When a company becomes a member of the Microsoft Business Solutions President’s Clubwithin seven months of becoming a reselling partner, it is evident they have insights worthy of sharing. Inetium Inc. has been a Microsoft Certified Partner since their business began in 1998. In November of 2002, they decided to begin selling Microsoft®Business Solutions CRM.
Inetium not only established a Microsoft CRM vertical practice area, three of their staff obtained CRM certification early on. They began tapping into their existing customer base andobtainingMicrosoft CRM leads via a partner lead generation firm.
Inetium credits their success to:
- Focusing on the future of Microsoft .NET technologies
- PositioningMicrosoft CRM as part of an integrated solution suite
- Developing customizations and workflows
- Capitalizing on the product’s integration with Microsoft Outlook
A Broad IT Base
Inetium Inc. was established in 1998 with a focus onbuilding solutions fortheirSMS&P customer base. From the beginning, the solutions have been built on Microsoft technologies with the idea that the customer could or should manage the content of their applications. Because of this, they have focused on centralized data and data-driven applications.
Inetium became a Microsoft reselling partner in November 2002.Selling Microsoft® CRM as their first Microsoft Business Solutions product, they attained Microsoft Business Solutions President’s Club status in their first seven months.
Customer-Facing Business Solutions
Inetium is now organized around three practice areas that address the needs of different business users. One of those practices creates customer-facing solutions such as online marketing and commerce sites, direct mail marketing, and MICROSOFT CRM. These solutions are built on Microsoft products such as Commerce Server, Content Management Serverand Microsoft Business Solutions CRM.
Business Productivity Solutions
A second practice area focuses on the needs of the information worker.These solutions enhance business productivityand are built on technologies such as Microsoft SharePoint™ Portal Server, InfoPath™ information gathering program, and other Microsoft Office System applications such as SmartDocs.
Infrastructure Solutions
Inetium desires to play the role of the trusted IT Advisor, and the customers in the SMS&P space want this as well. Because of this, Inetium provides IT planning and infrastructure services that enable its customers to get the most from their IT investments.
Breadth of Experience
Inetium’s background and experience extend across a broad spectrum of industries including construction, health care, services, retail, independent software vendors, manufacturing, and financial services. This experience positions them well to serve various vertical markets.
Ryan Toenies, Inetium’s CRM Director, and Dave Stahlman, Vice President and Director of Sales and Marketing, share their winning strategies with us in this document.
CRM Marketing Strategies
Establishing a CRM Vertical Practice Area
From the time that Inetium signed on to develop Microsoft CRM solutions for clients, they took their new opportunity very seriously. One of the techniques that Inetium uses is establishing vertical practice areas within their organization. They immediately established a practice area for Microsoft CRM and placed Ryan Toenies in charge of the practice.
Developing Microsoft CRM Product Knowledge
Inetium staffgained product knowledge by taking advantage of Microsoft CRM training classes, both at the Microsoft Business Solutions headquarters and online. Three of their staff members are now certified on Microsoft CRM.
Using Microsoft CRM in Their Own Practice
Inetium uses Microsoft CRM in their own business. According to Dave Stahlman, Vice President and Director of Marketing and Sales, “We use the system internally. We’ve spent a good deal of time training and developing best practices for ourselves. That helps us relate to the customer’s business as well.”
Lead Generation
Balance of Internally Generated and Microsoft Leads–Toenies reports that Inteniumhas a good balance of leadsthat come to them through Microsoft Business Solutions and leads that are generated through their own efforts.
Existing Customer Base–Inetium takes advantage of their existing customer base to generate leads. Acting in the role of IT advisor, they regularly review their customers’ IT environment and make suggestions for improvements. When they see that Microsoft CRM has the potential to provide the customer with opportunities to build more positive relationships, they will recommend a CRM solution, often with customizations to fit the customer’s business needs and workflow.
Lead Generation Partnership–Inetium has a relationship with one partner who is engaged for the sole purpose of lead generation for Inetium. Inetium has educated their partner on Microsoft CRM, and the lead generation firm now includes the solution in their lead generation work.
Marketing Campaigns–Inetium also undertakes mass marketing efforts such as e-mail campaigns and direct mail fliers that generate interest.
Seminars–A smaller but growing part of their lead generation occursthrough seminars and joint engagements at Microsoft product launches. They anticipate getting much more into this area in the future.
Envisioning Integrated Solutions
Toenies says one of the reasons for their success in selling Microsoft CRM is the ability to envision an implementation as a part of an entire solution rather than an isolated piece of software. They analyze how CRM can be integrated with other touch points, such as a customer’s accounting solution and their Web site.
Inetium’s expertise with a breadth of Microsoft technologies serves them well. They are highly experienced in Microsoft SQL Server™, Exchange Server, Active Directory®directory service, Windows Server System™, desktop components, and Office. They do not maintain a focus exclusively on CRM as a tool, but as a part of all the technology that surrounds it. The integration of applications to make a total solution is what has made Inetium successful.
Focusing on the CRM Vision
Overcoming resistance to a version 1 product is sometimes a barrier for customers. Inetium believes they have been successful in overcoming this resistance in part because of their ability to sell the Microsoft vision for the future. “We have been able to go into even large organizations and sell them on the concept that you are going to win out of the box selecting Microsoft CRM, simply because it sits inside of a tool—Microsoft Outlook messaging and collaboration client—that is going to make it easy for your people to use,” says Toenies. “We tell them why they should get on the train now rather than waiting until a year from now. We do that with version 1 by saying this is a very extensible application from an integration perspective. We can ‘take the cover off CRM’ and make it do exactly what you want it to do.”
Selling the Microsoft .NET Promise
Microsoft .NET is software for connecting people, information, systems, and devices. Promoting the .NET technology behind CRM is a positive factor that they address with customers. Inetium tells customers that, as a Microsoft product, there is a mobility component to CRM. They point to the roadmap for integration of Microsoft products, revealing that .NET capabailities are coming down the pipeline, promising greater functionality. “There’s a lot of energy behind this from the Microsoft perspective, and what you’re seeing now is just the beginning,” Toenies says.
Customization and Workflow
Nine times out of ten, Inetium sells MICROSOFT CRM solutions because of its ability to create automated processes that will save labor. They pull out the customers’ pain points and provide examples of how MICROSOFT CRM’s workflow and customization features can address them.
One of Inetium’s customers is ahome builder who uses MICROSOFT CRM to manage customer leads. The builder has model homes across the metropolitan area. When a buyer walks into amodel home, the on-site sales representative asks the customer to fill out a document indicating the type of house they are looking for and their price range. At the end of the day, the sales representative enters the day’s information as leads into MICROSOFT CRM, which has been customized with an “opportunity” entry screen. Overnight, the data captured by MICROSOFT CRMis pushed into a back-end database. The data are used to configure a home for the prospects. As a prospect goes through the buying process, the specifics about the buyer are fed back into MICROSOFT CRM, creating a detail ofall required information for that buyer.
Summing Up Inetium’s Microsoft CRM Success
Toenies sums up Inetium’s strength in this statement: “Our strength is the breadth that we bring to the table. We have the ability to look at a MICROSOFT CRM implementation not as a piece of technology, but as a process and address that process with the customer.” According to Toenies, their approach with customers is, “Not only do we want to install Microsoft CRM, but to be successful inside your organization, we need it to integrate with your touch points.” Judging by Inetium’s record to date, they have been successful with this strategy.The positioning of Microsoft CRM in their suite of services, along with the resources they have brought to bear on selling Microsoft CRM, have yielded great results.