FunnelSource

FunnelSource Unveils FunnelRace Sales Performance Leaderboard

2011-06-14T07:05:00.001-07:00

FunnelSource Unveils FunnelRace Sales Performance Leaderboard

LOS ANGELES, CA -- (MARKETWIRE) -- 06/14/11 --

Today, FunnelSource, the leader in Sales Performance and Pipeline Management applications for Salesforce.com, announced FunnelRace, a Sales Performance Leaderboard application for Salesforce CRM that enables sales organizations to create cost-effective sales competitions across virtually any key performance indicator to motivate and incentivize sales teams.

"Motivating sales teams has always been a challenge. FunnelRace not only addresses this pain point with its slick, head-to-head interface, but also replaces the painstaking process of tracking employee performance in external applications like Excel," says FunnelSource CEO, John Hanna. "Furthermore, Sales Performance Leaderboards can be a valuable source of data to managers and FunnelRace presents this data in an intuitive interface in real-time."

FunnelRace allows sales organizations to create custom-themed, Chatter-integrated competitions that show users both individual or team progress so that Managers have a real-time feed of what is happening in the field. Create multiple leaderboards tracking virtually any sales metric with different participants and rewards.

About FunnelSource

FunnelSource delivers Sales Performance and Pipeline Management Applications to Sales organizations of all sizes across industries. Salesforce.com customers recently honored the company with an AppExchange Best of '10 Award in the Dashboards and Reports category based on the delivery of Sales Performance and Pipeline Management solutions to drive data integrity, motivate employees, and increase revenue. FunnelSource is proud to be a salesforce.com AppExchange partner. For more information, visit www.funnelsource.com.

Press Contact: Andy Eichler FunnelSource (310) 459-1801 aeichler@funnelsource.com

FunnelSource Receives AppExchange Best of '10 Award in the Dashboards and Reports Category From Salesforce.com Customers

2011-02-14T13:03:00.000-08:00

FunnelSource Receives AppExchange Best of '10 Award in the Dashboards and Reports Category From Salesforce.com Customers

FunnelSource for Salesforce CRM Helps Drive Data Integrity and Increase Revenue

LOS ANGELES, CA, Feb 10, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- FunnelSource today was honored by salesforce.com customers with an AppExchange Best of '10 Award. In receiving this customer choice award for Dashboards and Reports, FunnelSource joined all the winners in receiving recognition for their ability to take customer success to new levels in satisfaction and application excellence. Built using the Force.com platform, FunnelSource is immediately available for test drive and deployment on the AppExchange, the world's most-popular marketplace for business apps, athttp://www.salesforce.com/appexchange/.

FunnelSource received its award for Dashboards and Reports based on their delivery of pipeline management solutions to companies of all sizes and across industries to drive data integrity, improve sales behavior, and increase revenue.

"We are thrilled to be recognized by salesforce.com customers based on our user reviews and we will continue to work to improve the application with each new release," said John Hanna, CEO of FunnelSource. "Companies of all sizes now see the advantage of providing their sales teams with straightforward, actionable information at their fingertips. Executives now want everyone in the sales organization, from managers to reps, to have a clear picture of what's happening right now in their pipelines and know exactly what action needs to be taken to close deals."

"The AppExchange gives companies a fast and easy way to identify new applications that will help their organizations be more efficient," said Kendall Collins, chief marketing officer at salesforce.com. "FunnelSource for Salesforce CRM can help our customers realize success with its real-time pipeline management solution. We congratulate FunnelSource for being recognized by customers in the Dashboard and Reports category on the AppExchange in 2010."

The Dashboards and Reports category, one of 11 separate categories, recognizes applications which help users better analyze their most critical data in Salesforce CRM. The "Best of" customer choice awards recognize AppExchange partners who have had excellent user reviews in a specific calendar year. They are awarded based on user-contributed reviews and do not reflect the opinions of salesforce.com, its employees or partners.

About FunnelSource

FunnelSource delivers Pipeline Management Software to Sales organizations of all sizes across industries. FunnelSource is proud to be a salesforce.com AppExchange partner. For more information, visit www.funnelsource.com.

About the Force.com Platform and AppExchange

Force.com is the only proven enterprise platform for building and running business applications in the cloud. The Force.com platform powers the Salesforce CRM (http://www.salesforce.com/) applications, more than 1,000 ISV partner applications like those from CA Technologies, FinancialForce.com and Fujitsu, and 185,000 custom applications used by salesforce.com's 87,200 customers such as Japan Post, Kaiser Permanente, KONE and Sprint Nextel. Force.com also enables developers to make any enterprise app social by leveraging the social collaboration components including profiles, status updates, and real-time feeds available with Chatter.

Applications built on the Force.com platform can be easily distributed to the entire cloud computing community through the salesforce.com AppExchange 2 marketplacehttp://www.salesforce.com/appexchange/, now featuring the ChatterExchange.

Named Best Dashboard/Reporting Application in the 2010

2011-01-23T16:29:00.000-08:00

We are extremely Proud to Announce that FunnelSource has been Named Best Dashboard/Reporting Application in the 2010 Salesforce Customer Choice Awards!

http://www.salesforce.com/campaigns/appexchange/winner_best_app_2010.jsp

FunnelSource Forms Strategic Alliance With The Pedowitz Group

2010-10-30T11:59:00.000-07:00

Oct 27, 2010 14:14 ET

FunnelSource Forms Strategic Alliance With The Pedowitz Group

Sales Force Automation Company Partners With Leading Demand Generation Agency to Provide Clients With Full Sales Forecasting and Pipeline Command Center

ATLANTA, GA--(Marketwire - October 27, 2010) - FunnelSource, the leading provider of quota-centric Sales Force Automation tools for CRM, announced today that it has entered into a strategic partnership with The Pedowitz Group, the world's largest and most experienced demand generation agency.

"Partnering with The Pedowitz Group was the logical choice for us," said John Hanna, CEO of FunnelSource. "Their knowledge of the space, high integrity, and results-focused practice is what our customers want. Together, we will transform demand generation, promote sales enablement, and deliver a closed loop sales and marketing practice for our customers."

Under the partnership, both firms will refer each other's products and combined services in a series of demand generation and sales enablement packages.

"We are very excited to partner with FunnelSource," said Jeff Pedowitz, president and CEO of The Pedowitz Group. "Their reporting and forecasting interface closes the revenue acquisition cycle that we initiate when creating a demand generation center of excellence with our customers. Together, we can easily demonstrate the value demand generation programs deliver for our customers while enabling them to work more efficiently."

The two companies have already engaged with their first joint customer, Foundation Source, the country's largest independent foundation services firm.

"The Pedowitz group introduced us to FunnelSource, which has provided our sales team with the ability to work faster and smarter," said Tom Weinbaum, Foundation Source's vice president of creation and sales optimization. "Every member of our team is now conscious of their quota, forecast and what they need to be working on to ensure they hit their numbers. I am now confident that no deals are slipping through the cracks due to human error. After only one demo, I instantly saw the value. We could not be happier."

About The Pedowitz Group
The Pedowitz Group (TPG) is the world's largest full-service demand generation agency. With a focus on delivering marketing and sales automation solutions, TPG drives sustainable revenue and return on investment for global clients. They enable clients to create and execute demand generation strategies and tactics that get results. Services include strategy, program design, system selection, implementation, integration, creative services and outsourced demand generation. Customers include such industry leaders as Comcast, Deutsche Bank, Intel and Palace Sports and Entertainment. For more information on how TPG can help you make a significant and measurable contribution to your company's growth, visit www.pedowitzgroup.com.

About FunnelSource
FunnelSource is a software company specializing in sales force automation interfaces for cloud computing CRM systems. FunnelSource is a Salesforce.com AppExchange partner. Their primary product, FunnelAction, is a "Pipeline Command Center" built within Salesforce.com that allows companies to create actionable forecasts, view changes in the pipeline, and drive data integrity -- all in a powerful, easy-to-navigate interface. FunnelSource maximizes salespeople's ability to sell and minimizes time spent in the CRM system so they can focus on what they do best: identifying new opportunities and closing existing business. For more information, visit www.funnelsource.com.

Media Contact:
Scott Benedetti
Director, Demand Generation
The Pedowitz Group
Email Contact
732-475-2806

Click here to see all recent news from this company

"The Daily Source"

2010-03-25T14:52:00.000-07:00

Any training, especially sales training, should improve listening skills development. Like any skill set, practice in a controlled setting can not only build self awareness of listening deficiencies, but it can reinforce required skills to leverage other, associated selling tactics integrated in the sales process. As Vince Lombardi once said, “It’s not practice makes perfect, its PERFECT practice makes perfect!”

"The Daily Source"

2010-03-02T15:34:00.000-08:00

" In life, we face difficulties and hardship because life is about striving. The people who are going to succeed are those who are able to push that extra mile, despite knowing that every sinew is at its limits. Are you willing to push that extra mile starting today?"

Jasper Tong

USA Today Economic Outlook

2010-02-17T16:15:00.000-08:00

The USA TODAY/IHS Global Insight Economic Outlook Index shows moderating but firm growth in the first half of 2010 after a strong recovery in the second half of 2009.

The January update of USA Today/IHS Global Insight Economic Outlook Index indicates that the economy is recovering strongly from the recession. The last months of 2009 are likely to post strong real GDP gains as trade and inventories provide a strong boost. However, as the inventory cycle turns, credit conditions remain tight, and consumer spending loses the support of government stimulus programs, the Economic Outlook Index foresees a downshift to a more subdued pace in the first half of 2010.

The index predicts future real GDP growth (gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation) based on 11 leading economic and financial indicators. The decline in real GDP growth, at a six-month annualized growth rate, slowed from -5.9% in March to -0.7% in August. Real GDP growth is back in positive territory posting an increase of 4% in January. It's expected to moderate in the spring.

Six of the eleven leading indicators in the Economic Outlook Index were positive contributors in January, down from eight in December. Positive indicators include hours worked, building permits, real capital goods orders, stock prices and the yield curve, all of which increased. Also positive was a fall in the AAA corporate bond spread, a sign that investors perceive less risk in top-rated corporate debt. Negative indicators include declines in the real money supply, ISM export orders and light-vehicle sales and increases in seasonally adjusted crude oil prices and the April 2009 real federal funds rate. This model assumes it can take 15 months for interest rate changes to affect economic activity, so it uses the February-April rolling average to forecast real GDP in June 2010.

"The Daily Source"

2010-02-02T13:03:00.000-08:00

This just about sums it up.

The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow.

Rupert Murdoch

Sales 101

2010-01-28T13:15:00.000-08:00

Today’s business environment is intrinsically tied together by ongoing information exchanges between two people. This personal communication is most often facilitated by the spoken word. Understanding this information, as it flows within a dialogue between two people is fundamental to improving one’s selling effectiveness.

One of the most significant business information exchanges is between a company’s front line sales representatives and either it’s existing or potential customers. Information processed between these parties will have a significant affect on many other employees within both party’s respective companies as purchase commitments are made.

Maximizing the effectiveness of aural business communication between sales personnel and customers hinges on two fundamental communication process components, talking and listening. It makes sense that no matter how well you articulate a message to a customer, if it is not effectively absorbed by your target audience the probability of sales success is greatly reduced.

Why Do Salespeople Tend to NOT Listen Well?

It is known that humans think faster than they listen. While a sales prospect is talking at an average rate of 125 words a minute, the average salesperson is thinking at a much more rapid rate. The act of listening, the differential between the salesperson’s thinking rate and the prospect’s speaking rate means the salesperson’s brain can and does work with hundreds of other words, in addition to the ones being heard. Often the salesperson is thinking about what they should or will say at the expense of what the prospect is actually telling them.

The challenge at hand for all sales personnel is to learn how NOT to construct their ideas and responses during the most critical stages of their selling process. This is not easy to do given the sales prospect is also subjecting themselves to the same listening distractions. It is no wonder so many sales calls “fall apart” after the salesperson missed a key point made by the prospect and consequently lost or never got the order.

Many business professionals, especially those who make their living selling, depend greatly on their communication skills to enhance their overall job performance and maximize their income. Few salespeople have yet to even scratch the surface of developing their optimum listening skill potential. Many sales professionals have never had the opportunity to learn how to listen most effectively.

Can A Salesperson Learn to Listen Better?

A comprehensive study completed at the University of Minnesota examined the listening ability of several thousand students and hundreds of business professionals. One of the primary conclusions of this study was that immediately after the average person had listened to someone talk, they remembered only about half of what was actually said – no matter how intensely they attempted to absorb all the information communicated.

Our basic inability as humans to listen effectively requires us to utilize continuous educational reinforcement to truly master listening skills not only in a business environment but on a personal level as well. This means for a salesperson to be most effective in any selling situation a systematic effort must be made to consciously attempt to concentrate more on what is said to them, than what they will say in response … this simplepriority of aural information exchange elements will provide a significant selling advantage in almost every possible selling scenario.

Prioritizing listening over talking in a sales situation is easier said than done. It takes training and ongoing integration into any selling technique process.

Listening Skill Development Should be in All Sales Training

Any training, especially sales training, should improve listening skills development. Like any skill set, practice in a controlled setting can not only build self awareness of listening deficiencies, but it can reinforce requiredskills to leverage other, associated selling tactics integrated in the sales process. As Vince Lombardi once said, “It’s not practice makes perfect, its PERFECT practice makes perfect!”

SIX STEPS TO IMPROVING SELLING LISTENING SKILLS

Again, with practice and conscious resolve, a salesperson can acquire the mental agility to become a better listener by mastering these six “mental listening exercises”:

1) Learn to “listen ahead”:

By “listening ahead”, trying to anticipate where a discussion is leading to, during the dialogue, determining the conclusion in advance of your required response allows you to relax and improve information absorption

2) Learn to periodically validate communicated information:

By mentally striving to validate the accuracy and completeness of information points made by the prospect, especially during pauses in the dialogue, (which can be achieved with note taking), you can allow yourself to absorb more information easier, especially information forthcoming in the continued dialogue

3) Utilize “Active Listening” techniques:

By periodically, mentally summarizing the major points communicated by the prospect and voicing, reaffirming your interpretation of the points made back to the prospect you add a tremendous amount of clarity to the information exchanged thus far

4) Strive to understand versus “Judging”:

By working to consciously understand what the prospect is saying versus the natural tendency of judging – approving or disapproving what is said will allow you to absorb what is actually said more than any other listening development technique

5) Use your eyes to “get the rest of the story”

By listening with your eyes, paying attention to the prospect’s body language, their nonverbal facial and body movements or hand gestures you can see what the whole body is trying to tell you, not just the mouth!

6) Maintain a mental repertoire of common responses:

By mentally developing and rehearsing how you are going to strategically respond to common sales prospect purchase objections, for example, in advance of a sales call, allows you to listen more effectively. A comprehensive mental inventory of common responses will also give you more confidence in any selling situation.

Today’s successful salesperson is ultimately an effective problem solver. Whether it is an existing or potential customer, the most successful sales people continuously strive to hone their listening skills to accurately define their customer’s business intentions. If properly trained, and with constant practice, a salesperson will quickly realize that how they talk or present their product or service is relatively unimportant when compared to how and what they listen to, when guided by well honed listening skills.

Applying the selling skills developed from these listening exercises can give extraordinary power, not only to the spoken word, but the words listened to, and may be, in practice, provide the only margin of victory in any given sales situation.

::: more Mark Smock articles

Funnelsource Welcomes New Customers

2010-01-19T09:31:00.001-08:00

Welcome New Customers

Bank of America's Rosy 2010 Forecast Based on Strong Emerging Markets, Low Inflation

2010-01-18T11:56:00.000-08:00

Despite the 10% unemployment and 3.9 million foreclosures in the U.S. this year, Bank of America Merrill Lynch's global research group are highly optimistic about economic growth for the U.S. and the world for the coming year, economists in the group said at a press conference today. These economists forecast global domestic product will grow 4.4% in 2010, led by China at 10%. Inflation will be low, U.S. equities will perform well, and the dollar will strengthen against some other currencies, these number-crunchers say.

"One reason why we're optimistic about U.S. growth is because of policy; we think policymakers will continue to add new strategies to rehabilitate our economy," says Ethan Harris, head of North America economics. "The Fed wants to see real recovery, including improvements in the job market and a healing of the financial system, next year." Harris expects the Fed will start hiking interest rates in March 2010. He also believes that historically, big recessions yield big recoveries; he predicts the U.S. will achieve 3.2% growth in GDP in 2010. He expects a further fall in core inflation and projects that the U.S. Consumer Price Index will be 2.5 percent next year.

U.S. job recovery will be based on "companies that have laid off five people hiring two back," Harris says. There has been a recent overreaction among U.S. companies to economic news which led to over-cutting of staff, he believes. In the second quarter, he says, we will see jobs growth, if only because the government will hire a massive number of Census workers. Green technology and the call for energy savings could cause some job creation, he says. The healthcare, technology and export manufacturing should also provide jobs, according to David Bianco, chief U.S. equity strategist.

The economists feel less certain about the future of equities in the coming year. "The past decade for equities has been abyssmal," notes Bianco. Yet he is hopeful that foreign demand will help U.S. companies. "S&P 500 companies have proved they can replicate their business models overseas," he notes. Forty percent of these companies' profits are coming from offshore, he points out. Technology, energy, industrial and material stocks should all perform well next year, partially driven by foreign business. And "the financial sector will probably be the most attractive in 2010, it will climb on surprisingly high earnings," he says.

Corporate credit should normalize next year, opines Jeffrey Rosenberg, credit strategist, with high-yield returns reaching 10%. This should affect the flow of asset allocation. "In 2008, investors took their money out of stocks and put it into their mattress — in other words, into money market funds," he says. But in 2009, $500 billion moved out of money market funds and into credit funds, Rosenberg says. In 2010, he expects to see a shift back into the equity markets. Rates on U.S. Treasuries should rise next year and baby boomers may want to buy them, these economists project.

Commodity strategist Francisco Blanch believes gold prices prices will continue to rise and as countries continue to print currency they will need to build up their reserves of gold. Oil and coal demand should also rise, especially in emerging markets, and the price of oil should reach $100 per barrel by late 2010, he says. The prospects are dimmer for natural gas, aluminum and copper.

Posted by Penny Crosman at 01:45 PM

Citi upgrades global 2010 economic growth forecast

2010-01-05T13:55:00.001-08:00

By ERIN CONROY

AP Business Writer

NEW YORK —

Citigroup Inc. upgraded its 2010 economic growth forecasts for several countries on Monday, and said it expects a sustained but uneven global recovery next year.

The annual report, released by Citi's global research unit, said almost all major economies exited recession in the second and third fiscal quarters. Central banks are unlikely to hike key interest rates through next year, and the threat of global inflation appears contained, according to the report.

Citi said a recovery looks to be even across major economies in the beginning of the year, while Asia - excluding Japan - will see sustained momentum. While the U.S. will see fairly strong economic growth, Europe and Japan will experience a more gradual recovery.

Citi lifted its 2010 growth domestic product outlook for the U.S., Japan, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Korea, Argentina, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Turkey. However, it said credit availability will likely be limited for at least another year or two as banks seek to raise extra capital.

Michael Saunders, Citi's global head of developed markets economics, warned that countries will need to adjust some fiscal policies.

"Global economies need central banks and governments to successfully manage the exit strategies from extreme monetary accommodation, without creating further instabilities and denting future growth prospects," he said.

Saunders expects the rankings of global economies to change drastically in the next 15 years as resource-rich regions like the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Russia and Brazil see growth. Meanwhile, as emerging markets industrialize, consumer spending there is expected to fill the gap left by moderate spending in the U.S. and other industrial countries.

"The Daily Source"

2009-12-11T09:11:00.000-08:00

Holidays are here, time for family and friends. Time to reflect, time to grow time to learn, time to give.

Merry Christmas

"The Daily Source"

2009-11-10T16:07:00.001-08:00

“Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge”

FUNNELSOURCE PRESS

2009-10-06T09:43:00.001-07:00

FunnelSource Announces Impressive Q3 Growth in the CRM Space

Companies Turn to FunnelSource to Empower Their Sales Executives and Sales Reps

Press Release
Source: FunnelSource
On Tuesday October 6, 2009, 7:15 am EDT

BEVERLY HILLS, CA--(Marketwire - 10/06/09) - FunnelSource, the leading provider of quota-centric Sales Force Automation tools for CRM (Salesforce.com), today announced that it has gained considerable market share over the past 3 months as an increasing number of midsized to large businesses chose FunnelSource to improve pipeline visibility and increase control over their sales information.

Companies such as Accela, EthicsPoint, Fios, and Human Concepts are among those that have standardized on FunnelSource, which is now the leading quota-centric sales interface on the Salesforce.com AppExchange. These organizations selected FunnelSource to increase CRM user adoption, improve forecasting, and eliminate cumbersome sales reports. But most importantly, they chose FunnelSource to empower their Sales Teams to work more efficiently and close more deals.

Mike Fleck, Director of North American Sales at Human Concepts, says, "FunnelSource is one of those apps that, once you use it, you can't live without it. It has given my team and me THE TOOL we've needed to get insight into our pipeline. FunnelSource makes me a better Sales Leader."

John Hanna, CEO of FunnelSource, says, "Companies of all sizes now see the advantage of giving their Sales Teams straightforward, actionable information at their fingertips. Executives now want EVERYONE in the sales organization, from managers to reps, to have a clear picture of what's happening RIGHT NOW in their pipelines and know exactly what action needs to be taken to close deals."

Designed by Sales Professionals for Sales Professionals exclusively to increase revenue, FunnelSourcepulls data from cloud computing CRM systems, converts it into actionable information and presents it in a real-time, single-screen view. FunnelSource gives Sales Executives clear, accurate, on-demand visibility into the health of their sales pipelines so they can make proactive decisions, and it gives Sales Representatives a revolutionary interface so they can work faster, identify weaknesses sooner, and close more deals.

About FunnelSource

FunnelSource is a software company specializing in Sales Force Automation interfaces for cloud computing CRM systems. FunnelSource is a Salesforce.com AppExchange partner.

"The Daily Source"

2009-09-30T23:25:00.000-07:00

My Job is not to sell the most, but to get the most out of my sales team.

John Hanna

CEO

Funnelsource

1 year down many more to go!

2009-09-29T16:03:00.000-07:00

"The Daily Source"

2009-09-16T09:05:00.001-07:00

Attitude and outlook towards life is what makes a person a winner or a loser. Whenever we're confronted with a new task, our immediate reaction is negative. This needs to change to rise in life. So whenever it's something new, don't shy away from it. Face it in the eye and say "I CAN!"

"The Daily Source"

2009-09-08T23:28:00.001-07:00

Whenever a warrior decides to do something, he must go all the way, but he must take responsibility for what he does. No matter what he does, he must know first why he is doing it, and then he must proceed with his actions without having doubts or remorse about them.

Carlos Castaneda

"The Daily Source"

2009-08-26T13:55:00.000-07:00

" Too often, we try to fit in with the crowd. We play it safe. But innovation is about taking risks while being true to you. This takes confidence. And it takes the belief that your "style" is what the world needs and wants. Yes, taking this risk may help you stand out. More importantly, it may be the ticket to your success."

Stephen Shapiro

socalTECH interview with FunnelSource CEO and co-founder, John Hanna

2009-08-24T10:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.socaltech.com/interview_with_john_hanna/s-0023603.html

"The Daily Source"

2009-08-20T15:05:00.000-07:00

" Successful people don't do extraordinary things but they do ordinary things in and extraordinary way. Be the best in whatever you are doing and you shall be great and successful."

Njang Chris --- Cameroon

"The Daily Source"

2009-08-16T18:58:00.000-07:00

What a day in Golf. It was all about execution and will.

Congratulations Y.E. Yang, well done.

"The Daily Source"

2009-08-14T18:04:00.000-07:00

Many great ideas go unexecuted, and many great executioners are without ideas. One without the other is worthless.

Tim Blixseth

"The Daily Source"

2009-08-11T17:05:00.001-07:00

Benjamin Franklin once wrote, "Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of."

"The Daily Source"

2009-08-04T16:33:00.000-07:00

Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living.

ANAIS NIN

"The Daily Source"

2009-07-31T07:36:00.000-07:00

The ball is in your court........

PRESS: FunnelSource Maximizes CRM User Adoption with Bolt-on SaaS Solutions Built to Increase CRM ROI

2009-07-22T19:04:00.000-07:00

Designed for ALL users – from Sales Executives to Reps - FunnelSource Brings Accurate Forecasting, Quota-centric Analytics and High User Adoption to the Entire Sales Organization

Beverly Hills, Calif. - July 22, 2009 – FunnelSource, a fast-growing provider of lightweight Business Intelligence solutions, today announced the official release of the FunnelSource solution. Designed by Sales Professionals for Sales Professionals, FunnelSource gives Sales Executives and Reps instant answers to the most important questions in sales.

FunnelSource pulls data from cloud CRM systems (Salesforce.com), converts it into real-time actionable information and presents it in a single-screen view that gives users intuitive quota vs. actual revenue tracking bars, enhanced forecasting capabilities, and error alerts to warn users that data in their CRM is either bad or input incorrectly. In addition, FunnelSource gives Executives the ability to drill-down from the Executive level to the individual Sales Rep level to track performance, all on one screen and in real-time. From managing teams to working deals, FunnelSource becomes the nucleus of your CRM.

“Our philosophy is simple,” said John Hanna, co-founder and CEO of FunnelSource. “If you empower your Reps on the front lines with an application that helps them hit their individual quotas and eliminates fumbling around in the CRM, then your Reps will see true value in the application and they will use it. User adoption is a great challenge in the world of CRM and we pride ourselves on maximizing the ROI our customers get on their oftentimes large CRM investments.”

About FunnelSource:

FunnelSource is a lightweight business intelligence software company specializing in sales pipeline analytics for organizations using cloud-computing CRM solutions. Designed to increase revenue, our solutions are built by Sales Professionals for Sales Professionals who understand precisely what information Sales Teams need at their fingertips to move opportunities through a pipeline. We give Managers clear, accurate, on-demand visibility into the health of their pipelines and the performance of their Teams, and we give Reps a dynamic view of opportunity-related information to help them minimize time and errors in the CRM and maximize time spent closing deals. Moreover, we pride ourselves on our high user adoption and a quick ROI for our customers. FunnelSource is on the Salesforce.com AppExchange.

www.funnelsource.com

For more information about FunnelSource, please contact:

Andy Eichler

Director of Business Development

310.923.5753

aeichler@funnelsource.com

"The Daily Source"

2009-07-22T14:29:00.000-07:00

How many outbound calls have you made today?

"The Daily Source"

2009-07-20T14:47:00.000-07:00

Only spend when you can afford to spend

New website Live

2009-07-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

Lots of work and time, but is was worth it!!!!!''

http://www.funnelsource.com

SaaS to Get a Bump Up from the Down Economy?

2009-07-09T15:06:00.000-07:00

Different waves of computing have been fostered as much by economic hard times as they have been by technological gadgetry and buzz. Some technological transitions start out as good ideas, but bad economies turn them from interesting ideas for some future time to products that must be tried out right now in an effort to cut costs or improve the running of the company in some way. So it might be in 2009 with software as a service, or SaaS.

According to a report just released by IDC entitled Economic Crisis Response: Worldwide Software as a Service Forecast Update, the desire by companies to avoid capital expenses is going to make many of them think twice, and then maybe a third and fourth time, about setting up certain applications in-house. And because SaaS-style offerings end up on the operational side of the budget, without capital outlay and the consequent depreciation, SaaS applications fit in with the current economic climate.

"With a broad slowdown across IT sectors, businesses are increasingly bearish about their short-term ability to invest, whether for stability, growth, or cost savings down the road," explained Robert Mahowald, director of On-Demand and SaaS research at IDC in a statement accompanying the report. "But SaaS services have benefited by the perception that they are tactical fixes which allow for relatively easy expansion during hard times, and several key vendors finished the year very strong, reporting stable financials and inroads into new customer-sets."

IDC has revised upward its projection for SaaS revenue projections for 2009, and now estimates that SaaS-style software delivery will see sales grow by 40.5 percent over 2008's levels instead of the 36 percent growth IDC was projecting only a few months ago. That higher growth means SaaS will hit $12.4 billion in aggregate revenues across all suppliers, which include SaaS-only offerings like Salesforce.com and myriad SaaS alternatives to perpetually licensed software offered by thousands of ISVs globally.

IDC did a bunch of interviews with IT shops as well as SaaS providers, and dribbled out some data to try to encourage people to buy the report, as it always does. Demand SaaS-style software is strongest in North America right now, which is also where the global economy is weakest (I am not sure there is a causal link there, but definitely a correlation). However, by the end of the year, SaaS sales in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa are expected to pick up, and ditto for the Asia/Pacific region (excepting Japan) are also expected to rise. So by the end of 2009, about 35 percent of global SaaS sales will come from outside of the United States. IDC adds that by the end of this year, 76 percent of organizations it polled said they were going to have at least one SaaS-delivered application for business use.

Here's another tidbit: In 2008, about 23 percent of customers polled said that at least a quarter of their IT budgets would be spent on SaaS applications, and now people are telling IDC that by 2010, about 45 percent of companies will dedicate at least a quarter of the budget to SaaS products. At that rate of growth, it doesn't take long before SaaS represents a quarter of all IT spending. I am not saying this will happen, and neither is IDC. But that is a pretty steep hockey-stick ramp.

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Sales 101

2009-07-08T15:46:00.000-07:00

Sales 101: if you approach prospecting as a disciplined science, you will learn how to work smarter, not harder. I for one am a big fan of working smarter not harder, are you?

William James

2009-07-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, "This is the real me," and when you have found that attitude, follow it.

Now Hiring a Ninja Sales Executive

2009-06-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

Description:
FunnelSource, Inc. is looking to grow its Inside Sales Team with an energetic, aggressive and savvy Account Executive who is looking for a phenomenal growth opportunity and can drive a significant amount of revenue for the company via both cold calling and working direct leads passed from our Lead Generation Team. Reporting to the Director of Sales, the Account Executive is an accomplished and persuasive professional who will be relentless in closing new business. As a member of a highly-motivated Sales team based in Beverly Hills, California, you will be responsible for bringing new revenue to FunnelSource and will close numerous deals each month from inbound leads provided by our lead generation team and via your own successful cold calling efforts. A successful candidate will have a proven track record, experience qualifying and closing leads, cold calling into accounts and a strong interest in building the company. Excellent written, oral and interpersonal skills and superior persuasion ability are a must. If you are interested in investing in your career and growing with a company, FunnelSource is for you. FunnelSource is committed to providing a friendly and open working environment where talented, hard-working people are rewarded with growth potential, excellent benefits and company equity.

Responsibilities:
• Achieve and exceed sales targets
• Aggressively qualify new business
• Build pipeline via cold calling, prospecting and managing inbound lead flow
• Qualify and respond quickly to all inbound leads
• Understand and evangelize the FunnelSource, Inc. platform
• Provide in-depth product demonstrations to leads via teleconference and web conference
• Manage contacts, pipeline and update sales progress in Salesforce CRM
• Generate and close leads from tradeshows and other networking events
• Continuously learn about FunnelSource, Inc. products and services as well as industry trends
• Focus on complete client satisfaction
• Occasional travel is required to close deals
Requirements:
• BS degree or equivalent work experience
• 3 to 5 years experience – ASP or technology sales a plus
• Proven track record of achieving and exceeding activity and sales targets
• Proven track record of closing deals with a broad array of companies
• Aggressive and adept at qualifying leads, conducting needs analysis and closing new business
• Experience selling to mid- and senior-level management
• Ability to work independently in a fast-paced and rapidly-growing company

Benefits:
• Competitive salary based on experience, plus commission (Salary range of $40k base and $140k OTE including aggressive commission structure)
• Fully subsidized healthcare and dental insurance for employees
• 401K and stock options
• Flexible work culture, with good work-life balance

Four Obstacles To Closing

2009-06-25T18:27:00.000-07:00

Fear of Failure
There are several other reasons why the end game of selling is stressful and difficult. First and foremost is the fear of failure experienced by the prospect. Because of negative buying experiences in the past, over which you could have no control, prospects are conditioned to be suspicious, skeptical and wary of salespeople and sales approaches. They may like to buy, but they don't like to be sold. They are afraid of making a mistake. They are afraid of paying too much and finding it for sale cheaper somewhere else.

Fear of Criticism
They are afraid of being criticized by others for making the wrong buying decision. They are afraid of buying an inappropriate product and finding out later that they should have purchased something else. This fear of failure, of making a mistake in buying your product, is the major reason why people object, hesitate and procrastinate on the buying decision.

Fear of Rejection
The second major obstacle to selling is the fear of rejection, of criticism and disapproval experienced by the salesperson. You work long and hard to prospect and cultivate a prospective buyer and you are very reluctant to say anything that might cause the prospect to tune you out and turn you off. You have a lot invested in each prospect and if you are not careful, you will find yourself being wishy-washy at the end of the sale, rather than risking incurring the displeasure of the prospect by your asking for a firm decision.

Customers Are Busy
The third reason why the end of the sale is difficult is that customers are busy and preoccupied. It isn't that they are not interested in enjoying the benefits of your product. It's just that they are overwhelmed with work and they find it difficult to make sufficient time available to think through your recommendations and make a buying decision. And the better they are as a prospect, the busier they tend to be. This is why you need to maintain momentum throughout the sales process and gently push it to a conclusion at the appropriate time.

Inertia is Hard to Break
The factor of inertia is the fourth reason that can also cause the sales process to come to a halt without a resolution. Customers are lazy and often quite comfortable doing what they are currently doing. Your product or service may require that they make exceptional efforts to accommodate the change or a new way of doing things. They perhaps recognize that they would be better off with your product, but the trouble and expense of installing it hardly seems to make it worth the effort. They see no pressing need or urgency to stop doing what they are doing and start doing something else with what you are selling.

Everyone Buys at the Same Time
The good news is that everybody you meet has bought and will buy, new products and services from someone, at some time. If they didn't buy from you, they will from someone else. You must find the way to overcome the natural physical and psychological obstacles to buying and then hone your skills so that you are capable of selling to almost any qualified prospect you speak to.

Action Exercises
Now, here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, recognize the normal fear of making a buying mistake experienced by the customer. Give him every reason you can think of to be confident in dealing with you.

Second, accept that everyone you talk to is busy and you are interrupting. Always ask if this is a good time for him to give you his undivided attention. If not, arrange to see him another time.

Brian Tracy

Email, the new phone call?

2009-06-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

If you're like I was, you believe email should be answered after hours when you're not on the phone or in customer meetings. That's how I handle client proposals. They can't be written during valuable customer “face” time, but should be saved for that time of day when customers aren't available.

But, expectations and how email is used have changed. Many customers now expect you to hold whole conversations via email, sometimes with emails flying within minutes of each other, just as if they were instant messages or a phone call. With these changes email is now as important as face-to-face meetings and phone calls.

Here are some tips to consider when making email a primary customer interaction tool:

* View email as the new prospecting tool. After you leave a voicemail, follow-up with an email, giving prospects 2 easy ways to respond. Remember, your goal is to connect with the person. Even if they respond “no”, you've connected and can respond to try to generate an interest.

* Keep the sales process moving forward. Use emails to ask requirements gathering questions, get referrals, make recommendations, and provide updates.

* Respond to all emails with action items promptly. You return phone calls within 1-24 hours. The expectation now is that you'll return emails within 30 minutes - 12 hours. If you can't respond completely, send an email setting expectations about when you will send a full response.

* Think - and proof - before you send. Sometimes it's best to draft a response, then wait 30 minutes before sending. You may choose to soften, shorten, or otherwise change your response.

* You may need a hand-held device such as a Blackberry to keep up. Consider what tools you need to stay on top of your emails, responding to your customers more real-time, and make the investment.

* Schedule daily time on your calendar to respond to emails. Consider this equal to customer meeting time. If you're holding complete customer conversations via email, you really are holding a meeting. What's the difference? Give it equal time for well thought out responses and next step requests.

There are many benefits to using email: ease of connection and a better way to communicate are only a few. I recently had a prospect that was interested in having us do some training development work for her firm. She emailed me and explained exactly what she needed and requested a quote. When I requested a phone meeting to learn more like every good sales rep, she declined. She was the decision maker and I had to have the answers. So, I asked her all my questions through email and prepared a proposal based on her answers. With my proposal in hand, and without a single verbal conversation, she not only accepted it, but increased it by 20% to cover any changes in scope!

While this situation's unusual, it's becoming more and more common for customers and prospects to prefer to answer questions and move opportunities forward through email while limiting their number of meetings. Be prepared and you'll soon find yourself reducing your sell cycle and closing opportunities through email, too! Now isn't that cool?

Kendra Lee

Leadership: How to say it By Gene Griessman

2009-06-23T14:17:00.000-07:00

Considerable skill is required to successfully say to someone in a power position, "I want to do it my way instead of your way."

Yet this skill is often needed by leaders at every level--whether you're a three-star general communicating with a four-star general, a CEO with a board member or key investors, a vice president with your CEO, a teacher with your principal, or an account manager with your client.

History provides us with case studies about how to do this. One of the best involves a general-in this case, General William Tecumseh Sherman-saying "I want to do it my way" to another general, and his superior General U.S. Grant.

The background: During the Civil War, General Grant was under great pressure from President Lincoln and his Secretary of War to wrap up the campaign against Richmond. The siege had gone on long enough, and continuing casualties were sapping support for the war. Sherman, far away from these pressures in Georgia, had just completed his famous march to the sea, and had reached Savannah.

To gain overwhelming force against the foe in Richmond, Grant ordered Sherman to send his troops north on ships as soon as possible. Sherman, however, thought it best to capture the port city of Savannah before leaving, and then march his army north, destroying everything in his path. Capturing Savannah would be a huge psychological victory for the Union cause, and marching instead of going by sea might take longer, but would give him a chance to do extensive damage, a skill that Sherman and his army had perfected.

Sherman had also perfected his ability to communicate. When he learned of Grant's priorities, instead of saying No to his superior, or challenging him directly, Sherman agreed to proceed north. But he also provided Grant with information that he hoped would change his mind.

Marching north instead of putting 60,000 troops on ships would take two weeks longer than sailing-assuming that enough ships could be found. That could be a big problem, Sherman reminded his boss. Finding and using that many ships would be a big drain on Union resources, Sherman pointed out. (Years later in his Memoirs, Sherman wrote that he estimated it would have taken 'little less than a hundred steamers and sailing-vessels.") In today's language, Sherman provided his superior with a benefit statement for doing it his own way.

Now, here's Sherman's communication to Grant. Sherman stated that he had "initiated measures looking principally to coming to you with 50,000 or 60,000 infantry..." and then Sherman added, almost as a footnote: "and, incidentally, to take Savannah, if time will allow."

What happened?

Grant agreed with Sherman. Sherman proceeded to take Savannah, and in a grand gesture, offered Savannah to the President as a Christmas gift. Then, Sherman marched--instead of sailing--northward.

Sherman used a technique that I have long recommended to those I coach. If you communicate with someone in a superior position, begin by indicating that you are completely willing to comply with their expressed wishes.

Then as diplomatically as possible, ask if he/she would like to hear your thoughts about alternatives. Usually, you'll find that the medicine will go down easily if you begin by sincerely offering to cooperate-to obey an order. Expect resistance if you sound argumentative and insubordinate.

Think about it. If two of the most war-hardened generals in American history found it useful to communicate with respect and deference to one another, gentle persuasion can certainly be a useful approach for you.

Just wake up and do it

2009-06-17T23:14:00.000-07:00

No excuses, just do it!

Simple Stupid!

2009-06-16T14:12:00.000-07:00

It works, try it...........

2009-06-12T14:49:00.000-07:00

If you are not moving closer to what you want in sales (or in life), you probably aren't doing enough asking.

Jack Canfield

Have a great weekend,

John Hanna

Empower your Reps with the Ultimate Sales Weapon

2009-06-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

Sales Reps move quickly and the mere thought of updating their CRM slows them down. As far as they're concerned, the time spent updating opportunities could be much better spent elsewhere. And they're right. However, this attitude leads to low CRM adoption and poor data integrity, which ultimately hurts revenue.

To solve this problem, FunnelSource puts all mission critical sales information into one interface where Sales Reps can navigate faster, correct data errors, and go back to doing what they do best: getting in front of customers and closing deals.

In addition to empowering Sales Reps, FunnelSource gives Sales Executives the ability to drill into quota performance from a company level all the way down to an individual Rep, answering dozens of questions along the way. From working deals to managing teams, FunnelSource becomes the nucleus of your CRM.

-John Hanna, CEO
-Haven Pell, COO
http://www.funnelsource.com