SalesLogix
It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what other men
say in whole books.
– Nietzsche
A number of years ago, I had the good fortune to join a startup
called SalesLogix that sold a middle market Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) product. SalesLogix shipped its first product in
1997, went public in 1999, and was acquired in 2001 in a deal
valued at $263 million. The early 1997 version of the SalesLogix
elevator pitch –- which we used to raise a total of $17
million –- went like this...
SalesLogix is a software company and has developed a Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) system that is both easier to use
and more powerful than existing solutions like Act and Siebel.
The problem with existing CRM solutions is that they fall
into one of two categories. On the one hand, you have contact
managers like Act that salespeople love but that do not allow
people to share information across a large organization. On the
other hand you have high-end CRM systems like Siebel that scale
to support the needs of hundreds or thousands of users but that
salespeople refuse to use. The result is that too many
organizations are unable to...
- Coordinate their sales and customer service teams.
- Obtain a holistic picture of the customer.
- Maximize the revenue gained from each customer.
In contrast, SalesLogix delivers the best of both worlds...
- The affordability and ease of use of a contact manager.
- The scalability, database synchronization, customization,
and reporting capabilities of a high-end CRM system.
SalesLogix is targeting midsized companies that have
outgrown contact managers like Act but can’t afford
the cost and complexity of high-end CRM products like Siebel.
The SalesLogix team has over 75 years of combined
experience in the industry and is led by Pat Sullivan,
the co-founder and former CEO of Contact Software
International, the original developer of Act.
SalesLogix is seeking $5 million to finance the
continued development and marketing of SalesLogix
1.0, which is scheduled to be released in April 1997.
Now that you’ve seen the entire SalesLogix
elevator pitch, let me explain the logic behind it
in terms of The Nine C’s.1
1. CONCISE
The entire SalesLogix elevator pitch
contained 250 words and, as a result, could be
comfortably delivered in just under two minutes...
SalesLogix is a software company and has developed
a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system that
is both easier to use and more powerful than existing
solutions like Act and Siebel.
What’s more, the key points of the SalesLogix
elevator pitch were contained in the summary sentence
(the first paragraph), which contained just 30 words.
2. CLEAR
One way we ensured that the SalesLogix elevator pitch
was clear was by using only a single acronym (CRM), and
by defining that acronym in the body of the elevator pitch.
A second way that we ensured that the SalesLogix elevator
pitch was clear was by talking about our product in relation
to products, like Act and Siebel, that the audience was likely
to have already heard about. While what we were doing was new
and different, we also knew that, when hearing our elevator
pitch, people would compare us to what they already knew. As
a result, our elevator pitch gave the audience two reference
points that made clear our point of difference.
A third way that we ensured that the SalesLogix elevator
pitch was clear was through the judicious use of repetition.
Repetition can help people remember a message. As a result,
we essentially restated our summary sentence two thirds of
the way through our elevator pitch.
3. COMPELLING
Because of our experience in the industry, we knew that the
problem was that existing CRM packages made companies feel like
they had to make an impossible choice. They forced companies to
choose between usability and power...
The problem with
existing CRM solutions is that they fall into one of two
categories. On the one hand, you have contact managers like Act
that salespeople love but that do not allow people to share
information across a large organization. On the other hand you
have high-end CRM systems like Siebel that scale to support the
needs of hundreds or thousands of users but that salespeople
refuse to use. The result is that too many organizations are
unable to...
• Coordinate their sales and customer
service teams.
• Obtain a holistic picture of the customer.
• Maximize the revenue gained from each customer.
That
was what was wrong with the state of the art. As a result,
our elevator pitch –- as well as all of our marketing and other
communication pieces –- reiterated the theme that SalesLogix was
both easy to use and powerful (with “both” being the critical
word)...
In contrast, SalesLogix delivers the best of
both worlds...
• The affordability and ease of use of a
contact manager.
• The scalability, database synchronization,
customization, and reporting capabilities of a high-end CRM
system.
4. CREDIBLE
The key advantage that we had at SalesLogix was our
credibility, and we used it to our advantage. We had done
this before, and this gave customers, investors, business
partners, and the press and analysts an extra reason to
listen to what we had to say. As a result, our elevator
pitch reminded the audience of our credentials...
The SalesLogix team has over 75 years of combined
experience in the industry and is led by Pat Sullivan,
the co-founder and former CEO of Contact Software
International, the original developer of Act.
We also used the same strategy in our advertising by
prominently featuring Pat Sullivan’s story and image
in all of our advertising, sales, and marketing materials.
Also, wherever possible –- and regardless of whether
we were talking to investors, analysts, or customers –-
our message was delivered by Pat Sullivan himself.
5. CONCEPTUAL
Rather than getting into technical details like HOW the
database synchronization system worked or operational details
like our intention to sell the product through a network of
business partners, the SalesLogix elevator pitch instead
stayed at a fairly high level and focused on first answering
basic questions like...
• What is it? A Customer Relationship Management
(CRM) system.
• Who needs it? Mid-sized organizations that need a
system that is both easy to use and powerful.
• Why do they need it? Existing solutions did not
satisfy the needs of organizations as they grow.
•
WhoRU to see the problem and to create the solution?
The SalesLogix team has over 75 years of combined experience
and is led by industry veteran Pat Sullivan.
6. CONCRETE
While the SalesLogix elevator pitch was fairly conceptual in
nature, it was still very concrete and specific when it
came to...
• The Customer Mid-sized organizations who
have outgrown contact managers like Act but who cannot afford
the cost and complexity of high-end CRM systems like Siebel.
•
The Problem Existing solutions are either
easy to use or powerful, but not both.
• The Competition Contact managers like Act
and high-end CRM systems like Siebel.
• The Team Led by Pat Sullivan and with over
75 years of combined experience in the industry.
•
The Objective Raise $5 million to finance
the continued development and marketing of SalesLogix 1.0.
7. CONSISTENT
Regardless of the audience, every version of the SalesLogix
elevator pitch communicated the same basic message; that
SalesLogix offered the affordability and ease of use of
contact managers and the power of high-end CRM systems.
This basic message was then distilled down into a tagline
that was consistent with and reinforced our core message
and positioning. The initial version of the SalesLogix
tagline was...
SalesLogix is the first Act-like CRM solution.
Over time, our tagline evolved into something that was
even clearer...
SalesLogix is the first true CRM solution
that’s
as easy to use as Act.
Both taglines only mentioned Act, and not Siebel as well,
both for reasons of length and simplicity and because of
Pat Sullivan’s history as the creator of Act.
8. CUSTOMIZED
During early 1997, when this version of the SalesLogix
elevator pitch was written, we were talking to multiple
groups: venture capitalists, potential customers, analysts
and the press, and business partners. As a result, we
developed different versions to speak to these different
groups. However, regardless of which audience we were
speaking to, each version focused on the problem we were
solving and our previous experience solving it.
9. CONVERSATIONAL
One reason we structured the SalesLogix pitch as we did
was that we knew that some people knew a lot about the CRM
market but most didn’t know the market very well. As
a result, we were able to able to tweak our delivery in
mid-pitch depending on the signals we received from the
audience. If it was clear that they were familiar with the
market, we would go with a slightly lower-level version of
the pitch. If we got the sense that the audience was unfamiliar
with the market, then we would stick with the elevator pitch
as it was written. However, in either case the audience would
generally be interested in learning more about what we were doing.
Copyright Notice
This document is
copyright © 2009 Chris O'Leary and the LIMB Press LLC. It
is licensed for personal use only. Any organizational or
institutional use must be approved by Chris O'Leary.
|