Evaluating SFA Software

With so much riding on your SFA software, it is important that you try it out yourself. Come up with a list of your more frequent sales activities and use that to evaluate different software packages.

We recommend conducting your evaluation with and without the vendor’s sales rep. It is to your advantage to have them looking over your shoulder so you can ask questions about what can be easily customized and to let them show you the bells and whistles; it is to your advantage to have some time alone with the software so you can simply run through your common tasks and get a sense of how easy they are to accomplish – without a salesman looking over your shoulder and prompting your actions.

When investigating ASP solutions, you can often get a free 30‐day trial that will allow you – and your sales reps – to spend some time getting to know the application.

Demos may be harder to come by for client‐server systems. Some vendors will give you a standard version that you can install and try out, just like an ASP version. Others may find it too complicated to set up a full working version before you commit to purchasing it. In those cases, a salesperson may walk you through a “canned” demo that simply mocks up the software, or may provide you with a video or web cast that demonstrates how the product works.

Customization

Any system you buy will require some work to make it match your unique sales process. There are two different types of work you’ll need done. First is simple configuration: creating data fields to match the customer information you collect, setting up and naming the steps of your sales process workflow, establishing user accounts, incorporating your sales literature, and other basic adjustments. These changes do not alter the way the program works, and are typically changes that your administrator should be able to do on his own.

True customization is a more complicated process, such as writing scripts that add new functionality, or creating connections to other specialized software applications. You may or may not need this level of customization, but be sure the vendors you interview are aware of any potential customization needs so they can include that in their pricing.

Ease of use

Of course everyone wants their SFA system to be intuitive and easy to use. However, “ease of use” is somewhat subjective. Here are some specific components you should consider:

• Information display – Well‐designed applications present a large amount of information in a clear and organized manner on the main screen, allowing users to see more detail without clicking through to multiple screens.

• Number of clicks – Compare how many clicks it takes to update a record, create a new prospect, or fulfill an information request.