#Quosal -- This Week In Twitter

Twitter No Responses »
Aug 272010

 

Selected tweets by Quosal and our partners and friends …

#SaaS deployment of #Quosal quoting makes sense for multi-office, virtual co’s; Cloud data is secure, accessible www.quosal.com #ConnectWise
QuosalMan — Kent McNall
Aug 19

On holiday, London this week…that’s a long flight from SEA…drizzly English weather. London is a great city. Notoriously bad vacationer
QuosalMan — Kent McNall
Aug 22

Very excited to see ACCs interested in #Quosal. Their input is so valuable. One look at #OrderPorter and they’re hooked.
Quosal_Frank — Frank Rogan
Aug 25

Congratulations to Sage for going gold with ACT! 2011! Big success with many exciting features. #quosal #actbysage #sageact
Quosal_Frank — Frank Rogan
Aug 26

ConnectWise IT Nation 2010 Update! Lots of breakouts… we’re sold out but you can still get on the waitlist http://ow.ly/2vkiI #ITN2010
ConnectWise
Aug 26

ConnectWise Wins award at XChange Americas – XCellence in Partner Growth http://ow.ly/2vWCz
ConnectWise
Aug 27

Six Great Reasons to Be Excited About Sage ACT! 2011 Smart Tasks (Part II) – Guest Blog by Len Kamerman #SageACT http://ht.ly/18KKRs
ACTbySage
Aug 27

Posted by Frank at 2:52 pm

Effective Adoption of New Processes Drives Profits and Morale

Business Process, Kent No Responses »
Aug 232010

 

One aspect of our business here at Quosal that has been very gratifying is the high adoption rate of our solution. In this case “adoption rate” refers to the percentage of customers who implement, use, and receive the benefit of Quosal soon after they purchase it.

Having been in the enterprise software solution business for some time, I’ve certainly seen the opposite — companies that make a significant investment in software (and other infrastructure) that don’t actually implement the solution or are “turned back from the gates” of implementation. In some cases, writing the check for the software/services was the first, last and only action item taken toward implementation! In other cases, a sincere effort is made, but the company loses steam and the initiative falters.

The desire for change of business process is almost always sincere and founded in real need. How can a business “punch through the target” to ensure that ROI is received from such an investment?

Change is an act of management will. In a small business, management and ownership are generally synonymous. The mandate for change must always start at the top, just as the authorization for the investment usually does. Without this mandate and the driving desire for business process change, it often does not happen – especially if multiple departments are affected by the change.
Beyond this, there are practical “drivers” that will help ensure that change will occur in a beneficial, building manner.

Big Wins: The carrot of a significant win in the process can help pull change-averse staff and organizations through an implementation. Such wins come in many forms. I’ve seen what looks like surprisingly small “wins” from the outside drive huge changes.

Ease Their Pain: A corollary of the Big Win — reducing a pain point can help drive change.

Desire to Be the Best: Many organizations are motivated by the simple desire for improvement – taking another step toward excellence.

We Don’t Fail: The corollary to the above, a successful implementation is the obvious alternative to a failed implementation, which is an undesired black eye for many.

Many executives and owners feel that the simple mandate of “it’s your job” will win the day, but looking a little further into the heart of successful change management can smooth the road, and speed the path to ROI.

Posted by Kent at 9:26 am Tagged with: , , , ,

Don’t Be Ugly By Accident!

Proposals, Quotes No Responses »
Aug 122010

 

What does a dating site like OKCupid have to do with quotes and proposals? Plenty.

OKTrends is the official blog of OKCupid, and they must have a fantastic team of statisticians. Its fascinating stuff for stats geeks like me, who play fantasy football and eagerly debate whether Chipper Jones will make it into the Hall of Fame. He’s a lock. But I digress.

Don’t Be Ugly By Accident! was OKTrends recent blog post sharing its findings on the snap judgments based on a person’s photograph, and then compared the “yes/no” snap judgment against several variables — the time of day each picture was taken, shutter speed, depth of field, etc., which can be cribbed from EXIF data included in the digital files taken by most modern cameras.

What’d they learn?

If you want more dates, take better pictures of yourself. Don’t use a camera phone. Using a flash adds seven years to your perceived age. Make sure you’re the center of attention. Take pictures with good lighting.

In other words, don’t be ugly by accident. The little details pay big dividends.

“Technique can make or break your photograph, and the right decisions can get you more dates.”

So, again, what does that have to do with quotes and proposals? Just as technique can make or break your photograph, your technique with quotes and proposals can make or break your sale.

Etilize allows you to include product photos and specifications. People like to buy things they can see. If they can visualize your product, they can visualize how it will fit into their lives and their businesses, and they’ll be more likely to make a purchase.

Order Porter allows you to include video-based content. It could be a video of your product in action. Or a video of yourself going over the proposal in detail, or even simply thanking the customer for the opportunity to win their business. People buy from people.

Quosal and Microsoft Word can be used together to create true, repeatable, multi-section proposals.

Don’t be ugly by accident. Deliver attractive, accurate, and high-quality on purpose.

Posted by Frank at 12:07 pm Tagged with: ,

No More Web Site Envy – For Now

Kent, Technology, Web No Responses »
Aug 062010

 

I’m sure I’m not the only business owner in the world that suffers from “Web site envy.”

Like other forms of covetousness, such as cell phone envy and tech-generation envy (you have the iPhone 4, while I’m still stick on the 3GS), it always seems that the next guy’s Web site has a little better graphics, content and technology.

We’ve just released our third iteration of the Quosal Web site, and at least for today I’m suspending all Web site envy. Our team has worked hard on it, and our summer interns have made terrific contributions across the board.

When one considers all of the factors that make up today’s Web presence for a business, and all of the traditional business elements affected by that presence, it is easy to understand why your Web site needs constant attention. Marketing, sales, operations, support service and public relations are all impacted. The technology, content and attractiveness/gestalt of your site all create an impression on potential customers and existing customers.

Our own product, Quosal, has become an even more important part of our own Web site with this new revision, as we are using Order Porter’s capability to actually process sales transactions for our new product, Quosal for ACT! Our customers can build their own quote (shopping cart) online, and complete the purchase and digital distribution automatically. More and more, all of the software products we use, and our Cloud-based applications and data, must be able to interact with our Web presence.

It’s nice to give “Web site envy” a break at least for a day. I’m sure I’ll be back to the envy salt mines next week.

Posted by Kent at 11:21 am Tagged with: , ,

Fitting Right into the 101 Ways to Make More Sales

Competitive Advantage, Knowledge Transfer, Proposals, Quotes, Sales No Responses »
Aug 032010

 

Former journalists, like me, gravitate toward Copyblogger, a fantastic blog about all things words, and specifically, copywriting tips for marketing success. Quotes and proposals are by definition things with words, so there’s a lot that can be gleaned from Copyblogger.

Former journalists, like me, are also suckers for lists. Say “top 10” anything, and we’ll read it. You can see why Copyblogger’s “101 Ways to Make More Sales Online,” caught my eye. In fact, “put a number in the headline” is one of the 101 Ways.

But what really made me sit up and take notice was how Quosal fit into those 101 suggestions.

Let prospects know they’re buying from a human being.

Honestly, this is the very reason behind Order Porter’s personal video feature. People tend to buy things from people. You are not a vending machine, so your quote or proposal document should not act like one. Adding a personal video to your quote – even just to say “thanks” — and delivering it through Order Porter is a great way to make one more memorable impression on your customer.

Tell a story about how you solved this problem for yourself before you started selling the solution to others.

Quosal CEO Kent McNall loves telling the story about how Quosal got started when, in one of Kent’s past businesses, a lack of a good quoting tool led directly to a salesman’s six-figure mistake. Knowledge Transfer is a key problem Quosal solves.

Make sure you’ve described your product or service in enough detail. If it’s physical, give the dimensions and some great photos. … Don’t assume your prospects already know any details — spell everything out.

Include a photograph of what you’re selling, if you can.

It’s for this very reason that Quosal works with Etilize, allowing you to smoothly include product details and product photographs into your quotes and proposals. Quosal + Etilize is a powerful, powerful combination.

Put your photo on your sales page. Human beings are hard-wired to connect to faces. If prospects can see you, it’s easier for them to trust you.

Not only does Quosal recognize this as a fundamental truth, we built this feature right into the application – an optional space for a personal photo is built right in, ready to go.

Does the prospect know everything he needs to know in order to make this purchase? What questions might still be on his mind? How can you educate him to make him more confident about his decision to buy?

You probably already have product brochures, descriptions of your services and various sales sheets. Quosal’s PDF Merge Manager feature makes it easy to include these materials with your quote and proposal documents. No more cobbling together documents – they can be merged into one, smooth-looking professional package.

Can you provide a demonstration of the product or service?

As a matter of fact, we can.

Posted by Frank at 5:42 pm Tagged with: , , ,
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