"Answerthink is a business transformation and software implementation consulting company located primarily on the east coast of the U.S.
We worked with The Fenemore Group to develop a telequalification and appointment-setting campaign. Debbie Depp has helped us define and communicate more simply our value proposition and service offerings, which has been very useful for differentiating Answerthink in a crowded market.
To date we have generated about a dozen near-term pipeline opportunities (large deals) that are just entering our sales cycle. Debbie has been easy to work with, responsive, and thorough in both preparation and follow-up.”
-- Eric Martin, Manager
"The Fenemore Group assisted us with the development of a sales compensation planning structure and process that would meet the key objectives. With Debbie Depp's assistance we have achieved these objectives.
The combination of Debbie's background and her style of engagement created immediate credibility with the sales organization. Her methodology maintained active involvement and participation of the affected managers and employees, which resulted in a sense of ownership within the Company as the phases of the project were completed."
- Kathy Weidman, Vice President, Operations;
- Augie Angrisano, Vice President, Field Operations, Americas;
- Jerry Lipet, Director, Sales Operations, Finance
"In a dynamic, pre-IPO environment, Brooktrout Software management was dealing with a market that was undergoing a significant transformation – one that required our company to transition from selling tools to 3rd party developers to developing integrated communication solutions for Enterprise customers.
In response, we felt that we needed to launch a new program to ensure that customer satisfaction and loyalty was Brooktrout Software’s # 1 corporate priority.
The issue of accountability throughout the organization was key to meeting this objective.
To launch our Customer Advocacy Initiative, we worked with Debbie Depp to develop a two-day workshop. Our priority was to consistently deliver customer satisfaction in a way that translates customer loyalty into a multi-million dollar lifetime value.
Deb conducted a 'needs assessment' to create buy-in and establish a baseline to help us assess where our staff was in terms of skills and attitude.
She developed a highly customized program to encourage behavioral change, build on existing strengths, and promote teamwork. This customized program has become the basis for our customer-centric relationship management process – one that we feel will be repeatable and measurable; and, one that will deliver results.
In advance of the actual training, we developed exercises and case studies that related to the actual business relationships of the participants.
To measure knowledge transfer, the teams applied what they learned to the specific major accounts. In addition, Deb created a 'Road Map of Accountability' for the participants, and we ended up with mutually agreed to action items.
After the workshop, Deb followed-up to ensure continuous performance improvement. Based on what we learned from the first session, we made modifications for future sessions. Her ongoing support let’s us ask questions, check progress, refresh learning, and explore 'next step' possibilities.
Throughout the entire project, Deb was constantly available and pro-active in suggesting new ways of perfecting our Customer Advocacy program. Her tremendous experience and depth of knowledge was a major factor in her ability to assist us in developing a customer-centric strategy.
Deb is a delight to work with, and totally immerses herself in the culture of the company. Her energy and enthusiasm are infectious, and we look forward to working with her in related projects as we grow our company."
- Mark D. Flanagan,President and CEO;
- Peter Watson,Vice President, Worldwide Sales & Support
"When we started working with the Fenemore Group there was an historic divide between sales and marketing. Sales was something that just happened (or didn't), and our lead generation process was focused on quality instead of quality. Let's not even talk about data-driven decision-making or about what programs develop good leads that turn into sales.
With the Fenemore Group's help, we've begun to put in place a repeatable process that will yield predictable results. We're linking marketing and sales together through integrated programs. And we're matching people to appropriate postions and arming them with the tools necessary for success. The Fenemore Group has provided not only guidance based on facts and experience but has also helped with some of the heavy lifting---all with the same sense of urgency we have."
- Kim Gray, Vice President & General Manager;
- David Freeman, Director, Sales & Marketing
"ETG was a mid-size company with sales in excess of $5M that had reached the peak of its business cycle, for which it had a dominant presence for over five years.
The Fenemore Group’s response was to create a systematic approach that helped close the loop on communication and performance, while giving management performance measurements for improved productivity."
Specifically, Debbie’s approach in helping management realize that ETG needed to identify more closely with its customer base and offer more managed service offerings, has helped the firm increase customer service offerings and most importantly, revenue.
I cannot say enough about Debbie’s honesty and vision that enable management to refocus in this ever-changing market. As always, it is a pleasure working with you.”
- A.J. Bruce, Chief Financial Officer
"Preparing to launch a new product, we were involved in a very complex sales cycle to the financial community and had hired bankers who didn't know how to sell. We needed a way to increase the number of qualified leads, create top-of-mind awareness for our company and new product, make it easier for our salespeople to sell, and grow revenue. We needed a cost-effective process for business development without adding resources.
The Fenemore Group worked with us to develop a Business Development Center (BDC), which gave us those capabilities and more. During the project, Debbie Depp was always willing to provide information regarding other sales and marketing issues that affected our performance. Her responsiveness and enthsiasm ensured that commitments were met.
Debbie is a pleasure to work with, her energy and exuberance were contagious. She was able to explain the process and have people sign up in no time at all!"
- Frank Fronzo, Vice President, Sales & Marketing
"I would like to personally thank The Fenemore Group for the outstanding training and coaching you...have provided for our team. JPMerc & Co. is in the crowded information technology services industry. As such, to thrive - even to survive - we must succeed in differentiating ourselves. This effort requires constant and continual innovation, which in turn requires excellent communication skills, tools, and the proper culture and environment. The Naming the Storm™ framework incorporates all of these key ingredients.
At JPMerc & Co., many specific problems have been addressed utilizing the Naming the Storm™ framework. The structure and guidance provided by you and your team was indispensable in getting to the heart of the problem (naming the storm), solving the problem, and getting buy-in from all parties.
In addition to the excellent system developed by the Fenemore Group, working with you throughout this project has been enjoyable and rewarding. The energy and passion that you bring to each training and coaching session is inspiring and contagious. We look forward to continuing this immensely valuable relationship with the Fenemore Group long into the future. Again, many thanks
- Joseph P. Mercadante, Founder & CEO
"The Business Development Center (BDC) that the Fenemore Group created allows us to track leads and prospects throughout the entire sales process. We are now six months into the implementation of our BDC and the results are exceeding our expectations.
Our current estimate concerning the payback period for the BDC investment is that, following a nine month ramp-up, the entire cost of the BDC will have been returned.
Debbie Depp has a great way of drawing on her experience in sales and marketing and helping us apply it to our business. She has also been invaluable source of advice about a wide variety of issues that touch upon sales productivity, such as compensation and sales training."
- Brad Florin, President
"In a relatively unstructured environment of rapid growth through acquisition, we needed to create a process that would enable the management team to develop a strategic plan to define what needed to be done for the fiscal year.
As we merged different company cultures, ownership was central to success. Process, metrics, tracking, feedback loops were needed to support collaboration with accountability thrust downward. And we had to accomplish all this in a short timeframe to prepare for our annual strategic planning meeting.
Debbie's leadership on this project was instrumental in helping us kick-off our year with a common goal.
Involving about 15 managers initially, she developed a process road map for increased productivity. Deb worked with us to develop goals, objectives, strategies and plans at both the company and department level.
Working with individual managers, as well as cross-functional teams, she helped identify issues that impacted employees, customers, and shareholders.
She identified roles and responsibilities, analyzed obstacles presented by systems, procedures, and culture in each cross-functional group, defined goals and objectives, then aligned them with each group, and developed the scope, ground rules, agenda, templates, and prework for our off-site planning meeting with a memo.
Then, she drafted a memo setting expectations and informing meeting participants of the process, their role, what was required, and how we would work together. During the meeting Deb facilitated the process to help develop the plan. We left the meeting with a post-planning road map of action items, accountabilities and due dates to ensure everyone worked together to meet company goals.
By consistently coaching and following-up with everyone, Deb maintained a sense of urgency throughout the project. And she continued to check our progress after the strategic planning meeting.
Deb was great to work with. She did an excellent job building trusting relationships with all of the managers involved, allowing her the opportunity to help drive issues and processes throughout the organization.
Deb brought a positive results-oriented approach to our planning process. We highly recommend her and won't hesitate to hire her in the future."
- John Molinari, President and CEO,
Tony Dolph, VP, Business Development,
Steve Shea, VP, Finance
"I was impressed by your solid grasp of sales productivity fundamentals. The fact that you had a long and successful history in actual sales management (and not just consulting) gave added weight to your thoughts and ideas.
[When we started with the Fenemore Group] MediaMap's sales productivity was not at the level I would have liked. By modifying the Business Development Center (BDC) concept to our particular needs, we were off to a great start. During the implementation of the BDC you continued to deliver. You were always available and helpful as we collaborated together on an agressive roll-out of the BDC.
With many months now behind us, I can honestly say our salesforce productivity has gone has gone up substantially. I think the BDC and our work with you were a key part of that increse. Our sales people can now skillfully handle the growing flow of leads provided by our marketing. Nothing slips through the cracks anymore and we maintain contact in a well though-out way with everyone in our prospect and client database until they 'die or buy'.
It's a far cry from when you first visited....Your energy and commitment always matched ours and your knowledge and skills heave helped us move forward in an important and measureable way. If we had it all to do over again, we would definitely hire you---only sooner."
- Kirke S. Curtis, Chief Operating Officer
"The Fenemore Group's specific task was to come in and streamline some of the processes associated with our inside sales organization in anticipation of a worldwide roll-out of a sales and marketing automation effort. We believed we were in a unique business with its own special set of problems.
On the contrary, Fenemore showed us that we could deal with these processes by thinking through the issues and arriving at logical outcomes. Debbie Depp, of Fenemore, worked side-by-side with us and allowed those employees most affected by the potential changes to arrive at their own conclusions.
By using this self-discovery process, implementation of the concepts has been very straight-forward. Overall, we believe the sales and marketing system introduction will produce (conservatively) $10M a year in better decisions, more accurate forecasting, and efficient follow-up of leads and contacts."
- David Vesty, Vice President, Worldwide Sales
"Resonate provides distributed software solutions to specify and deliver high performance and availability of Internet-based applications and services. In this leading-edge environment, we needed to develop and deploy stronger disciplines in our sales process.
Development and management of the pipeline was our biggest problem and lack of a sales process resulted in missed opportunities. With the intention of doing an IPO, we needed to operate with a sense of urgency to meet customer demands, while converting our investment in sales and marketing to revenue and profits.
Using a four-step methodology - 1) Assess, 2) Recommend, 3) Develop, 4) Coach - Deb worked with us to create a well defined, documented sales process to facilitate opportunity management, improve accountability and produce consistent, predictable, measurable results.
Working with management and the sales team, she performed an assessment of the current sales process to identify areas of potential improvement that could be exploited, then provided recommendations based on the results of the assessment.
She developed the knowledge tools and framework to support selling efforts, as well as performance measurements to ensure accountability.
Deliverables included ideas for performance measurements, territory attack plans, evaluation road map, and funnel management process.
Finally, she coached us to accelerate our learning curve, so that we would be able to use the tools and implement the process successfully.
This process helped facilitate Resonate’s transition from a company culture of after-the-fact analyzing to before-the-fact planning.
As a result of the closed-loop system for communication, management had more visibility into the pipeline. Productivity improved because the measurable process enabled us to become proactive instead of reactive. Our increased discipline in the sales process contributed to Resonate’s successful IPO in August 2000 as revenue steadily increased from $2.7M in 1998 to $9.9M in 1999, and then to $20M in 2000.
Throughout the project Deb was relentless in her insistence on meeting commitments and follow-up. She kept us on track throughout the project. Thank you Deb Depp!"
- Cameron Lorentz, Vice President, Sales
"Debbie Depp helped us develop a business development process that integrated a top-of-mind awareness strategy along with automated contact management software.
The business development process keeps (our reps) in constant contact with their existing clients, adding value to their service and increases customer references and up-sell opportunities.
Debbie Depp's enthusiasm and proven sales record convinced SalesLink of the value of her process. She has seen us through every step of implementation of this program. Debbie is a pleasure to work with and is available to help us whenever necessary."
- Keith Caveney, President
"First and foremost, many, many thanks for your significant contribution to Simplex and our newly-designed Sales Process. As you know, faced with an opportunity to re-engineer a standardized sales process as Simplex, we turned to outside experienced resources to help us navigate this complex proposition. We could not be more delighted with the results.
Your leadership on this project was instrumental in letting us launch a new sales process to the Simplex field salesforce this past January. Since its well-received introduction, our "Blueprint for Sales Success" has moved from strength to strength. Not only are we seeing increased sales, but we're doing so at a lower cost. Our standardized process reduced time and resources while improving customer satisfaction.
As you recall, we had several objectives for this program:
- Create a sales process to transition the culture from after-the-fact analyzing to before-the-fact planning for consistent, predictable, measurable results.
- Define and document the steps in the sales cycle to create a systematic approach to funnel management for improved forecasting and closing ratios.
- Develop a common sales language to go to market in different ways for consistent communication.
- Migrate from product communicators (transactional relationships) to value creators (enterprise relationships).
- Develop customized skills training that is a replicable series of coordinated events as defined by the Simplex-specific sales model.
- Teach new sales development recruits how to implement a Simplex-specific sales model with performance metrics for increased productivity and professionalism.
- Develop, organize, and leverage the skills, tools and resources to support process application for the desired outcome.
- Transition the sales force from unconscious-competent to conscious-overachiever.
Debbie, you have helped us embark on a journey to achieve these goals and more. You were a delight to work with and always responsive. You successfully navigated your way around our organization to get agreement on the process from all parties. You helped design the process, its introduction and the training of the sales force. In short, you were the catalyst that made it happen.
Once again, on behalf of Simplex, please accept our sincere thanks."
- Dave Baer, Vice President, Sales
"During a period in my life when my career was in transition and I was losing hope - it was the worst phase of my life. Your coaching gave me the focus, confidence and direction that I needed to get what I wanted. Among our discussions there were three guidelines, which showed me the path to success:
- Believe in yourself and show confidence. Your confidence is key both to your own efforts and to selling to other people.
- Be prepared. Practice your answers to anticipated interview questions in a mirror, so you get your story straight. The first "sale" is always to yourself!
- Relentlessly refine your resume. Visualize the job you want and structure your resume and answers toward the desired result. Continually look for opportunities to demonstrate skills that are required for your desired goal.
The advice you gave me changed my life."
- Gita Swamy, Senior Director of Marketing
"The Fenemore Group's consulting work certainly fulfilled the promise and matched the quality. We were in the process of building, 'from scratch', a marketing department. What we needed was help in implementing those concepts within our organization.
Working closely with both management and operating personnel, Fenemore helped us design a marketing process around our company culture. You addressed specifically the strengths and weaknesses of our employees and developed detailed job descriptions that allowed us to set appropriate standards and manage the individuals involved. Throughout, you successfully worked with our people to build enthisiasm and commitment to the project.
By avoiding a 'cookie cutter' approach, you have significantly increased the chances for a successful implentation. Tribute is delighted with the end results."
- Tim Reynolds, President
"I just realized that it has been almost two years to-the-date from which we met, only to look back and see what a profound impact you have had on our business...successfully re-engineering our sales and marketing department.
We found your repeated visits and fine-tuning in creation of our Business Development Center (BDC) were instrumental in our business growing in 1997, by 27%. In 1998, we are well ahead of last year, and are expecting to have the best third quarter in the history of Tribute....This process allows our sales staff to concentrate on closing the business!
Lastly, I must comment on the Sales Road Map you developed to facilitate the hiring of new inside and outside sales people....Their productivity and closing ratios are only increasing. In addition, having a structure to our sales training program has made a big difference in hiring sales candidates, training them, and getting them productive in a timely fashion."
- William D. Horrigan, Vice President, Sales & Marketing
"Working with Debbie Depp of the Fenemore Group was a pleasure. I was immediately impressed by her energy, her motivational skills and, most of all, by her ability to quickly and accurately understand my business problems and the problems we were facing.
These problems included figuring out who our best customers were, what their needs were, and how to successfully market and sell the release of a new version of a product to them.
Because of Debbie's broad experience in business, she is also a fountain of knowledge about a whole variety of business problems and issues. The scope of Debbie Depp's consulting for us went beyond the realm of sales and marketing.
Debbie is a terrific teacher, a great listener and, I dare say it, a consultant who gets things done."
- Karen Henderson, Director of Sales
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