support effective today bit.ly/GPYOZi

— Brian W Dunn (@brianwdunn) March 23, 2012

UPDATE: March 23, 2012  9:00AM ET – Hightower’s Blog Site has been updated to indicate that “Effective today, Friday March 23, 2012, SWK will be handling all HighTower client support, as well as supporting resellers of HighTower enhancements“.

Are you a partner or consultant for Sage products? Join the private conversation on our partner Facebook group  or LinkedIn Group.

Hightower End Looming?

According to one of my 90 Minds members who spoke to their Hightower representative:

We had an open support case with them and got a call from our rep that they were shutting down 

I have a message into Hightower executives. Calls  today (3/20/12) to their phone line listed on the web site have gone unanswered. Update: As of 2:28 pm ET 3/20/12 the phone message is indicating that Hightower is experiencing a serious data interruption to voice and email.

Another independent source reports that according to multiple unnamed Hightower employees:

Hightower employees met at the office and were advised to take an unscheduled and possibly unpaid vacation and  that they’d hear back in a week to 10 days. Email was reportedly shut down over the weekend.

An independent consultant doing subcontracting work for the company reported being told on Monday to put all work on hold. Followup emails to the company representative from the consultant reportedly went unanswered.

It is unknown at this point when Hightower will re-open after  taking what some employees have described as an unpaid vacation.

UPDATE 3/24/2012:  Sage partner Hightower Inc is apparently closing and have transferred the support for all customers and enhancements to another Sage partner. This was revealed in a channel wide announcement sent 3/23/12. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed nor were any further reasons for the sudden transfer. Messages sent to Brian Dunn, CFO of Hightower , were not returned.  A message sent to the new VAR mentioned as assuming responsibility for Hightower was not returned.

According to their web site:

HighTower is a consultant, reseller, implementer, trainer, and software developer of ERP systems, including Sage MAS 90 / 200, NetSuite and SYSPRO. It is a leading reseller, enhancement developer, and Authorized Trainer for Sage MAS 90 ERP and Sage MAS 200 ERP. As an award-winning accounting, distribution, CRM, HR, and manufacturing software expert, HighTower offers experienced professional consulting and technical services that understand how a business works. HighTower is also authorized in the sales and support or Sage MAS 500 ERP, Sage Abra HRMS, SageCRM, and more.

Are you a partner or consultant for Sage products? Join the private conversation on our partner Facebook group  or LinkedIn Group.

Are you a customer looking for support on a Sage product? We have over 100 members nationwide. Find a local Sage Partner.

A group of approximately 100 Sage partners (panelists pictured above left to right- Moira Goggin (Chismet Consulting – event co-organizer), Mary Abdian (Macabe Associates) , Doug Deane (DSD Business Systems) , John Hoyt (Hutchinson and Bloodgood), Bill Kizer (xKzero))  gathered today in Lake Forest California. The group was split about 50/50 with some consultants attending in person and others remotely (web ex) for an in-depth discussion of changes that have been rolled out to the Sage eco-system (margins, certifications, subscription pricing, partner compensation).

Top of mind in the conversation were discussions about Sage selling directly to existing customers and specific terms of changes that accompany the recently unveiled Sage subscription pricing model.

When asked about Sage’s new rules of engagement which seem to green light selling direct to existing customers, Sage’s VP of Channel Management, Tom Miller, remarked  ”we have a bunch of under-served customers” and that not all partners are equally as dedicated as those in the room and in some instances Sage have needed to step in and make the sales because an existing partner lacked the capabilities.

One unanswered question centered around a new Sage policy that discontinues margin on the recently announced subscription type plans (effective 4/1/2012) for a customer who changes partners. The margin no longer is paid to the originating partner (which is how it presently works) and is also not paid the to acquiring partner ( a change from Sage’s current policy which continues paying margin to the acquiring partner).

This seems to be a change designed to stop Sage partners from transferring or selling customers to other partners who because of their sales tier may generate a higher margin on those renewals. Sage’s Tom Miller did seem to indicate the policy wouldn’t preclude consultants from selling their customers upon retirement –  though the exact nature of the policy still seemed a bit hazy and difficult for Sage to substantiate. At one point while describing the change as due to “fair reimbursement for value delivered” Miller chided a panelist for laughing at his reasoning.

Amongst changes Sage’s Tom Miller hinted at was an upcoming new partner program to offer more to partners who sell more service than product.

Event hosts included Altec’s,Kevin Dudevoir, Kerry Gardner, April Blankenship, Allison Alonzo and of course Brandt Morrell. Paul Cannon & Nicole Laurier of Fisher Technology provided a Kindle Fire. Kim Hogan from Fujitsu offered a mobile scanner.

Bill persevered in creating this meeting despite the software publisher suggesting a game of channel hide and seek instead.

Don’t you love social media?

The event happens Thursday March 15, 2012 and features a panel discussion with some top VARs, prizes, sharing, vendor presentations, networking.

There’s still time to register -UPDATE: Event has occurred. Read our wrap up of this networking event – Sage Consultant LinkedIn Summit.