Paying for Your CRM Solution
Yes, you’ve finally got the idea that you need a CRM solution and you’ve even undertaken the preliminary steps ensuring that the conducive environment exists in the organization. But, No. You have absolutely no idea of how to pick the best possible solution for your needs. You clearly have enough sense to know that the most expensive solution isn’t exactly the most effective one and you also know vendors are extremely smooth-talking. And business is all about saving money. Here are a few tips on how to go about it:
Since the industry is very competitive and there are lots of vendors who are willing to offer deep discounts to bag the deal, vendors of CRM software are forced into quoting inflated starting prices to give themselves room to maneuver by companies which demand discounts.
Therefore it would be ideal for a company to do some research on the current market prices of CRM software as well as obtaining information from customer reference checks. In this way, you can get a fair idea of what the official company discount is. Traditionally during negotiations, the standard vendor discount price is the deal offered by the vendor company without much hassle. The best idea would be to start talking from the standard discount price and then try to reduce it further, not reducing from the listed price.
It is always good to keep one’s options opens till the deal is done (the part with the ceremony and the signing on the dotted line). Letting the sales representative know that you’re looking at competitors as well can be pretty effective means to obtain better discounts. After all, which sales representative wants to go back to his boss and state that he/she lost his big deal to the competitor due to the discount factor?
A word of caution though. As in the case with any product in any market, vendor products come loaded with additional functionalities. Unless the functionality is of any particular use to your business, it should best be avoided. Additional functionality often requires additional training and introduces unnecessary overheads without much result coming out of it (unless the product comes with a free doughnut vending machine! then you can always talk about inflation in those waistlines). These free add-ons are introduced by the vendor as an efficient means of marketing a new untested/underperforming product.
A standard method of obtaining vendor discounts is by agreeing to act as a reference to other companies in the business. Since it makes better sense to take advice from someone who has used the vendor’s services, vendor companies are often willing to offer huge discounts to companies that are willing to serve as their product ambassadors. But this should be handled by the company’s legal department as it involves some amount of legal jargon in the contract.
When negotiations reach a stalemate due to unwillingness of either party to budge from their position, try asking the sales representative for a breakdown of the product pricing. Ask for discounts on those functionalities of the product that are not the core essentialities of your business requirement. Or better still; try looking for discounts in areas like implementation, maintenance and consulting. Or ask for free training and upgrades as part of the deal.
When using hosted CRM solutions, there are still means to come out with a pretty good deal. Vendors in such cases are willing to offer discounts for longer periods of service. Also, with hosted services, certain assurances of minimum service quality can be asked of from the vendor. Though most service agreements are standardized, it is a fairly normal procedure to customize solutions as per needs. In such cases financial penalties or contract termination are applicable in case of inconsistencies in the service or there are security breaches.
eSpecial Softech is a niche CRM solutions company. They are a UK SugarCRM partner who with a team of a highly qualified professionals, excel in providing clients with the best CRM solution backed by exceptional service.
Their extensive experience with leading software vendors, the performing mindset and focus on state-of-the art technologies enables them to attract and retain world-class professionals who thrive on helping their clients succeed.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Paying for Your CRM Solution