This image from the FindAccountingSoftware’s daily lead report is a pretty accurate representation of 95% of web leads who contact consultants “looking for a quote”.

These are not requests for quotes – they’re requests for free consulting and invitations to undercut an existing provider without the ability to know the background of the customer.

• Already have a quote from a provider
• Looking for a second/third/fourth bid
• No budget for any type of discovery – expect VARS to quote blind despite complexity
• Have a third party – IT manager, outside consultant – playing gatekeeper
• Stringent requirements, unrealistic budget, unrealistic timeframe
• Not interested in an ongoing consulting relationship

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.

A story out yesterday describes an Epicor customer who is suing over a $70,000 software purchase.

Although I do not know the circumstances of this particular case – my bet is that most of these types of ERP problems start off with a free demo and free analysis.

Who is ultimately to blame if a customer purchases ERP software and subsequently (as the story infers) refuses professional implementation services.

As professional service providers do we not have a duty to first diagnose before prescribing. To coin Ed Kless’s phrase – “prescription before diagnosis is malpractice”.

In the “I can get this cheaper on the net” world this type of customer is very common and typical.

Here are their common characteristics:

- has already self diagnosed
- wants your best price based on a list they provide youi
- typically the evaluation is led by IT (biggest red flag in my experience)
- 100% your fault when ERP doesn’t run identically to MS Office

I blame whoever sells the software into these situations without requiring an advance paid analysis. Paid analysis, in my experience, is an ideal way to separate the tire kicking problem customer who may not ever be successful with an implementation. My experience says that problem customers never see a need to pay for advice.

Red flag #1, 2, 3. Three strikes you’re out.

In my opinion, those who sell into red flag problem accounts  deserve whatever they get.

Here’s Ed Kless’s observation on the need for diagnosis before prescription.

Just try going to most doctors today and self-diagnosing any ailment and asking for a prescription without being seen.

Years ago this might have worked in some instances.

Today it almost never works – except in ERP implementations.

I am not saying customers are never dysfunctional (and at least partly to blame) – just the sales process of free demo/free analysis/free price quote is.

Full Disclosure: Ed Kless works for Sage. I represent Sage products (primarily consulting). Epicor is a competitor to Sage in the ERP space. Certainly we are not independent with respect to our opinions in this space though the comments above are meant to reflect my overall observation of the state of the ERP market and not any one particular ERP vendor.

 
Group Manufacturing Services wants its money back, but Epicor says the customer erred by attempting the project on its own

Thankfully there will be a new certification which partners may enroll in to avoid Sage’s upcoming fees for ROR (Reseller of Record) management.

UPDATE: 4-2-2012 – this is an April Fool’s 2012 post.

This new ROR charge (effective 4-1-2012) is to reimburse Sage’s cost of  entering ROR forms into the Atlas portal. The charge  is  the  greater of a $500 administrative fee  (Due when the ROR is filed) or 100% of first year commissions. The new cost is explained as covering only a very tiny portion of Sage’s internal expense  for “figuring out how to enter a   ROR form into the new Atlas partner portal”.

The only way a partner can avoid this fee is to enroll in Sage’s brand new Atlas Certified Partner Optimized Originator  (aka POO certification).

POO certification  is a 7 week off-site, $ 2,000,  intensive education which includes one week at the new Sage POO Academy in Irvine, CA.  After certifying participants will be able to log into Sage’s Atlas portal and manage their own ROR requests to avoid any Sage fees.

Sage notes they will allow partners to use Co-Op funds for up to the full amount of the certification fee. Partners should however expect a minimum six to twelve month reimbursement delay while “Sage searches for the Atlas option to authorize co-op reimbursement”.

Sage have clarified that the new fee-for-ROR policy applies ONLY to non POO certified Partners.

For partners who have not achieved POO certification  , the fee applies ONLY in situations where a customer has elected not to join a new Sage subscription pricing plan at the time they change Sage partners.  When a customer changing partners refuses to also migrate to a subscription plan the fee will apply to BOTH the partner the customer is moving FROM and to the partner that the customer is moving TO.

A Reseller of Record form (ROR) is used to notify Sage when a customer using one of their products has made a decision to change the consultant they use in connection with support and other consulting services. This alignment also affects the payment of future commissions and ability to order new products for the customer.

Sage indicated to us that the processing fee is meant to align “value received”  and the new Atlas internal processing system “would not allow an ROR  change without also requiring a new partner certification or somehow reducing partner margin”.

By training Sage partners to become POO specialists Sage allows them to avoid these new ROR fees entirely by “entering their own ROR into the portal”.

When reached for comment one Sage executive speaking anonymously said:

We are as shocked and upset as anyone to discover that Atlas allows us to make positive changes to customer policies without any added fee,  but changes to partner policies require a fee or margin reduction. Obviously this is something we missed when evaluating portal options and we hope to fix this sometime after our financial year closes in 2018 or ‘whenever we find the damn option’

For partners not POO certified , Sage will announce Easy Pay financing enrollment as a requirement of continued partnership. Future ROR fees will be drafted automatically from non-certified partner’s accounts.  A credit application will shortly be mailed to partners to re-verify eligibility for Easy Pay. More details at the link below or watch for the announcement shortly from Sage.

Expect another Sage announcement on Monday about a slightly lower level of certification, SHART (Subscription Help And Reseller Transfer), which will not require academy attendance and is for partners who try really hard but can’t make  POO.

More Info

Sage today sought to calm channel nerves by announcing updates to their self-proclaimed transformation journey which include changes to their subscription pricing sales goal measurements.

Instead of measuring the new subscription pricing sales achievements by the quarter – Sage announced that they will measure them by the half year. Sales goals become more flexible too – changing from one per quarter to two per half year. Rock on.