Sales and Tom Ingram
TOM INGRAM & ASSOCIATES, Inc.
High Impact Projects
A Newsletter About Solutions and Creating Exceptional Value
Software Company Narrows Focus from
1 Million Prospects to 40 – Closes 30 Sales in First Year!
After 3 Years of Revenues Less than $2 Million, Sales Soar to
$75 Million in 4 Years!
Systems Produce Paybacks for Clients of more than 10-to-1
Stopped Trying to Sell to Information Technology Department – Found
Line Executives With An Urgent Need to Buy
CEO Found a Way to Reduce Risk and Capture Financial Upside
A Repeatable Pattern Emerges
Compiled by Tom Ingram, PMPi
Before Jeff Miller took over as CEO,
Documentum had suffered three years of flat revenues, never exceeding $2 million per year.
After Miller took over, the next year’s sales increased to $8 million, followed by $25 million, $45 million, $75 million and an IPO in subsequent years.
Granted, these were the boom years – but this success story carries some essential lessons which I have seen work in several other settings over the years. Below is a summary of these key lessons from several sources, including a Harvard Business School case study. None of this is easy. Documentum went through a period when it was burning $1 million per quarter, with only $4 million in cash reserve, and only two new customers.
Success in the intangible, “black magic” world of software is difficult, and my hope is that you can take some useful lessons away from this
summary. Following are some of the things that worked for them.
Narrowed Their Focus from “everyone in the world that touches complex documents” to a “rifle shot.” Documentum chose to focus initially on the regulatory affairs departments of Fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies. This narrowed their universe of prospects from some
500,000 to only 40 companies worldwide.
Urgent Need to Buy: Documentum was able to identify buyers in extreme pain due to the regulatory paperwork requirements for submitting new
High Impact Projects
A Newsletter About Solutions and Creating Exceptional Value
Software Company Narrows Focus from
1 Million Prospects to 40 – Closes 30 Sales in First Year!
After 3 Years of Revenues Less than $2 Million, Sales Soar to
$75 Million in 4 Years!
Systems Produce Paybacks for Clients of more than 10-to-1
Stopped Trying to Sell to Information Technology Department – Found
Line Executives With An Urgent Need to Buy
CEO Found a Way to Reduce Risk and Capture Financial Upside
A Repeatable Pattern Emerges
Compiled by Tom Ingram, PMPi
Before Jeff Miller took over as CEO,
Documentum had suffered three years of flat revenues, never exceeding $2 million per year.
After Miller took over, the next year’s sales increased to $8 million, followed by $25 million, $45 million, $75 million and an IPO in subsequent years.
Granted, these were the boom years – but this success story carries some essential lessons which I have seen work in several other settings over the years. Below is a summary of these key lessons from several sources, including a Harvard Business School case study. None of this is easy. Documentum went through a period when it was burning $1 million per quarter, with only $4 million in cash reserve, and only two new customers.
Success in the intangible, “black magic” world of software is difficult, and my hope is that you can take some useful lessons away from this
summary. Following are some of the things that worked for them.
Narrowed Their Focus from “everyone in the world that touches complex documents” to a “rifle shot.” Documentum chose to focus initially on the regulatory affairs departments of Fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies. This narrowed their universe of prospects from some
500,000 to only 40 companies worldwide.
Urgent Need to Buy: Documentum was able to identify buyers in extreme pain due to the regulatory paperwork requirements for submitting new