Acumatica Partner Summit 2015 Breakout Session

1. Overcoming
ObjectionsAli Jani
VP Product Management and
Services
Better
Faster
Stronger
Version 5.0

2. Key Topics
Part 1 Today
• Objections – Always Prepared
• Product Objections
• Technology Objections
• Saas Related Objections
Part 2 – Included for later reference
• Services and Support Objections
• Pricing and Negotiation
• Acumatica Brand
• License Agreement/Contract Objections

3. Objections
Always Prepared

4. Objections – Always Prepared
“Anticipate”
• to think of something that will or
might happen in the future
• to expect or look ahead to something
with pleasure : to look forward to
something
• to do something before someone else

5. Always Prepared
• Except the unexpected - With sales, what can go wrong, usually will.
• Competition does not rest
• The decision maker isn't really the decision maker
• Important stake holder on Vacation
• People don’t live forever
• Avoid installing last minute updates prior to your demo / Have a replicated backup demo
environments / Etc..
• All questions are fair game – compartmentalize and completeness - put issues to bed the
first time
• Choices without rational or guidance = more objections
• What are your top 3 “winners” for your specific prospect in each then objection
categories?
• What does your client think you top expertise are?
• Sometimes the same words are heard differently when the perception is they are hearing
from the experts mouth
• Introduce subject matter experts early in the sales cycle
• Always know Why Me?

6. Product Features
Objections

7. Product Features Objections
• Do you really understand the client pains and needs
• Should know possible short comings before they do
• “Must Haves” vs “Like to Have”
• Is it ok to say “No” ?
• What are your top 3 “winners” – Repeat often
– Examples: Customizability/Personalization, document management, integrated CRM,
real-time data, audit trails, attributes, generic inquiries, navigation and usability, role
based controls, exchange integration, mobile ready, built in carrier integration,
tight ecommerce integration, multi warehouse replenishment, manufacturing
integration, etc..
• Domain knowledge and Lingo
• Past customer experiences with similar needs
• Know the competition in relation with your prospects needs
• Spend time on website for learning product details and videos
• Search the web for challenges faced by users

8. Common Product Objections
• Marketing Automation
• Sales force integration
• Gmail and Outlook integration
• Sub-item restrictions
• Dimensional Accounting / Tags for GL accounts
• Use of existing Report Writers / DB Schema
• Analytics
• PCI and Credit Card Processing Choices
• Ease of customization (add a field and validation)
• Barcode Scanning / optimized fulfillment
• Multi level Commissions / profit base commissions
• Customer Loyalty Management (Rewards/gift cards)
• Social Integration

9. Technology
Objections

10. Common Technology
Objections• What resource level do I need?
• How will I know when I need to upgrade my resource level?
• External Report Writer / DB Schema & Dictionary?
• REST based APIs ?
• ODBC access?
• How will my customization migrate?
• Can I integrate it to my PHP site?
• Is source code available?
• Why doesn't Acumatica use MVC?
• Is it HTML5?
• How quickly can my staff learn the Technology?
• Languages available?
• Localization?
Winners:
• Acumatica is a platform company and ERP company
• Install Whole environment on Dev Computers
• Extensible with minimal risks in version management
• Choice of DB
• Rapid Application Development
• As simple as you need, as complex as you can handle

11. Saas Related
Objections

12. Common Saas Objections
• Compliance (SOC , SAE, PCI, etc..)
• True Multi-tenancy? (NetSuite engaged prospects – sometimes Intacct)
• Upgrade predictability – Is everyone on same release? How
many versions of the software is supported?
• Version lock - How will I know I will not be stuck on an older
version?
• Vendor managed updates - Is there a fee for services to
upgrade?
• Stronger communities - How many users on same version
as me?
• Trusted - Who is hosting and managing?

13. Saas Winners
• Top 3 winners to repeat often (Saas Bill of Rights)
• Data ownership and access
• Free SaaS Sandbox with every major upgrade (Permanent local)
• No cost Web Services / APIs (including server side scripts)
• Worthy followers
• Killer cloud performance + Geo optimized
• No “Named Users” - Add or change employees anytime at no cost
• Easy contract changes (downgrades or upgrades)
• Free non-production version for internal use
• Automatic Disaster Recovery (multi-zone)
• With some caution:
– Deployment changes if needs arise
– More options over upgrade timing
• Personalized Domain

14. NetSuite Saas Killers
Lead your prospect to ask NetSuite:
• What options am I not buying?
Examples: Advanced Inventory, Contract Renewals Module, Demand planning, Recurring Billing, Revenue
Recognition, Incentive Planning, Financial Planning, One World
• Can you lock the discounts for when my contract is renewed?
• Can you give a quote that is fixed for 20 additional users?
• Can I get a price for upgrade from LE to MME quoted now and agreed on incase we
grow or need the functionality.
• I’ve heard from time to time you ask clients who need better performance or with
extensive web services integrations to subscribe to different tier of services. How will
I be sure you will be able to handle my volume with good performance without
asking me later I need upgrade?
• What is Suite Cloud plus?
• 10 threads, single user, and 5 scheduled scripts limit on shared servers
• To have multiple users, more threads, or reliability, premiums apply
– lev 1 – 40K a year (same limits but simply more reliable performance)
– Lev 2 – 75K - 20 threads / 2 accounts / 10 scripts
– Lev 3 – 100K – 30 threads / 3 accounts / 15 scripts

15. Overcoming
Objections
Part 2
Ali Jani
VP Product Management and
Services
Better
Faster
Stronger
Version 5.0

16. Services and
Support Objections

17. Common Services and Support
Objections
• Implementation Cost Justification
• Fixed Priced Implementation
• Cost of Services associated with future upgrades
• Cost of Customizations
• Maintenance on Customization
• Visibility into implementation progress
• Billing process for time spent
• Acumatica Implementation Experience
• Support Plans (Post implementation)
• 24/7 Access to help
• Issue tracking and visibility
• Time spent on learning what to do or on bugs
• Developer Support and Training
• Customer Community
• Access to Acumatica

18. Pricing and
Negotiation

19. Common Pricing Objections
• Price-lock into future years
• Future Start Date of Maintenance / Saas Service
• Why cant I tie payment terms to my go live date?
• Can I just use the Eval version till I go live?
• Monthly Payments / Split Payments
• Services Payment Terms - Why is some upfront?
• Why do I need to pay for support separately?
• Satisfaction guarantee
• References – People in my industry
• Competition is more aggressive. I need a better
discount.

20. Acumatica Brand
Objections

21. Positioning Acumatica
• Use of Company presentation
• Management team accessibility
• 3rd party validation – awards
• 1000+ Customers
• Long term viability
• OEM business and long term contracts
• Sister companies

22. Acumatica Brand Objections
• Russian based company?
• Relatively New company – Never heard of
Acumatica
• Financial Strength
• Buyout target
• Research Analyst Radars (Gartner Magic Quadrant)
• Number of customer installations
• Product Maturity
• Company Scalability

23. License Agreement
and Contracts

24. Common EULA Objections
• Limitation of liability
• Venue
• SLA and related credits
• Excessive downtime
• Deletion of data upon termination
• Sales and Services Agreements
• What they get with Saas services
• Add-on Saas Services
• Direct Support and related SOW/MSA