2. Key Topics
Part 1 Today
• Objections – Always Prepared
• Product Objections
• Technology Objections
• Saas Related Objections
Part 2 – Included for later reference
• Services and Support Objections
• Pricing and Negotiation
• Acumatica Brand
• License Agreement/Contract Objections
4. Objections – Always Prepared
“Anticipate”
• to think of something that will or
might happen in the future
• to expect or look ahead to something
with pleasure : to look forward to
something
• to do something before someone else
5. Always Prepared
• Except the unexpected - With sales, what can go wrong, usually will.
• Competition does not rest
• The decision maker isn't really the decision maker
• Important stake holder on Vacation
• People don’t live forever
• Avoid installing last minute updates prior to your demo / Have a replicated backup demo
environments / Etc..
• All questions are fair game – compartmentalize and completeness - put issues to bed the
first time
• Choices without rational or guidance = more objections
• What are your top 3 “winners” for your specific prospect in each then objection
categories?
• What does your client think you top expertise are?
• Sometimes the same words are heard differently when the perception is they are hearing
from the experts mouth
• Introduce subject matter experts early in the sales cycle
• Always know Why Me?
7. Product Features Objections
• Do you really understand the client pains and needs
• Should know possible short comings before they do
• “Must Haves” vs “Like to Have”
• Is it ok to say “No” ?
• What are your top 3 “winners” – Repeat often
– Examples: Customizability/Personalization, document management, integrated CRM,
real-time data, audit trails, attributes, generic inquiries, navigation and usability, role
based controls, exchange integration, mobile ready, built in carrier integration,
tight ecommerce integration, multi warehouse replenishment, manufacturing
integration, etc..
• Domain knowledge and Lingo
• Past customer experiences with similar needs
• Know the competition in relation with your prospects needs
• Spend time on website for learning product details and videos
• Search the web for challenges faced by users
8. Common Product Objections
• Marketing Automation
• Sales force integration
• Gmail and Outlook integration
• Sub-item restrictions
• Dimensional Accounting / Tags for GL accounts
• Use of existing Report Writers / DB Schema
• Analytics
• PCI and Credit Card Processing Choices
• Ease of customization (add a field and validation)
• Barcode Scanning / optimized fulfillment
• Multi level Commissions / profit base commissions
• Customer Loyalty Management (Rewards/gift cards)
• Social Integration
10. Common Technology
Objections• What resource level do I need?
• How will I know when I need to upgrade my resource level?
• External Report Writer / DB Schema & Dictionary?
• REST based APIs ?
• ODBC access?
• How will my customization migrate?
• Can I integrate it to my PHP site?
• Is source code available?
• Why doesn't Acumatica use MVC?
• Is it HTML5?
• How quickly can my staff learn the Technology?
• Languages available?
• Localization?
Winners:
• Acumatica is a platform company and ERP company
• Install Whole environment on Dev Computers
• Extensible with minimal risks in version management
• Choice of DB
• Rapid Application Development
• As simple as you need, as complex as you can handle
12. Common Saas Objections
• Compliance (SOC , SAE, PCI, etc..)
• True Multi-tenancy? (NetSuite engaged prospects – sometimes Intacct)
• Upgrade predictability – Is everyone on same release? How
many versions of the software is supported?
• Version lock - How will I know I will not be stuck on an older
version?
• Vendor managed updates - Is there a fee for services to
upgrade?
• Stronger communities - How many users on same version
as me?
• Trusted - Who is hosting and managing?
13. Saas Winners
• Top 3 winners to repeat often (Saas Bill of Rights)
• Data ownership and access
• Free SaaS Sandbox with every major upgrade (Permanent local)
• No cost Web Services / APIs (including server side scripts)
• Worthy followers
• Killer cloud performance + Geo optimized
• No “Named Users” - Add or change employees anytime at no cost
• Easy contract changes (downgrades or upgrades)
• Free non-production version for internal use
• Automatic Disaster Recovery (multi-zone)
• With some caution:
– Deployment changes if needs arise
– More options over upgrade timing
• Personalized Domain
14. NetSuite Saas Killers
Lead your prospect to ask NetSuite:
• What options am I not buying?
Examples: Advanced Inventory, Contract Renewals Module, Demand planning, Recurring Billing, Revenue
Recognition, Incentive Planning, Financial Planning, One World
• Can you lock the discounts for when my contract is renewed?
• Can you give a quote that is fixed for 20 additional users?
• Can I get a price for upgrade from LE to MME quoted now and agreed on incase we
grow or need the functionality.
• I’ve heard from time to time you ask clients who need better performance or with
extensive web services integrations to subscribe to different tier of services. How will
I be sure you will be able to handle my volume with good performance without
asking me later I need upgrade?
• What is Suite Cloud plus?
• 10 threads, single user, and 5 scheduled scripts limit on shared servers
• To have multiple users, more threads, or reliability, premiums apply
– lev 1 – 40K a year (same limits but simply more reliable performance)
– Lev 2 – 75K - 20 threads / 2 accounts / 10 scripts
– Lev 3 – 100K – 30 threads / 3 accounts / 15 scripts
17. Common Services and Support
Objections
• Implementation Cost Justification
• Fixed Priced Implementation
• Cost of Services associated with future upgrades
• Cost of Customizations
• Maintenance on Customization
• Visibility into implementation progress
• Billing process for time spent
• Acumatica Implementation Experience
• Support Plans (Post implementation)
• 24/7 Access to help
• Issue tracking and visibility
• Time spent on learning what to do or on bugs
• Developer Support and Training
• Customer Community
• Access to Acumatica
19. Common Pricing Objections
• Price-lock into future years
• Future Start Date of Maintenance / Saas Service
• Why cant I tie payment terms to my go live date?
• Can I just use the Eval version till I go live?
• Monthly Payments / Split Payments
• Services Payment Terms - Why is some upfront?
• Why do I need to pay for support separately?
• Satisfaction guarantee
• References – People in my industry
• Competition is more aggressive. I need a better
discount.
21. Positioning Acumatica
• Use of Company presentation
• Management team accessibility
• 3rd party validation – awards
• 1000+ Customers
• Long term viability
• OEM business and long term contracts
• Sister companies
22. Acumatica Brand Objections
• Russian based company?
• Relatively New company – Never heard of
Acumatica
• Financial Strength
• Buyout target
• Research Analyst Radars (Gartner Magic Quadrant)
• Number of customer installations
• Product Maturity
• Company Scalability
24. Common EULA Objections
• Limitation of liability
• Venue
• SLA and related credits
• Excessive downtime
• Deletion of data upon termination
• Sales and Services Agreements
• What they get with Saas services
• Add-on Saas Services
• Direct Support and related SOW/MSA
Notes de l'éditeur
Present myself and my role at Acumatica (the bridge between the engineering team, sales & marketing teams; the voice of the customer and partner for product development and design)
Today I’m here to present you…
Q: who attended
Marketing Automation - Hubspot, Pardot
Sales force integration – common challenge is understanding of what's is expected
Gmail and Outlook integration - Offfice 360, Exchange Integration understand sensitivity and be ready to say no.
Sub-item restrictions – Kensium Stock Expander
Dimensional Accounting / Tags for GL accounts - Subaccounts are more powerful and can provide reports require with better control
Use of existing Report Writers / DB Schema - Evangelize use of APIs and Internal Report writers. ERP at this level is always too complex to have a useful schema. Typically much easier to a. look at existing similar reports, inquiries, and screens to identify related DACs. Profiler also a good option for reverse engineering.
Analytics -
PCI and Credit Card Processing Choices – With use tokenized technology, no cc data gets shared in Acumatica. Auth.net has basic GW only service
Ease of customization (add a field and validation) - Share video.
Barcode Scanning / optimized fulfillment - Several ISV options. Fusion and
Multi level Commissions / profit base commissions - Understand needs, ready to say no.
Customer Loyalty Management (Rewards/gift cards) –
Paypal Integration - Magento
Social Integration – Azuqua
What resource level do I need? Sizing worksheet
How will I know when I need to upgrade my resource level? Resource Monitoring
External Report Writer / DB Schema & Dictionary? Same as last page
REST based APIs ? REST APIs are used by our mobile framework and soon to be documented for public use.
ODBC access? Possible for Read only but should not be really required.
How will my customization migrate? System is aware of all customizations you make and are stored as mete data. They are then automatically propagated during upgrades.
Can I integrate it to my PHP site? Yes, Data exchange and integration via web services. Soap protocol. REST coming soon.
Is source code available? PX Application Business Objects, PC Data is obfuscated.
Why doesn't Acumatica use MVC? Acumatica Framework does not really even use .net web forms. The aspx files are basically used for ui markup only and used dues to popularity for its definition ease. Acumatica Frame work can be thought to be in a similar layer as MVC. Acumatica Framework has similar concepts of Separation. Model which is the DAC, Aspx is the view, C (controllers are similar to Acumatica Graphs)
Is it HTML5? Acumatica Uses HTML 5 Standards. A good example is drag and drop of attachments from your desktop,
How quickly can my staff learn the Technology? C# - Deep understanding of C# Generics and Attributes / Reflections.
Languages available? Acumatica language packs are developed and managed by Acumatica affiliates in respective markets. Spanish, French, and Vietnamese available.
Localization? Acumatica Affiliates in their markets.
See amazon compliance site. Can request through Acumatica. Direct NDA will be required by Amazon
Present myself and my role at Acumatica (the bridge between the engineering team, sales & marketing teams; the voice of the customer and partner for product development and design)
Today I’m here to present you…
Q: who attended