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From successful sales and marketing executive,
to information publisher might seem an unlikely career move; but it seems to be
working so far! There are millions of sales people who haven't discovered how
sales automation can improve their lives. This is a tremendous waste of effort.
I want to show people how they can sell more by using sales automation. Where Did This Guy Come From? I am often asked how I got started at all of this and what I was doing before I began writing about sales automation software. So, first of all, I am a salesman, with all of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly that that includes! I have held the full range of sales positions, rising through the ranks in a classical sales career path, including such positions as sales engineer, regional sales manager, national sales manager and marketing vice president. All of my experience was in direct sales of big-ticket, long buy-cycle products with companies such as Nicolet, Varian and Siegen (a Silicon Valley medical instrument start-up). Today, my primary interest continues to be direct selling in business-to-business markets. Coincidentally, I started my sales career at the dawn of today's microcomputer revolution. Recognizing the improvement computer technology might make in my sales figures; I purchased an Apple II and began a 20 year quest exploring the benefits of sales automation. I still remember the time I went into a computer store and described the information that I wanted to track on my prospects. After careful consideration, the salesman told me I needed dBASE II, it would solve my problems. So, I bought it. Back in the office, I figured out dBASE would not even run on my Apple without something called a CP/M card! The computer store would not refund my dBASE purchase, they figured I had just copied the program. Though I went out and purchased the CP/M card, I never got any useful information from dBASE. I did not realize it at the time, but this was my first clue that there might be a need for someone to help salespeople find the right software for them. Later in my career, I discovered that sales and marketing projects seldom make it to the top of MIS department's priority lists. They are always busy with projects for accounting or manufacturing. It was as the newly appointed Vice President of Marketing that I ran into this bureaucratic mess. I had great plans for my team and many of them called for the kind of detailed analysis I had recently mastered in graduate business school. After waiting in vain for several projects, I decided to look for an alternative. So, I continued to do my own thing in the marketing department. By then, the IBM PC had been introduced. And, better yet, companies were beginning to develop programs just for sales. I tried a lot of them. And even got some great results with a few of them. Somewhere in there I went through the "our application is unique - we need a custom program" phase, learning first hand the challenges that exercise can provide. Being an old Apple guy, when the Mac came out, I bought one to learn what neat capabilities it might provide. In a relatively short period of time, I gained a lot of experience with this exciting new technology. Tiring of corporate bureaucracy, launching my own company seemed the next logical step. I had been thinking of going into business on my own for some time. After some thorough marketing research and a lot of soul searching, I decided to see if I could earn a living from my keen interest in the use of computers in sales. The Denali Group was incorporated on August 3, 1984. Our first product, the newsletter Computer Aided Selling, was launched in January 1985. More than ten years later, the newsletter continues to be the longest running independent voice providing software reviews, analysis and commentary on all facets of sales automation. When I thought back to the various positions I held, the most personally rewarding was Regional Sales Manager. Working one-on-one with sales pros who were really trying to excel was not only rewarding, it was a lot of fun! If you think about it, that's what I'm doing now, helping sales pros throughout the country use computer technology to excel in sales! Realizing that some sales people prefer their advice in bite-size portions, we began offering a series of special reports focused on different sales automation problems. We no longer publish the newsletter (rechristened in January-1992 as Sales Automation Success) on paper. Instead, we publish the same stories, and lots more, for free on this web site. Our In-Depth Reviews of leading sales automation programs are available individually. We also publish the Sales Automation Survival Guide four times a year. This free publication lists our own products and services in addition to a wide variety of other items of interest to sales professionals. Our first book, The Sales Automation Software Compendium, was published in 1995. 2003 will see us launch a new series of books, Sell More Now with ... I am not shy about beating my head against new software products. I earned a BS degree in electrical engineering at the University of Illinois, providing the technical background required to deal with today's sophisticated technologies. A graduate degree in management (Northwestern University) balances this technical perspective with a sensitivity to real-world business problems. My old marketing professor, Philip Kotler has said it only takes a day to learn marketing, but a lifetime to master it! I have become a lifetime student of sales and marketing. I continue my dual quest, studying the latest techniques in sales and marketing, as well as, the ever expanding list of new technologies. Through my writings, I try to share some of this knowledge with you. There are over 14 million people employed in sales in the U.S., and I continue to cling to enough 60's idealism to think that some of my writing and analysis might help some of you! When people read any of my stuff or talk to me on the phone, they know that I'm a salesman first - closet computer nerd, second. I know selling can be tough and frustrating enough without adding another layer of complication. I just try to help people get off to a good start with sales automation. If I succeed at this, I know you will sell more with less hassle! So, stay in touch! Rich's Recommended Web Sites
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Copyright © 2004 by The Denali Group, Inc. (www.sellmorenow.com)
