Click to Sales

Bookmark the top 150 sites that contain the hottest e-business tools for sales executives. You can find them listed in our special pullout report, The Top 150 Sales Websites (following page 98). This guide also contains links to the best freebies: sales tips, screensavers, free contact management programs and free time management utilities. You can access any of these sites from www.sellingpower.com. (Go to Daily Features, then Business Center, and click on Top 150 Sales Websites.)

While many sites offer valuable information, the Sales Portal category deserves to be on your “plan-to-surf” list. Within the Sales Portal category you will find sites that offer a complete CRM solution for a monthly fee ranging from $19.95 to $50. This is good news for CFOs who don’t want to worry about investing in software, servers, lengthy training and costly upgrades. The big questions are: Will this financial model bring the expected returns for these portal suppliers? If a portal site fails financially, what will happen to your data? and, If a portal site gets hit by hackers, will the site owner guarantee the integrity of your data?

Site: www.Interact.com
Description: In March 2000, the SalesLogix company launched Interact.com. This site offers a Web-based CRM solution coupled with impressive Internet-based services.
Site objective: To integrate a salesperson’s CRM function with powerful Internet services.
Ease of navigation: Excellent.
Content quality: Information is presented in easily readable form. The site brings the best Web applications to the salesperson’s fingertips.
Services: Lead matching, personalized Websites, news, business profiles, driving directions, travel itineraries, networking with sales professionals, Web-based sales presentations, direct-mail fulfillment services, online training and more. These services work concurrently with all contact management functions.
Problems: At press time there was no charge to sign up, but there is no guarantee that the services will be free in the future.
Overall: Excellent site. Must visit.

Site: www.justsell.com
Description: A sales information portal without contact management functions.
Site objective: To provide sales-enhancing information to business professionals.
Ease of navigation: Excellent and well organized. Also fast to load – this site avoids using unnecessary graphics that slow down page building on your computer.
Content quality: Very good.
Services: Library of articles on sales strategy and motivation organized by subject area. Extensive listings of links to other sales-specific sites arranged by subject area. Sales shop offers tapes, books, sales kits and other products for the sales industry. Resource area includes free email, weather information, maps, job listings and stock quotes.
Problems: Finding a show in the conference guide requires working through seven screens, which is four too many.
Overall: Excellent site, tightly focused.

Site: www.prosales.com
Description: A multimedia electronic magazine for salespeople.
Site objective: To provide sales professionals with information, Web-based tools and links. The site also sells subscriptions to and advertising in The Peddler newsletter.
Ease of navigation: Good.
Content quality: Very good.
Services: The Netelligence Center is an extensive compilation of links to many useful sites, arranged by subject area. For instance, one section allows you to search for airlines, hotels, restaurants or ATM locations. The Free Zone contains useful free software.
Problems: News articles are more of general interest than focused specifically on sales. The search engine center does not support simultaneous searches on multiple engines.
Overall: Good site with many useful tools.

Site: www.sales.com
Description: This site was launched by Siebel Systems with the objective of providing a Web-based sales force automation solution.
Site objective: To provide a complete suite of contact management tools for salespeople.
Ease of navigation: Very good. Content quality: Good.
Services: Complete sales force automation solution with a host of interesting features such as custom news, virtual online meetings, team scheduling, free email and links to training courses by Miller-Heiman. Problems: Feature overload. How does the ability to check lottery results boost sales productivity?
Overall: Very useful site.

Site: www.salesforce.com
Description: This site offers enterprise-wide sales force automation using the Internet.
Site objective: This site is designed to help sales executives manage their accounts online by eliminating the need for servers, software or networks.
Ease of navigation: Very good.
Content quality: Provides an excellent, cost-effective solution for individual salespeople or an entire team.
Services: Salesforce.com uses the Web to automatically update information on prospects and their companies and provides direct links to sales-enhancing Websites. Salespeople can instantly import data from existing SFA systems such as ACT! GoldMine, Siebel, SalesLogix or Outlook. The customized desktop feature allows users to bring together vital sales activity functions into a single, customizable, online destination.
Problems: No major problems found.
Overall: An excellent site. Worth visiting.

Site: www.salesrepcentral.com
Description: The site was started in January 1999 by Ralph Marcetti, a consummate salesman who has sold everything from postage machines to mainframe software to stocks.
Site objective: To create a virtual community of salespeople who use it to shop (and earn bonus points), check their stocks, schedule tee times for golf, select restaurants or buy gifts for clients.
Ease of navigation: Very good.
Content quality: Very good.
Services: Some of the more interesting services include information on loans, a customizable stock ticker, and the Golf Central virtual golf club. The shopping center offers books, tapes, mobile office products, and computer hardware and software.
Problems: The site is not always focused on the sales business. Some of the posted messages on the Rep Confessions page add little value.
Overall: Good site. Worth a visit.

Site: www.salesguy.com
Description: A site designed by a salesman’s salesman that offers a surprising combination of professional tools and lifestyle information that may appeal to the red-meat eating, cigar-chomping and joke-telling salesman.
Site objective: To develop a space on the Internet for high-performing salesmen who take their work seriously and love to have fun.
Ease of navigation: Excellent.
Content quality: Good sales content mixed with sexist material.
Services: Powerful utilities such as lead swap, prospecting, direct mail campaigns, travel, meeting resources, industry news, customer gifts, training resources, job search, and trade show search function. The section called Salesguy Life covers motion picture sound clips, suggestions on style and sexist jokes.
Problems: While the site drills into the heart of selling, the lifestyle content is bound to offend visitors. For example, in February the life section offered advice on how to turn your apartment into a sex den.
Overall: A good site for the salesMAN in the trenches who is not bothered by lack of taste.

Site: www.thesalesbiz.com
Description: An online sales force automation solution with sales productivity links.
Site objective: To provide personal sales tools and useful sales information.
Ease of navigation: Very good.
Content quality: Very good.
Services: The site allows you to keep contact lists, use an online contact manager, track appointments with an online calendar, and trace active, future and finished tasks with a to-do list – all at no charge. News service includes articles from Adweek and Time.com. The site also includes a travel center and a career center.
Problems: Some sections such as the product review have not been updated in weeks.
Overall: Very good, well-designed site.

Site: www.saleslink.com
Description: A site developed by Jack Carroll, founder of Mentor Associates.
Site objective: To provide many links to selling skills and sales motivation articles that have been personally selected by Jack Carroll.
Ease of navigation: Superior.
Content quality: Very good. Well organized and fast moving.
Services: The site connects you to articles and resources of many well-known sales trainers. In addition, Jack Carroll offers sales book reviews and promotes his own sales training services.
Problems: Some of the links won’t allow the browser to return to the original site. The amount of information from 300 links can be overwhelming.
Overall: Excellent site for salespeople who need quick access to selling skills and motivation articles.

Site: www.splash-net.com
Description: An online sales force automation solution developed by The Great Elk Company.
Site objective: To help salespeople keep track of their prospects and sales opportunities and stay in touch with their team members.
Ease of navigation: Good.
Content quality: A complete SFA solution, but little content.
Services: Functions include call management, contact management, opportunity management, and end-user reports. The monthly subscription fee is $49.99.
Problems: Salespeople have to exit the site to search for leads, book airline tickets or find restaurants.
Overall: A cost-saving alternative to server-based SFA applications.

Site: www.salesrepsonline.com
Description: A complete CRM solution with useful functions that help salespeople work smarter and faster.
Site objective: To help salespeople reach their goals sooner.
Ease of navigation: Excellent; all information is a single click away. Information loads and displays very quickly.
Content quality: Excellent.
Services: Full contact management, time management, lead search, sales presentations, travel office, skills and motivation articles and sales products. Everything a salesperson needs to thrive in a competitive marketplace.
Problems: None found at press time.
Overall: Excellent site. Worth checking out.

Site: www.agillion.com
Description: Owned by Strategic Software Ventures, this Web subscription service enables small and medium-size businesses to manage customer relationships over the Internet – without expensive software, an IT staff or a big budget.
Site objective: To help small-business executives manage customer relationships faster, better and cheaper.
Ease of navigation: Excellent.
Content quality: Very good.
Services: Contact management, file sharing among team members, daily planning function, personalized Web pages to facilitate client interaction, and customized news and research services. Agillion offers a free 60-day trial period. After that the service is $29.95 per subscriber per month.
Problems: Short on content for salespeople.
Overall: An excellent site.

Site: www.upshot.com
Description: An online contact management program designed to organize the sales function.
Site objective: To deliver a world class Web service to help sales executives target the best prospects and boost sales.
Ease of navigation: Very good.
Content quality: Very good.
Services: A complete, online CRM solution that allows account management, broadcast communications with prospects, forecasting, and scheduling. The site offers industry news. The first five users are free; additional users pay only $30 a month.
Problems: You cannot test-drive the site without completing a lengthy form.
Overall: Very good site.