Twin Drivers of Sales Performance: CRM and Sales Compensation Management

Xactly was talking to the CFO at a large financial services company last week who felt that sales and finance were too often disconnected from each other. Consequently, he is working with the vice president of sales to identify a tag-team of cornerstone sales performance management applications: one to capture data leading up to client transactions, the other to record all that happens after the fact. “Pre-sales and post-sales data are two sides of the same coin,” said the CFO.

We’ve talked before in this space about the value of centralizing post-sales data in an on-demand sales compensation management system. Sales and finance executives know that smart decisions are made when key business data is available in a centralized and secure environment.

Likewise, on-demand customer relationship management (CRM) systems are a natural home for pre-sales data. Together, on-demand sales compensation management and on-demand CRM are the twin pillars of sales performance management, an emerging category of software that market research firm Ventana Research estimates will reach $13.5 billion by 2010.

Ventana Research CEO and executive vice president of research Mark Smith has said: "Sales compensation management, under the umbrella of sales performance management, has stepped to the forefront in many organizations. Customers recognize that automating and integrating the business processes between sales and finance can have a significant impact on sales productivity, motivation and efficiency while increasing revenues and profits."

This brings us back to the story of the financial services CFO, a sub-plot of which was his insistence that his on-demand CRM and on-demand sales compensation management applications work together seamlessly to effect this business process integration and help drive optimal sales performance. Xactly gets this. Recently, we announced a partnership with Oracle’s Siebel CRM On Demand, and Xactly is already tightly integrated with on-demand CRM solutions from salesforce.com and RightNow Technologies. Significantly, salesforce.com and RightNow Technologies are also Xactly customers.

These deals speak volumes about Xactly’s commitment to delivering a complete solution to customers. They also say a lot about which on-demand sales compensation management solution the on-demand CRM leaders believe is the best. Unlike its competitors, Xactly is intent on helping companies protect and extend the value of their CRM investments. And on-demand CRM vendors are placing their bets and checkbooks accordingly.