The Suntaug Group, LLC

Developing Prospects into "Qualified Prospects" is an expensive proposition.  Considerable time and effort by sales and marketing to develop opportunities for your company is a major expense and also an asset.  More often than not, these assets are not properly managed resulting not only opportunity lost, but a poor return in your investment in sales and marketing.

We believe that "realistic" sales forecasting starts with everyone having a common understanding of expectations, definitions and process of your sales cycle.  There can be no guessing or worse, second guessing as to the stage of an opportunity or the next steps to close the deal. 

For example, a typical mistake made by sales reps is getting the purchase order without the proper legal contracts in place.  At what stage are these documents introduced to the customer?  When does legal get involved?  Whose approval is needed to sign documents?  The insurance industry is the most litigated industry in the world and they have the attorneys to prove it.  Understanding the process early on can be the difference between getting the sale this quarter or just a "surprise".

Having a well defined Sales Forecasting Methodology is the foundation to managing your investment in sales and marketing. 

Salesforce.com is the leading sales force automation product in the market today.  Both small and large companies can quickly implement the system without purchasing any software or hardware to run it on.  Existing account information, contacts, notes, etc. can be quickly imported via Excel to organize your information and make it accessible on-demand.  There are multiple entry points starting with one user to unlimited users.

The Suntaug Group has experience implementing Salesforce.com not only for sales and marketing staff but for senior management, finance, operations and professional services.  Your custom Sales Forecasting Methodology can be quickly adapted to the system and changed as your business changes.

There is no "one size fits all" sales compensation plan, every company has it's unique challenges when it comes to keeping their sales force motivated.  We have experience with both "hunter" and "farmer" comp plans for different size companies that sell software products and/or services. 

One challenge presented by selling into the Insurance industry is the length of the sales cycle.  Insurance companies are notorious for taking longer than just about every other industry to make a buying decision.  Building a strong pipeline and nurturing it is more important than ever.

Your sales compensation plan developed by The Suntaug Group will be closely tied to your companies forecasting methodology and Salesforce.com.

If your sales and marketing personnel are remote, we have experience dating back to the early days of "telecommuting" to assist senior management in developing a reasonable framework for the remote employee. 

We can help you avoid the pitfalls of sales reps "living off their expenses" by taking unnecessary trips to visit customers.  Face time with customers is obviously important and necessary for building long-term relationships.  But how much is too much and where do you draw the line? 

The days of the traveling salesmen coming through town and taking up two or three hours of a customer's time is over.  Everyone is doing more than one job these days and their time is precious.

Your expense guidelines for travel is a delicate balance and we can help develop a reasonable program for both your salespeople and CFO.