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Review Process - Action Plan

To better serve our readers and to assure the highest quality In-Depth Review of your CRM solution, we have developed this series of editorial guidelines. Our goal is to provide the most thorough coverage of Customer Relationship Management software anywhere. Period. We can do a better job of achieving this objective with your help and I want you to know upfront that I do appreciate the effort this takes! I promise you thorough, fair, and candid coverage of your CRM solutions.

Remember, we serve the interests of our readers first. However, I will always listen carefully to any question or concern you may have!

I encourage you to work through this entire process. However, the final decision of how much you cooperate is always yours. I want to thoroughly cover every great CRM solution available. If you have a great program, I can only write about it with your support!

Step One

Please set your own target milestones for completing this review process. The dates are up to you. However, I will try to schedule my own workload to expedite your completion of this process.

Milestone	Target Date	Done
Assign Primary Contact
Send Press Kit (by email, please!)
Add to Press List (by email, please!)
Complete CRM Developer Profile
Send Review Copy of Program
Complete Crucial Issues Questionnaire

Reminder: Please, set your own target dates for these milestones and email the dates to me. This information will be used to plan our editorial calendar and schedule various writing projects.

Please email this info to me at rich@sellmorenow.com

Step Two

Please send me your latest press kit and the name of the person within your company who will be my primary contact. If your press kit is already posted on your web site, that's great. Just send me the link!

This would also be the best time to make sure that I am on your press list to automatically receive your important news items by email. If they are high in information content (and low in sales BS), they just might inspire a short article in my blog or newsletter! Our readers are also always interested in success stories and interesting case studies featuring unique application of CRM solutions. If you have written a great white paper or case study highlighting unique capabilities of your CRM solution, let me know! If they are high in information value, I will be happy to link to them in my regular email newsletter or blog.

Step Three

Please thoughtfully complete our CRM Developer Profile. These are the same questions I would ask you if I were to travel to your office for a personal interview. So, please take this opportunity to let me know who you are and where you came from! This is also an excellent opportunity to reflect on the positioning of your product and tell me what CRM issues you uniquely address! With your help, I can communicate these points to the CRM community.

As soon as I get this information back from you, I will prepare my In-Depth Review describing your program. I will then publish this document on our web site (www.sellmorenow.com) and provide a link to your web site.

Step Four

Like many of our projects, I feel our approach to creating our In-Depth Reviews is unique. The first thing you will notice is your own opportunity for active participation in the process!

I personally put each program I evaluate through a rigorous testing process that I have refined performing these independent reviews since 1984. I look at the programs first from the perspective of the sales person who will be using them in the field, then from the in-house team (be they support reps, marketing staff, or call center agents), then from the perspective of sales and marketing management, and finally from the perspective of the MIS professional. My guiding concerns are two fold: Does the program help users take better care of their customers? Does the program actually help users sell more?

Based on our own extensive customer satisfaction surveys, we remain convinced that our approach is unique and that it truly helps our readers make more informed CRM purchase decisions. Our reviews are NOT mindless check-lists. We take the essay approach! The reviews are typically 90-120 pages long, depending on the complexity of the programs.

After writing these reviews for more than 20 years, I have discovered that the process is easier on me AND more informative for the readers if I get your help right up front! So, this is where I need to introduce you to my Crucial Issues Questionnaire. These are the crucial issues that people (Your potential customers!) have asked me about when investigating a CRM purchase. When I go through my review process, I seek answers to these questions from many sources including: my own independent research on the web, my own independent research with your users (you would be surprised at the many ways I get to meet them!), trolling your web site, studying whatever documentation that you provide, reviewing your press releases and any conversations (by phone or email) that we might have.

I have found though, that the best source of answers to these crucial issues is to just ask! So, this is where I invite you to study my Crucial Issues Questionnaire and respond wherever you feel appropriate. I would hope that you view this optional step as an interesting opportunity to get your message out! One way or another, I am going to chase down answers to these issues! If you take the time to help me tell your story, the final In-Depth Review will be a far more meaningful document for people evaluating your program! So, thanks, in advance for your help!

Important Notice: Many of you get confused at this point in my review process! Everything that follows is an optional exercise on your part! You don't have to answer a single one of these questions for me to write a review of your product. However, this is the process I will go through as I try to create a proper In-Depth Review of your CRM solution. Remember, this is a lot of work on my end too! The focus of my review efforts is driven by questions from our readers and the larger CRM community. Of course, your cooperation and inputs will lead to a more accurate and more meaningful review of your product! So, I will always invite, and welcome, your inputs on any of the points that follow. As is my custom, I will also give you an opportunity to challenge or clarify all issues raised in my reviews before I formally publish my findings.

Please feel free to add whatever information you like. Just try to answer all of my questions!
Naturally, I would appreciate getting this back as soon as possible!
If you have any questions for me, E-Mail or call me (Preferably, in that order).
As the independent reviewer, I reserve the right to make all final editorial decisions.
I will resubmit the final review to you for any last minute clarification or comments. We don’t have to get everything right on the first try. I will iterate with you until I am happy that the finished review meets our standards.
Your assistance and cooperation are sincerely appreciated. When setting my own work priorities, I do give "bonus points" to those people who work with me and make my job easier!
Remember, our only objectives are to help people find the software that will help them take better care of their customers and that will help them sell more!
When you first sit down with this, it is sure to look like a lot of work! However, it is really not that bad. Spread the work around your team. Don’t worry about your prose, I’ll take care of that. Help me tell your story and you will be proud of the finished document.

Once I complete an In-Depth Review of your product, you become a candidate for recommendation to the many customers who subscribe to my "Rich’s Picks" needs analysis service. If you need more information on this, just let me know.

Step Five

Finally, let’s maintain an ongoing dialog! Unlike any other publication you might work with, I am obsessively focused on CRM!

Once we complete an In-Depth Review, I will work with you to continuously update it as your program or focus changes. Via our web site and email publications, I will keep news about your products in continuous circulation.

Also, I am frequently asked to contribute articles to other publications, especially the growing array of email publications. I write about whatever neat products are on my mind. It is your responsibility to develop neat products and applications and to make sure that you are on my mind!

If you ever have a question or comment for us, just call or e-mail me. I want to work with you to help our readers discover the best products to let them master CRM to take better care of their customers and Sell More Now!

Rich Bohn