Sales Software Wish List

[webgeek]

Hi all - just asking for a bit of feedback on what sales software package features you wish you had, but don't (either because it's not available on the market currently, too expensive, or too painful to use because it's a part of something else you don't want or don't like)...

Example:
I'd love to have a bit of software that monitored social mentions, news mentions, client/prospect posts on social, client/prospect website news/blog updates, changes to their website (including adding/removing career ops, product additions, and so on. Basically a mega monitor for what's happening with them. An added plus would be if it reminded me when it was their birthday, their spouses birthday and how well their favourite sports teams are performing. Of course it would be ideal if I got push alerts on this so I didn't wait a week to know something.

Sounds like a bit of social, news, web change and CRM all rolled into one.

I know of some that do some, but none that do all.


The above is more account management or prospect profiling, but it fits the realm of sales software. What would you want your sales software to do? Feel free to pick a single thing or a truckload - sky is the limit....

To answer in advance, NO I won't be quickly coding whatever it is and sending you a sales pitch for it after you post. I'm just wanting to know what people want to do with sales software that they don't yet have in their hands!

 

[ffox]

I'd love to have a bit of software that monitored social mentions, news mentions, client/prospect posts on social, client/prospect website news/blog updates, changes to their website (including adding/removing career ops, product additions, and so on. Basically a mega monitor for what's happening with them. An added plus would be if it reminded me when it was their birthday, their spouses birthday and how well their favourite sports teams are performing. Of course it would be ideal if I got push alerts on this so I didn't wait a week to know something.

You can do ALL of that using the elements of Office 365. You don't NEED to do all of it, but it's there if you want it. You can do other stuff as well, but again you don't have to if you don't want to. You can do most of it using G-Suite, but not quite so well.

These is no need to install any software as it's all in the cloud and you don't need high powered computers to do it. A tablet will do nicely.

 

[it_and_sales_freelancer]

Interesting, what does a solution that monitors changes on the different pages of clients' websites look like with O365?

 

[ffox]

Interesting, what does a solution that monitors changes on the different pages of clients' websites look like with O365?

Hmm. Please define 'look like'
The solution would depend on the requirement. The tools in the Office 365 box allow for the routine scheduled capture of a web page (MS Flow) and the storage of the page (or any history of pages) in a library (SharePoint). Comparisons can be run in Word or Excel online (no need to have a computer running for the process, or local versions of MS Office (needs local machine running), or by parsing the page content in a SP list (provided the key search criteria is known).

If the solution calls for the invocation of a third party app, O365 can accommodate that too.

You can do similar using Google Apps, Google Sites and Google Drive (G-Suite)

 

[it_and_sales_freelancer]

Hmm. Please define 'look like'

You've done a decent job of describing it at this high level.

Comparisons can be run in Word or Excel online (no need to have a computer running for the process)

So could these comparisons be running every x hours, and alerts of changes posted to a feed visible in a central location ("Acme Co updated their jobs page"), where alerts of new social interactions / mentions could also be monitored from? What form would the automation logic likely take for this - would you get away without script like VBA?

 

[ffox]

So could these comparisons be running every x hours, and alerts of changes posted to a feed visible in a central location ("Acme Co updated their jobs page"),

Yes. If you wanted a broad yes/no non specific comparison on a page a check sum comparison across the page content would do. If you wanted specific you would need to specify what changes to watch for and that would probably best be done using a SharePoint List with columns defined for specific content which would compare to a previous page. Alerts can be posted in an alerts list, sent as tasks to one or more individuals or emailed to one or more individuals (the addressees could be internal or external.

The automation can be code free - no VBA or any other 3rd gen language.

 

[webgeek]

If this MS based solution included having to rely on Bing for news mentions, we'd be in trouble before getting to the trickier stuff, like monitoring their favourite sports team performance.

@ffox - many thanks for the excellent suggestion! I had completely overlooked the possibility that much of this could be done using that platform.

Will give it a go and compare how well it performs vs our known beta data and see how well it does.

I hope this isn't 99% flow, otherwise IFTTT would be as easy - and mean that neither of which are desired because the setup is 10x more than a mentions monitoring service or website change detector.

Any resources online which show the way on this?

 

[ffox]

If this MS based solution included having to rely on Bing for news mentions,

News feeds can be from any source.

I hope this isn't 99% flow, otherwise IFTTT would be as easy - and mean that neither of which are desired because the setup is 10x more than a mentions monitoring service or website change detector.

You can, and many will (already do), combine work and data flow resources. My preference is to attempt an analysis of the requirement and design a solution that will fit the organisation and allow for growth along it's own development path for the future, while trying to stick to a single tool set.

Office 365 currently has the most tools. G-Suit is good, but lacks the DB capabilities that are found
in O365 SharePoint on-line.

There are resources online, but not many yet with regards to MS Flow as it was only launched last Autumn
.

 

[webgeek]

Sounds like you could produce some OMG content on this, with a bit of effort.

 

[ffox]

Sounds like you could produce some OMG content on this, with a bit of effort.

In Office 365 most of the functionality has been around for a few years. Previously though it was necessary to use SharePoint developer to get the best from it. That is a locally installed application which delivers lots of handles on stored data. Unfortunately it was very definitely a SW developers tool. MS Flow is destined to succeed SharePoint Developer and it's UI is drop menus, point and click.
If you know what you want, by way of a process, you don't need SW developer skills to get it. You still need time and patience to refine the result.
There are also the issues of security and governance. That's why I always try to stick to a single tool set. Both Google and MS deliver enterprise class control over sharing and access.