Sharp Business Practice, Expensive, not for small teams
Pros
It makes the data that our CRM software provides easier to view
Cons
The cost, the fact that we need to pay for 3 users when we don't have 3 full time sales people. The fact that the contract auto renews without warning.
Also we can't use it to make our sales calls, for various reasons, including that if one customer on a call list phones in with an order which is taken by a staff member who doesn't handle that customer, they can not remove the customer from the call list, leading to unwanted repeated calls to the customer. Also ran too slowly on our broadband.
Simple and easy with powerful outcomes
Using sales-i is a breeze even though I'm not particularly 'techy'. I can find what I'm looking for quickly with the campaigns I set up initially and if I want to answer any other questions or even just have a play I go into the inquiries to gain more insight.
Pros
I love that any data I find related to customers is then linked to the CRM part of the system, so it gives me a reason to contact a customer, ammunition to use when I do and an organized way to record the call or visit etc.
Cons
To be honest, I got a good demonstration of sales-i before we signed up so we knew what we were getting and haven't been disappointed one bit. We use the web version and the apple app for iPads and the use is just as easy, if not easier, on the road. I'd like some kind of push notification on the app for the sales guys but actually, without it, it means they have to log in themselves, which isn't a bad thing. I want to keep everyone engaged.
We decided to give Sales-i a try after a number of very pushy sales conversations, despite the large initial setup fee. After that it was a monthly bill of over £300. Initially there was so much setup involved that we could not use it for many months, for which to their credit they refunded the monthly fee, but required a massive amount of work on our part to get our data into the correct format. Once this was resolved we started to pay the bills of over £300 per month.
After the 3 year term expired I emailed Sales-i to say that it wasn't the right fit and did not wish to continue the service but we told that because we did not notify them 90 days before the end of our contract that we have been rolled over for another year (and a cost of about £3750). I explained that we were never made aware of a 90 day cancellation policy and that since we paid monthly we expected that after the 3 year period we would be able to cancel freely.
So we have paid a very large setup fee and been paying monthly for something that we felt was not value for money as we simply do not see the increased sales we require to warrant it, but have been told we have to keep paying. This is NOT the sort of service what we expected from a modern company.
To this end we have been disappointed by the program and would advise any prospective purchaser to read the small print thoroughly before considering whether this is really a commitment they want to make.
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