Sightings in SaaS

Posts Tagged ‘NetSuite 2009 R2’

I spent some of my weekend playing with NetSuite’s 2009 R 2 and found a couple of things that relate to current clients trying to solve difficult problems.

First, in a nutshell, is the problem of selling software into a large organization. For example, think about CAD software. Each engineer needs a seat, but engineering might be spread around a large company, spread across the globe in some cases. So company XYZ is already a client, but you are still actively selling to other divisions and engineering teams. How to manage all of that data, all of those people.

The new Lead Converison process is the answer. Bring in the new leads of Company XYZ as individuals and work the lead as you normally would, with the addition of the new data fields on the Qualifications tab. As the sales person makes progress in qualifying the lead, they collect the data and at some point decide that the lead is ready to take the next step into the sales process. There is a new button on the lead form to Convert the lead, and this brings up a form which allows the sales person at this point to create a new opportunity, change the lead to a prospect, create a sales task, assign the lead to a sales territory and, finally, merge this lead with the parent company – while keeping a history of both separately.  It’s very smooth and well thought out, and again a great solution when you are selling into multiple divisions of the same parent.

To get there, you’ll have to make a few small admin changes, like enabling the lead conversion process and also setting up a general preference to treat all leads as Individuals. If you are currently using NetSuite there are some good points to consider in the online help for how to make the changeover. Not difficult but you should consider them carefully before pulling the trigger. 

Also, you will have to abandon the current workflow that you may be using in NetSuite, where a lead changes to a prospect when an opportunity open. However you will not sacrifice any functionality in the changeover, as the new Lead Conversion process, detailed above, helps you to manage this workflow and much else as well. 

This is really a godsend for companies who sell into multiple divisions of a parent company and need to maintain relationships with dozens if not hundreds of contacts at a single company. Using the new lead conversion process will save them many hours of input but also help them to collect better data from their online forms and marketing campaigns.