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Business Insights for Software Developers and Publishers www.softletter.com |
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Vol 3. No 6 Announcements Just Released! The Softletter SaaS (Software as a Service) Handbook is now available! Packed with vital information you need to know about the SaaS tsunami. Just released! The latest edition of The Softletter Financial Handbook. Over 360 pages of strategic data for your software company. Now Open! www.SoftwareSuccess, the Softletter blog, is now open. Visit here. In This Issue's Softletter
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The Softletter Sales Efficiency Survey Dear Colleague, This is a notification on participating in our current survey This is an invitation to participate in Softletter's Sales Efficiency Survey. As you may know, Softletter, now in its 23rd year of publication, publishes a series of surveys that examine every aspect of running a successful software business. This survey covers sales compensation processes and practices for a software firm's direct sales force. The survey is available at: http://www.softletter.com/survey/sales_efficiency_survey.htm We're looking for some fairly standard information and will use this data to identify trends and current benchmarks that you can use to see how your own numbers and processes compare to those of comparable companies. In addition, we analyze information based on company development stages, an important factor that allows us to establish medians for companies in different market sectors. The entire survey is 17 questions and should take approximately 15 to 20 minutes to complete. Please pass this invitation along to a colleague in the industry who you feel should participate. Everyone who supplies data for this survey will receive a complimentary copy of the summary report. Of course, all responses will be strictly confidential. We won't disclose or identify data about any individuals or about participating companies. Please note that if you do not complete the entire survey, we can't send you a summary copy of the results. Don't forget to push the Submit Survey button at the bottom of the question page, and then wait for the acknowledgement page. Final survey results will appear in our July 31st and August 15th issues of Softletter. We will be following up this survey with one that asks respondents to judge the effectiveness of the various sales training courses for software companies currently available in the market. Many thanks for your help! Merrill R. (Rick) Chapman, Managing Editor
Age Discrimination in High-Tech, Part II of II Part I of this article can be read at: By Rick Chapman, Softletter Managing Editsor (This article is based primarily on excerpts from "In Search of Stupidity: Over 20 Years of High-Tech Marketing Disasters." More excerpts can be read at the link below )
As part of the "getting to know you" evaluation I conduct before taking on a new client, I first reviewed the company's PR program with the firm's director of marketing, a bright, personable woman with an MBA and two years of post-college experience under her belt. As I had suspected, neither she nor anyone at the company had any experiencewith the software review process. In the course of the discussion, I was taken on a tour of the companys website. As she showed me one of the site's promotional pages, I noticed an image of a professional golfer; not a first-tier player but a well-known second-tier star with something of a "bad boy" reputation (at least as bad boy as a guy playing golf can get). "That's an interesting choice of an endorser," I told her. "Can youtell me how much he cost?" "Oh, we're not paying him anything," she said in a sunny tone. "One of our web designers saw the image, liked the way it fit with our campaign, and put it up." "Uh, you do realize youre running a liability here?" I told her. "You can't just slap up an image of a personality and not pay them or at leastget their permission to use their likeness." "'I'm not worried. Were covered under fair use law." "No, you're not," I said. "You're not a news organization. You're not reporting on anything. You're not conducting scholarly research. You're not writing books on bad golf swings. These are the criteria for using content for fair-use purposes. Sticking this fellows picture up here doesn't fall under any of these." She seemed unconvinced, and I let the matter drop. Later I mentioned to the company's CEO that he ought to check with his lawyer about the potential lawsuit issues. (The web page vanished a few days later.) I also mentioned that his marketing department seemed to consist entirely of 20-somethings with very little industry experience. "I like the energy they bring to the company," he said. "And they work cheap." "How much do you think those bad reviews you've been getting are costing you in sales and reputation?" I asked. After this encounter (I wasn't hired by the way; the company founder thought my fees were too expensive), I decided to conduct an impromptu poll of ten small- to medium-sized high-tech companies and asked them to estimate over the last six months how many new hires were 20+, 40+,and 50+ years old, respectively. (This was something of a guerilla poll,since the HR departments at these companies would never have cooperated with me.) The smallest company had $1 million in revenue, the largest more than $70 million. The numbers broke down as follows:
These numbers were striking. Based on them, if you're older than 50, the chances of being hired by a high-tech firm are almost nil (there's some hope in sales, perhaps a reflection of the value of a salesperson's track record and contact list). And even if you're just in your 40s, the numbers are almost as grim, especially in marketing. The reason for amateur behavior on the part of many software companies may be quite simple: Amateurs are running the show. End of Part II Manage Your SoftGram Subscription
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Upcoming Events Softletter's Marketing and Selling Software as a Service Seminar 2007 October 3/4 Sofltetter's Marketing and Selling Software as a Service Seminar 2007 is the only event dedicated exclusively to helping SaaS firms and companies considering SaaS learn how to execute and transition to the SaaS business model. Read the seminar agenda and find out more below. Click here for SaaS Seminar Info Software Business Conference 2007 October 2/3 The annual conference focuses on current strategic business, financial and technology issues and growth opportunities facing top executives of software companies. It is a two-day conference serving owners, chief executives, presidents, vice presidents and division or department directors of leading and fast-growing software companies located throughout North America who are conducting business domestically and worldwide.
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